President Tinubu, De-Criminalization Of Nigerian State, Emancipatory Spotlight On Freeing World Most Populous Black Nation Under Grip Of Kleptocratic Olygarchs

The abuse of state power as a political phenomenon is as old as statecraft itself and had remained a core theme in political and legal Thoughts. Plato and Aristotle were concerned about the best form of government as well as the best form of political society (the state) under which human conditions can be improved. While the wellbeing of the people had ideally been the central focus of every good government, the reality in most nations is that it is the wellbeing of the elites that state functions had served the most with socio-economic and political inequalities testifying to this allusion. It was against this backdrop that ‘Democracy’ emerged in Athenian Greece as a movement of the People of lower classes of the society against the preponderance of the aristocratic and wealthy classes.
The criminalization of the Nigerian state is deliberately chosen as the title of this article by the author to spotlight the anti-graft goal of President Tinubu’s administration within its first 100 Days in office within the context of how a long list of political vices from how the processes of governance are abused to how political power become instrument of oppression, exploitation, repression and undermining of the fundamental pillars of good governance (justice, equity, fairness, transparency and accountability) had undermined the task of nation building 63 years after independence.

History of statecraft has shown that every form of government produces after its kind as adherents and that when the adherents lacked the attributes and characters of the principle then you have political hypocrites (as in the cases of elected autocrats, i.e. autocrats enthroned by the ballots through popular elections). Thus democracy ideally should produce democrats (adherents to the Principle), dictatorships produce dictators, Kleptocracy (Kleptocrats), Oligarchy (Oligarchs), Federalism federalists (see the 85 Federalist Papers (Publius) by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay), Monarchies (monarchs), absolute monarchies (absolute monarchs); and Constitutional monarchies (constitutional monarchs) with limited powers. The antithesis is however the case when democracy is producing kleptocrats and autocrats, oligarchs and rent-seekers contrary to the principle. This phenomenon had been described as hybrid regimes whereby the characters of democrats are exhibited at the same time and under the same dispensation with the attributes of autocrats and Kleptocrats and widespread abuses of the representative principle of democracy (Acheoah A.O. August 2023)
Nigeria is of interest for Scholarship in Comparative Politics of sub-Saharan Africa for many factors among which is the fact that Nigerian is not just the most populous black nation, but also the largest emigrant nation of black diasporas with Hausa, Yoruba and Igbos accounting for six in every ten Nigerians and Yoruba alone accounting for about 60% of Afro-Brazilians. Also, socio-political data on political prevalence in Nigeria offers clues to the crises of post-Colonial African nations struggling from the grip of powerful elites who abuse state power over the ruling elites.
A plethora of scholarly works have made contributory inputs towards the discourse on Corruption in public life; lack of ethics and accountability in the Nigerian Bureaucracy; the abuse of state powers and misappropriation of the funds in the oil industry; the politics of Rent-seeking (Waziri Babatunde Adisa (2010) “From Kickbacks to Ghana Must Go: A Discourse on the Political Economy of Rent-Seeking in Nigeria”: Ajaerto, Chris (2009) ”The Boom that Became Our Doom” In News watch The Looming Food Crisis August 3 2009; Campos, Edgardo T. and Pradham (2007) “The Many Faces of Corruption, Tracking Vulnerabilities at the Sector Level’ Washington D.C the World Bank; Mbaku, John Mukum (2000) “Bureaucratic Corruption in Africa: The Futility of Cleanups” Cato Journal Vol 16 No 1; and so many others)
The strong statements from President Bola Tinubu to rid Nigeria of corruption is not a new pledge from a Nigerian President, it had been a crucial aspect of most maiden addresses of his predecessors as the phenomenon had remained episodic with every new government pointing at his predecessor’s as inept and corrupt. What Nigerians hoped to see optimistically is how the President will achieve this core objective of good governance without impunity, bias and sectional campaign with proper adherence to the rule of law in view (Acheoah A.O. August 2023).

It was against this backdrop that Femi Falana, while speaking at the 60th Anniversary of the call to Bar of Aare Afe Babalola charged the 16th:
“I’m urging the President to lead an anti-corruption crusade so that the country can take its rightful place in the committee of nations…Some of those who are going in and out of the Villa are standing trial for looting the treasury of the country…So wrong signals must not be sent to our people and the international community”
That the criminalization of the Nigerian state cuts across public and private spheres of the nation indicates how collaborations between those in government and those outside the government work hand in hand to loot the country; how public offices become handouts to loyalists for returns, primitive accumulation and the diversions of public funds to private coffers, the conspiracies between multinationals corporations to bypass the regulatory requirements for exchange for bribes; the relinquishments of public sector equities from the public to friends and families and so on.
