SINCE Nigerians witnessed the change in the country’s political firmament, there has been a different approach to doing things especially as the discharge of duties of agencies directly linked to the Presidency is concerned.
In the last few weeks, the almost comatose anti-corruption drive of the government has been woken up from a deep slumber that had been identified with agencies saddled with the task since the pioneer anti-graft czar, Nuhu Ribadu, was removed from office.
At the last count, five former governors who are big players in the country’s political field and a top Civil Servant have been caught in the dragnet of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as “dead cases” were resurrected in a renewed effort to bring those who dipped their hands into the public till to book and protect the country from the menace of corruption, identified as the major bane of the nation’s development.
The refreshing thing is that the law, like the blindfolded lady that it is depicted in images, does not seem to be sentimental in the choice of those to be prosecuted in this renewed onslaught. A former governor in one of the Southeastern states who donated a building to the campaign efforts of the present occupier of Abuja seat of power, was one of the first to be ordered to refund huge sums of money that developed wings when he was a Chief Executive some eight years back.
One factor that many see as being responsible for the new dawn is the unspoken words from the seat of authority, which those who are close to the corridors of power refer to as “the body language” of the Presidency.
A source close to one of the anti-graft agencies said, “We had to exhume all these cases because we are sure that the highest authority will not interfere in our operations. It will interest you to know that we didn’t receive any memo or prompting from anybody, we only read the signs from the Villa that we should do our job without fear or favour.” This surely is a way of responding to body language.
