WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2011-07-25 Time: 17:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
By Mustafa Abubakar
Ilorin – Justice Mustapha Akanbi is a household name within the forthright judicial community, where he has brought honesty, sincerity and fairness to bear. In this interview, the Ghanaian-born jurist speaks on his life as pioneer chairman of the ICPC, among other foundation issues. Excerpt:
How did you feel when you were offered the position of ICPC chairman? What were your expectations and what challenges did you face while discharging your duties?
When I was given the offer, it was not within my contemplation to be the ICPC chairman. What happened was that there was this fertilizer company in Onne, Port Harcourt, where money had been embezzled totalling N12.5 billion and I was called upon to investigate the account of the company. I think I performed my duty assiduously and with determination and got recommendation on who was at fault and who was not. The government was so impressed because to investigate a case of N12.5bn is no joke. It was that which was appreciated because I had not met Obasanjo one-on-one before then and some people spoke about me to him and he invited me.
What impressed me was the general support from the public that a good man had been appointed as the ICPC chairman. At least, I received the support of people just like when President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Jega as the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission. You know the public response was totally overwhelming. People spoke highly of some. So, I felt I enjoyed this reputation, why not I take up the job? Even at that, I told former President Obasanjo to give me some time to ruminate over the appointment because I had other plans. I told him that I was a retired person. I did not want to go back to government job again. But he said he was also retired and he came out of prison to take the appointment. So, I said, “ok, give me time. I will go on pilgrimage to Mecca and commune with my Creator and when I came back, I will let you know.” So, I went and came back and accepted the office. And the day that we were being sworn in, I told him that for the job, I had decided to put my life on the line and would discharge my functions with the best of my abilities.
So, I saw it as a challenge that out of millions of Nigerians, I had been considered fit and worthy to investigate people who are prone to the crime of corruption. It made me feel that Nigerians had appreciated me and I would not let the nation down. So, I knew it was a challenge because corruption had eaten deep into the fabric of the nation. People had come to see corruption as a way of life. People now feel that there is no Nigerian who is not corrupt. They believe that we are all corrupt. So, if that is the case and I have been saddled with this responsibility, I must do my utmost best to convince the nation that there are still Nigerians who abhor corruption. So, I went on with determination. You know I was not alone. I was the chairman. We had twelve Nigerians to join me in the fight against corruption.
Unfortunately, when we started, the first challenge we had was that most of the states were against the legislation. They did not like the legislation that the Federal Government could legislate for them about corruption. So, the Ondo State government went to court to challenge the constitutionality and the validity of the Act which created the ICPC. They got the services of some of the best legal brains, Chief Rotimi Williams, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, to fight the matter. It took us almost three years in court and it caused a lot of delays for us in the execution of our duty.
But at the end of the day, the Supreme Court in its wisdom, decided that Federal Government had the jurisdiction to legislate. And then we were only left with a short time to fight corruption. We did our best. We also had our own internal squabbles. Some of the people appointed with me were politicians and they had their ideas on how they could move. Towards the last year was the most momentous. We started arresting what they call the big fishes and we had a problem in the senate. I was brought before the senate and asked all sorts of questions but I met them on their own ground and I was able to let them know that I could not be cowed. So, it was a wonderful experience for me. It was an experience that was entirely different from the judiciary. When you are working in the judiciary, there are procedures and rules and you know that you make orders and they are obeyed and if they are not obeyed, the offender will face the consequences.
So, the reason I did not accept the second tenure was that I realized that I had no say in the choice of who worked with me and who did not work with me. Some of those who worked with me had their own ideas and they were not ready to be bent and any idea which would not help me discharge my function was unacceptable to me.
Also, we were terribly under-funded. I remember there was a year Mr President, in my presence, directed the then Minister of Finance to give us N600m. But he never did till he left and nothing happened. So, when you begin to experience these problems and you do not want your name spoilt, you leave when the ovation is loudest. I decided to bow out.
How would you assess the fight against corruption now?
Sometimes, when you leave an office, it is difficult to assess or start commenting on your successor in the office lest he thinks you are running him down. I had had cause to speak on ICPC because by the time I was leaving office, there were some big men whom we had investigated and they had their cases in court. But from the report I was receiving, my successor believes that the way to fight corruption is to re-orientate the people and enlighten the public on corruption. But Section 6 of the Act recognizes primarily six responsibilities which may sometimes be reduced to three.