Another impression that the incumbent President Bola Tinubu had created in the last three months running into his first 100 days in office is that his Presidency will not be held down or clogged by the wheels of powerful cabals, one of the excuses for Presidential failures since 1999 to 2023 as we have heard that cabals held yar-Adua- Jonathan and President Buhari and denied them the focus to deliver their promises in a nation described in 2002 by World Bank as a ‘Captive State:

1. I will kill corruption;
2. Don’t pity me, there is no excuse for failure;
3. The presidency is a rare privilege I will not abuse (misuse),
4. this borrowing to fund public spending must end;
5. I will remove all roadblocks to the nation’s progress.
   President Tinubu declared:
   “My own is not identity politics, it’s not hunger of poverty politics. I have followed a man who has integrity, character and courage to say, Nigerians we need to change and change have to change our mindset, kills corruption in our society”
   Speaking on his plan to improve the living standards for judicial officials as a way of checking corruptible judges, President Tinubu noted:
   “You don’t expect your judges to live in squalor to operate in squalor and dispense justice in squalor. This is part of the necessary changes.

We must fight corruption but we must look at the other side of the coin…If you don’t want judges to be corrupt you got to pay attention to their welfare. You don’t want them to operate in hazardous conditions. We don’t want our judges to play foul to compromise justice. I promise we are going to review all of these in a policy think tank”
Stating that there will be no excuses, I’ll live up to expectations President Tinubu in his inaugural address submits:
“…We must fight corruption, inconsistencies in policies and many other problems confronting us, but don’t pity me, I asked for the job. I campaigned for it, with no excuses; I will live up to the bill delivered. I promise you”
One will agree that the Nigerian state has been criminalized beyond the spheres that the anti-graft lamp of this administration has beamed; that the CBN and Petroleum Subsidy are not the only major conduits where the nation’s wealth are being stolen; that NNPC and its successor NNPCL, the Custom and several MDAs are also conduits; that several political allies and foes are expropriators of the nation’s wealth 1999-date; that corruption in 21st Century Nigerian politics has no tribal, ethnic, religious, or political contours as virtually non-has lived above the ills of the Nigerian state. Killing Political corruption if achievable will be the greatest legacy done by a Nigerian President to his fatherland. Most importantly it will require the President to be blind to whoever is found guilty be they from his party, ethnic affiliation, political ally or not, the watchwords will be the Law taking its course, that is running to the ruling APC will not be the escape route when found or accused of corrupt practices (Acheoah A.O 2023)
The criminalization of a good policy may bring about the wrong perception of the policy rather than its implementation. For instance, petroleum Subsidy was not the problem but the abuse of the policy intended to mitigate the pains of the ordinary man. External borrowing is not a problem but debt unsustainability (borrowing to embezzle and re-borrowing to repay). Democracy is not an anti-people governance principle but the crisis of democracy stemmed from the abuse of the principle by hypocrites, the use of elections to legitimize the emergence of kleptocrats and money bags (who are liabilities to the principle). One of the illusions the West had about the so-called waves of democratization is the view that elections automatically usher in democratic dispensations whereas dictatorial and kleptocratic tendencies abound in both civilian and military regimes. It is against this backdrop that Acheoah A.O. (2021) argued that Nigeria has not had a regime change since 1914 from the standpoint of instrumentalizing the state for the appropriation of the Commonwealth of the people (the Late Fela Onikulapo Kuti called authority stealing. Rather, what has changed since 1914 is the crop of the predatory ruling class from colonial to indigenous military and civilian alike none has lived above the ills of the Nigerian state (Acheoah A.O.2023)
In 2022, Nigeria is estimated to have lost $400bn to corruption since independence, particularly in the oil sector including the seizure of salaries from fake or ghost workers.
In Transparency International 2022, Corruption Perception Index (CPI) Nigeria scored 24 on a scale from 0 to 100 very clean.
Corruption in Nigeria had been described as an episodic, endemic and systemic phenomenon by Political Scientists from the University of Lagos (Professors S.O. Akinboye, Derin Ologbelan, B. Onuoha et al). Derin Ologbenla situated impunity as the major driver of corruption as some go free while others are held by the law because they fell apart with incumbency. Restricting the war against corruption to the backyards of opposition political parties and political opponents is not the way, and neither is it the path to justice. Join our political Party and all your sins are forgiven is one of the patterns of anti-graft decadence seen since 1999.
