JOHN NWOKOCHA writes on the life and times of pioneer chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), and also reminisces on an encounter with the anti-corruption crusader
The death of Honorable Justice Mustapha Adebayo Akanbi filtered in last Sunday. The elder statesman, Akanbi died at a ripe age of 85. According to a report, he died peacefully in his hometown in Ilorin, capital of Kwara state.
The former President of the Court of Appeal and pioneer chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Akanbi’s death is not a loss to his family alone but to the judiciary and the country at large. He built a successful legal career and also earned an incorruptible pedigree in the service of the nation.
A respected opinion moulder and incorrigible fighter of fraudulent acquisition of wealth and avarice, Akanbi was as the pioneer chairman of the ICPC by President Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2000. And he held the position between 2000 and 2005, during the Commission was focused on it mandate which was quite cumbersome as well as herculean because of the nature of the act establishing the Commission. As its pioneer chairman, Akanbi had rough times driving the anti-graft commission, as some deliberately courted controversies for the Commission, by faulting the act that established the ICPC. So, Akanbi was caught in the intricate web of the controversies during his tenure as he found himself explaining the intricacies of the act most of the time, much as he tried to avoid the controversies that kept confronting him.
Consequently, as at July 2005, the ICPC could secure only two corruption related conviction, out of the 85 corruption cases it had charged. It was an irony that the anti-graft commission was undermined at the time by the government that established it. But Akanbi was quick to discern the politics in making weak the commission under him. And he had questioned publicly the role of the government in undermining the organization it sent public fund in setting up.
It is remarkable that he constantly interrogated the continued interference with the primary responsibilities of the commission with the veiled intention to derail the objectives of the ICPC
Aged 85, Akanbi was until his death a fiery anti-corruption crusader although soft spoken.
Early life
Born on September 11, 1932, in Accra, Ghana, Akanbi worked as an executive officer in the Ghana Civil Service. He was an active member of the trade union.
On returning to Nigeria, Akanbi got a scholarship to study law at the Institute of Administration, presently, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna state. Having a desire to become a lawyer, he subsequently pursued legal studies in the United Kingdom and was called to the English Bar in 1963.
In January 1964, he was called to the Nigerian Bar. Akanbi later joined the Ministry of Justice, a starting point in the journey of his career. In 1968, he became a Senior State Counsel.
Akanbi went into private practice and set up a firm in Kano. In 1974, he was appointed a judge of the Federal Revenue Court. Three years after, precisely in January 1977, he was promoted to the Court of Appeal Bench. And in 1992, he became President of the Nigerian Court of Appeal and retired in 1999.
His appointment to ICPC
Akanbi was appointed as chairman of the then newly established Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), in 2000, by President Olusegun Obasanjo. The late jurist could not condone unnecessary meddlesomeness with the anti-graft commission by the authorities that established it. He often was on collision course with the government over the nature of the act that set up the commission.
Understandably, Akanbi’s plans for the commission were mired in hurdles erected by the government, making his tenure controversial. By July 2005, the ICPC under him could secure only two corruption-related convictions.
He also expressed disappointment with the law that hindered the agency from investigating corrupt practices dating before the creation of the ICPC.
He retired in 2005 on completion of the first term of office. In 2006, he established the Mustapha Akanbi Foundation in Ilorin, Kwara state.
The organisation was founded to focus on strengthening civil society groups, governmental agencies and private businesses to engender transparency and accountability.
Reminiscences
This reporter could recall meeting the jurist in 2003. He had booked an interview appointment with the Honorable Justice Akanbi, ICPC chairman, in his office in Abuja, through Kalu Ostise, spokesman of the Commission at the time. He, an editor with Vanguard newspapers, Lagos, had flown in from Lagos, prepared to meet a man with a fearsome mien and husky voice-being the image created about the heavily bearded ICPC boss. But no. He wasn’t. Instead, he spoke softly, coherent and exuded passion for his job.
He talked about changing the soured image of Nigeria through the ICPC, during my chat with him. He explained his handicap with the ICPC Act, but vowed he would not give up the anti-corruption fight.
He had also explained that his legacies would include turning the ICPC into an institution of transparency and accountability, through which the perception about Nigerians as corrupt people on earth would change. It was not difficult to read him as a patriot whose life is devoted entirely to rectitude. But did he win the fight against corrupt practices by Nigerians?
Nigerians pay tributes
Former President Obasanjo, described Honorable Justice Akanbi as one that oozed with honesty and integrity.
He said these qualities made him appoint Akanbi as the pioneer boss of the anti-corruption agency.
In a condolence letter to Akanbi’s eldest child, Akeem, Obasanjo said he “was a distinguished Nigerian, an icon, a paragon of rightness and rectitude, whose life is devoted entirely to the service of his nation.”
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, in his condolence message described the death as “a personal loss.”
Saraki in a statement described the late Akanbi as an indefatigable, honest and principled jurist who upheld the fine ethics of the judicial process till he breathed his last.
“I am sad that Baba (Akanbi) has left us. He was fearless, courageous and spoke truth to power during his lifetime,” he said.
“He was like a father to me. His death is a personal loss. Kwara State will miss him. Nigeria will miss him.”
For the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, the late elder statesman as a courageous judge who fought corruption to a standstill.
He said, “Justice Mustapha Akanbi was a courageous judge who used the bench to dispense justice without fear or favour and rose to be President of Court of Appeal.
