This past week, National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Asiwaju Tinubu has constituted the source of viral media reports carried by a vast majority of major news outlets in the country.

As gathered by EKO HOT BLOG, the former Lagos State Governor is being investigated by the apex anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over various counts of financial malfeasance during the course of his career in public service.

Media reports also relayed that the EFCC has requested the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), to issue an asset declaration form to the former governor.

On a natural note, this move by the apex anti-corruption agency in the country represents the level of accountability Nigerians demand from the Federal Government vis-à-vis the appraisal of the activities of its public servants. It is a re-assurance that there will be no sacred cows in the quest to rid Nigeria of the pervasive and institutional corruption that has monumentally contributed to its inability to live up to the potentials of its rich natural and human resources.

Nigeria, since re-introduction to civilian rule in 1999 has operated with two major anti-corruption agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), introduced by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration for the purpose of tackling the different manifestations of financial crimes in the country, particularly amongst government functionaries.

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Whether these two anti-corruption agencies have lived up to their primary mandates remains a debate for another day; but then, one cannot ignore the fact that there has been several musings by some quarters of the society that these agencies have consistently been deployed as handmaiden tools for political witch-hunt which runs contrari-wise to the fundamental essence of their mandate.

From a historical point of view, one can say with every sense of certitude that the ongoing probe of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress is a re-enactment of a dramatic sequence we have seen before, too many times perhaps. While its previous episodes involved different characters and scenic representations, the script is essentially the same; one which speaks towards a political persecution launched against a formidable political figure in a bid to attenuate or hamstring his political ambition, in which case we can say that the current move by the EFCC to investigate Tinubu is devoid of any iota of objectivity, but merely another political stunt geared towards stifling Asiwaju’s Presidential ambition.

One major fact which further calls the honesty of this ongoing probe into question is its timeliness, or lack thereof. It is no secret that Ahmed Tinubu’s second term as Lagos State governor expired in May 2007, which makes it nearly fourteen years since he handed over the reins of power to his successor. In the light of this fact, one can say that the EFCC’s move to investigate him a decade and a half after the expiration of his term in office either represents an unconscionable ineptitude on the part of the agency or a flat out timely action aimed towards ruffling Asiwaju’s shot at the Presidency come 2023; and, however one chooses to parse it, negates the merit of this ongoing probe.

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Again, there is also the fact that this would not be the first time the EFCC is investigating the former Lagos State Governor. In 2011, while serving as the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu appeared before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, sitting in Abuja, on allegations that he operated 10 foreign accounts while in office between 1999 and 2007.

He was answering to a three-count criminal charge preferred against him by the Federal Government.

The former governor was specifically accused of violating Section 7 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap C15 LFN, 2004 as amended, by operating the said accounts, an offence punishable under Section 23(2) thereof as incorporated under paragraph 18, part 1, fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

However, after a long, drawn out hearing, Asiwaju was cleared and acquitted of all charges, which begs the question as to why the EFCC is treading a familiar path ten years later.

As noted earlier, every move made by relevant agencies to press to the discovery of foul play within public service adequately resonates the voice of the populace who expect their elected political officials to be held accountable for their inadequacies. However, those who wield the instruments of justice must be careful that this sacred responsibility is not abused for political gain; and, as much as the facts of this case speak volumes as to its merit or lack of it, one will not be treading outside the hallowed confines of logic in asking, is Tinubu’s probe yet another political abracadabra?

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