An American
Constitutional Lawyer and author Bruce Fein, has written an open letter to
President Buhari which was published in Huffington post website yesterday. Very
interesting letter. Read below
President
Muhammadu Buhari
Aso Rock,
Abuja Nigeria
Dear President
Buhari:
When you
visited the United States Institute of Peace last July, you pledged that you
would be "fair, just and scrupulously follow due process and the rule of
law, as enshrined in [the Nigerian] constitution" in prosecuting
corruption.
Such loftiness
is laudable. As the Bible instructs in Amos 5:24: "[L]et justice roll down
like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."
But to be
just, the law must be evenhanded. It cannot, in the manner of Russian President
Vladimir Putin, be something that is given to punish your enemies and withheld
to favor your friends. If so, the law becomes an instrument of injustice
bearing earmarks of the wicked rather than the good.
In the United
States, you declared a policy of "zero tolerance" against corruption.
You solicited weapons and other assistance from the United States government
based on that avowal. But were you sincere?
During your election
campaign, you promised widespread amnesty, not zero tolerance. You elaborated:
"Whoever that is indicted of corruption between 1999 to the time of
swearing-in would be pardoned. I am going to draw a line, anybody who involved
himself in corruption after I assume office, will face the music."
After you were
inaugurated, however, you disowned your statement and declared you would
prosecute past ministers or other officials for corruption or fraud. And then
again you immediately hedged. You were reminded of your dubious past by former
Major General and President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, who succeeded your
military dictatorship. He released this statement:
"On
General Buhari, it is not in IBB's tradition to take up issues with his
colleague former President. But for the purpose of record, we are conversant
with General Buhari's so-called holier-than-thou attitude. He is a one-time
Minister of Petroleum and we have good records of his tenure as minister.
Secondly, he presided over the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, which records we also
have.
We challenge
him to come out with clean hands in those two portfolios he headed. Or we will
help him to expose his records of performance during those periods. Those who
live in glass houses should not throw stones. General Buhari should be properly
guided."
You then
swiftly backed off your zero tolerance policy because you would have been its
first casualty.
You
opportunistically announced that zero tolerance would be narrowed to the
predecessor administration of Goodluck Jonathan because to probe further would
be "a waste of time." That conclusion seems preposterous. In 2012,
the World Bank's ex-vice president for Africa, Oby Ezekwesili, estimated that a
stupendous $400 billion in Nigerian oil revenues had been stolen or misspent
since independence in 1960. The lion's share of that corruption spans far
beyond the Jonathan administration.
Your zero
tolerance policy seems to come with a squint to avoid seeing culpability in
your political friends. A few examples are but the tip of the iceberg.
A Rivers State
judicial commission of inquiry found that N53 billion disappeared from the
Rivers State Reserve Fund under former governor Rotimi Amaechi. Former Lagos
governor and head of your campaign finance team Babatunde Fashola was accused
ofsquandering N78 million of government money to upgrade his personal website.
The EFCC has ignored these corruption allegations, and you have given both
promotions: the Ministry of Transport to Mr. Amaechi, and the Ministry of
Power, Works, and Housing to Mr. Fashola.
In contrast,
you have played judge, jury, and prosecutor in the newspapers to convict former
PDP Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke of corruption.
Is this
evenhanded justice?
United States
Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson taught: "[T]here is no more effective
practical guaranty against arbitrary and unreasonable government than to
require that the principles of law which officials would impose upon a minority
must be imposed generally. Conversely, nothing opens the door to arbitrary
action so effectively as to allow those officials to pick and choose only a few
to whom they will apply legislation and thus to escape the political
retribution that might be visited upon them if larger numbers were
affected."
To investigate
or prosecute based on political affiliation or opinion also violates Articles 2
and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is unworthy of a great
nation like Nigeria.
Make the
hallmark of your administration justice, not retribution, and you may live for
the ages.
I am a United
States citizen and lawyer. I have no political standing in Nigeria. Some might
argue that my speaking about the administration of justice in Nigeria bespeaks
impertinece. But you chose to vist the United States to solicit weapons and
other assistance from my government--a government of the people, by the people,
for the people. The United States government represents me. What the United
States government does reflects on me. I thus have an interest in addressing
the actions of foreign governments that receive United States government aid.
Sunshine is
said to be the best of disinfectants.
Sincerely,
Bruce Fein
