By Chioma Gabriel, Deputy Editor and Ebun Babalola
Since 2008 , Chief Bode George, the one-time deputy national chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, South West zone  was charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ,EFCC,  for inflation of contracts to the tune of N84 billion with five other board members.

The offence was said to be committed during his tenure as the Chairman of the NPA board between 2000 and 2003.

Various evidences given during the trial by the  committee set up to investigate the allegation of fraud leveled against the accused persons revealed  that there were irregularities in the award of contract by the Board of the NPA between 2001 and 2003.

Contracts were revealed to have been  split and inflated by the Board and advance payments above the 25 per cent limit approved by the government  made in the award of fifteen contracts.

Chief Bode George and the five other former board members which included  Aminu Dabo, O. Abidoye, Abdullahi Tafida, Zanna Maidaribe and Sule Aliyu  first appeared before the state High Court on a 163_count charge on August 9, 2008.

They were alleged to have, among others, conspired about June 6, 2003 to inflate the contract price for the rehabilitation of Kalmar Container Handler from 215,555.52 Euro to 269,965.71 Euro.

Alhaji Balarabe Musa and Chief Ayo Adebanjo

Also, they were alleged to have inflated contracts  awarded to Dateks Ltd for the replacement and installation of six 11KVA High Tension Panels with accessories at Sub-station C, Tin Can Island Port, Lagos, from 310,500.40 Euro to 345,925.00 Euro.

But last Monday, ,Bode George  was convicted by Justice Olubunmi Oyewole of the Lagos High Court. alongside  four other former board members of the NPA to two years each on a seven-count charge and another six months each on a 28-count charge.

The seven-count charge included abuse of office, while the 28-count charge was on wilful disobedience to lawful authority.

Since his conviction, Nigerians have continued to react to the sentence and in these encounters, more Nigerians speak on the Bode George scandal.

This should help the cause of anti-corruption —  Adegbite

Dr Lateef Adegbite is the  Secretary- General of Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs and he says:
I hope the judgement on Bode George will enable  the judiciary to speed  up the processes of trials  for others facing similar accusations. There are many unresolved issues pending in the courts , even the latest banks scandal.

The pace of trial is scandalously slow and we hope this breakthrough on the Bode George case will help the cause for anti-corruption.

It’s triumph of the rule of law-Akinfenwa — Senator Mojisoluwa

Akinfenwa is the national chairman of Alliance for Democracy:

Well, I understand that

Bode George has appealed the judgement that sent him to jail. If the appeal goes through, that is the essence of democracy and if it doesn’t, he will serve his jail-term and that is the triumph of  the rule of law. If he is still guilty after the appeal, he will serve his term. It’s still the triumph of democracy and the rule of law.

Two years is too small for the offence committed -  Adebanjo

Chief Ayo Adebanjo is a Lagos-based lawyer and a chieftain of pan-Yoruba organisation, Afenifere. He was one of the strong voices of  the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, during the years of the struggle for democracy:

The rule of law has taken its course and the judge has let justice triumphed. But if you want my personal view, I will say that the jail-term of two years is too small. It should have been more but I believe the judgement is according to what the law permits.

Until people who are corrupt get punishment, we will not make any meaning from the war against corruption.

This should also serve as a lesson to all public servants who think that by their appointments, they have been invited to ‘come and chop’. This is a lesson. No evil doer can go scot-free. After looting the public treasury, the day of reckoning still comes.

We should deal with looters as robbers—Ayo Fasanmi

Senator Ayo Fasanmi is a factional leader of the pan Yoruba group Afenifere:

The judgement shows that if we have succeeded in rigging elections in Nigeria, we have not succeeded in rigging justice. The judgement on Bode George will serve as a deterrent to others and it also reveals that there is so much corruption in our public life.

What people call the dividends democracy is actually dividends of corruption. There is so much corruption in our national life and something has to be done. The course of justice also has to be quickened because justice delayed is justice denied.

People who committed offences should be dealt with. Those who loot the treasury or steal public funds should be dealt with in the same manner armed robbers are dealt with and as a matter of fact, the two-years jail term given Bode George and his accomplices is inadequate for the offence they committed. That’s the way I see it.

Two years jail-term such a scandal —  Balarabe Musa

Bode George

Alhaji Balarabe Musa is a one-time Governor of old Kaduna state and commentator on national issues:
First of all, I think the judgement is a judicial scandal, because, how can anybody justify the punishment of two yeas to someone who has been found guilty of having stolen N85 billion, even if the money was shared  with five others.

How can that be? A person like this should get execution and if it is not provided for, should go to prison for life because the action of stealing such an amount of money has cost the loss of lives of hundreds or even thousands of people. What is a mere two years?

Two years is a mere cool off and afterwards, they would  go and enjoy the  stolen billions and then, someone like George will still have  a chance to become a national leader . It’s such a scandal and it can happen only in Nigeria where thieves are ruling the country.

Now, to other Nigerians, the situation has shown that it’s not really all those who are looting the country that are getting punished but only those who have lost out in the power game. And the majority of those responsible to this level of corruption that we are in will get away with it because their colleagues are in power.

The judiciary is not serious with anti-corruption war—Tanko Yakassai

Alhaji Tanko Yakassai is an elder statesman and first republic super civil servant:
This is the time to appeal to all public officers to be careful and stop looting the funds put under their care.

This development also shows that the looting of treasury in Nigeria is becoming too much. There are some cases  involving ministers and  top officials of government that we don’t even hear about anymore. Some of these cases have been going on for years and nobody is hearing anything about them anymore.

