EFCC: $43m and the continuous tomfoolery

By Joseph Edgar… They (EFCC) found the huge sum of funds somewhere nestled in a luxurious flat in highbrow Ikoyi. So many names have been mentioned as possible owners of the funds and all have come out to deny. A curious twist came in with the mention of the National Intelligence Agency as the real owner. Infact news reports have stated that the sack of the helmsman of that institution is only a matter of time.

As I write there is a purported law suit against some personalities who have been bold bough to mention names as the owner, even as the Rivers state Government has come out pointedly to accuse its former governor, Rotimi Amaechi, as the rapture owner of the funds stemming from a transaction carried out between his administration and a popular oil and gas concern.

For me, all these is simply annoying for at the end of the day, it is the Nigerian people who are left to suffer for all these confusion. We are seeing the effect of a lack of cohesion by the intelligence and security apparatus of the government led by President Muhammadu Buhari. This ugly face became very prevalent during the confirmation hearing of the helmsman of the EFCC. It was another arm of the intelligence community that sent the report that nailed that exercise. Today we are hearing of the NIA being said to be the owners of the funds that EFCC so gleefully paraded in the face of cameras and the public.

Read also: Magu’s EFCC, Loot Discovery And Deceit

My simple take, if the ownership of the funds is established with the NIA, is that it will further show a breakdown in cohesion and a lack of cooperation amongst these agencies which in true perspective will not only augur well for the security of the Presidency but Nigeria as a whole.

What we will be seeing in all of these if the distrust is established is a hoarding of information, hugging of space and territorial limitations which would not allow for an overlap of security functions thereby establishing cracks that the enemy could take advantage of.

If you ask me, all these rash of funds being discovered here and there are simply as a result of the aggressive confirmation chase or at best an attempt to show performance in the face of the inability to secure the confirmation. So information that was already in government domain from the last administration is being used to secure these findings as a huge attempt at performance.

If you want to really ask, why would the EFCC after discovering the haul not inform other agencies before going to the press? This would have saved the government the embarrassment if eventually it is firmly established that it belongs to another security organization.

If it is true that the funds were approved since the Jonathan regime for covert operations, then what we are seeing is a macabre dance in the public space. What that means is that the intelligence community already know of the existence of the funds and its whereabout but as a result of the distrust and unhealthy rivalry they are beginning an incestous orgy of exposure which would do them in.

In all these, I pity the Presidency and by extension the Nigerian public who have been forced to watch helplessly as this drama unfolds. I think it is time for a complete overhaul of all the agencies of intelligence, streamlining their operations and redirecting them towards nationalistic and patriotic goals.

 

 

 

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