Africa
The Halliburton Tales: Corruption Alias Nigeria
By Tunde Fagbenle, NVS 7/3/10
Mar 9, 2010 - 8:09:33 AM

Right from the start, early last year, when news of the scandal broke with new frenzy in the Nigeria media, I knew the whole hoopla was bound to die away sooner than later – no head will roll, and nothing will happen. How did I know? Easy, we are talking of corruption at the highest level of government in Nigeria and Nigeria is synonymous with corruption – you can’t unravel one without unravelling the other!

The Senate panel hung their frustration on Michael Aondoakaa, the recently displaced Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), claiming they could go no further because “the crucial information needed to forge ahead” was not provided them by the former AGF. Aondoakaa had claimed the US authorities had not responded to his request for information to “implicate” and prosecute any Nigerian in the international bribery racket, even though the case had dragged on for years in America and some European countries, listing top Nigerian officials as beneficiaries. Of course the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Sanders has promptly debunked such nonsense, insisting that the US has done her bit.

Not necessarily from any need of triumphalism, one still had to go into the ‘archives’ for things one had written since the Halliburton thing broke; a bit wondering if there was anything else that could have been written that wasn’t.

The first was in my column of April 5, 2009 titled: Hallibuton, – Like Re-branding – A Bloody Waste Of Time

And how truly, and sadly, both have come to pass – Halliburton and Re-branding.

That piece looked at aspects of the history of the scandal and said:

“The lid on the Halliburton dirty deals was blown open by the United States Justice Department and investigation had been going on since 2003. Our EFCC under Nuhu Ribadu knew of the scandal, knew of all the top Nigerians fingered in the massive scam, and had skirted around the case, obviously disabled by the fact that the highest echelon of the country’s leadership since the scam began in 1994 were implicated. As the Yoruba says: ti a ba fa gburu, gburu a fa ‘gbo! If you tug too much at the clustered plant root, a whole lot of forest bushes get dragged along. This, and many more such scams, including the unresolved Siemens one, are what Amnesty International and real great countries of the world see to consign us into the trash bin of development, and laugh at our vaunted greatness.”

It then concluded: “At a time of global financial crisis, when serious leaders of the world are meeting heads to ensure that our world does not come off its hinge, to have an Aondoakaa fly about to collect some “investigation papers” and look at suing an American company for “tarnishing Nigeria’s image”, shows how unfortunate we are in this country. This joke needs to end.”

In the accompanying piece titled, “Halliburton And Akunyili’s Zeal”, I wrote:

“Dora, on Tuesday, April 8, vowed that the government would get to the bottom of the Halliburton N30billion ($180m) bribe scandal and prosecute all Nigerians involved. She promises, as a start, to publish the names of all those involved as soon as Nigeria gets the list from the United States government. Hmmm.

“Of course, that will not be the first time we’ve heard such talk, but, coming from an Akunyili who is known to take herself and her words seriously, interesting days are ahead.

“But does Dora know what she is talking about, and on whose behalf she is making a vow? Does she know how many such scandals involving ‘Big Men’ in our country have been swept under the carpet? Has she heard of the Siemens scandal or the Wilbros Scandal? Has she heard of the scandals around some past governors, from Ibori to Dariye, and others?”
It concluded: “If Halliburton is not to be swept underground, and Dora along with it (my worry!), then the challenge is not Dora’s alone, it is for all Nigerians; and the various Human Rights and political pressure groups must not relent until the US is made to release the list and until Nigeria is forced to clean her Aegean stable of asphyxiating corruption and filth.”

In the column of April 26, 2009 titled, “Halliburton-gate – A Media Challenge”, I tried to spur our media into pursuing the Halliburton scandal without relenting until the culprits are brought to book, even if it would cost the country’s President his office, a la America’s Richard Nixon. But Nigeria is not America. I wrote:

“Now that the water of the Halliburton bribe-for-contract scandal has been sufficiently muddied – by the government in whom we erringly repose our trust, led by its Attorney-General – it is time for Nigerians to recognise the futility of leaving it to the same government to fish out the culprits of the sordid deed, or bring this national embarrassment to a cathartic closure. It just won’t happen.”

Furthermore, I wrote, “there is a conspiratorial murky-ing (yes, and mocking!) and muddying going on, on account of the number and calibre of those already being suspected to be involved.”
I reasoned that: “Dogs don’t eat dogs. This government is not a revolutionary government, it is a product, a child, of the past government(s), and it would be uncharitable of it, in fact suicidal, to go beyond some token scapegoatism to actually tug at the pillars of the house in which it sleeps and bring it crumbling on its own head. With all the sincerity, or not, at her disposal, Farida Waziri cannot bring this to a cathartic end for hungry and angry Nigerians. Michael Aondoakaa cannot, either. And the cathartic end we want is seeing all those high and mighty ones involved run their noses behind bars; that’s after we’ve recovered most of the loot, foreclosed on their mansions and dispossessed them of their cherished toys.”

Concluding that:

“If this Halliburton-gate is not to end up like all the others before it, the media must be “sworn” to pursuing it to a logical end. It is our own “Watergate”, and, like the original, it is a battle the media has to undertake, ferociously and perseveringly.

“The media must pursue it relentlessly through all legitimate means possible, including going to court to seek special disclosures, working with international media and pressure groups to “unlock” whatever is supposedly “sealed” abroad, mounting pressure on other arms of our democratic magomago – the legislature and judiciary – to play their oversight and judicial functions or face mass protests (I would like to say, revolt), and so on and so forth.”

And a charge to my media brethren: “To be able to do so, however, the media must have a valid raison d’être. It will not be just so to see to the criminal prosecution of those involved in the Halliburton-gate for its own sake. No. There must be a larger motive, some higher ideal. The media must see it as the start of a revolutionary pursuit of cleansing our society of the malignant tumour that corruption has become in our lives.”

What prescience, yet, what vain hope!