‘‘Nuhu Ribadu is reported to have declared already that more than $360bn has been wasted or embezzled by Nigerian Governments since 1960. No one will ever forget how Nigeria lost her place economically, militarily and politically, etc., in the comity of nations’’- Quoted in Nowinta’s book, 2009: Where We Are (page139)
Pebbles with Igbotako Nowinta
We have really been in the era of change since President Muhammadu Buhari wore the toga of power on May 29th 2015.
The closest to what we are experiencing today was during the ‘immediate effect syndrome’ introduced by late General Murtala Mohammed in July 1975.
General Mohammed for the first time in the history of Nigeria chose to clean the gigantic mess recklessly introduced into governance during General Yakubu Gowon’s seven years of rot, corruption and decay.
General Muhammed made sure some public officials coughed out the money they stole from the public till and tried to clean the system before Buba Suka Dimka wasted his precious life via a coup d’état on February 13th 1976.
This period equally reminds me of the great Cultural Revolution initiated by one of the greatest revolutionaries in human history, Chairman Mao tse-Tung of Communist China in the 1960s.
Chairman Mao indeed turned the whole of China upside down in the name of rebuilding and refocusing the Chinese Republic; his ‘Thought Reform’ program was pursued fanatically and uncompromisingly, to the extent that many scholars within the Chinese Universities paid dearly because of their ideological inclinations.
Now the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria’s anti-graft agency born during the second tenure of General Olusegun Obasanjo is in the news again.
This is not to say the EFCC has not always been in the news because of its sensational style of going after alleged looters of our commonwealth.
But the EFCC is in the eye of a national storm right now, because its current chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Lamorde has been allegedly said to be engaged in series of corrupt practices which run counter to the very mandate that guides the operation of the EFCC.
Last week the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria actually started the process of investigating the series of allegations leveled against Ibrahim Lamorde through an ad-hoc committee it has set up for that purpose.
The petitioner in his submissions alleged several ways in which the Ibrahim Lamorde-led EFCC has been shortchanging the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and in the process making absolute mockery of the statutory sanctity of the nation’s anti-corruption body.
To say the least the allegations of financial corruption hanging on the neck of Ibrahim Lamorde and his team, such as behind the door settlement with corrupt individuals or organizations as to what should be remitted to the coffers of the nation while the remaining recovered loots finally land in the private pockets of our supposed fighters of corruption is mind boggling indeed.
Going by one of the allegations that several secret accounts are being operated by Lamorde and company to front for themselves where the criminal looting of our patrimony is going on underground is enough for all of us to be interested in the unfolding drama.
Thanks to the Presidency of Muhammadu Buhari that has made it clear that it would not be business as usual in its determination to fight corruption to a logical conclusion.
Though, Ibrahim Lamorde and his team failed to turn up at the opening of the Senate hearing last week, on the excuse they were still preparing their appropriate response or defense to the damning allegations that have been brought against them, it is my opinion that someone else should step in to oversee the affairs of EFCC for now in the name of neutrality and fair hearing.
There has been this talk in town that because the EFCC dared to arrest and is still investigating the wife of the current Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, that the Sarakis are not far from the present ordeal Ibrahim Lamorde is going through now.
Well, if this rumor is anything to go by, it makes the entire thing more interesting. That is to say that no stone should be left unturned in the current efforts of both the hunter (EFCC) and the hunted (alleged thieves under investigation) to intensify their resolve to tell the people of Nigeria the truth and nothing but the truth.
Malcolm X, the firebrand civil rights activist in the United States while confronting the white supremacists once said: ‘Those who haunt a man should equally know that the jungle contains those who will haunt the hunter.’ He was implying that no one has a monopoly of persecution or violence.
The emerging scenario if allowed to run its full course without being politicized, influenced or hijacked by any block will definitely sanitize the process of fighting corruption in Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari should ensure as he has promised that the wicked evil, called corruption is nipped in the bud at least during his tenure by putting EFCC on its toes to do transparent, patriotic and uncompromising job.
If Ibrahim Lamorde and company are found wanting they should be shown the door, butted out and prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.
After all, the hunter and the hunted should be given the benefit of doubts in our democratic system!
Nowinta wrote Where We Are: A call for democratic revolution In Nigeria
