Snapshots from Maina saga

The public hearing that unfolded in the National Assembly last Thursday on what is now referred to as Mainagate kept most of those who watched it spellbound by the sordid and unbelievable revelations on the mysterious reinstatement of a fugitive civil servant. The civil servant, who had earlier been dismissed in 2013 for absconding from office, caused a public frenzy when he was reported to have suddenly turned up in October to resume office in his former place of posting in the Ministry of Interior. After some days of media blitz which cast the government in sombre lights alleging some collusion at the highest rungs of government to return the fugitive to office, a Presidential directive was finally issued to sack the civil servant from office again.

The National Assembly then waded into the matter trying to unravel the intricacies surrounding the clandestine reinstatement of the civil servant. In any case this civil servant is not new to the National Assembly as he had been the embattled head of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reform whose matter of funds looting had been before them for many years now. The present public hearing was carried out live on most national television channels and at prime afternoon time too.

I guess many left whatever they were doing that day to be glued to their television set on noticing that there was a star cast on it all eager to tell their own side of the story - a story that had held the entire nation captive in the last many days. It is not every day you find the Head of Service of the Federation, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, the Minister of Finance, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Interior, AccountantGeneral of the Federation, DirectorGeneral SSS, Chairman EFCC, Comptroller-General Immigration Services and Chairman Federal Civil Service Commission all in their persons appearing before a committee of the National Assembly.

This galaxy of high-ranking officials of government apparently were not holding anything back on whatever questions asked affecting what roles their ministry, department or agency played or did not play in the entire saga. It is a sobering experience for even those of us that were part of the public service for so long. I have never envisaged a time when actions and inactions of public officers could be subjected to such minute scrutiny and in public glare. It is a clear indication that our democracy is reaching new heights and we must congratulate those of us who are today in the engine room of operating the structures.

The Pension Fund saga is very intricate with many twists and turns and would probably need the wisdom of the entire National Assembly to unravel. Long before President Jonathan appointed the Presidential Task Force in 2010, the Pension Fund had always been mired in one controversy or the other, leaving the pensioners in dire straits. The Maina Task Force was put together to find ways and means of ending the perennial corruption in the pension fund bureaucracy. The Task Force seemed to have started very well with revelations of mind-boggling amounts being uncovered only to go down two years later being accused of perpetrating the same crime.

The National Assembly waded into the matter throwing accusations against the Chairman of the Task Force for making away with over N1.9 billion. The Chairman of the Task Force was invited to appear before a committee of the National Assembly but he demurred, leading to a lot of brouhaha in the media. Then the whole matter went into a tail spin with counter accusations being bandied around against very senior officials of the Executive as well as the National Assembly. Finally the Chairman of the Task Force took a walk from Nigeria alleging insecurity and plans to eliminate him.

We have to await the findings of the committees of the National Assembly to get to the bottom of the matter. Meanwhile we are encouraged by the open nature of the hearings. Probably it is the dawn of a new era of accountability that is unfolding. In this case Mainagate is a wake-up call to all public officers on their good conduct while performing their functions. Public officers should know that there is now always a day of reckoning - and in the public glare!

THE HOUSE OF INFAMY

The home of Mohammed Yusuf, the notorious renegade preacher and leader of the Boko Haram sect who was killed in 2009, will be converted to a museum. This is official, as it came out as one of the pronouncements that emanated from the summit of the National Council for Culture, Tourism and National Orientation that held last month in Dutse, Jigawa State. Mohammed Bulama, the Borno State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Information and Culture made the announcement in an interview with a NAN correspondent at the venue of the summit. He said, “The place is called Markaz; we want to build a museum there where all the things that had happened relating to the insurgency will be archived. We want to document and archive all that had happened so that our future generation will be able to have first-hand information”.

As soon as he made the announcement, it went viral and was taken up by all the major international media houses. The pros and cons were hotly debated particularly in the radio stations. Some were even casting doubts on the morality of the whole venture as it would give his misguided and deluded followers a rallying point. I followed the debates in the BBC Hausa service as well as the other Hausa services in the VOA and Radio France particularly those who are stringently against.

That should not stop the government from pursuing the project. It is worthwhile and must go on. It would not be the first time such a house of infamy was made a museum in Borno. The Rabeh’s Fort in Dikwa, about 80kms from Maiduguri towards Ndjamena, has been a national monument since it was declared to be so in 1959. Many readers may recall Rabeh as the Sudanese adventurer who invaded the then Kanem-Bornu Empire towards the dying days of the 19th Century. He ransacked Kukawa, its capital, and established his palace in Dikwa from where he unleashed a reign of terror on Borno citizens. It is that palace that the Nigerian Government a national monument. To get rid of Rabeh was as difficult as what our armed forces are now facing with the Boko Haram terrorists. In those days it took the combined force of the British, German and French colonial forces to get rid of the Rabeh menace.

When I was growing up in the 1960s I was familiar with old people who lived through Rabeh’s times and they would always relate the harsh conditions of famine and depravations they lived through. Rabeh, Mohammed Yusuf and Shekau are all fellow travellers in infamy considering the kinds of wholesome destruction they brought on Borno. Citizens of Borno and Nigerians in general must constantly be reminded of the horrible contributions of Mohammed Yusuf and his deluded group. Turning his infamous home into a museum is a first step to educating all on the futility of bigotry and violence.

We have to await the findings of the committees of the National Assembly to get to the bottom of the matter. Meanwhile we are encouraged by the open nature of the hearings. Probably it is the dawn of a new era of accountability that is unfolding. In this case Mainagate is a wake-up call to all public officers on their good conduct while performing their functions