This week, the Federal Government filed 11 fraud and money-laundering charges against Comrade Abba Moro, ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s Minister of Interior, his alleged accomplices (including the Ministry’s former Permanent Secretary) and Drexel Global Technology Limited, a company that is said to be linked to Moro.
The above have also been accused of breaching the Procurement Act because Drexel was awarded a contract to handle a recruitment exercise in March 2014 on behalf of the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, a Ministry of Interior parastatal, in a highly irregular manner and was not, according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, qualified to do that type of work. Abba Moro We are told that the whole exercise was a scam and a sham. And though Moro et al have not yet been tried or found guilty, it is difficult to disagree with this claim. Job applicants nationwide Even though there were only 5000 vacancies, Drexel collected N1000 apiece from no less than 676,675 job applicants nationwide, then allowed these desperate employment-seekers to cram themselves into various venues that were not designed to contain so many people. And because of lack of space and poor crowd control, there was a stampede that led to numerous deaths and injuries. It is not the “zero due process” aspect of this case that bothers me most in a country in which it has, until recently, been totally normal to the point of “acceptable” for VIPs to dish juicy government contracts out to their incompetent cronies, girlfriends, boyfriends, spouses, relatives or secret business partners.
And I’m not remotely surprised about the fact that Drexel’s shameless greed enabled it to make N67 million-plus by deceiving job-seekers in a country in which much larger sums have been dishonestly looted from The System and its citizens. The thing that really shocks and horrifies me is the fact that Moro has gotten away, for so long, with presiding over a disgraceful manslaughtering fiasco. Regular readers of this column will recall that this tragic incident was one of the factors that made me lose faith in Jonathan, a fellow Niger Deltan whom I had regarded as a Big Brother and passionately supported and voted for in 2011. I repeatedly complained on this page about the fact that Jonathan not only failed to punish Moro for the NIS debacle but went on to bestow a National Honour on him.
I couldn’t believe that any Head of State could be so insensitive. Whenever I expressed bitterness about Moro’s political survival and undeserved reward, some Vanguard readers said that I was being very unfair, given that Moro had not personally killed the victims and had apologised and served Jonathan loyally. Sometimes, I bow to superior arguments from readers who criticise me and change my stance if I conclude that my position on a particular issue is flawed. But I have never once doubted that my extreme annoyance with Jonathan and Moro was justified. And I know many Nigerians who share my outrage within this context. Even if Jonathan was too obtuse to recognise the need to sack Moro, Moro himself should have done the honourable thing, displayed GENUINE remorse and insisted on resigning immediately. That’s what I would have done if I had been in his shoes. I wouldn’t have been able to doggedly sit tight and look the world in the eye. Besides, the buck stops on every leader’s desk; and if things go horribly wrong under anyone’s watch, there should be repercussions and meaningful mea culpas.
Buhari’s administration is far from perfect. Mr President travels way too much, if you ask me. And I don’t think that the economy is being properly managed. Meanwhile, Jonathan DID possess some good qualities and hired some admirably skilled individuals such as Akinwumi Adesina, the new-ish Chief Executive Officer of the African Development Bank, who was Jonathan’s Agriculture Minister. And, frankly, I don’t buy the story that every problem we have today is Jonathan’s fault. Looking back, even though I received no patronage from Jonathan, I wasn’t totally miserable, constantly angsting about foreign exchange rates, worrying about how to look after my son and hurtling towards bankruptcy during Jonathan’s tenure! But I’m still immensely grateful to Buhari for not letting the likes of Moro off the hook. Buhari promised to tackle corruption and other glaring public service misdemeanors. And he is doing what he said he would do, on this level at least. White-collar miscreants He has just promised to deal with the white-collar miscreants who slyly padded the Budget. And I’m sure that he will, with ice-cold precision, fulfil this promise. Some folks attack Buhari for being militaristic.
But there are, in my opinion, some distinct advantages attached to his no-nonsense army background and personality. Our nation will not move forward significantly until someone has the guts to stand up and firmly declare that “enough is enough” and put a stop to the rampant abuse of privilege that has characterised the corridors of power for decades. Corruption is not JUST about Big Men and Women selfishly misbehaving. It’s also about ordinary folks copying the bad habits they have learned from their superiors or just simply absorbing lousy ethics from a society that has been morally damaged for too long. And we as individuals will not be motivated to self-improve until we see concrete evidence that the culture of impunity no longer reigns supreme. Buhari, thank God, is providing the concrete evidence As I keep telling a PDP pal who keeps furiously haranguing me because he is absolutely convinced that some APC members are more dodgy than the PDP stalwarts who are currently being detained and facing trial, Buhari is tougher and more principled than Jonathan was and would not have given Moro a National Honour and will probably, eventually, get rid of the bad eggs in his own Party!
VANGUARD
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