By Igbotako Nowinta
No patriotic Nigerian will act as a road block to the current efforts by the EFCC to probe what it has allegedly unearthed concerning the permanent secretary, Chief of Staff to Akinwunmi Ambode, who was undeniably the chief accounting officer by virtue of his position as the then executive Governor of Lagos State. The EFCC in trying to probe the alleged corruption mess linked to ex-Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, must be seen to be universal and blanket in its approach to fighting corruption in our land under the current administration, by extending its dragnets to characters like Rochas Okorocha ex-Governor of Imo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, ex-Governor of Edo State and others, because of some of their alleged controversial and questionable activities while they reigned unquestionably as the chief accounting officers of their respective political domains.
The British colonialists who succeeded Lord Frederick Lugard took absolute care to incorporate or duplicate virtually most of the contents available in their criminal and civil judicial books, into the Nigerian system at independence in 1960.
In doing that the methodology of waging war against corruption was adequately captured and enshrined just as the Britons had done in their clime. In my university days, our eyes were equally opened to the facts above when we were drilled with some dosages of law as a precondition to obtaining my Peace and Conflict Resolution degree.
In the course of my work l have taken time also to discover that our statutory laws on fighting or curbing corruption are well spelt out to handle corrupt tendencies among the citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Regrettably, because successive administrations (both civilians and military) became helpless and consumed by the wanton, parochial, wicked and brazen disregard for the laws fighting corruption in the land, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo came out smoking with the introduction of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), at the beginning of his second tenure in office in 2003, to entertain the international community.
Most sadly, for the Nigerian nation, Olusegun Obasanjo in the long run twisted and converted the EFCC into a desperate tool to humiliate and humble perceived political arch rivals, after he had sacrificed his bosom friends like ex-Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, Prof Fabian Osuji (then minister of Education) and others.
If Olusegun Obasanjo and his successors had patriotically and unwaveringly laid a solid background for EFCC without descending to the pit of political emotions and parochial schemes, perhaps, President Muhammadu Buhari would not have used ‘corruption’ as a magnificent tool to campaign for the 2015 Presidential Elections.
Now, where are we as a nation since 2015, when the present administration was swept to power in an amazing fashion? No doubt, in my opinion, the Buhari administration has so far done the unimaginable in fighting corruption, because no administration has thrown the high and the mighty on the scale of systemic scrutiny, investigation, and eventual recovery of mind boggling looted public funds like what the EFCC has done under the watch of President Buhari.
But, has the EFCC been fair and clear on the canvass of equity, since 2015, as the official government machine being used to track down, incapacitate and bring alleged corrupt individuals to book?
Has the Nigerian judiciary been seen as a positive complimentary outfit to fight corruption to a
stand still? Have the looters and their criminal gangs been fighting back ruthlessly with every weapon in their armory?
Have some strange bed fellows who joined the then progressives train to form the All Progressives Congress ( APC) just before the 2015 Presidential Elections been partners in progress with President Buhari in the fight against corruption?
These salient questions are absolutely imperative in this narrative, just as the EFCC has recently secured an injunction in a Federal High Court, to freeze the sum of 9.25 billion naira, in an account opened on September 17 2018, and operated by one Adewale Adesanya with multiple signatories traced to the immediate past civilian administration of Akinmunmi Ambode.
This suspicious account allegedly witnessed huge inflow of cash from the Lagos State Government according to the EFCC.
No patriotic Nigerian will act as a road block to the current efforts by the EFCC to probe what it has allegedly unearthed concerning the permanent secretary, Chief of Staff to Akinwunmi Ambode , who was undeniably the chief accounting officer by virtue of his position as the then executive Governor of Lagos State.
The EFCC in trying to probe the alleged corruption mess linked to ex-Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, must be seen to be universal and blanket in its approach to fighting corruption in our land under the current administration, by extending its dragnets to characters like Rochas Okorocha ex-Governor of Imo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, ex-Governor of Edo State and others, because of some of their alleged controversial and questionable activities while they reigned unquestionably as the chief accounting officers of their respective political domains.
Agreed that President Buhari cannot be everywhere as the Commander- in-Chief, the EFCC and the nation’s judiciary system should wake up and be proactive in bringing to logical conclusions the allegation of corrupt enrichment against personalities like Babachal Lawal, ex- Secretary to the Government of the Federation, ex-Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, to mention just few of them.
If the above cases are left the way some Nigerians are viewing them, then the corruption allegation mess being dangled menacingly against Akinwunmi Ambode will be seen as politically concocted.
No doubt, corruption has brought us to the bottomless pit of ridicule, underdevelopment and pity as a nation. If President Muhammadu Buhari must succeed, naked truth must be spoken to some of these critical observations, more so as Ambode was not only blocked from running for a second term in office, his name was yanked off the first draft of President Buhari’s ministerial list by his stanch enemies within Lagos State.
Ultimately, it will be most tragic for Akinwunmi Ambode, and the battle against corruption, if in the long run that he actually orchestrated the opening of that account being investigated by the EFCC, given his celebrated performance in office, as a paradigm shift in the distribution of democratic dividends in Nigeria.
In the final analysis here, the EFCC must never be allowed to tribalize, ethnicize or politicize the war against corruption. The judiciary must be seen to compliment the efforts of the Buhari administration in the fight against corruption.
This second term window given to President Buhari is a golden opportunity to come out of all known and unknown inadequacies of the first term, and rid itself of all fake progressives who continue to constitute themselves as political maggots and profound criminal enemies of the Nigerian masses.
Conclusively, if we refuse to join President Buhari to fight corruption, using both conventional and unconventional methods, this country will continue to engage in the macabre dance of retrogression and decay.
Nowinta wrote: Where We Are – a call for democratic revolution in Nigeria.
