Corruption: Another general bites the dust

On Tuesday, June 16, 2020, Nigeria’s war against corruption claimed an eminent personality. Nigerian Army’s general court-martial found Hakeem Oladapo Otiki, a Major General due to retire this year, guilty of corruption charges and ordered that he should be sacked with “disgrace and dishonour”. What a tragic end to an otherwise illustrious career. Truly, call no man fortunate until you see the end of his life! Otiki was the General Officer Commanding, Nigerian Army, 8 Division in Sokoto in July 2019 when he sent five soldiers to haul cash from Sokoto to Abuja by road before the money allegedly got missing.

The court, headed by the army’s Chief of Policy and Plans, Lt. Gen. Lamidi Adeosun, found the former GOC guilty of disobedience to service orders, theft of public property, diverting operational money and engaging in private businesses. The tribunal ordered he be demoted from Major General to Brigadier General and subsequently dismissed. The court also ordered that all the money totalling N135.8m, $6,600 recovered be returned to the coffers of the Nigerian Army. It also ordered that another N150m which could not be accounted for, be returned to the coffers of the army. The judgement is, however, subject to the approval of the Army Council.

Otiki was appointed the GOC of 8 Division in March 2019. Before the appointment, he was the Commander Infantry Corps in Jaji, Kaduna State.

There are some questions that needed to be answered by the Nigerian military authorities. How did Otiki manage to single-handedly pull off that fraud on his Division? There is no record of anyone being tried with him at the court martial. Is it possible to have no one to aid and abet his criminality? What is the cash withdrawal and transportation policy of Nigerian Army? What efforts are being made to track and arrest the five soldiers who stole the N400m Otiki sent them to bring to Kaduna? What is Nigerian military doing to ensure that fraudulent activities that happened under Otiki as GOC of 8 Division, Sokoto does not repeat itself in any of its formations?

Otiki has been made a scapegoat but there are still some sacred cows in the country’s security and defence sector who have yet to be nabbed.  I do hope they will turn a new leaf before they are caught and dismissed with dishonour as is the case with Otiki.

Hopefully, other officers and men of the Nigerian Army and indeed armed forces will learn from the sad end of Otiki. It is most unfortunate that corruption in the security and defence sector is still thriving.

Truth be told, allegations of corruption in the Nigerian Armed Forces have been on for a while. Recall the former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, looted billions of naira from the country so much so that the stolen funds stashed away in foreign currencies in many bank vaults around the world are being returned till date. The latest of such recovered loot which is $311m was received from United States of America on Monday, May 4, 2020.

It is saddening that while Abacha was helping himself to the nation’s commonwealth, his regime set up a failed banks’ tribunal that jailed many of the bank executives for long years of prison terms. I have often asked this question: who are the people that aided and abetted Abacha to loot the country and why are they not on trial? It is most unfortunate that the military has under the guise of “espirit de corps” or comradeship failed to investigate how billions of dollars disappeared from the nation’s coffers under the late dictator.

Well, if successive administrations will want the sleeping dog to lie, concerning Abacha, some other police and military top brass have not been that lucky.  On April 4, 2005, a former Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, was arraigned at the Federal High Court, Abuja on charges involving about N13bn obtained through money laundering, theft and other sources. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under Nuhu Ribadu brought 70 charges against Balogun covering the period from 2002 to 2004. He entered into a plea bargain with the court in exchange for returning much of the property and money and was sentenced to six months in jail. He was released on February 9, 2006 after serving his sentence. That incident took place under President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The President Muhammadu Buhari regime has also taken the bull by the horns to fight corruption in the security and defence sector with the arrest and prosecution of the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Vice Marshal Alex Badeh and a former Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosun among others by the EFCC.

A recollection of the corruption allegations against the former NSA are: In November 2015, the Office of National Security Adviser under Dasuki  was reportedly used as a conduit pipe to fund the failed re-election bid of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.  It was alleged that part of the sum of $2.1bn meant for the procurement of arms and ammunition to fight insurgency, particularly in the North-East was funnelled into the presidential campaign of Jonathan in the lead-up to the 2015 general election. The scandal known as Dasukigate has thrown up many revelations. Aside from the diversion of funds for election purposes, fraudulent arms contract deals were also uncovered by the military audit panel set up by Buhari to look into the saga.

A January 15, 2016 press statement issued by Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said a number of offences were outlined by the military panel established to audit the procurement of arms and equipment in the Armed Forces and Defence sector from 2007 to 2015 against 17 top military brass, both serving and retired, as well as against certain other non-military individuals and companies. Such breaches as identified by the audit committee included “non-specification of procurement costs, absence of contract agreements, award of contracts beyond authorised thresholds, transfer of public funds for unidentified purposes and general non-adherence to provisions of the Public Procurement Act.” The statement added that “the procurement processes were arbitrarily carried out and generally characterised by irregularities and fraud. In many cases, the procured items failed to meet the purposes they were procured for, especially the counterinsurgency efforts in the North-East.”

It can thus be seen that part of the reasons the war against insurgency and insecurity in this country has not been won is due to corrupt practices by some of the heads of the security and defence sector. Quite unfortunately, thousands of innocent lives have been and are still being lost to these bandits and insurgents just because some top brass decided to engage in sharp practices and malpractices. Until recently, there were still cries from the soldiers fighting insurgency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states about lack of sophisticated equipment and welfare. This is heartrending!

In January, Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, accused security personnel of the military and police of collecting bribes of N1,000 from travellers who did not have national identity cards. The governor made the accusation when he visited the Maiduguri-Damaturu Highway where thousands of travellers were stranded because security officials manning the highway locked it down. Bribe-taking by security personnel at checkpoints is a common feature on our highways. Quite unfortunately, despite several condemnations and pledges to root out corruption in the defence and security sector, this has yet to be achieved.

I am of the considered view that unless and until the military and security high command purge itself of its corrupt elements, insecurity will continue to thrive and so will be poverty and unemployment. Where all of these malaises manifest, there can never be development. It’s all intertwined.