The out-of-stage concert that took place last week over Osun State funds says a lot about the laughing stock that Nigeria has become in the eyes of the civilised world. Even for us Nigerians, the drama was a poor show. It was not well rehearsed by those we encountered on stage. If anything, the principal actors can pass for what William Shakespeare would describe as poor players who strut and fret upon the stage and are heard no more.
Let us put it like this. President Bola Tinubu had instructed the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, to go for the jugular in Osun State. Dissolve, if you like, freeze the funds that are giving Governor Ademola Adeleke and his government a lifeline. Castrate them with the action so that they would have no choice but to bow to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its rampaging army in the governorship election that is just days away.
The EFCC was, of course, instructed to ensure that it came up with a plausible excuse to justify its action.
Having received the presidential handout, the commission went to work. But as an amateur player that it is, it bungled the plan from the very first scene of what was programmed to be an epic.
Obviously embarrassed by the infantilism that his kindergartener of a co-conspirator had brought to bear on what was supposed to be a grand master plan, the President invaded the stage unceremoniously. He practically shoved the EFCC and its head aside in order to save them and himself from the show of shame that was taking place.
What played out in Osun State was an orchestrated sleight of hand.
We have been witnessing some high drama as the Osun governorship election approaches. Tinubu and his APC, intent on preparing the ground for the ultimate electoral battle of January 2027, had decided to use Osun as a test case. The state must be won by the APC, by fair or foul means.
The governor of the state, who is not a good friend of the Presidency, must be taught some hard lessons. His backbone must be broken. When they succeed in dismantling the Osun Government apparatus, a chunk of the battle for 2027 would have been won.
The APC campaign council for the Osun polls has, so far, left nobody in doubt as to what the grand design is. That explains the magic lantern show that is playing out in the state.
If you ask Tinubu, he will readily tell you, as he did in the case of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), that the EFCC is neutral and that it is doing its job professionally.
But that is as far as it goes.
Nigerians do not need any further brainwashing on the disposition of agencies of the Federal Government. They are creations of the law, in which case they are supposed to operate within the ambit of the law. But that is only on paper.
What constitutes the law in their operations is what the appointing authority, in this case, the President, says. It is so because the appointing authority has the power to hire and fire.
And so, when you appoint a typical Nigerian to such an office, he loses his composure faster than you can imagine. Joash Amupitan’s INEC has since been swallowed by this consuming set-up. EFCC’s Olukoyede has been pretending all the while, but the Osun misadventure has finally exposed his underbelly.
Olukoyede came into office as EFCC chairman with a different kind of background. Those who held the office before him had their background in policing and police affairs. But Olukoyede is a lawyer and a Certified Fraud Examiner.
The thinking, therefore, was that he would bring a reasonable level of professionalism and integrity to bear on his assignment. That has been the assumption.
People have had cause to fault Olukoyede over some of his actions since he took up the testy assignment. But none ever took the dimension that the Osun case has taken.
Osun has shattered the pretentious windscreen that Olukoyede has been wearing. In trying to serve Tinubu and his political party, Olukoyede has gone the way of the corrupt.
The reason adduced by the EFCC for its action in Osun is finally offensive. The commission said it noticed huge movement of funds from certain accounts of the state to channels that it considers suspicious.
Can this really pass for a reason to freeze the accounts of a state government?
In any case, when did the EFCC become such an octopus that breathes down on states? If the commission’s jejune excuse becomes the standard practice, it will mean that states will be financially autonomous only to the extent allowed or permitted by the commission.
Such a setup, if it becomes the norm, will seriously erode the power of states in a federation. It will also mean that the act that set up the EFCC is skewed against the states.
This can neither be the spirit nor the letter of the law that established the commission.
Besides, if Olukoyede’s EFCC is monitoring the movement of funds from the accounts run by the Osun State Government, is it also doing the same for the rest of the states of the federation?
Why is Osun the target?
We know why. And President Tinubu knows that we know.
That was why he stepped forward quickly to pull a fast one on us. President Tinubu, clearly, did not try in this matter. Nobody is taken in by the subterfuge.
Nigerians know that the EFCC did not act on its own. It merely carried out an order from the President. But the snag here is that the President’s errand boy failed him.
Then the President, believing himself to be the smartest Nigerian living today, tried to pull the wool over our eyes.
The President said he was embarrassed by Olukoyede’s action. But was he? How could he be when Olukoyede was only carrying out his bidding?
This makes the EFCC chairman a fall guy.
Tinubu’s antics are clear to us. He has sacrificed Olukoyede’s reputation on the altar of politics. The President wants to look good in the eyes of Nigerians at the expense of his undiscerning errand boy.
His reversal of Olukoyede’s freezing order was not done in good faith. It was sheer make-believe.
By instructing the EFCC to unfreeze the accounts of the Osun State Government, Tinubu simply left the commission in the cold. He wanted Nigerians to see him as the good father who hearkens to the cries of his aggrieved or oppressed children.
Since when did Tinubu become compassionate to the extent of trying to save his political opponent?
The Tinubu we know is not made of that stuff.
There is, therefore, more to the freeze-and-unfreeze game than meets the eye. It is, strictly speaking, more of appearance than reality.
QUOTE:
“Tinubu’s antics are clear to us. He has sacrificed Olukoyede’s reputation on the altar of politics. The President wants to look good in the eyes of Nigerians at the expense of his undiscerning errand boy.”
