By Lewis
Obi
Compared to his 1984 offensive
President Muhammadu Buhari’s current war against corruption is looking like a
child’s play. Granted, he does not have the same tools he had in 1984-85,
the dictatorial powers which enabled him unleash a blitzkrieg which herded
scores of politicians into prison. But it is also true that the tools he
has now, moral leadership, freely granted him by the people, are grossly
under-utilized. Then in 1984, he was literally a young man of 42 with all
the impetuosity that comes with youth. But now he is wise, mature,
deliberative but slow. There’s probably no other way to explain how he
did not see the “security report” delivered to the Senate by the Department of
State Services on his nominee for chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC).
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| *Buhari |
A
Nigerian president is a very busy man and is not expected to see most of the
things done in his name. But the fight against corruption is considered
Buhari’s priority on which he has staked his reputation and honour. He is
expected to know the demands of Murphy’s Law, and if he would be unable to see
the confidential information being forwarded to the Senate about his nominee,
his leg man, his liaison to the Senate, should and ought to have seen it,
because, conventionally, he is to shepherd the nominee through the confirmation
process. Indeed, it is his primary task to ensure that the nominee is
confirmed and it is required of him to do everything, including previewing the
DSS report, before it ever gets to the senate chamber. He, the liaison
man, ought to be the one to blow the whistle, to alert the President about the
unfavourable DSS report, and to alert the President of the onerous task of
securing the nominee’s confirmation, and, if need be, to ask for a replacement,
given the negative report.
Thus,
the investigation of whether Mr. Ibrahim Magu was suitable or not for the
crucial position of the anti-corruption czar ought to have been done before his
name was forwarded to the Senate. The vetting of any official whose
position depends on a favourable confirmation by the senate must necessarily be
done first by the executive branch with a more rigorous benchmark than the
Senate’s, to prevent the kind of embarrassment which has occurred in the last
few weeks. First, it was the $29.9 billion external loan, tossed by the
Senate for lack of appropriate documentation. Now, even if the Senate has
an axe to grind or is making political demands, the Presidency ought not to
provide the body even better ammunition.
