Adeniyi Akintola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has an aversion for corruption among other things. This was a major reason he supports the removal of immunity clause for the President and governors in the Constitution, with the caveat that it should only be limited to criminal matters to avoid undue distractions. He spoke recently with Correspondent, OLADELE OGUNSOLA, in Ibadan.
The House of Representatives recently passed a bill that the immunity clause in the Constitution for both the President and state governors be removed. How do you react to the development?
When one looks at the corrupt system, which seems to be the prevailing situation in the country today, one might be tempted to subscribe to that idea as envisaged by the House of Representatives members. Don’t forget that the civil society has been clamouring for the same thing. But the only grouse I have here is that the National Assembly should be able to draw a line between immunity clause relating to criminal issues and that relating to civil issues.
You see, if the Executive arm of government is bogged down by civil litigation, and knowing our people very well, especially in the Southern part of the country that is highly litigious, governance will be hampered. Having said that, I think what the National Assembly ought to do is sanction the removal of immunity clause relating to criminal issues. Quite a number of the governors and their spouses are criminals.
That’s a weighty imputation.
We see a situation where they chase people out of the road using siren. There is no law that authorises any person to chase you and I out of the road. Nigerians don’t appreciate or know their rights, or speak out against it. We have seen a situation where a SAN had to go to court against a governor from Ogun State, even under the military and he got good damages paid to him. But Nigerians don’t know this.
Only very few governors have not been terrorising people on their way. If you stand in the way of their convoy, they will batter your car, and I think this is criminal. This is assault, but people don’t know. If immunity clause is removed on issues relating to criminality, I will subscribe to that; in fact, I will buy into the idea and we all know that quite a number of them are corrupt. It is not a blanket statement; it is clear.
What do you consider to be the way out of corruption in our country today?
Incidentally, we just finished a seminar on corruption in Abuja, and we spoke so much on the issue of corruption. The will is not there on the part of the executive to fight corruption because everybody seems to be enmeshed in it. It was so bad that one of the participants, a chief judge, had to say ‘let’s legalise it’, because people are now doing it brazenly, with impunity. The most corrupt set of people in the country today are the civil servants. Imagine what happened in Oyo State Pension Office. Forget about what happened in Abuja. Quite a lot of these things are being swept under the carpet. It is a ring, and if it is not nipped in the bud, it will consume everybody.
Elaborate on corruption being a ring.
March last year, I was travelling abroad and when they called for the boarding of the first class passengers, I stepped out, because I was flying first class. Two governors came out of the protocol lounge, and there was this well-dressed Nigerian, who stood by, looked at all of us and said: “Awon ole; won lo wo first class pelu owo wa” (The rogues; they are going to board first class with our money). He looked at the three of us who came out and there was this blanket condemnation of everybody. I went to him and I said: look at me, I’m not a thief; I earn my money. And the man said: “Oh, lawyer, not you, we know you.” But he condemned everybody; he put all of us under the same umbrella. The import of that is that if there is going to be crisis in this country, nobody will be immune; the honest will suffer as much as the victim. It is going to be like something that happened in the North recently; when there was riot and everybody who was riding SUV (sport utility vehicle) became a victim. It became a sin for you to ride in SUV. Look at that and compare it with the airport story. The gentleman at the airport saw the two governors and decided to rope all of us together. Because people knew these people before they became governors, I was the only one who had the courage to challenge the gentleman because everybody knows the source of my income. But we know some of these governors and their families; what they were before they became what they are now. Their wives would come up under the aegis of launching one programme or another, and who are usually the donors? The contractors working with the government. If that is not corruption, then tell me what is it?
But they said it is for good causes.
If the contractors fail to perform, or do haphazard job, can you blame the contractor? What they are giving to the contractor with the right hand, they are taking with the left. Now, look at the civil servants; they ride rickety cars during the day and limousines at night. Their salary cannot justify the kind of houses they are putting up. But because the will is not there, we make various suggestions. In my book, Corruption and Rule of Law in Nigeria, I said: “Let us meet these people at their own doorsteps; if you own property that is not commensurate with your earning, you go to jail. The trial should be within 48 hours.
Why sentence somebody under 48 hours?
In Singapore, you are sentenced to death; in China, it is within 48 hours. It is only in Nigeria that the trial of corrupt officials takes eternity. All we need do is to say: Mr., you are a Permanent Secretary with N500,000 salary per annum. Assuming you have been in service for 30 years, how did you come about this N2 billion asset? It is simple arithmetic. We compute it for him and the onus should be on him to justify how he acquired the property. But, you now have civil servants having mansions in GRA, Agodi, Ikoyi, Onireke, Maitama, Asokoro, Ikeja, VGC (Victoria Garden City) and what have you, and nobody is asking any question. So the issue of corruption is something that should attract the attention of every Nigerian. The situation is terrible.
What is the way out?
The way out is what I have just suggested. We were in South Africa the other day and a private developer was asking us: “How do you cope with the prices of properties in Nigeria?” You see, Lagos and Abuja seem to be the most expensive cities now in the world. Do you know that a house that would go for a million dollars in South Africa would not attract less than five billion in Lagos? I had the opportunity of meeting one of the foreign developers in Ikoyi of recent on behalf of a client and I asked him: Could you have put up this kind of houses for these prices in your own country? He started laughing. The reason is that the public officials no longer put their money in the bank. They want to run away from the prying eyes of the security agencies; they launder the money into the property market. Even here, Agodi GRA, Ibadan, one plot of land goes for as much as N50 million. Can the economy sustain that? So, until we take the bull by the horn and execute three, four or five public officials, others will sit up. It is the common man that is ready to die; the rich man in Nigeria doesn’t want to die. We had example in the past, when Buhari and the late Idiagbon were in power; they only executed three people for drug pushing. Throughout their 18 months in office, there was no single arrest made for drug pushing, everybody ran for cover. I can assure you, if two or three governors are executed today for corruption, others will sit up. Nigeria is the only place I see people stealing what they don’t need. Their children live beyond their means. And they have their accomplices; those who front for them – the contractors and what have you.
One of the problems already identified as militating against the fight against corruption is the long legal process involved in trying offenders in the nation’s courts. How could it be tackled?
Well, you have to go through the system. If the legislators put in place the mechanism, the law that regulates the timeframe during which the cases are determined, we won’t be having this kind of problem. But you have the Constitution there, and that was why we advocated for changes in the criminal justice system. We had put up a paper, but Nigerians don’t read, our leaders don’t read. That’s our bane. That’s why they keep on making mistakes their predecessors had made. Only mad people do the same thing, the same way and expecting different result. So, I think the ball is in the court of the legislative arm of government and, of course, Nigerians. What is going on is unfair. People are suffering; there are millions of people here, even people with Ph.D who don’t have jobs. As I’m speaking with you, I have over 2,000 applications, even from lawyers. We are actually sitting on a keg of gun-powder and that’s why I said the solution lies in the hands of Nigerians. They should start asking us to account for every kobo. Money that is meant for everybody is being siphoned. Nigerians are too passive and the reason is not far-fetched, we are bogged down by two evils: religion and ethnicity. When you are caught in the act, you either play the religion or ethnic card. Did you take permission from your tribe, pastor or alfa before you misappropriate commonwealth? We even have clergymen coming out to defend corruption and they will rationalise it. They will tell you that Jesus Christ came because of the sinners. But, I tell you, education without character will only ruin you. Greed, under the guise of profit will fail in the long run because something has to give. We can’t continue like this, something must give. My own fear is that when the bubble burst, even the innocent will suffer with the sinners.