By Douglas Anele

If there is any scintilla of doubt that members of Nigeria’s ruling and business elite, particularly those entrusted with running the political and economic institutions of the country, are hopelessly lost in the mud of corruption I believe that the current bribery scandal which implicated the House of Representatives’ committee on capital markets has blown it to smithereens.

According to media reports, the committee had, on Monday, March 12, commenced a public hearing on the declining fortunes of capital market in recent years. This is in consonance with the oversight functions of the House as provided for in the 1999 Constitution.

In the hearing, Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunmah Oteh, was in the hot seat, because she had to respond, inter alia, to allegations that she spent the sum of N85, 000 on a day’s meal at upscale Transcorp Hilton Hotel and violated the rules of employment in the hiring of some SEC employees.

Rep. Herman Hembe & Ms. Arummah Oteh

But on Thursday last week, Oteh triggered an ethical tsunami for the committee chairman, Herman Hembe, when she boldly challenged his moral authority to preside over a panel investigating her commission.

According to the Director-General, the House committee through its chairman demanded N39 million and N5 million on two separate occasions from SEC to fund the public hearing. Oteh, who claimed to have rejected both requests, further stated that on October 20 last year, SEC gave Hembe a business class ticket and some money for a purported trip to the Dominican Republic to attend a conference on capital markets.

Hembe, she alleged, never attended the conference and did not return both the ticket and the cheque he got from SEC. Aside from these allegations, Oteh also revealed that Emeka Ihedioha, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and nephew of former DG of SEC, Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, used his influence to get his wife employed by the commission.

Therefore, she argued, if the committee saw nothing wrong with Ihedioha’s influence-peddling tactic that secured a job for his spouse, then there was nothing wrong in her employing some staff of Access Bank on secondment. On the flip side, Oteh was accused of spending over N30 million as hotel bills for the eight months she stayed at Transcorp Hilton and, as we have noted already, she spent N85, 000 in one day for feeding at the same hotel.

A huge sum of N66.125 million was already earmarked for payment of official residence for the DG, a move which Charles Odunaro, commissioner in charge of legal unit of SEC, described as contrary to the monetisation policy of government.

Of course, this is not the first time members of the National Assembly were accused of demanding gratification from public servants that appear before them during ministerial confirmation hearings, public hearings and whenever the ‘lawmakers’ are performing their statutory oversight functions.

Indeed, one can justifiably describe the national legislature since the return to civilian rule in 1999 as the Mecca of corruption. Remember, Nasir el-Rufai, former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, accused senators of demanding a bribe of N54 million to facilitate his confirmation as minister. Although el-Rufai cowardly apologised to the senate, it was obvious that federal ‘lawmakers’ are exploiting their privileged position for corrupt enrichment.

The Elumelu committee that investigated the N5 billion electrification scam was fatally compromised when its chairman and his deputy, Ndudi Elumelu and Nicholas Ugbane respectively, were accused of corruption. Thus, it is clear that since 1999 the lawmaking arm of the federal government has bastardised its oversight mandate on government ministries, parastatals and agencies.

As a result, when senators or House members embark on probes, Nigerians believe, correctly in my view, that the ‘legislators’ are either looking for an opportunity to be ‘settled’ or are executing the hidden agenda of political and business cabals that want to checkmate the leadership of any government agency, perhaps for planning to investigate and expose their nefarious business dealings.

And because the history of probes in Nigeria reveals that indicted VIPs usually get away with criminality, many Nigerians would likely dismiss the current scandal as a meaningless circus with the refrain: “we have been through this before.” Yet, irrespective of ample justification for cynicism, it is still worthwhile to critically examine the issues that arise from this case and discuss reasons why it has been difficult to really to reduce official corruption to a manageable level.

To start with, Hembe and members of his committee (if they were privy to the financial demands made on SEC) must be colossal idiots for demanding any form of financial assistance from an organisation they were supposed to investigate. Since “he that pays the piper dictates the tune,” the committee would have applauded Oteh and employees of SEC for “a job well done” after receiving the N44 million bribe.

More generally, SEC under the current Director-General would have been shielded from public scrutiny as long as the present National Assembly remains in charge, particularly if the organisation continues its “cordial relationship with members.”

Second, Hembe’s disgraceful conduct, if established, will further dent the battered image of our federal legislators as shameless agbata ekee spendthrifts for whom politics is an easy means for primitive accumulation. I have always maintained that the present set of politicians at all levels is unfit to lead. Less than one percent of them are actually motivated by altruism and desire for effective public service; the remaining ninety-nine percent are just keen to get their share of the so-called national cake.

It is unnecessary to catalogue in this brief discussion instances of the financial abominations, including fixing outrageous salaries and allowances for themselves, which “lawmakers” have committed since 1999. Nigerians know that people of highly questionable moral and spiritual character have captured political power.

Therefore, it is not surprising that majority of our “legislators,” just like most leading members of the executive and the judiciary, are clever rogues who deserve the Madoff treatment.

It is rather unfortunate that whereas someone who steals a goat or N1, 000 is jailed for some years, members of the ruling and business elite, even when found guilty of misappropriating billions of naira, are allowed to strut around enjoying their loot as if nothing was amiss.

The way the system works here, time would come when corrupt politicians, top civil servants and prominent businessmen and women would receive medals for graft.
TO BE CONCLUDED.