|
|
|
On the EFCC Advisory List
Comfort Obi
 |
There are a few people in the
President Olusegun Obasanjo
administration who are after my heart. But the one who runs our everyday life – morally, politically and even financially – is Nuhu Ribadu, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. If some of those at the corridors of power knew that Ribadu was going to “dabaru” some of them, they would have fought against his appointment.
Take Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The other day when he said that he recommended Ribadu for the EFCC job, my heart went out to him. And I was like, how can Ribadu fight a man who recommended him for this kind of risky but influential job? I felt he had been ungrateful to his benefactor. But I was relieved two days later when Ribadu put a lie to Atiku’s claims. He gave the credit to Kanu Agabi, a former Obasanjo Attorney General and Minister for Justice.
Nobody quite knew his reputation at the time of his appointment. His physical appearance is deceptive. When you see him, you think sugar cannot melt in his mouth. You are inclined to want to protect him. The first time I met him, I felt so. But, of course, like most Nigerians, I have since perished such thoughts. That fragile-looking body is a volcano, raging within, and waiting to explode.
So, Ribadu is a man after my heart. He has brought sanity into an otherwise stinking society. Before anybody does anything now, the first thought is of Ribadu. Everybody, including state governors have become cautious. Contractors no longer collect government's money and disappear. The era of Ghana-must-go-bags at the National Assembly is becoming a thing of the past. He has sent 419ners scampering. The Yahoo boys have met their waterloo. Even prosperity pastors are afraid. The day Ribadu decides to audit these churches, to ascertain what they do, there will be some sanity. The every-second miracles will disappear. Even foreign pastors who come to Nigeria to make quick, cheap money will stop coming. Some of them come to Nigeria as many as five times in a year. And I keep asking: Did God tell them that only Nigerians need salvation?
So, anyday Ribadu seriously faces the churches, and audits them, all that deceit and rubbish will stop. In sum, Ribadu has become a “terror,” the nemesis of the high and mighty, the crooked, the cheats. And, dare I say, even President Olusegun Obasanjo. I don’t know if he can still control him, or call him to order. The other day when he called former Minister of Housing, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, corrupt, Ribadu put a lie to it. He has touched, and embarrassed, some of Obasanjo's friends. He has presented them as criminals, even without a court saying so. He has cut-short their political lives without a legal backing. But in all these, I root for him. He has staked his life, taken great risks, in a bid to sanitise Nigeria a little. My problem with him is that he, most times, talks too much. I have never seen, or known, any security person the world over, who talks as much as he does. He criminalises people on the pages of newspapers, and assassinates their character – all these without a legal proof.
Yet, a number of times, I had come to his defence. He is a human being, bound to make mistakes. I believe he makes those mistakes, and says what he ordinarily shouldn't say, because of the passion he has to clean us up. Which is why when they accuse him of being a tool in Obasanjo’s hands, I jump to his defence. Most of those, especially governors, ministers and private individuals, who the EFCC has dealth with are actually not only of the PDP, but are close to Mr President.
But now, I don’t know what to believe. For long, since after the PDP presidential and governorship primaries, this doubt has kept growing. It came to a head this day when the EFCC released a list of about 90 politicians, seeking elective positions in April. The EFCC told us, and the world, that all those whose names appeared on the list are indicted politicians who are not fit to hold any political position. Meaning that their political lives have been cut short. Meaning that they have been politically destroyed. Meaning that left for the EFCC, they would have been in jail.
Going through the list, my anger boiled over at some names. There is, especially, a state governor who really have done well for his state, but has been a subject of the most wicked opposition. Included is a young speaker of a House of Assembly who had piloted the affairs of the House so maturely that these past eight years, there has been peace, thus helping move the state forward. In it was a Senatorial aspirant, Dr. Lanre Tejuosho, whose only crime, many people insist, is that he dared challenge President Obasanjo’s daughter, Dr. Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, for the Senatorial seat of their zone. Tejuosho, a medical doctor, has never held a government post before. A couple of weeks ago when he survived an assassination attempt, I scoffed at those who would want the public believe that it was done to stop him from contesting against Iyabo. He is not a threat, I said, to Iyabo. Now, what? The EFCC has not been able to tell us his crime. It would, according to Ribadu, only tell his party, the ANPP. I suggest the EFCC makes public to us what his crime is.
For the records, nobody should condone corruption. It has killed Nigeria, almost. But nobody should deliberately assail anybody over a case that has not been proved. I submit that the EFCC advisory list was in bad taste. It was a deliberate action to scandalise, and assail people. No court of law has indicted these people. No court of law had called them criminals. It is not the job of the EFCC to do so. If the EFCC has any case against them, it should go to court. Anything less diminishes the EFCC before the people. It reduces its credibility. And worse: It creates a credibility problem for Obasanjo. It is sad for an organisation which has, otherwise, done Nigeria proud, to lay itself bare to doubts. I weep.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