The campaign against corruption should be pushed on every side beyond the political front. There should be a cultural revival against corruption because like Peace which has a cultural component in its quests rather than drafting military peacekeepers everywhere, if societies embrace a culture of peace, we will have a better world with less numbers of armed conflicts. Conflicts are inevitable aspects of every society experts have agreed, but Nations have witnessed more peace than others and war is learned rather than a vestigial trait in the human make up. We must not undermine the cultural front is because corruption is endemic in our society (it had become a culture). Those in government today accused their predecessors of corruption and by the end of every administration’s tenure in office hence the episodic character of corruption suffices (that is new cases of corruption will be reported). Furthermore, it is from the society that people are recruited into the ruling class. The President’s virtue and personality make up did not start from that office. A long list of personalities helped in building the child that becomes a man in future, so all the values and vices that he is cautioned and counseled of form part of his approach to the real world. The child shows the man as the morning shows the day they say. We must take anti-graft to schools (Primary to tertiary), the national Orientation Agency, the Families, the Religious institutions and the Opinion Leaders, Civil Societies all have role to play to reduce corruption in the society.
Corruption, secessionist threats militancy, terrorism amd banditary are all strains to the Political system. The system must not be overstrained so that it will not collapse and as such, is not all that is demanded from the government that the state must accommodate. Demands capable of jeopardizing the entire system must not receive administrative approval. The biggest test of any political system rests on what it offers to the people. Is the system addressing the needs of the people or the elites? What the system does for society comes as outputs, authoritative decisions, interventions, schemes, awards and dispensation of justice
Policy advocates must scale them on the thresholds of the socio-economic consequences they had on ordinary people. The Naira redesign policy of the last administration remained a classic example with the Supreme Court’s ruling deterrence to future Presidents that a President cannot be the Captain and the Referee in a single match (the referee decides on goal and fowl).
Plato argued for the acquiring of political power for the interests of the people and made a philosopher King his best person to govern: “Because rulers were not philosophers and philosophers were not rulers is at the heart of the crisis of governance; because a philosopher would be able to administer justice and all for the good of the community; good men will consent to govern for cash or honours.
They don’t want to be called mercenaries for exacting a cash payment for the work of government or thieves for making money on the side, and they will not work for honour, for they are ambitious…true rulers pursue their subjects’ interests and not his own…(Plato 1955:89-90)
Where democracy is corrupted, the people take the back burner of governance and statecraft; where federalism is corrupted, the concentration of power rather than the devolution of power becomes the outcome; and when bureaucracy is corrupted, patron-client relations determine who gets employed or promoted as the principles of bureaucracy are thrown away for personal rather than impersonal relations (Acheoah A.O 2023).

De-criminalization of the Nigerian state will mean that there be no sacred cows be they staunch members of a ruling party, but that every citizen within the political borders of Nigeria is equally subjected to the laws of the land.
Not speaking truth to power is one of the faultiness of political followership in Nigeria. We saw how those dogged APC governors who saw genuine cause to move against Buhari’s policy on the issuance of new naira series at the Supreme Court, an effort that restored sanity as the Supreme Court ruled against the President as acting as an autocrat, preaching democracy but abused the Constitution; usurped the powers of the CBN; that banks have no case in the suit. The governors took that move because they knew that the President cannot be a Captain and Referee at the same time in a match, the Referees are the judges, and the players are the Executives, while FIFA is the Parliament (making soccer rules).
The Apex Court ruled that President Buhari neither consulted the National Economic Council nor the Nigerian public on the new naira policy. That raises questions about the possibility of the hybrid variant of democracy, an emergent variant by which elected representatives exhibit both democratic and dictatorial leadership traits (hybrid regime).
President Tinubu had pledged to end borrowing to finance public spending. Statistics from the Debt Management Office indicate that Nigeria spent N3.36 trillion on debt servicing in 2022 (representing a 14.68 per cent increase from N2.93 trillion in 2021). Nigeria also spent 1.07 trillion in external debt servicing.
