Transparency gospel according to St. Owasanoye

AS an anti-corruption czar, at least till he leaves office, the regular tune that should flow from Professor Bolaji Olufunmileyi Owasanoye, ICPC’s número uno, is no-corruption la, la, la. After office, he carries the moral burden of accepting to lead a charge, where the et tu trap could easily snap his toes, if he misspeaks in favour of corruption. Life time burden? Big head, big headache.

Owasanoye is an educated professor. His grammar ability is pure, the way Waffi boys would capture, something adorable. His delivery is energetic, yet free-flowing. His mind isn’t encumbered like some professors, with affected syntax. Both law and phonetics are sweet for Oga Bolaji’s mouth.

Last week, he was in the mood. I had attended a meeting where he took charge of the podium. He isn’t a rugged anti-corruption fighter in the mould of Nuhu Ribadu or ruckus-raiser like Ibrahim Magu. But he is a preacher, carrying the cross of underwhelming performance perception with the emotively-judgmental Nigerian public, yet determined to plant a gospel seed, maybe to be watered by someone else. May God of increase, make his seed blossom.

Owasanoye, at a meeting with the chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Mohammed Isah, another professor, on Thursday, made an uncomfortable demand. He charged the CCB leadership on transparency, requesting that completed asset declaration forms of public office holders, should become automatic public documents, released without prompting. He argued that the secrecy surrounding asset declaration by public and civil servants is aiding corruption. Who doesn’t know this, except those benefitting from the unwritten code of let-our-secret-be-secret arrangement at the Bureau?

Since the combination of a truculent North-West governor and a rumbustious minister from the South-South, leveraged on federal might to use the Bureau and the Code of Conduct Tribunal to sack a sitting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, ordinary record-keeping pseudo-judicial body has assumed an incredible relevance proportion that borders on crass notoriety, arguably becoming the most destructive official grenade when there is heart to shatter.

Owasanoye is asking the lethal devil’s arsenal to let go of its most potent weapon; opacity, which has assisted in official shenanigans in ways that can’t be qualified. What is there to harass anyone with again, if all declarants’ forms are in public domain immediately the Bureau takes custody. He could as well be urinating into the Lagoon! For clarity, no law bars the Bureau from making public, assets of public officers. In fact, the Freedom of Information Act makes it compelling for the Bureau to make public, such declarations, on request, though Owasanoye is pushing for no-prompting release.

That should make the unwanted ICPC boss, a patriot, at a time Nigeria is in dire need of multiples. With no commitment of any sorts from Professor Isah, the red flag that he is receiving his briefings elsewhere billows. Owasanoye’s request is beyond Isah and his boys. The ICPC boss would probably be laughed off among power-operators controlling the record-keepers, as naivety in suit that is if his request hadn’t enraged them as secession, meaning he gotta go.

Today, Nigeria is dealing with buccaneers, with clear-cut mandates and goals, which rarely serve the nation or majority. It is artlessness on Owasanoye’s part to make his gospel known without tact. Though he has no copyright to what he said, the weight is different, coming from him. Patriotism in Nigeria today requires sense, especially for those yoked with the current mongers in power. Soon, a tu quo que challenge may come the way of Owasaonye. So, what about him, first showcasing his asset details to the public and compelling all his staff to so do, for the conversation to truly begin.

 

Ok, Starboy Seyi Makinde

As I write this Friday morning, Twitter was on fire for Seyi Makinde. Both his Yoruba folks and non-Yoruba adopting him as their Governor-General were lionising him for stuffing corps members serving in the state with extra N10k monthly, moving their “almighty” allawee from N5k to N15k. Come and see kudos and knocks, the blows for other governors owing corps members, both serving and “retired.” Political neophytes amongst the yell-leaders, even asked APC and other opposition parties in the state to forget 2023, saying Makinde’s second term is given. Ha! Even the governor and his handlers know they can’t eat soap as Yoruba would warn against smug attitude and swashbuckle.

Politicians are celebrities on soapbox. One scandal and brand is in tatters, mojo becomes a spell. Even those who harried Akinwunmi Ambode out of Alausa acknowledged his tangibles in office. But the one who should be the engine-room was the Judas who planted the “emotional intelligence” kiss of death on his chubby cheeks. Only God can say he will be governor again.

Yes, Starboy GSM stands a better chance now than 2019 when ori olori, ese elese (all sorts of alliance) propelled him into office. One, there is incumbency factor. Two, government money will now go into wooing voters as all his colleagues do, a criminal act now a norm. Three, a certain bank’s bullion vans may not be available for multiple rounds to the state in the next election cycle but the bank’s anointed still strikes enough to tango with a widow. A man with a dwindling pocket hardly does gbese (Z-generation dance step).

Apart from unexpected, unforeseen and bone-across-the-neck banana peels like Sunday Igboho, Governor Makinde’s major challenge is Oyo’s peculiar politics of alliance. While alliances are predictable in places like Ogun, where all former governors since 1992 are now in ruling APC, Oyo, or more like Ibadan, has a way of handling those who wore coats of many colours to Agodi like Makinde. In his own peculiar case, some of the colours are losing sight appeal.

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