Dont join in dymistification effort of #CorruptionFightBack against Buhari’s government, Eminent Citizens warn media
*Any government taking action against discovered corrupt act among its officials can’t be tagged as corrupt – Gen. Martins
*Buhari should initiate process for strengthening our criminal justice to make his anti-corruption war felt – Barr. Salau
*Despite everything, Buhari government is winning the war on corruption – Respondent
By Kemi Kasumu, General Editor
“When you allow people who don’t share your style or beliefs of nation building into your administration, they will be the same people who will destroy, sabotage your government and they will be the same people who will give or leak information of that sabotage to their like-minds in the media and who will now overblow it. That exactly is what has happened by that report by TheCable headlined, ‘General detained as corruption rocks Buhari’s government'”
The Fourth Estate of the Rhealm that Nigerian media represents has been warned against making itself available as tools for #CorruotionFightBack elements in their effort to dymistify the integrity status of the Muhammadu Buhari Administration through deliberately overblown report of issues especially when they have connection with any agency of the government.
This warning was coming on the heels of a report by TheCable, published on Wednesday which titled, “General detained as corruption rocks Buhari’s government”.
The warners are saying that it is unfair to tag Buhari’s government as corrupt or rocked by corruption when it is obvious that it has zero tolerance for corrupt people especially in agencies of government under his administration.
A prominent politician who spoke under condition of anonymity for being a member of opposition party said, “My worry is that many of us are in politics not with sincerity of making Nigeria better for Nigerians. If not, there is no justification for any member of the press to be identified with the kind of headline I am required by you to react to which says ‘General detained as corruption rocks Buhari’s government’. That headline is inciting and capable of causing confusion in a society, especially in Southern Nigeria where people, no matter amount of truth they are told, will always want to stay glued to the negative side.
“The question we politicians and members of the Nigerian press should sit down and ask ourselves is, why are we in politics and in the media if all we can do is to create confusion from nothing and make sorry case worse just to satisfy personal or sponsor’s selfish interest?
“This question is important because, my understanding of politicians seeking election is to be given the chance to manage the resources of the people using the apparatus of State to improve the situation of the masses of the people. And as politicians in the opposition, we are expected to be partners to the ruling class through pointing their wrong to them through the media with intention that they will improve, not with the intention to cause the downfall of the ruling class because they strictly speaking are in charge of state administration which affects our daily lives all together. Do we then cause the nation to collapse simply because we want to use the collapse as campaign tool to be allowed to now raise it up again? No way!
“This is the problem with our country. Those who want to be elected in 2019 are the ones who are today making Nigeria seem uninteresting to citizens and they are achieving it seriously because President Muhammadu Buhari is too serious about being righteous leader by his personal style of “I can work with anybody,” which has not worked.
“When you allow people who don’t share your style or beliefs of nation building into your administration, they will be the same people who will destroy, sabotage your government and they will be the same people who will give or leak information of that sabotage to their like-minds in the media and who will now overblow it. That exactly is what has happened by that report by TheCable headlined, ‘General detained as corruption rocks Buhari’s government’. How could you have reported that an allegedly corrupt General has been detained by security agency of a government and you still shout on top of your voice that corruption rocks that same government which does not tolerate act of indiscipline and corruption among its official?
“Wait a minute! Did Buhari promise you that there will be no person who is corrupt in his time as government head? No. What he promised was that he would make it difficult for any corrupt person to continue as any one caught will be arrested and prosecuted. You can be justified if he has not been doing that but that is not the case and that medium that published the incitement knew. Then, what is their ground for saying Buhari’s government is rocked by corruption when they, themself, agree that he is arresting and prosecuting freshly discovered suspects of corruption? Is there any executive who can do more than that in a democracy? If you know it is no, then, the journalists who wrote and media that published that kind of inciting report are wicked!” He said, adding, “And such members of the noble profession should change their way if they want to be remembered as part of developmental process in the making of new and better Nigeria.”
TheCable, an online media organisation, had on Wednesday published that President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign had been bedevilled by scandals saying the list of the scandals had just been lengthened by a contract scandal in the ministry of defence which it said had landed a brigadier-general in military court.
At the centre of the latest development, the report said, were Mansur Dan-Ali, a retired brigadier-general and minister of defence, Danjuma Nanfo, the immediate past permanent secretary in the ministry, and LYM Hassan, a brigadier-general and coordinator of peacekeeping, adding that Hassan was now in detention and facing court-martial.
The report said in details: “At the court martial, which began on October 30, 2017, Dan-Ali, Nanfo, and Hassan have disclosed how money was shared from a $1.4 million contract without the job being executed, TheCable has learnt.
“The contract was for the relocation and refurbishment of Level 2 Ministry Hospital under the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) following a directive from the UN.
“A UN Level 2 hospital is a second line or “brigade/sector” level surgical facility for limited specialist expertise and limited surgical capabilities, including life, limb and organ-saving surgeries.
“Under the UN system, 18 Level 2 hospitals are being operated by troop-/police-contributing countries.
“Countries get paid by the UN for the use of their facilities.
“Nigeria’s Level 2 hospital was established to support the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) in 2008.
“The hospital was later relocated to its temporary site in Timbuktu in 2013 to support MINUSMA.
“For failing to meet the August 2017 UN deadline for a new location, Nigeria has been asked by the global body to withdraw its remaining contingent to the United Nations African Mission in Darfur (UNIMID) because of poor holdings of the contingent-owned equipment (COE).
“The problem started for Nigeria’s full-fledged Level 2 hospital when the UN asked Nigeria to move it from the present temporary camp at the Timbuktu airport, Mali, to the more secure new UN Super Camp, also in Timbuktu.
“With the completion of the permanent camp of MINUSMA in Timbuktu, the UN requested all its establishments to relocate to the new Super Camp.
