Nigeria is indeed a powerful country. A country where things happen like it's a movie. For a long time, I have watched the revelations from the arms purchase scandal and the role of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Office of the National Security Adviser. I have had my reservations for inexplicable reasons. But the recent revelations have confirmed my suspicion. Who can be trusted to work in tandem with President Muhammadu Buhari to rid this country of corruption?


Leading an agency as sensitive as the EFCC requires two things mainly. You have to be strategic and dead to sentiments in whatever form or guise. But recent events in the EFCC and the Office of the National Security Adviser have made a mockery of the fight against corruption. You can't go to war without a strategy. It is beyond the media hullabaloo and social media hysteria. The Office of the National Security Adviser is as important as the air we breathe. But I have been really disappointed and pained and decided to put this piece together.

In truth, Nigeria has made considerable inroads in the fight against corruption, but with tiny input from the EFCC. I won't hesitate to give credit to the Department of State Security Service for very obvious reasons. Make no mistakes; I think one of the best decisions President Buhari has taken since coming into office was the choice of the Director General of the DSS and the attendant reorganisation witnessed. And one of the worst mistakes he has made also was the selection of the head of the EFCC and the choice of the National Security Adviser.

I will explain why. How can someone come out in the open to say some of his relatives were using his name to exploit people, and it ended there? That was what Mr. Magu said on the pages of newspapers. There was no account anywhere of him bringing those relatives to account for their despicable conduct. How can the National Security Adviser not be aware of that members of a highly sensitive committee under his watch are busy cutting corners and enriching themselves? What manner of anti-corruption war are we fighting? Your guess is as good as mine.