Much had been said and written about the recent arrest of some former governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and their subsequent arraignment before courts of law in their respective home states.Unsurprisingly the case of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, former Governor of Ogun Sate generated considerable excitement not least in the media as well as among friends and foes alike. On the face of it, a disinterested observer would interpret the event replete with drama as an advance on the anti-corruption struggle in the sense that another political heavy weight is being made to account for his conduct or alleged misconduct while in public office. If we all agree that corruption, in particular, public sector corruption, is Nigeria's number one enemy then nobody ought to have any problem with law enforcement institutions carrying out the task for which they were set up.On deeper inspection however, certain aspects of this high-profile case in particular the sensational use of the media to try the accused as well as the organised heckling of Daniel by a clearly rented crowd raise more questions than answers. Of course in due course the court of law will return a verdict as to the guilt or otherwise of Daniel concerning the allegations for which he is currently standing trial. But who will return the verdict, on the political sleights of hand that sought to nail the accused In the public sphere even before the trial began; who will return the verdict on the structured manipulation of the media to pronounce guilt on a case yet to be brought before the court; indeed when will the jury come in as to the identity of those who paid for ruffians to invade court premises at Abeokuta in order to jeer stridently at the accused'.It is not for nothing that the statute of justice is depicted as a blindfolded goddess suggesting the impartiality of the law as well as the right of all accused persons to a fair trial before courts of competent jurisdiction .Obviously, however powerful political forces acting in tandem with adversary media were bent on the kangaroo court pretrial of Daniel.What is the evidence for this assertion' .To begin with, for reasons not entirely clear this is the first time in which a decision was taken to arraign former governors for trial in their home states; this may seem a minor inconsequential point except that the dramatic booing of the accused at the Abeokuta High Court which was stoutly countermanded by Daniel's supporters readily evoked a similar event at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta earlier this year when political chieftains opposed to the former governor contrived to abase him through hostile jeers from hirelings. Could it be then that what we are witnessing currently is less a struggle against corruption than another high wire game by godfathers to subject the former governor to public contempt and ridicule' Even more curious is the gap between the initial 'disclosures 'that Daniel was being tried for a N58billion scam and the charges filed before Justice Mabekoje in which the amount involved plummeted to less than N5billion. Could it be that someone somewhere has decided that the later modest amount would not excite the public sufficiently and therefore decided on putting out to the public a much higher figure in order to sensationally diminish the former governor' Indeed, so alarmed was Justice Mabekoje by the media trial accompanying this event that he warned the EFCC against what he described as trial by media. That warning did not deter some newspapers from reporting mischievously the very next day that the learned judge had warned the accused not to use a killer squad to hunt down witnesses a statement which is nonsensical considering that refusing bail for the former governor which was the issue before the learned judge could not have presented a killer squad if indeed the accused has one from hunting down prosecution witnesses. The truth of the matter however is that the judge said no such thing but rather made the statement that he would revoke the bail if there was proven evidence that the accused was trying to interfere with prosecution witnesses. But of course, those who invented the phantom killer squad must keep it alive in the public imagination and continue to make Daniel the issue in a state where the electorate are so disenchanted with the pace of governance that one could almost hear: Daniel please come back all is forgiven. What is important is that until this nation evolves impartial institutions, ethos and public culture which will give every one irrespective of whether we like them or not a fair trial we would not be out of the woods as far as corruption is concerned. Too often, we have in this nation substituted melodrama and the flurry of activities for fundamental efforts to tackle corruption in public life. Earlier this week for example the newspapers revealed that 374 government agencies including the EFCC have not had their accounts audited since 1999. Can we be talking seriously about fighting corruption when there are no systems or binding rules in place to check corruption'. Sizzling headlines, high-profile arrests and contrived indictments do not an anticorruption struggle make. What we need in my view are structures that can ensure horizontal accountability by which I mean self-auditing watchdog mechanisms which are capable of preventing corruption at source rather than the current after-the- event activities heavily tainted by partisanship. We can not win the struggle against corruption as long as factional power struggles determine who we nail or turn a blind eye to nor can we make any serious progress when rules and procedures are created in order to ensnare political opponents. By all means let all those who have robbed the state be brought to justice in order to send the message that what belongs to us all should not be appropriated by a few .To drive the effort by vendetta or the settling of personal scores however is to rubbish the anti-corruption struggle beyond redemption.
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