Senate confirms Bawa as first non-police EFCC chair
My Point: It is our hope that the sort of hallelujahs that welcomed AbdulRasheed Bawa into office, in the past few days, will be sustained and justified many years down the road. We have long sought a figure outside of the presumably endemic dalliance of the Nigerian police with corruption.
Over the years, sensitive people have been harvesting layers of ironic embarrassment at the exertions of anti-corruption czars fashioned out of the uneven miry clay of our police force. Of course, it is childish to generalize: there must be several excellent officers in the force… I have seen a few.
On another level, this Bawa was only in his late 30’s just last year! That suggests to me a grudging obeisance to the undying spirit behind the generational statement of the 2020 #EndSARs reform movement. The youth are coming!
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The burden on Bawa is therefore multiple: his ascendancy speaks to different identities and newly-found sentiments that must subsequently be seen to have matured, based, unfairly, on the success or otherwise of this young chap from Kebbi State. He owes it to his generation, and those following, to not only excel as an anti-corruption czar…but to do so with unambiguous steadfastness, pragmatism, deftness and a clear sense of the fear of God. In spite of his alleged umbilical cord with a preening overseer.
Meanwhile, we do what most Nigerians love so much to do: we wait and see!
PS: Contrary to reports that our supine 9th Senate asked Bawa to merely take a bow – it has been revealed that about 19 senators asked him questions, ranging from statutory qualification, to allegations of fraud, relationship with past chairs, etc. He was said to have been grilled for two hours! So, how did he take two hours to bow? Naija!?
Many had gone to town to sell the story, that, as usual, allegations against Bawa had been swept under the Senate’s already over-suffed carpet… for some quid pro quo down the road!
Understandably, some Nigerians are hoping that, one day, some of these legislators, and their godfathers, would have to bow at a new ‘ideal’ EFFC office nearest to their loot.
Apparently, we are too much in hurry to hope for a miracle.
Seunmanuel Faleye is a brand and communications strategist. He is a covert writer and an overt creative head. He publishes Apple’s Bite International Magazine.
