Since his suspension three weeks ago, perhaps the greatest shock of his career, the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Ambassador Ayodele Oke has been traumatised and subjected to a series of drilling.
There was no doubt that the move by President Muhammadu Buhari caught him unawares. As a result, he has been quizzed by the Presidential Investigative Panel headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for the better part of the two weeks duration of the work of the committee.
His problem started when he laid claim to the $43m recently discovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.
It will be an understatement to say that President Buhari was ruffled by the discovery as he was deeply shocked that such a large sum of money could be found in a residential apartment and linked to an official of government.
He never expected that any government official under his administration, known for zero tolerance for corruption, will have what some Nigerians have described as slush fund hidden in a residential apartment.
To get to the root of the matter, the President swiftly directed his deputy to investigate the matter along with the allegations against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal.
As he was giving the Panel the deadline to submit report of the investigation in two weeks, he also immediately ordered the suspension of the two officials from office to prevent any interference with the work of the committee.
As soon as the investigation began, Oke was confident that he would be able to explain himself out of the problem.
The greatest defence Oke was relying on was that the relevant agencies of government were aware that the money meant for NIA operations was in his possession.
He had informed the panel, which has the National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami as members, that Monguno was duly briefed of the existence of the money.
He instantly became something of an orphan who had nobody to fight for him, when the NSA disowned him and claimed that he was not aware of the money at the point the present administration came on board.
While the investigation was going on behind closed doors, a presidential source had disclosed that President Buhari was kept completely in the dark concerning the money at the inception of the administration and that the NSA only stumbled on it during another probe his office carried out.
The source had said: “The NSA was not told that NIA had this lump cash stashed away in the place it was eventually discovered by EFCC.
“In any case, extant rules are clear that such monies ought only to be placed in the NIA headquarters or in CBN vaults.
“So let us even assume that the NIA DG wanted to keep funds in Lagos for the Lagos based projects, he did not need that much for the total of the Lagos projects at all. And apart from that it is completely untenable to stash away agency money in a private apartment instead of keeping it with the CBN or inside the NIA head office where the money would be well-secured and its disbursement well protected.” the source added
With the thickening storm against him, Oke had no choice but to declare that he will leave everything in the hands of Almighty God, who knows the truth about every situation on earth and in heaven.
The onus fell heavily on Oke to prove that NSA was aware of the existence of the money right from May, 2015, when the administration came on board.
Unless Oke has any document that will expressly support his claims, it will be an harculian task to prove that the NSA or the Presidency or any other agency of government was aware of the money’s existence.
If other heads of government agencies could easily deny knowledge of the money, that will not be the same for the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefuele, because he has been in office since the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan. He definitely should know something about the money.
The foreign currencies could possibly have been paid through the CBN under Emefuele”s tenure during Jonathan’s government.
With the invitation to appear before the panel, it is really hoped that Emefuele had helped the committee by shedding light on the true source and the purpose of the money.
Because hiding any part of the information or not painting the true picture of the source of the money and what it was meant for will amount to sentencing an innocent man to death.
While the Osinbajo’s Panel was expected to submit its report by yesterday, it is very important that the recommendations in the report are fair to all.
All those who deserve to be punished should be punished, while those who have not done any wrong should be cleared to continue in office.
Even though accusing finger was pointed at a member of the committee, the Panel should be able to stand for the truth and do everything possible to uncover if the NSA was actually aware of the money at the inception of the administration while the President was kept in the dark or if it was just a defence strategy to rope more government officials into the matter.
But the job of the panel would have been neater if none of its members was accused in any way in the two cases before the Panel.
Because it will not be morally or legally right for an accused to be a judge in his own case.
Being fair to all will go a long way to show that the administration is not selective and very serious about the anti-graft battle.
It should be fearless and be able to take hard decisions against anyone found on the wrong side of the law, irrespective of how highly placed the person is.
