Before whipping the compromised EFCC for its myopic anti-corruption crusade, torchlighligting the cruelty and threats meted on Nigerian journalists (Jaafaar Jaafar and Ayoola Babalola) will be a navigating cursor for my readers.
What else would define the insignia of the sitting Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, towards an agile publisher of Daily Nigerian, Jaafar Jaafar? It’s nothing, but suppression and oppression even amidst the evidential based dollar tapes that exposed the governor’s indecency.
In the footage, Ganduje was seen pocketing dollars that were allegedly coming from the end of the contractor who was awarded a contract by the state government.
Nonetheless, Ganduje’s administration through the Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba, discredited the videos’ originality, saying “It was doctored.”
Despite the commissioner’s claim, Ganduje in a recent interview with BBC Hausa, vowed to deal with those who publicized the dollar videos.
Prioritising his safety, Jaafar after this threat, petitioned former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, through his counsel, Abdullahi Gumel.
He told federal authorities that Ganduje should be held responsible if anything happened to him.
As I write now, reports had it that Jaafar Including his family have been forced into hiding. This is occasioned by the failed Nigeria’s justice system. Petition has been written and probably it was thrashed in KIV (Keep In View) bin.
If the immunity has been protecting the governor from penalties or proper investigation, does it also guarantee him to threaten the publisher? Besides, the matter is in court and that should communicate to the governor to showcase his understanding of the law. Let the court determine your triumph or fall. You can only keep navigating this haunting way only when you’re guilty of the scenes of the footage.
No harm shall befall Jafaar and may he not go into the thin air like the Dadiyata and the likes.
For a revered statesman like Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we can mud his hallmarks for a harsh treatment leveled against a practising campus journalist, Ayoola Babalola for simply querying the relationship between the ‘arrival of bullion vans in Tinubu’s Lagos house and an Eve to 2019 general election’.
Ordinarily, there should not be cause for alarm over the bullion vans, but why was it coming a few hours to the election? This may not also count to some Nigerians, yet understanding the allegations of vote buying across the nation (Lagos inclusive) during the election can validate Babalola’s view.
Babalola has asked if the EFCC won’t investigate Tinubu over the bullion vans, which led to his arrest. Among some allegations against him Include inciting articles on Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and the myopic EFCC. We haven’t sheathed our swords, I’m still of the opinion that Tinubu be investigated.
The compromised EFCC
In crusading corruption, the anti-graft agency has been selective in whom it queries. Hence, as a body which seeks to strengthen transparency and accountability, EFCC shouldn’t be a blanket for some high profile personalities in the political formation of the All Progressive Party (APC) such as the Kano tyrant ‘Ganduje’ and Lagos god ‘Tinubu’.
For instance, when Mansur Abubakar of BBC news asked the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, about the agency’s response to the viral Ganduje’s video, the latter said the agency was not aware of the video.
He was quoted saying: “I’m not aware of any video, I haven’t seen it.”
Similarly, Premium Times had reported how the former EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, dodged questions bordering on Tinubu’s bullion van petition. According to Premium Times, Magu when asked what he was doing about the petition, queried: “Do you expect me to respond on the petition?”
That’s how compromised the anti-graft agency seems even with the fact that Tinubu has violated Nigeria’s Money Laundering Laws.
In close, the current chairman of the commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, at his assumption to office pledged his integrity and declared a stiff war against corruption. His tweets are kind of virtual elixir to corruption levels in Nigeria. Proving his words beyond Twitter Street can convince a lot of Nigerians about his readiness to crusade without fear or favour.
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