The Maina reinstatement saga is the latest episode in this series of anti-corruption drama characterized by rivalry and competition. All of a sudden the man the EFCC claimed to have declared wanted is perambulating the streets of Abuja freely. He called into last Thursday edition of the Berekete programme. The crusty fellow spoke with Ahmed Isah on live radio with so much grit, yet EFCC with all its melodrama has not arrested him. Who is deceiving Nigerians? The EFCC?
Without sounding immodest, the anti-corruption war has suffered credibility crisis lately. The EFCC especially has been accused of using media trial to blackmail political opponents. Also, despite all its rigmarole in the media the anti-graft agency is yet to successfully prosecute any high profile suspect in the court of law. There is no gainsaying that the Ibrahim Magu-led EFCC has mastered the art of propaganda which it carefully uses to cover it's obvious failures.
Many questions have continued to beg for answers. First, Maina was declared wanted by the EFCC in 2015, yet the man has been moving freely all over Abuja and the world. Second, why would EFCC seal-off some property of Maina while the man in question was somewhere in Abuja speaking with Ordinary Ahmed? Third, the so called N152 million paid into Maina’s account by the DSS was done in 2013 while President Goodluck Jonathan was the President – a case of Magu rubbishing another government agency it considers his competition. Fourth, while Magu is dancing “skelewu” with Mainagate, campaign posters of the former Penson boss have been seen on the streets of Borno, Kaduna and Bauchi States.
In my opinion there is more to what EFCC has reported so far on Abdulrasheed Maina. I believe it is another case of interagency rivalry. This is the reason Nigerians have lost confidence in the Magu-led EFCC which has become another tool of witch-hunt. It is important therefore for the President to urgently address the issue. This frequent case of in-fighting may soon plunge the nation into a major crisis that could consume all of us.
Solomon Adaeve writes in from Illorin, Kwara State.
