A questionable choice?

Editorial

The President’s nomination of Abdulrashed Bawa, a 40-year-old detective and investigator as the new Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has come both as a relief and serious concern to many Nigerians.

His appointment is the first time a graduate of the Commission’s academy would be in the saddle.  Bawa was a Cadet in 2005 and has since made his mark in the organisation. He is also the first non-Police officer appointed to the office.

We congratulate him on his appointment and hope it would mark a new beginning for an organization saddled with taming the corruption monster in the country. His youthfulness should translate to greater zeal and energy in achieving the goal.

There have been suggestions that limiting the leadership of the Commission to senior police officers would limit its growth.  If that fear was real and credible, then Bawa’s nomination and confirmation by the Senate raises new and exciting career prospects for core-EFCC cadet-graduates.

But as promising as Bawa’s nomination was to core-EFCC operatives, it came with an albatross of allegations.  One claimed he was involved in the illegal sale of seized assets by EFCC, while acting as head of the EFCC Port Harcourt, Rivers State, branch.  The EFCC, however, rose to Bawa’s defence that the allegation was false.

Bawa himself, at the Senate screening, poured cold water on it all.  He said he was not only not involved in any illegal or illicit sale, he also drove up conviction in cases EFCC was prosecuting, in that city, from 34 to 216.  He added that even the EFCC chairman had no power to sell assets, talk less of a mere branch head.  He, however, said only the Secretary to the Commission had such powers, under the EFCC strict check-and-balance regimen.

By Bawa’s confirmation, the Senate appeared to have bought those defences.  That was no crime in itself, if the upper house was convinced.  Still, to make assurance doubly sure, we would have thought the Senate would mandate a thorough investigation into the matter, by the Police or the Department of State Services.

This is not to stigmatise Bawa’s person — far from it.  Indeed, under the law, he is presumed innocent and spotless until otherwise proven — and we so hold.  It is just that, in good faith, we cannot afford to inadvertently hand over EFCC to a person over whom accusations are buzzing.   The EFCC is too critical to national revival to be treated in a cavalier fashion by the executive and legislature, as was the case with the screening of Ibrahim Magu in 2015.  We hope, however, that in confirming Bawa, the Senate did due diligence, strict and thorough.

This is more so, when Bawa’s nomination was mired in another controversy.   The EFCC Act stipulates that only someone with a minimum of 15 years service; and of a rank “not below an Assistant Commissioner of Police or its equivalent in any of the security bodies” could be appointed to the office.

But Bawa, at the point of his appointment, was a Level 13 officer.  That seems to have disqualified him as it makes him clearly below the rank of an ACP. However, the Federal Government has since made an untidy move to clear the way for the nominee, by promoting him to the next level, even if EFCC itself claimed the promotion process had started one year back; and Bawa was not the only beneficiary.   Still, with not a few, all the manoeuvering tends to suggest desperation to squeeze Bawa into the office.

By the way, it is curious that so far, none of the six EFCC chairmen has been picked from the southern states.  Such a skewed pattern can only establish a geographical glass ceiling, which could be a disincentive for many EFCC career officers.

All in all, it is difficult to sweep aside the contention that the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Mallami, who had a running battle with Mr. Magu, might have swung the chairmanship in Bawa’s favour.  Mallami, who is Bawa’s kin, did all he could to dictate operations of the Commission under Magu.  He could, in Bawa, therefore have found an instrument to take control.

Again, we wish the Senate had done stricter due diligence, on all of these probing questions.  But now that Bawa has been confirmed, we hope he can bear the load well; will be driven by a vision to put in place enduring structures, systems and processes; and has the courage to step on powerful toes, if need be, as his duty could sometime demand.