By Terka
Jam
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.