Femi Gbajabiamila, Corruption And Selective Justice In Tinubu’s Regime -By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

I have said this in an earlier essay that the All Progressives Congress (APC) regime is the worst mistake in the Nigerian political history. When they were campaign to wrestle power prior to 2015 general election, they anchored their campaign on anti-corruption war. They said Nigeria should kill corruption before corruption kills Nigeria. But alas! The APC regime has come to do the opposite of what it promised Nigeria. Under the APC government, corruption and looting of state treasury became the most thriving business in Nigeria. In Nigeria now we have wealth without enterprise while justice is trampled and the poor made poorer by corruption.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) regime that was much criticized by those in power now as corrupt, fought corruption when it was in power. It was the government that established the anti-corruption agencies – the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). And during the PDP era, the public officers and politicians tried and jailed were from the party; not from the opposition. President Obasanjo tried and jailed the then Inspector-general of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, who is from his home state and removed him from office because of corruption. He tried his childhood friend Sunday Afolabi. Others are Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, Bode George, Salisu Buhari etc. But under the APC, the party that has been grandstanding as anti-corruption fighters, the anti-corruption agencies have been turned into a weapon to muzzle the opposition and stifle civil advocacy. All members of the ruling party are excluded from corrupt charges as Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, the former party chairman told Nigerians.

What we have under the APC is selective justice wherein members of the opposition are being intimidated, hounded and prosecuted for corrupt cases while members of the ruling party that had previous corrupt cases are being let free and rewarded with appointment. People like Malam Nasir El-Rufai and Abubakar Malami are being tried for being in opposition camp while members of the APC with severe forgery and corrupt cases are overlooked and given soft landing.

From available records Gbajabiamila is a typical example of a corrupt public officer being shielded from prosecution by this government. His antecedent and recent involvement in the fake agency scandal are more than enough to establish his culpability and sack but Tinubu would not do that but instead choose to hunt the embattled DG of PFIPC just to shut him up. Not even the case of the death in questionable circumstances of the alleged Gbajabiamila proxy could make Tinubu constitute an independent panel of inquiry.

Here is Gbajabiamila, the leader of the Aso Rock cabal and Lagos Mafia corruption record. In 2007, while practicing law in Georgia, USA, he was found guilty after admitting to stealing $25,000 from a client of his and the supreme court of Georgia suspended him from practicing law for 36 months. Gbajabiamila tenure as speaker of House of Representatives (2019-2023) was dogged by bribery scandals. First, in 2020, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) through its spokesperson, Ikenga Ugochinyere accused Femi Gbajabiamila of collection $10 million bribe from foreign sponsors, Bill Gates Foundation, to ensure the speedy passage of the controversial “Control of Infectious Disease Bill”. In 2023, there was a media report alleging that the leadership of the National Assembly under Femi Gbajabiamila accepted $15 million financial inducement from Buhari government to approve Buhari’s request to restructure the N22.7 trillion Ways and Means and Means advances from the Central Bank. Again, in 2021, it was reported that Gbajabiamila and members of the National Assembly each were paid $2 million in cash to reduce the entitlement provisions of the oil-producing host communities in Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). The 5% proposed for the host communities was consequently reduced to 3%. Furthermore, there is a report that Gbajabiamila in a memo to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum regulatory Commission (NUPRC) requesting the N54 billion to be paid to his office. And since his appointment as the Chief of Staff to the President, there have rumors and allegations of bribe-for-appointment cases involving him.

Yet in all of these, no investigation has been done to unravel the truth. No police, no EFCC or ICPC investigation and no judicial inquiry. Femi Gbajabiamila is still carrying on as the Chief of Staff to the President because he is the president’s right-hand man. How then do we take this government seriously?

Moreover, there are many accused of forgery in this government and they are giving soft-landing. But the young man, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi is in the police net facing prosecution because his case affected Femi Gbajabiamila and his Aso Rock cabal. In the electoral Reform Bill signed into law by the president forgery is not part of the reason to disqualify any candidate for election meaning that the government has indirectly legalized forgery. So, why are they in a hurry to prosecute Adeyemi?

Uche Nnaji, Tinubu’s former Minister of Innovation Science and Technology was indicted for alleged forgery of UNN certificate and NYSC discharge certificate submitted during the 2023 ministerial screening but was allowed to resign without prosecution. In 2024, Betta Edu, Tinubu’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation was alleged to have authorized the sum of N585.2 million Naira grant meant for vulnerable groups into a private account and following public outrage, she was suspended but up till now, two years down the line, she has not been formally charged by any of the anti-graft agencies. Again, there is allegation of certificate forgery preferred against Bello Mohammed Matawalle, Tinubu’s Minister of State for Defense but up till now, he has not been questioned or charged by the anti-corruption agencies. He is still serving as a minister.

You can see why many Nigerians are questioning why the government is in a hurry to arrest and prosecute Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi… The question is selective justice is evident here. If the Adeyemi did not involve Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to the President and the leader of the Aso Rock cabal would they have paid any attention to his case. And if Nasir El-Rufai and Abubakar Malami were still in Tinubu’s camp would they be facing the ordeal in the hands of security agencies as they are facing it today? Nigerians, your guess is as good as mine.

Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com

An actress, social activist, politician

London, UK