Surmounting Nigerian White-Collar Crimes. August 30, 2022
"Churches, Mosques harboring stolen crude oil products." NNPC CEO.
The number one question is: What Would the FBI Have Done in Similar Circumstances?
Given the well-known shrinking revenues from the petroleum industry and our inability to meet OPEC production quota in recent times, Nigerians would have been happier if Mr. Mele Kyari was able to identify the culprits, arrest them, indict them, prosecute them, and send them to jail if convicted or found guilty. We want to see the faces of the culprits, standing trial at competent courts. That's the beginning of the deterrent.
The FBI doesn't come on TV to report crimes or criminal conduct for public entertainment or to hoodwink Americans into believing that indeed they are performing above expectations. No. You can only see them in action, executing a warrant of arrest, perfecting seizure of fruits of crime, and during press briefings immediately after the first court appearance of an accused or culprit.
So, it would have been better if the CEO of the NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari, invade the mosques and churches with law enforcement agents, take possession of the stolen petroleum products, and bundle the culprits before the appropriate court the same day or the following morning. That's the FBI's Modus Operandi.
That's what I would do if I were Mr. Mele Kyari, the CEO of the NNPC, the Chairman of the EFCC, or the DG of the DSS. If I am by any means constrained from doing what I believe to be right (prosecution), I will resign.
Watching the press briefing, I'm forced to ask if Mr. Kyari has legal advisers. If the goal is to garner public sympathy, I'm not so sure that's the right approach. The public doubt on the NNPC in recent times has no parallel.
If we don't prosecute known thieves, we are making things difficult for the DSS. Of what use investigating crimes when the identified thieves are never protected and sent to jail? It is either you parade them before the public (the press) or publish their names and pictures.
We can't curtail criminal conduct in a daring society like ours in the absence of historical forces of deterrents. And as the Americans would say, you do the crime you do the time. Until we can establish a culture of prosecutorial activism and commensurate sentencing, embezzlement of public funds will not cease.
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