“Trouble started when, in February 2017, the ministry of defence awarded a contract for the refurbishing and relocation of the hospital to a contractor who had zero experience in installation of Level 2 hospital.
“The procurement was done without the initial due process of the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP).
“According to documents seen by TheCable, the controversial contract was awarded after the MOD had received a presidential approval in the name of another contractor.
“The initial approval followed a memo from the minister of defence on July 21, 2016 to President Muhammadu Buhari requesting fund for the relocation of the Nigerian Medical Level 2 Hospital “deployed to African Union MINUSMA in Mali”.
“The approval was contained in a memo, dated November 9, 2016, from the president’s chief of staff to the minister of defence.
“Nothing was heard of the president’s approval until three months later when an award letter dated February 2, 2017 emanated from the procurement department of the MOD to a new firm not initially involved in the initial contract process.
“The new contract had a completion period of two months.
“The contract till date has not been executed, as only part of the hospital under MINUSMA was dismantled and left at the current location.
“The initial cost of the contract for the refurbishing and relocation of the hospital as approved by Buhari was $1,464,750.
“The contract for execution of the same was awarded by the MOD procurement department for $1 million, short by $464,750.
“But the favoured contractor reportedly ran back to tell the ministry officials that the contract could not be executed unless there was a variation sum to the tune of over $500,000.
“However, the refurbishment and relocation contract was awarded by MOD with express specification that “the contract price is fixed and no request for variation will be entertained. It is expected that you will relocate the items in good conditions and perform to the highest standard all the obligations under the contract and to remind you also that it is not transferable”.
“According to a source in the ministry, the second approval is suspect because “there is no way the president will give approval to the same contract twice”.
“The second approval was possibly made up to cover up the tracks of those involved in the shady deals which has cost Nigeria — the UN has asked Rwanda to get ready to deploy another Level 2 hospital at the Super Camp.
“The UN, through the United Nations Security Council, had at its meeting with troop/police contributing countries 28 January 2017 in New York, expressed an urgent need to relocate the hospital to the Super Camp.
“All the establishments had a deadline of second week of August 2017 to complete the relocation as the UN took full responsibility of preparing the platforms on which the Level 2 hospital is to be erected.
“But with the platforms ready by the first week of August, Nigeria’s hospital where near the Super Camp.
“Despite the implications of their actions on the fortune of the nation in peacekeeping and the image of the country, the actors allegedly chose to share the money.
“The top officials had reportedly excluded the contractor in the sharing after signing the contract formula.
“To save the image of the ministry and possibly cover the alleged fraud, Dan-Ali reportedly sent servicing officers to execute the contract.
“The relocation was to be supervised by the Hassan and BA Isandu, also a brigadier-general.
“Hassan, however, made some uncomplimentary comments which were recorded, unknown to him.
“This has landed him in army headquarters garrison for jurisdiction under court martial.”
So long government takes action against alleged corrupt officials, it is unfair to tag it corrupt
– Retired General
Responding to a questionaire by The DEFENDER, former Corps Commander, Nigerian Army Ordnance Corps, Headquarters, General Abdullahi Adekunle Martins, said it was unfair to tag the Buhari government as corrupt so long it is taking action to discover and punish corrupt officials who have become clear to it as truly corrupt as alleged.
In a text reply to The DEFENDER on Thursday, the General said, “I think it is unfair. Most adverse comments like that are always from uninformed sources. If the government is not serious, it won’t prosecute erring and corrupt officials.”
Our administration of criminal justice is the problem – Barrister Salau
Akure, Ondo State based legal oractitional, Barrister Jimoh Salau, said although Buhari administration is not felt to have done much in the area of anti-corruption fight but blamed it on the legal system of the country.
The lawyer saud, “Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has not done much in term of prosecuting offenders because of the clogs in our administratn of criminal justice.”
He however partly blamed the President for not having initiated the process to correct the problem since he, according to him, the President will be the one to mention at the end of the tenure no matter whether judiciary or legislature is the cause of any failure or shortcoming.
“As President of Federal Republic Of Nigeria the onus lies on him to ensure the sanctity of the judiciary and he should intiate that process through whatever legitimate means,” Barrister Salau said.
Despite everything Buhari government stands out clear, winning the war on corruption – Respondent
Another respondent however said, “There is no point arguing about something we were already told by President Buhari himself from day one. He said, ‘I will be slow but steady’. If we all know that, then why are the journalists who should be the ones to guide our thinking direction in this anti-corruotion fight the same people who are behaving like know-nothing?
“TheCable, like some prints, has just tried to justify why Buhari government should be seen as filled with scandals. But those points it raised doing the justification is strong pointer to the fact that even the writer of the story is not informed by facts on ground. To claim that Buhari took months to sack Ayodele Oke, whom he suspended immediately his scandal was discovered by the government’s EFCC, is not a sincere statement because the report finally indicting both Oke and Babachir was submitted at a time the Presidrnt’s sudden health issue started and which took him abroad for some times.
“Recall Ayo Oke had even tried to run down a member of three-man probe panel the National Security Adviser Monguno when he said he was aware of the Ikoyi money. If the Osinbajo-led panel was not above board, that Ayo’s rundown attempt could have also been taken to be that Buhari probe panel rocked by scandal. The Press should be the one to explain in details to the vulnerable masses what they don’t appear to get clearly about information coming out from government whether truth or false. But for you to report a government as insincere, it is your duty as press to support it with facts and evidence. Just remember how Jonathan government was always pushed to the ground with factual reports and it would be unable to clearly deny or defend itself.
“If you have any such reason to so expose Buhari government, why don’t you go on? But remember also that even as Press member you doomed in your own world if your report is found out to be based on falsehood and makeups.” He warned.
