O.R.G.U.Y.

Sometimes, when I look back at some of the things that have happened in this nation and how corruption has always fought back, I just shake my head. Let me tell you an interesting story. In 2005, Adolphus Wabara was the Senate President of Nigeria under the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. During the preparation and approval of the 2005 budget by the National Assembly, the Senate Committee on Education discovered that the Ministry of Education's budget was very bogus. So, what did the committee do? The Senate Committee threatened to slice or block the budget allocation for the Ministry of Education. To ensure that the ministry's budget was passed intact or inflated, the then Minister of Education, Professor Fabian Osuji, mobilised ₦55 million. According to Professor Osuji, the ₦55 million was not a bribe but rather a necessary "welfare package" demanded by lawmakers to protect the education sector. Now, you will ask, how was Professor Osuji able to mobilise the money? Well, to raise the money, Professor Osuji directed ministry officials to extract ₦35 million from votes under their control. Because that was not enough, he went further to secure an additional ₦20 million illegal loan from the National Universities Commission (NUC). President Olusegun Obasanjo later received intelligence about the transaction. In a dramatic, televised national broadcast in March 2005, Obasanjo unmasked the actors and declared their actions a betrayal of public trust. But President Olusegun Obasanjo did not stop there. He summarily dismissed Fabian Osuji, while the Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, was forced to resign his leadership position. The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) subsequently arraigned them alongside several other lawmakers. Interestingly, in 2010, in a controversial ruling, the Court of Appeal, presided over by Justice Mary Peter-Odili, quashed the 15-count charge against Wabara, Osuji and others. According to the court, the charges were "frivolous and baseless" and failed to establish a prima facie case. The court also criticised Obasanjo's broadcast as an executive "trial by media" that prejudiced the case. But the story did not end there. In 2013, the case got to the Supreme Court, and the judgment of the Court of Appeal presided over by Justice Mary Odili was overturned. The Supreme Court held that Osuji's statements and the evidence presented were more than enough to warrant a trial and ordered an accelerated retrial at the lower court. Interestingly, when the case returned to the High Court in 2019, Justice S.E. Aladetoyinbo discharged and acquitted Adolphus Wabara and two other co-defendant senators. Why? Because, after 14 years of trial, the ICPC could no longer produce witnesses to testify. With the witnesses unavailable, the ICPC applied to withdraw the case, leaving the court with no choice but to acquit the defendants under Section 355 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015. Nigeria has always been a case of the more you look, the less you see. I am Ekene Aninze, Esq.