The people involved are walking about free on the streets and nobody has heard that the cases have been disposed of. We know about the former Education minister who gave bribe to the Senate then and the case is dead now but we didn’t hear it was struck off by the court.

There are so many cases like that some of which involved senators, permanent secretaries and other top people. Whenever they get to the courts, they die.

I think it is high time that the judiciary joins the band-wagon of anti-corruption pro-actively. I wouldn’t want to say whether two years is okay for Bode George or not but at least, he has been convicted for stealing. And this is just one case in a million. What about the other cases of corruption in court? What happened to them?

Why do leaders of this country steal and get away with it?

Anti-graft is used against political opponents— Abubakar Audu

I have no comment because the people who established the anti-graft body and the politicians are enemies.

The purpose of the establishment is to use it against their  political opponents but it would boomerang.

We’ve advised him to wash in Ijaw water — Comrade Joseph Evah

The likes of Bode George are very hard. He married my twin sister and because of that, we have been trying to manage his behaviour but he refused.

We have advised him to go and wash in the Ijaw water but he refused. What happened to him  will serve as a lesson to those who are involved in such criminal acts.

30 months in jail is too light for such a crime — Yinka Odumakin

After a long lull of warfare without tell-tales, the anti-graft war in Nigeria recorded major casualties on Monday with the conviction of former deputy-National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party ,PDP , Commodore Olabode George and his  five accomplices.

In a moment of  bold and courageous judicial pronouncement, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole passed a guilty verdict on George, the  former Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authorities (NPA) alongside Aminu Dabo, O. Abidoye, Abdullahi Tafida, Zanna Maidaribe and Sule Aliyu; and sentenced them to two years each on the seven-count charges of abuse of office and six months each for the other 27-count charge of disobedience to constituted authority.

The six convicts are to spend the next 30 months in Kirikiri prison for their criminal conducts during their stewardship at the Nigerian Ports Authority under the administration of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo whose name has also featured in various financial scandals but is yet to be brought to the temple of justice.

For a country suffused in moral decadence in public office where criminals have become celebrities and protection of corrupt people from justice has become a direct policy of state, the jailing of George by the judge has brought some catharsis albeit with cautious praise for the judiciary.

Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) joins millions of Nigerians to laud Justice Olubunmi Oyewole for his diligent judgment where he stated inter alia “When public office is abused, the entire system is assaulted. This must not be treated with kid gloves, if the quality of service in our public life is to be attained to an appreciable standard of the civilized world”.

It is on the matter of “kid gloves” that many Nigerians have expressed disappointment with the judgment. They are of the view that 30 months in jail is too light for the kind of crimes Bode George and  his colleagues committed.

The angst is justified considering the fact that poor people who committed lesser offences have been visited with grave punishments. A few months ago, an official of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) was sentenced to four years imprisonment for collecting a bribe of N10,000. It is the same that some poor folks lost their arms to Sharia judgments while one of the Governors who promulgated the Sharia law and has been charged to court for stealing N17billion in one day is now sitting on the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Senate.

It is quite appropriate to point out that another source of pessimism by our people is that for one Bode George and five accomplices who have just been sent to prison, there are hundreds of Bode Georges and thousands of accomplices who stroll in and out of the Villa, who are chief launchers at different occasions, who give public lectures about, who are splashed on the covers of soft-sell journals with all their frivolities and even serving in the present government at all levels.

We shall only take the anti-graft war serious if many more of such people are brought to book and quite expeditiously too. That it has taken roughly 14 months to conclude the trial of George and cohorts shows clearly that corruption charges can be done with if the will is there.

ARG is equally worried like many of our compatriots that the verdict on George and co was silent on the acquisitions from the proceeds of these financial crimes. That may  pervert the idea that they could still as much as possible, spend a few months behind bars and return to enjoy their loots. These were the same issue we raised when Lucky Igbinedion was fined N3.5million in a plea bargain without a full disclosure of what he forfeited.

The standard should be that once you are convicted of looting public funds, you should automatically forfeit to the state all the proceeds of such crime.

It would be incomplete if we fail to comment on the shameful conduct of  PDP elements who stormed the Lagos High Court  in assorted aso ebi to celebrate corruption with Bode George and even had the temerity to assault journalists who were doing their lawful duty. It becomes sickening reading the South west chairman of the PDP Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo even castigating the judiciary as he told a national daily ,”We in the PDP reject the judgment in its entirety.

How can somebody be jailed without an option of fine? We believe that Bode George is not guilty of the charges preferred against him”. Didn’t their BOT chairman, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, declare a while ago that nothing embarrasses him? It is a pity that the Yoruba nation has also fallen under the rule of greedy dogs who don’t understand shame.

There are sacred cows  in the ongoing fight against corruption — Gbenga Soloki

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has commended the ruling of Lagos High Court and indeed the Nigerian Judiciary over the various charges on the NPA scam involving the former PDP boss – Chief Olabode George and others over the multi-million naira scam, describing the decision as ‘restoration of hope and confidence in the Nigerian judiciary’.

The group equally stated that the imprisonment of the former PDP Chieftain and others involved in the scam has shown that there is no ‘sacred cow’ in the ongoing fight against corruption and consequences befalling offenders. Indeed this clears the seemingly atmosphere of lost of hope in the rule of law and the lost of confidence in the hard-earned democratic rule in Nigeria.

The CDHR therefore urged the Yar’Adua -led government to stop at nothing in prosecuting and punishing other office holders whether incumbent or former who used  their offices to enrich themselves.