[dropcap]W[/dropcap]henever General Muhammadu Buhari spoke during the campaigns, he focused on 3 key things: Security, Employment, Corruption.
With what Boko Haram is doing on a daily basis as well as what armed robbers and kidnappers and Fulani herdsmen are doing, it is obvious he is not performing well on security. Success may take long in coming.
With the sacking of workers by companies and the falling prices of crude oil and huge losses at the stock exchange, it is obvious that he is not doing well on employment and the economy. Fixing that may take some time.
The area where the President has the power and chance to get results in the short term is on the fight against corruption.
I had posted a couple of times that those charged for corruption should defend themselves first before complaining about witch-hunting. I assumed that Buhari would not play politics with the war against corruption, that he would not shield even his family members or party members if there were petitions against them. But what I have seen recently has demoralised me. If it is only the political enemies of Buhari like Sambo Dasuki, Bukola Saraki, Godswill Akpabio, Gabriel Suswam etc that deserve to be arrested or interrogated for corruption, then my hope that Buhari will fight corruption will just evaporate. If petitions have been written against Amaechi some months ago but he has never been investigated or interrogated, but Akpabio and Suswam have been interrogated based on petitions against them, while Amaechi and others are nominated as ministers, then the anti corruption war will be a joke.
I don’t want to witness again the era where people are arrested or not arrested by EFCC based on the type of relationship they have with the President. That is a ridicule of the war against corruption. The eyes of the symbol of justice are always covered because justice should work without looking at faces.
If Buhari allows party politics and considerations to becloud his war against corruption, then he has lost the only trump card that he has. He should close his eyes to party members, election sponsors, and friends and allow EFCC to do its work without fear or favour. Let EFCC go after anybody that has a case to answer no matter his party or closeness to the President.
Once the President is seen as fair and just, even his political opponents will not find a reason to cry that they are being witch-hunted. Some people who never believed in him may be won over.
But with what is happening now, there is nothing convincing that real war against corruption is on.
Azuka Onwuka is a veteran journalist and writer. He is also a social commentator and public affairs analyst. Connect with him on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
