Babachir Lawal’s suspension: praise and concerns

It’s great that after much dillydallying President Buhari has finally summoned the intestinal andtesticular fortitude to “suspend” “cash-and-carry” SGF Babachir David Lawal of “grasscutting” infamy.

In my December 17, 2016 column titled “12 conditions for praising Buhari,” the third condition I gave for praising the president was that he should, “Sincerely investigate and prosecute the corrupt people in his administration. Secretary to the Government of the Federation David LawalBabachir has become a byword for unspeakably highprofile corruption. He has been accused of all kinds of shady deals, including callously shortchanging IDPs, prompting the equally sleazy Senate to call for his prosecution.

“Abba Kyari has been accused of all manner of corruption. Irrefutable documentary proofs of Buratai’s corruption have been published on Sahara Reporters. Amaechi has been accused of bribing judges. The list goes on. Not a word has been heard

It’s no longer news that even the unborn child in Nigeria is aware that times are biting hard because it directly or indirectly feels the pains of economic recession. Almost every Nigerian today is complaining of austere times. The young and the old, men as well as women, the haves and the havesnot including whistleblowers are individually lamenting the harsh economic ‘weather’ in the country. Even those against whom whistles are being blown keep complaining until the ‘silent-noise’ of whistleblowers exposes them.

The word poverty requires no philological definition because it is as common as dirt and discriminates against no gender, religion or tribe. The pious and the unrighteous, the healthy and the sick, the young and the old, men and women are amenable to poverty and could be touched by one degree of deprivation or another. The mere fact that the righteous could be subjected to poverty (if Allah wills) is from the presidency in response to any of these accusations. But (corrupt) political opponents are hounded, even without firm evidence, in the name of ‘anticorruption’ fight.”

My consistent criticisms of the president’s selective anticorruption fight in my columns may have nothing to do with his latest move (for all you know, the president probably never even reads my column), but I’ll fulfill my pledge nonetheless and say, “good job, Mr. President for suspending one of the biggest embarrassments to your government-and to Nigeria.”

But this is only a start, a small start. Abba Kyari, TukurBuratai, Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau, RotimiAmaechi and other corrupt fat cats in the government should be shown the door, too. Then, we can begin to talk of real anti-corruption fight.

Frankly, Lawal should never have been Secretary to the Government of the Federation. The man neither has the experience nor the temperament to hold such a sensitive office. He is a notorious gaffe machine enough indication that poverty is not a vice but a virtue and of theupright. Certainly, poverty is not a curse.

Although every individual desires to be rich, we cannot all bewell-off.Human society has not been established to the exclusion of the poor. Although most if not all of us despise poverty, the world was not created by God tosolely comprise of the rich. While a few would be blessed with riches, many others who are in the majority would be ‘favoured’ with indigence. Wealth andpoverty are prerogatives of God. Both are discrete status employed by Allah (SWT) to subject the faith of mankind to trial.

But why, if one may ask, is it that those who cherish poverty are scarcely found?Little do many of us realize that the more we appreciate poverty, the richer we spiritually become though without money. Of course, a spiritually rich individual is wealthier than theresources and assets possessedby all the affluent who can’t seem to be able to say the right thing.

He once said Boko Haram was a PDP creation to intentionally depopulate the northeast region because the region’s political sympathies lie with the APC. Boko Haram was formed, he said, to “decimate the voters’ population on the North-east,”he told journalists , because, he added, “they [PDP members] know that the region is 100 percent APC.” Which sane adult talks like that?

At a church thanksgiving service in his honor on October 17, 2015, Lawalalso said Bola Tinubu and BisiAkande were singularly responsible for his appointment as SGF. “Because if it has been left to northerners, it is doubtful if they will take a Christian man to make Secretary to the Government of the Federation,” he said. That was needlessly divisive.

During the same thanksgiving service, Lawal publicly admitted to receiving monetary gifts from Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi-in contravention of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers. “This is a man I don’t people of the world put together. Unfortunately, most people fail to realize that wealth does not begin and end with money.

It is reported on the authority of Ka’abbnIyad (RA) that he heard the Prophet (SAW) saying: “Every Ummah (Community) has its own temptation, and the temptation of my Ummah is money”. This Prophetic factprobablyaccounts for the ‘Get richquickly’ syndrome in our contemporary society. Everyone wants to be rich. No one thinks of living as a poor person. It is not possible that everyone would be rich. Even the fingers on our hands were not made in equal length because each has relative functions to perform. Moreover, riches are not from abundance of worldly possessionsbut from a contented mind.

