Alleged N80bn AGF fraud: Proving the veracity of claims beyond reasonable doubt
Corruption in Nigeria has grown over time to leave a wobble imprint which has accorded the Country reproach in the international realm. More so, the debilitating impacts of same have seen internal realities growing with stormy winds, as the effects of the gaps left by corruption syndrome have raised strings of clustering deficiencies. The prevailing conditions in the Country, recently, have brought to fore, destabilising forces as consequences of deficiencies which the scourge of corruption have come to inflict on the Country.
Recently, insecurity has come to inflict heavy blows of disconcerting disturbances on the Country with destabilising forces. The stormy dimensions which the scourge has come to assume recently, have become a subject of mind blowing reflections. The assessment of cause and effect relations of the stormy grip of the extensive force of insecurity mayhem though have been linked to several factors, yet would profoundly identify poverty with concision as an inspiring force fuelling the increasing resort of more persons to indulging in aggressive formations to make ends meet by cruelty of illegitimate actions. The booing echoes of agitations and acrimonious dissensions have not been expunged from one same factor – poverty.
However, the linking strings of cause assessment of poverty itself, though have also been noted to be multifaceted, yet have had close reflections of justifiable linkage to certain factors. Of close precision, has been the syndrome of corruption which itself has apparently assumed infectious format of dispersing variants. The depth of the misdeeds attached to its strings has indeed grown with infectious reflections. Its pronounced state within the sphere of public governance has had a long lasting grip with its imprint now taking contagious impacts on other fabrics of the Nigerian society. It seems the pronounced stature of its grip on the public sector has grown too firm, that it is continuously becoming difficult for other fabrics of the society, not even the private sector, to be expunged from the infections. Apparently, it has become a culture which has assumed an infectious syndrome which has permeated the working fabrics of the entire society.
While other fabrics have been contagiously infested with the infections, cases in the public sector remains colossal and dispersal with deep seated abominable abysm.
One mind provoking disclosure which has brought Nigerians to further discomfort of thoughts, is the recent disclosure by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with accusations of N80billion fraud linked to the embattled Accountant-General of the Federation (AcGF), Ahmed Idris, who on Monday, May 16th, 2022, was arrested and detained by the anti-graft agency. A statement by the EFCC had disclosed that Idris was seized by the operatives of the anti-graft agency. The statement by the EFCC’s spokesman Wilson Uwujaren stated that the AcGF had raked off the funds through bogus consultancies and other illegal activities using proxies, family members and close associates. The EFCC claimed that the said funds were laundered through real estate investments in Kano and Abuja. The statement also explained that Idris was arrested after failing to honour invitations by the EFCC to respond to issues related to the alleged fraudulent activity.
The statement had partly read, “Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday, May 16, 2022, arrested serving Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris in connection with diversion of funds and money laundering activities to the tune of N80billion. The Commission’s verified intelligence showed that the AcGF raked off the funds through bogus consultancies and other illegal activities using proxies, family members and close associates. The funds were laundered through real estate investments in Kano and Abuja. Mr Idris was arrested after failing to honou invitations by the commission.”
As clouds gather over the allegation, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, subsequently has suspended the embattled AcGF over the N80 billion fraud allegation. The Special Adviser to the Minister on Media, Mr. Tanko Abdullahi, confirmed that the AcGF was suspended indefinitely, to allow unhindered investigations into the alleged fraud.
It is no less than a sacrilege if truly an action of such corrupt tendency is proven to have taken place from an office which forms a critical part of the architecture of financial management in the Country. The case of corruption reflecting financial mismanagement, misappropriation, or as the case may be, theft, from an office meant to serve the purpose of financial reckoning, would speak no less than abominable sacrilege, if proven.
However, since the disclosure still remains within the juncture of allegations, it is essential for the investigations to be carried out without bias and shenanigans. As the law would permit, giving fare hearing to the accused remains pertinent. However, it is of utmost importance for the appropriate bodies owing responsibility to carrying out the investigations, trials and prosecution, among other related functions of putting corruption into check, to carry out their functions at the height of all sanctity, without compromising standards, to prove the veracity of the claims or otherwise. This is important to clear the air from any iota of doubt. The weight of such allegations remains too heavy and deeply inconceivable to bear – that from an office which bears sanctimonious function of financial reckoning, the feasting fingers of corruption are being found. It is thus, appropriate for the trying agency to put the record straight with credible facts to justify their claims which is rightly important to prove the veracity or otherwise of the allegation.
Trying and prosecuting cases of corruption have become a sacrosanct quest that must be pursued with all due diligence, as the Country has been reduced to an edge where the forces created by the gaps left behind by the ravages of corruption, have clustered to bring forth destabilising patterns of cacophonic troubles discomfitting the Country. Hence, such gaps have seen recalcitrant forces brewing the winds of disturbances, making coexistence across the Federation a fearful convergence with threats of insecurity in its various formats. The need to, hence, crumble the estate of corruption is a necessity which cannot be shied from, nor tolerated any longer, if a colossal collapse would be averted. Hence, the trial of corruption offences must be thorough to deter corrupt-inclined persons from resting in the syndrome, so as to rescue the Country from irredeemable collapse, and to crumble the building blocks of corruption estate which may inform same.
