By Paul Onomuakpokpo
Since governance in
these climes is often appropriated by those we entrust with leadership as a
means of unbridled material acquisition, we are regularly scandalised by sleaze
in public offices. The reports on such venalities come to the public with such
rapidity that we do not infrequently fail in a bid to track them. But this
rapidity serves well the opprobrious cravings of our public officials. Let the
scandals break today, they are not bothered – by tomorrow other scandals would
break that would take away the attention of the citizens from those of today.
Yet, at a time of
economic recession that has thrown up the overarching need for transparency and
prudent management of fast-vanishing resources for effective governance, we
would not allow an opportunity to conserve the nation’s money to slip by. One
of such opportunities that we must seize is the recovery of some police vehicles
that have been allegedly stolen.
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| *President Buhari and IGP Idris |
We have been told that
the office of the inspector-general of police has been stripped bare of its
vehicles. The culprit has been identified as the former inspector-general of
police Solomon Arase. He allegedly took away 24 vehicles of the police at the
end of his tenure. Among these vehicles were two BMW 7 series, one armoured.
The incumbent Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris first made the
allegation in July. He lamented how the haemorrhage of police vehicles led to
his using a rickety one to travel somewhere with President Muhammadu Buhari.
When the latter saw it, he was so outraged that he asked him what he was doing
with it.
Three
months after, the allegation is still on. But this time, the allegation has
been framed in a way to present Arase as admitting to stealing 24 vehicles, out
of which 19 have been recovered. But Arase has insisted that he did not steal
the vehicles in the first place. He has asked his successor Idris to make
available the registration numbers of the vehicles allegedly stolen.