President Tinubu submits:
“…The consequences of the ongoing failure of our tax regime are real and significant. The inability of the government to efficiently raise revenue has led directly to an overreliance on borrowing to finance public spending. A government that cannot properly fund itself will also lack the flexibility or fiscal scope to sensibly manage the economy or respond to external shocks…instead, debt servicing continues to consume an ever greater portion of the government’s already meagre revenues. This traps the economy in a vicious cycle of borrowing simply to service previous debt and leaves almost no scope for socio-economic development…As President, I am determined to end this cycle. On the day of my inauguration, I promised that my administration would address all the issues impeding investment and economic growth in Nigeria. This promise is why I end fuel subsidies. It is the reason the Central Bank has called an end to its multiple exchange rate system under my watch (and) It is for the same reason we have gathered here today to inaugurate the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms…the Committee comprises experts from private and public sectors. I have given them a strong mandate and I expect their report to cover tax reforms. Fiscal policy design and coordination, harmonization of taxes and revenue administration among other items…our aim is to transform the tax system to support sustainable development while at the same time. Achieving a minimum of 19% Tax-to-GDP ratio within the next three years”
Crony Capitalism kills small businesses as Raghu Ram Rajam, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India noted while underscoring the effects of Crony Capitalism on developing economies:
“…One of the greatest changes to the growth of developing countries is the middle-income trap where crony capitalism creates oligarchs that slow down growth”
Another threatening phenomenon is State Capture, a system whereby private interests influence significantly public policy decisions and processes to the corrupt advantage of private groups at the expense of the larger society. Fears of state capture spurned protests in Bulgaria in 2017 as well as South Africa in 2016. Where state capture occurs, laws and social norms and bureaucracy are manipulated by government officials, state-backed companies and individuals to influence state laws and policies in their favour.
The war on Political Corruption could not be fought and won on the political front alone, talk less of the war on Non-Political corruption (in the society at large). Both aspects of corruption are mutually reinforcing, those outside government romance around the corridors of power to get public contracts which are deliberately abandoned. Without honesty to the fatherland, nothing can help a nation its people aspire to build. The entire Funds in World Bank and IMF if given to a corrupt system will be embezzled. No matter how long the rain falls a basket economy will be empty. What Africa is suffering including Nigeria is not funds but the dearth of men of integrity to manage national wealth (Acheoah A.O. 2023).
The state of the Nigerian economy today is the direct consequence of past exploitations of the nation’s wealth, there are escape routes other than getting the nation’s economic fundamentals right. Elite-state predatory relations will run the country bankrupt. Until the political elites think productive outside oil and begin to account judiciously for public assets and liabilities, nation-building will hardly record meaningful headways.
De-criminalizing the Nigerian state also requires the government to pursue and sustained a fair reward system that encourages honesty in service, no one in service goes to Pension offices and sees what pensioners are going through in this part of the world and expect honest services. The EFCC, ICPC and Judiciary alone cannot put a lid on political corruption in public life. The miseries of pensioners are pointers to those in service and how they may end up serving the nation faithfully, loyally and honestly as our national pledge reads. We must stop rewarding greed and the selfish interests of the political leadership and let those who had served reap their rewards and see their award. That is one of the safest ways to combat corruption in our public life.
The granting of Amnesty or freeing offenders, because they belonged to or have joined a ruling Party, is one of the failing approaches towards a better Nigeria and a propagator of the impunity culture in Nigerian mainstream national politics that must stop if we must send good signals to upcoming and the world that we are ready for change.
We cannot alleviate poverty through a system that concentrates national wealth in few hands while many suffer Nigeria need a wealth redistribution policy to give back the stolen wealth to the people. We are hearing of Abacha’s recovered funds re-looted with some top national leaders being fingered by the Court.
It should be noted that the campaign against corruption and abuse of statecraft is not the preserve of the Government alone, the citizens, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and even the Nigerian Performance artists have their role. We saw great rhythmic oppositions and conscious music of Late Fela Kuti, Sonny Okosun (Suffering and Smiling; Which Way Nigeria, Nigeria is Now or Never), Tubaba’s ‘E be Like Say’; African China’s ‘Mr President’; Late Essien Ibokwe’s “Time don Come Make we make Nigeria great should be emulated by young popular stars like Davido and Naira Marley to push their lyrics and performance beyond vulgar and nudity, the socio-economic, political and economic realities of 21st Century Nigeria should influence their songs. That will help socialize the youths (the demographic strength of the nation) on how to participate in the affairs of their nation. Even Gangster rappers: Tupac did some great conscious Hip Hop songs (Ghetto Gospel, Changes) (Acheoah A.O. 2023)
We cannot build a nation successfully when governance at rural or local levels is hijacked and Council Chairmen are not democratically elected but handpicked by state governors. Local Government is designed to serve the rural people and among other things check the over-concentration of power at the central authority; serves as a two-way channel of communication between the Local Populace and the central authority; provides the rural dwellers with the platforms to conduct their affairs within the context of their historical, cultural and socio-economic peculiarities. Today, there are constitutional, political and economic and administrative impediments undermining the prospects of Local Government as the Third Tier of the Nigerian Federal arrangement. Among these are: the joint Account; the imposition of the LGA Chairman and the relegation of Local Government to Local administration. Section 7 subsection (1) contradicts Section 162 subsections 5, 6 and 7 of the 1999 Constitution where the 774 LGAs in Nigerian lost their fiscal and financial autonomies and made them subservient to their home states’ fiscal control. These sections made Local Governments vulnerable to fiscal manipulations by their state governments. Local Government instructively is the oldest form of government that had existed in both pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial times (then inchoate) as native authorities, County Councils, divisional councils, and municipal councils in multi-tier arrangements before the 1970s’ reform made them one-tier and third tier (Acheoah A.O. 2023).