It talks of enforcement, prevention and public enlightenment and education. Enforcement means investigate and prosecute. Prevention is stopping the practices in government establishments, identify those practices which may lead to corruption and give solutions to them. The third one is public enlightenment. They must go together. You do not completely set investigation and prosecution aside. There was an attempt to slow down the aspects of investigation and prosecution, especially as the big names no longer resurfaced. If you do not have the courage to deal with all classes, you keep on prosecuting people whose names probably do not mean much to the public eye. The average Nigerian, once he sees you prosecute one or two big men, will sit up. Like the EFCC did in prosecuting Bode George. Honestly, whatever is the case, it is a plus for them. We do prosecute; we do not convict. We just present the evidence to the court for the court to decide, so if the evidence is there, why not prosecute them? So, I want to believe that the zeal with which we started has gone down a lot.
In my time, I had Kanu Agabi as the Attorney-General. He never interfered with my work. When we had Akin Olujimi, he never interfered and of course, if they did, I would have resigned. I would have told Obasanjo that I could not do it. The ICPC must be independent. It is true that the attorney-general, in terms of the constitution, can terminate a case, but he should relate positively with the chairman of the ICPC.
What could be done to strengthen the ICPC and possibly the war on corruption?
There are so many things that should be done. First, the President must be totally committed to fighting corruption. If you read the book on Malaysia, a man who was in charge of Transparency International said, “The president must ensure that he fights corruption.” Like this election, by every available indices, has been free, fair and credible. Unless we want to deceive ourselves, we also know that some of the parties spent a lot of money; they carried money to people’s houses. In fact, that is corruption. The new president must make the fight against corruption his focal point. Then whoever that he is going to appoint, he must make sure that the head of that body must be a man of courage, impeccable in character, a man who fears no foe and not a coward.
Second, the government must make sure that all those who work with the ICPC, apart from taking the oath of office, anybody who is corrupt should be dismissed. Happily, the traumatic experiences Jonathan went through should give him the courage. He should have a genuine interest to ensure that those he is appointing are above board. Those who work within must be resolute with integrity. Because if we do not fight corruption, we will be making money from oil and other sources of revenue to the government, but we will not move ahead. What I am saying relates to what may be called the political will. There has to be the political will on the part of each and every one of us to fight corruption.
Third, those who commit the crime of corruption are people who can get millions to engage the best of lawyers. Then, you cannot afford to have a poor body fighting corruption. The body must be adequately and sufficiently funded.
During my time, I arrested many people including the then President of the Senate, Adolphus Wabara. We also arrested Matazu, Ciroma, Afolabi (former Minister of Interior), a former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, and even judges. Matilda from Plateau State and a few other judges who were involved in the Akwa Ibom election petition saga.
While you look at that situation, you need men of integrity. They also need money to prosecute the cases. In fact, while we were paying our counsel N200,000, a suspect would have paid N5m to a lawyer. I was lucky that as a former President of the Court of Appeal, there were lawyers who took briefs from us because of the respect they had for me. Some of them would even take up the case without even receiving a penny, though I made sure that they were paid what was due to them. For them to accept without initial payment is because of my own personality. It would not go like that.
Don’t you see a duplication of roles between the ICPC and the EFCC?
I do not view it like that. I trashed this when I was at the ICPC. That is why I spoke about the ICPC when the EFCC wanted to set up anti-corruption monitoring department. There was a time we had a meeting with Aliyu Gusau, the then National Security Adviser, with all the enforcement agencies and we identified that the duty of the EFCC had to do more with money laundering, people who siphon money out of the country. And not the basic corruption cases which the ICPC is concerned with. When the case of Wabara and others came up, former President Obasanjo handed the case to Nuhu Ribadu and then they invited us to a meeting to tell us about the case. Obasanjo had a speech which he was going to read and I was there. The Inspector-General of Police was there. Ribadu was there. The SSS representatives were there. All these agencies were there, even some of their political authorities were there. I believe Ahmadu Ali and Ibrahim Mantu were there. I said, “Mr President, sir, this job is not for the EFCC. They cannot do it.” It was decided that the case which involved Wabara, Osuji and others be transferred to the ICPC because the law is clear. We had to take the case to court. After that, any case that had to do with corruption, Nuhu Ribadu would refer it to me and every money laundering case, I would send it to him. The EFCC was for money laundering basically. We never had any quarrel. Ribadu honoured that position. The President agreed. So, the ICPC and the EFCC are not duplicating roles.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 24 July 2011
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201107250969.html?viewall=1