The New EFCC: Right Peg… In who’s Interest?
“We’ll be tough on corruption…tough on the causes and roots of economic
crimes! We’ll step on toes, even big toes”. It sound very familiar to my
hears…, we have heard it before, somewhere, sometime and somehow.
Money has changed hands, deals had been made, calls had been exchanged,
old alliances have been renewed, moles have been planted, promises had
been given…, words have gone round…, and we have a new EFCC! We have got
the right peg in the right hole! It’s time to celebrate. Yes! “I have said
it that I’ll ensure I get him! He humiliated me. Me? No he can’t get away
with it! I will show him that, nobody try that with me…, in this country?
We can imagine the shape of things to come, we know the script, and hence,
we can imagine how the drama will play out.
But come to think of it, what does the future portend for Nigeria where
everything good or bad is down to politics? It is almost becoming a
consistent trend that to last in public life, you have to be publicly
unpopular, or notorious and daring. Graft and persona of graft has assumed
a celebrity status, very influential and powerful. No wonder, people seek
to be associated with it. Could one then be wrong to say it is almost a
way of life or is one just scratching the surface? Why do we bother
anyways? Anti-corruption fight, it’s all lip service when we have a
compromised EFCC. Compromised? Maybe, maybe not…but what is going on these
days? They have managed to crack the code. Surprised? No! Never! It is not
rocket science, is it? It is a Nigerian factor. After all, anything is
possible in Nigeria. It has always been…murders have not been solved… Bola
Ige, Funso Williams etc Monies have not been found… $16 billion, plane is
still missing, no wreckage, no body found!
“We’ll reform the EFCC; we’ll make it like FBI and Metropolitan Police”
Grandiose! Maybe, maybe not! If one is not mistaken, we know the meaning
of reform in Nigeria politico-parlance. We have heard about power sector
reform, police service reform, civil service reform, education reform etc.
What is it? Cliché or rhetoric? After all, they have to say something,
which sounds the part, but lacks the substance of it. If one is wrong,
cast your mind back a while ago!
New EFCC! Well, new leadership that is prepare and dares to step on toes.
But what happens when the big toes are hurting badly, when the pain has
become unbearably intolerable? It must not last too long; actions must be
taken to soothe that feeling. It then becomes business as usual to soothe
that hurting big toes.
But come to think of it, where does that leave Nigeria? Stagnant!
Compromised! Retrogressive! Ridiculed! Taken for granted! Short-changed!
Prejudiced and unpopular! Where does that leave Nigerians? Helpless!
Rudderless! Hopeless! Disappointed! Disgusted! Disrespected and
disenchanted!
But what can we do? Only to hope that one day and truly one day, our right
pegs would always find the right holes in the best interest of Nigeria and
future generations. Where selfish and parochial interests would take the
back seat in public life and positive legacy and ideologies would govern
attitudes in public service. To the new EFCC, I would say like George
Washington once said “…honour and shame from no condition rise, act well
your path, for there your honour lies”.
By Dr Olayiwola Ajileye
Dr Ajileye writes from the United Kingdom, drajileye@hotmail.com