Post-1960 nation-building policies of the successive government towards diversifying the economy had only reflected lip service as oil wealth remained the national cake that enriched the unproductive political elites to whom the core problems of What to produce outside oil matters not to them (all they want to know is oil benchmark and crude oil prices, where oil could not meet their greed, they recourse to borrowing.
One of the banes to the fight against anti-graft in Nigeria is the culture of impunity and abuse of power of Clemency and Presidential pardon, by which retributive justice is abused when those who committed heavy crimes against mankind are let go while those who stole handsets are in jail. The Clemency powers of the President is one tacit judicial power which the constitution created as a last hope for any citizen who became a victim of a miscarriage of justice or whose pardon will help cement national unity. One such example was the 1982 Amnesty granted Late Ojukwu to facilitate the re-uniting of the Igbo after the civil war. Of course, the amnesty for General Yakubu Gowon by the late President Shagari was also towards the same end. Through the Presidential Power of Clemency, a Supreme Court’s verdict’s effect ceases upon a convict. Calling for Amnesty for bandits and terrorists is part of the drifts to bring impunity culture into the Amnesty Powers of the President (Acheoah A.O. 2023)
I will conclude by saying that until we have men and women who truly have fear of God in government and public assignments, the fight against corruption (one of the vices of the knowledge of good and evil that mankind caught from the beginning) no human effort can save mankind. The fallacy and lie are being sold out to the public ‘that a God-fearing man cannot be in Government’ Joseph and Daniel were in government in Babylon and Egypt and were forthright, God-fearing. Until we have true Muslims and Christians in leadership positions and governmental assignments, efforts towards ending corruption will remain in futility for we all have one face each but corruption has many faces. As Presidential Oath taking always concludes: “So help me God’ only God can help us (Acheoah A.O. 2023)
Punch News ”Some of the Visitors to Aso Villa Standing Trial for Corruption-Falana”
Punch News “Why Nigerians have not enjoyed dividends of Democracy in 23 Years-Jega”
Ijewereme Ogbewere Bankole (2015-06-19) “Anatomy of corruption in the Nigerian public sector: Theoretical perspectives and some Empirical Explanations” SAGE 824401558118 doi:10. 117712158244015581188 ISSN 2158-244
Okoye, Rita (31 August 2012) “Nigeria has lost $400 bn oil revenue to corruption since independence –Ezekwesili” Daily Post Nigeria
David Easton “The Political System: An Enquiry into the State of Political Science” New York, Alfred Knopf, 1953
UN News “Lost Decade looms for debt-ridden developing countries UNCTAD
Punch News 8 August 2023 “FG’s reliance on borrowing must end-Tinubu
The Times of India “Crony Capitalism a big threat to countries like India, RBI Chief Raghuram Rajan says” August 12 2014
John Durand et al (2017) “Peru: Elite Power and Political Capture” London, United Kingdom Zed Books Ltd p 90 ISBN 978-1-78360.

•(Acheoah A.O. 2023)
Punch News ”Some of the Visitors to Aso Villa Standing Trial for Corruption-Falana”
Punch News “Why Nigerians have not enjoyed dividends of Democracy in 23 Years-Jega”
Ijewereme Ogbewere Bankole (2015-06-19) “Anatomy of corruption in the Nigerian public sector: Theoretical perspectives and some Empirical Explanations” SAGE 824401558118 doi:10. 117712158244015581188 ISSN 2158-244
Okoye, Rita (31 August 2012) “Nigeria has lost $400 bn oil revenue to corruption since independence –Ezekwesili” Daily Post Nigeria
David Easton “The Political System: An Enquiry into the State of Political Science” New York, Alfred Knopf, 1953
UN News “Lost Decade looms for debt-ridden developing countries UNCTAD
Punch News 8 August 2023 “FG’s reliance on borrowing must end-Tinubu
The Times of India “Crony Capitalism a big threat to countries like India, RBI Chief Raghuram Rajan says” August 12 2014
John Durand et al (2017) “Peru: Elite Power and Political Capture” London, United Kingdom Zed Books Ltd p 90 ISBN 978-1-78360.