It was hardly surprising that the names of some Nigerians, including former Anambra state governor, Peter Obi, appeared in the huge leak of confidential financial documents from offshore companies. Dubbed the Pandora Papers, the 12 million files constitute the biggest such leak in history, featuring documents and files exposing the secret wealth and dealings of world leaders, politicians and billionaires. The data was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington DC. More than 600 journalists from 117 countries have looked at the hidden fortunes of some of the world’s most powerful people. The Pandora Papers reveals hidden wealth, tax avoidance and, in some cases, money laundering by some of the world’s rich, famous and powerful. It is not illegal for Nigerians who are not public office holders to own offshore accounts, and many prominent businesses do have them. However, Obi did not disclose his offshore accounts as required by law; thereby violating Section Six (6) of the CCB and CCT Act and Section 11 of the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution. Although Obi has denied any wrongdoing saying he fully complied with the law on asset declaration, it is indeed tempting to question whether President Muhammadu Buhari will leverage the renewed global focus on the issue of illicit financial flows to bolster the fight against corruption and money laundering that has all but brought Nigeria to its knees. Notwithstanding, the government’s failure to issue an official statement on the Pandora Papers is unconscionable for a country that has probably experienced the greatest illegal financial outflow as a percentage of GDP. It is indeed sad.
The Pandora Papers reveal complex networks of companies that are set up across borders, often resulting in hidden ownership of money and assets. The bombshell revelations of secret offshore accounts exposing how some of the most powerful people in the world – including 336 politicians from 90 countries – use secret offshore companies to hide their wealth, are sending shock waves through halls of power across the world. It includes 6.4 million documents, over three million images, more than a million emails and almost half-a-million spreadsheets. Stories revealed so far include: the King of Jordan’s $100m spending spree on properties in the UK and US through shadow companies; Azerbaijan’s leading family’s hidden involvement in property deals in the UK worth over $543m; the Czech prime minister’s failure to declare an offshore investment company used to purchase two French villas for $15m; and how the family of Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta secretly owned a network of offshore companies for decades. According to the reports, at least eight African countries were featured in the document. The Pandora Papers found links between almost 1,000 companies in offshore havens and 336 high-level politicians and public officials, including more than a dozen serving heads of state and government. According to an interactive map of the papers, five Côte d’Ivoire politicians were helped by foreign agents to hide looted funds. Ghana has three politicians, while Chad, Kenya and Congo Brazzaville have two politicians each. Gabon has three politicians listed, with Angola featuring nine politicians; Zimbabwe and South Africa have two each, while Mozambique has one.
Nigeria’s Peter Obi, a former vice-presidential candidate, was indicted in a number of dealings which comprises money laundering and the establishment of companies with fronts in order to avoid detection by Nigerian authorities. “Indeed, he has a number of secret business dealings and relationships that he has for years kept to his chest. These are businesses he clandestinely set up and operated overseas, including in notorious tax and secrecy havens in ways that breached Nigerian laws,” the Pandora Papers stated. The leaked files show how Obi and his wife, Margaret Obi; his daughter Gabriella Nwamaka Frances Obi, and son, Gregory Peter Oseloka Obitwo secretly owned assets and bank accounts offshore running in millions of dollars, which the former governor left out while declaring his assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
The files also tied some of the most influential Nigerians – a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), current and former state governors, past and present lawmakers, businesspeople, a popular pastor, and many others – set up shell companies, and sometimes warehouse huge financial assets, in notorious secrecy jurisdictions. Even as prosecutors and officials across the world have announced investigations into the Pandora Papers revelations, the expectation was that Nigerian anti-graft agencies would be seeking collaboration with their foreign partners to hold the embattled officials accountable. It defies logic as to why Nigerian authorities will continue to labor under the silly illusion that they can fight graft, while a prima facie case can be made against sitting public officials who have been caught en flagrant delito.
In his response, Peter Obi ridiculously suggested that those offshore companies and assets are jointly owned with his family members and that he was under no legal obligation to declare such assets. That untenable position contradicts the provisions of the 1999 constitution and the CCB Act which stipulates that all assets, whether jointly or partly owned, must be declared. Obi claimed he was not aware of that provision of the law. In any case, the Pandora Papers showed that with regards to some of the offshore companies which were not jointly owned, Obi was the sole ultimate beneficiary; yet he still did not declare the assets. To which end, the former vice-presidential candidate violated Nigeria’s Code of Conduct law and, if the Buhari administration was serious about fighting corruption, Obi should be arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, that tries public officers for any contravention of the Code of Conduct for Nigerian public officers as spelt out in the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 constitution.
