Naija Political Blog

Anthony Ebeh
You cannot have true democracy without the rule of law. The rule of law is a sine qua non for all democracies. It is perhaps the most important ingredient in a democracy. The culture of impunity that pervades all facets of government and the elite class in Nigeria is detrimental to democracy. It was the rule of law that forced the United States Supreme Court to rule against former President Bill Clinton, a sitting President at the time in his case against Paula Jones who in February 1994 accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment alleging that the incident occurred in May 1991 when she was a state employee of Arkansas during Clinton’s tenure as governor of the state. Mr. Clinton and his lawyers had sought to have the case postponed until he was out of office. However, the Supreme Court decided that Clinton could not postpone the suit and the case proceeded. This is what true democracy looks like. What you have in Nigeria is an illusion of democracy and corruption is the problem. It is rather unfortunate that the vast majority of Nigerian politicians are not motivated by public service. If they were, Nigeria would not remain an under developed country today. They generally go into politics for personal gains and to get a piece of the proverbial “national cake.” Reflecting on the state of Nigerian democracy and the absence of the rule of law brings to mind a report presented to the United States Congress in the summer of this year by outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Titled “Department of State’s Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2011” which can best be described as a serious indictment of the Nigerian government. The report noted that “despite the fact that the nation’s law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, government does not implement it effectively and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.” It stated that while the constitution provides for an independent judiciary, the Nigerian judiciary remained susceptible to pressure from the executive and the legislative branches, and the business sector. The report lamented that, “Official corruption and lack of will to implement court decisions also interfered with due process.” It went on to say that the law provides for access to the courts for redress of grievances, and courts can award damages and issue injunctions to stop or prevent a human rights violation. However, the decisions of civil courts were difficult to enforce.
While noting that the government brought few persons to justice for abuses and corruption, it said despite the arrest of several high-ranking officials by the EFCC, allegations continued that the agency’s investigations targeted individuals who had fallen out of favor with the government, while those who were in favor continued their corrupt activities with impunity. It further gave a harsh verdict on operators in the judicial arm as it said: “Judges frequently failed to appear for trials, often because they were pursuing other sources of income and sometimes because of threats against them.” Aside from that, it noted that, “court officials often lacked the proper equipment, training, and motivation to perform their duties, with lack of motivation primarily due to inadequate compensation.”
The report said: “There was a widespread perception that judges were easily bribed and that litigants could not rely on the courts to render impartial judgments. Citizens encountered long delays and alleged requests from judicial officials for bribes to expedite cases or obtain favorable rulings.”
One way to change this backward culture and make politics unattractive for those who wish to go into public office to steal is for President Goodluck Jonathan to revamp the EFCC and appoint retired General Buhari as the Chairman or someone with similar anti-corruption credential and credibility. The EFCC should be barred from making deals with corrupt politicians and their cronies in which they are allowed to pay back a small fraction of their stolen wealth and get a “slap on the wrist.” This is why corruption has continued unabated in Nigeria. The fear of prosecution and going to jail is non-existent. The EFCC should be given all prosecutorial powers to fully prosecute corrupt government officials and members of the elite class and if found guilty, throw them in jail like other common criminals