Ibn Umar (RA) said the Prophet (SAW) once took him by the shoulder and said: ‘Be in this world as though you were a stranger or traveller’. Now, Ibn Umar used to say: ‘When evening comes to you, do not know but he is PDP,” Lawal said at the event.“He’s Igbo but he sent a trailer load of rice to my governor for the IDPs in Adamawa state recently. May be he did not want me to say it. Again, one day I was just in my office looking and sounding broke.He just said, ‘during the Sallah, I am going to send Ebonyi rice to you.’ And I said,‘I don’t want Ebonyi rice. I have too much rice in my house. I don’t even know what to do with the rice.’So later his ADC comes and says, ‘Oga sent me to you.’ And I said,‘what is inside that thing,’ and he said, ‘money,’ and I said,‘bring it my friend.’”

This was before he discovered that he could cut grass for internally displaced Boko Haram victims for hundreds of millions of naira. Some interesting transformation there.

These are just a few of the man’s many embarrassingly tactless public utterances. Plus, people who have related with him say he is astonishingly arrogant, corrupt and incompetent. It’s such a joke that a person that reckless,unguarded, and impoliticis saddled with a job as sensitive as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

In fact, Lawal himself thought it was a joke that anyone would find him worthy to be SGF. “I started getting hints to this job just about two to three days to it, and I thought it was a very big joke,” he said at the thanksgiving service organized to celebrate his appointment. Yes, it’s still a big joke, Lawal! expect morning; and when morning comes, do not expect evening. Take from your health (a precaution) for your sickness and from your life for your death’.

Umar bn al-Khattab (RA) reports that he once noticed that the Prophet (SAW) couldn’t get even a piece of dates to eat throughout a whole day. Each time the Prophet (SAW) woke up and Aisha (RA) told him there was no food in the house, he continued his day with fast till sunset. AbdullahibnMas’ud (RA) also reports that the Prophet (SAW) once slept on a mat and when he stood up, there were traces and marks on his flank. And they requested him to allow them get something soft for him to sleep on. But the Prophet (SAW) said: ‘I am not in this world except as a rider who found a shade under a tree, to take some rest and leave’.

It is reported on the authority of AbiAmru (RA) that the Prophet (SAW) explained that mankind deserves nothing except the following items: A house to live in; a cloth to cover his nakedness, an unbuttered loaf of bread and water. UbaydullahbnMihsani (RA) reports that the Prophet (SAW) said: ‘Whoever wakes up in safety among his people, sound in his body, and is provided with the day’s food has been granted this world entirely’.

One psychological way of coping with financial difficulties is to discuss your challenges with others. When you complain of

However, while I think the president has moved in the right direction, several throbbing concerns remain. Why did the president initially write to the National Assembly to exonerate the SGF without prior investigation? What new information informed the decision to suspend and investigate him now? Why is he being investigated by his colleagues, one of whom actually exonerated him of the same allegations in the past? Can we expect any justice from this committee? Why isn’t he being investigated by an independent presidential commission of inquiry or, at the very least, the EFCC or the ICPC?

Corrupt political opponents of the president are never investigated by a presidential committee. They are often hounded by the EFCC and tried in the news media. Why is the president’s corrupt political associate being treated differently?

And should we expect Abba Kyari (who is accused of accepting a hefty bribe from MTN to reduce the telecom company’s fine), TukurBuratai (about whom incontrovertible evidence of inexplicable enrichment has been provided) and others to be suspended and investigated, too? That would be the real anti-corruption fight. If not, even if Lawal is found guilty and fired, people will impute ulterior motives to his ouster. For the anti-corruption campaign to succeed, it must be sincere, wholehearted, and just. not having enough food to eat and you probably hear from the person listening to you that he had not eaten since yesterday; you are likely tothank Allah (SWT) and forget your worries. Economic hardship, no matter how severe it see, is not enough reason to justify hurting others or engaging in dubious activities such as forgery, duping or cheating in any form. Neither is poverty at any rate a good reason to justify suicide.

lbn Abbas (RA) reports that the Prophet (SAW) wentto sleep several times without anything in his stomach, and his family stayed without dinner. The Prophet (SAW) is also reported to have said that a believer should divide his stomach into three when he comes to eat. The first part should be for food, the second part for water; and the third for air. AbiUmamah (RA) said he heard the Prophet (SAW) mentioning, ‘Penury is part offaith’.

It is reported that when the Prophet (SAW) died, he neither left behind a silver nor gold or slave except a female mule which he used to ride; hisweaponries; and a piece of land which he dedicated to the wayfarer. Abu Musa al-Ash’ari (RA) reports that Aisha (RA) showed them a thick wrapper and a piece of cloth and said: ‘The Prophet (SAW) died in these two pieces (of cloth)’. It is our prayer that Allah (SWT) putsus among those who appreciatepoverty. Since I didn’t hear you say ‘amin’, mine could serve.