A few weeks back, I wrote about the saga surrounding Abdulrasheed Maina, emphasizing on the need to have an effective justice system that deals with scandals in public offices without fear or favour since we have had to deal with incidences of perversion orchestrated by individuals who feel they [and those whose interest they served] are above the law. Although the current administration has been able to clamp down on corrupt practices but much still needs to be done.
A major move which has further highlighted the President's commitment to fight corruption in high places is the sacking of Babachir Lawal from office as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and this was followed by relieving Ambassador Ayo Oke of his duties as the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). With these two disengagements, Nigerians have seen the presidency take a definite action on erring parties- this is something that has been amiss for long despite the many cases of corruption we get to hear of, and in essence, the 'abnormal' has pathetically become a 'norm' in our nation.
You will recall that Babachir had been placed on suspension since April 19 for his underhand practice in the award of a N200 million grass-cutting contract while amb. Ayo Oke had been under investigation for the part he played in the non-disclosure of the $43 million [said to belong to NIA] that was hidden in a private apartment situated somewhere around Ikoyi.
The verdict on Babachir's case is quite straightforward and long awaited but the $43 million case is yet encumbered with many intricacies as there appears to be some issues that remain unresolved- and might not even be brought to the knowledge of the public.
Rightfully, Ayo Oke has been sacked for his failure and/or negligence in not informing the appropriate quarters of the said amount of money but the manner in which the whole event unfolded, showed that there are more things (information) that are hidden beyond the cash- even when such information is centred on the way the cash came about. It is hoped that the Economic and Financial Crime Commission will dig into the matter to unravel those things that are not so evident at the moment, and thereby bring justice to full effect. Again, Babachir's should not be brought to a close until he is probed by EFCC, and it is pleasing to know that the presidency has also canvassed for this- that the two men be further investigated by the commission.
The President has indeed scored a gross point with the sacking of Babachir Lawal and Ayo Oke but except one chooses to close his/her eyes to the obvious, it is still a case of two down, and more to go if profound success is to be recorded in the fight against corruption. To wrap this up, I [as well as every dignified Nigerian] look forward to the coming days when the case revolving around Maina's reinstatement will be brought to a conclusive end without any manipulation and/or subversion of justice.