Criminal Politics: Violence, “Godfathers” and Corruption in Nigeria

from the international community in its first few years for aggressively pursuing
corruption allegations against a range of prominent government officials including
several sitting governors. One of the EFCC’s greatest and most unprecedented
successes came in securing the conviction of former Inspector General of Police Tafa
Balogun on charges of corruption in 2005. 147
In the months leading up to the 2007 elections, however, the Obasanjo government
manipulated the EFCC into selectively pursuing opposition politicians and
opponents of President Obasanjo within the PDP. 148 This was done so openly that it
destroyed much of the institution’s credibility and effectiveness as both a deterrent
and a mechanism of accountability. 149
Most controversially, the EFCC sought to bar a long list of candidates from standing in
the April elections by cooperating in government efforts to issue so-called
“indictments” on charges of corruption that made no pretense of adhering to basic
standards of due process. Almost all of those on the EFCC’s now-infamous “list” were
members of the opposition or well-known opponents of Obasanjo within the PDP. 150
At the same time, prominent and notoriously corrupt members of the PDP have been
left untouched by any sort of EFCC investigation. Many of the individuals who have
escaped the attention of the EFCC are faced with credible evidence of precisely the
kind of corruption that fuels many of the abuses described in this report. To cite just
a few of many examples:
• Christopher Alao-Akala, then the PDP nominee for governor in Oyo State, was
reportedly put on the EFCC list of candidates deemed “unfit” to run in the
147 Balogun was charged with stealing some $98 million while serving as Inspector General of Police. He was found guilty and
sentenced to six months in prison. See “Nigerian ex-Police Chief Jailed,” BBC News Online, November 22, 2005,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4460740.stm (accessed July 12, 2007). While news of his unprecedented conviction
bolstered government anti-corruption efforts, his relatively lenient sentence inspired a great deal of controversy.
148 See Human Rights Watch, Election or “Selection?”, pp. 31-37.
149 In the wake of Nigeria’s April elections the International Crisis Group called for a moratorium on all EFCC prosecutions until
some acceptable degree of impartiality and credibility of the institution could be established. International Crisis Group,
Failed Elections, Failing State?, Africa Report no. 126, May 30, 2007,
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4876&l=1 (accessed July 12, 2007).
150 See Human Rights Watch, Election or “Selection?”, pp. 31-37. The entire list of individuals on the EFCC “blacklist” is
available online at http://www.saharareporters.com (accessed July 12, 2007).
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Human Rights Watch October 2007