Without leaks like this, nothing would be publicly known about the tax haven companies now exposed, and next to nothing would be known by the authorities in the countries affected. It is worth-recalling that before the Pandora Papers, the ICIJ published another trove of leaked documents called the Panama papers in 2016, revealing the secret offshore assets of then Senate President Bukola Saraki and his wife Toyin; as well as those of Saraki’s predecessor, David Mark. The Panama papers also detailed how the late former Bayelsa governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, looted his state and stashed the funds in offshore accounts and how former Delta governor, James Ibori, robbed the oil-rich state blind and hid the proceeds in offshore companies. Ibori pleaded guilty in a London court in 2012 to money laundering offenses and admitted using his position as governor to launder $75 million through a network of shadow companies, although some estimates put the total amount he embezzled at over $250 million. Ibori, who was sentenced to 13-years in prison, stole millions of dollars to support a lavish lifestyle that included six houses in London and a fleet of Range Rovers, Bentleys and Mercedes cars.
The Panama papers also revealed a network of shell companies in offshore tax havens linked to Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, and his brother, Sayyu Dantata; as well as the offshore companies of Wale Tinubu, the chief executive of Nigeria’s biggest indigenous oil company, Oando Plc, among others. Also, the leaked documents exposed the secret offshore company of one of Africa’s most influential televangelists, Temitope Joshua, popularly called TB Joshua, who died last June. Other prominent Nigerians named in the investigations were former Defence Minister and billionaire businessman, Theophilus Danjuma; Businessman, Hakeem Bello Osaigie; Globacom CEO, Mike Adenuga; Governor Abubakar Sadiq Sani Bello of Niger State; the late Ooni of Ife, Okunade Sijuwade; former Arik Air Chairman, Joseph Arumemi-Johnson and his wife, Mary, as well as two then-serving senators – Andy Uba (Anambra) and Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto). Other top business persons, politicians, and their family members were also found in the infamous database, including those who were then holding public offices. The revelations sparked outrage across Nigeria, with civil society activists and the general public calling for extensive probes of those mentioned. But none of the violators has so far been prosecuted or sanctioned and all of them are walking the streets.
While the millions of documents have only begun to be examined, the name of Peter Obi and his nine co-travelers is not meant to suggest that they are, by any means, the only people who have plundered Nigeria. There will be many more revelations as well as the opportunity to analyze them more broadly. Ilicit financial flows do not only stifle economic growth and development, it is also a potential source of political instability and insecurity. According to the UN High Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, the continent lost about $850 billion dollars between 1970 and 2008. An estimated $217.7 billion dollars was illegally transferred out of Nigeria over that period, while Egypt lost $105.2 billion dollars and South Africa more than $81.8 billion. Losing such a staggering amount to illegal acts, in a country blighted by underdevelopment, characterized by huge infrastructural deficit, dehumanizing conditions of living, rising poverty and youth unemployment, among other socio-economic malaise, is criminal.
To be sure, the main actors are usually known to high ranking government officials and in many cases are actually their cronies. Traceable to blatant crimes, drug trafficking, piracy, oil bunkering and such other illegalities, these funds flow, unfortunately, having been aided by government officials, even as law officers look the other way while government departments and revenue agencies are used as conduit pipes. Merely lamenting the situation and calling for help from the international community as Buhari has been doing is not enough. The President should take decisive steps, show utmost sincerity by demonstrating strong political will to combat graft. Such a war against illicit financial flows can only be won if leaders lead by example. President Buhari cannot be credited with sufficient political will to fight corruption in Nigeria, when his hands are tied. His election was financed by people with questionable credentials; some of whom have stolen the country blind. Some indicted for corruption are even in his cabinet. Therefore, he should look within. The glorification of corrupt officials through appointments or indiscriminate state pardons does no good to the image of Nigeria. Buhari’s demands for assistance from western nations to fight the scourge, though appealing, are not helped by his actions or inaction.
The president must take necessary measures to sanitize the murky oil sector, and restructure the country in ways that are expressive of fiscal autonomy for the federating units. There must be oversight to ensure banks desist from aiding and abetting money laundering and government should adopt and codify all international anti-money laundering protocols and establish effective enforcement mechanisms that money launderers will be unable to circumvent. The grand strategy should also include capacity building for anti-corruption within the bureaucracy of government, especially horizontal accountability, which involves mutual checking, annulling and righting actions and inaction of state institutions. The point must be stressed that corruption is a serious issue that should not be treated with kid gloves. The time has come for the government of the day to tackle this challenge headlong. There is need to articulate a national strategy to combat this scourge. That strategy must begin with exemplary conduct of the leadership of the country who must claim the moral high ground through self-purging. Corruption, apart from being systemic, is also partly a question of character failure, and the presidency is pre-eminently a place for moral leadership.
