The Holy Qur’an Chapter 30 vs 41 says
‘ Corruption has spread on the land and sea as a result of what people’s hands have done so that Allah may cause them to taste the consequences of some of their deeds and perhaps they might return to the right path ‘
This verse of the Qur’an succinctly depicts the feelings of Nigerians about virtually all our security agencies especially the police, customs, immigration and even the Armed Forces. This verse is also an eloquent testimony to what Allah says that ‘We didn’t forget anything about human endeavour in the Holy Qur’an.” Holy Qur’an 6 vs 38
A great philosopher Edmund Burke also said ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’.
From all indications, Alhaji Isa Idris Jere is a good man who is already doing something unprecedented at Immigration to white wash the bad image of the organisation with the tacit and inspirational support of his supervising Minister the great Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola.
The corruption in these agencies is so endemic and pervasive that the get rich mentality in our youths make them terribly aggressive in preferring to work in these corrupt ridden agencies than any other.
Alhaji Isa Idris Jere seems to be on the mantra of Abraham Lincoln the former President of the United States Of America who in his youth abhorred, detested and despised the abominable man’s inhumanity to man as exemplified by the slave trade. He now said ‘If I have a chance to hit that thing I would hit it hard ‘ He has the positive and eternal honour of eliminating slave trade from humanity. Lincoln’s name would forever be written in gold for saving humanity from this despicable and reprehensible racist driven opprobrium.
Alhaji Jere who rose through the ranks within the immigration could not but have seen this glaring corruption that was the trademark of the organisation but had no power to stop it.
The opportunity came when he was appointed to the office and he knows history would not be kind to him if he does not end this unwholesome activities within the system that was being perpetrated with absolute impunity and reckless abandon that stinks to high heavens.
He on resumption made a statement that most Nigerians would have regarded as IGG ( Initial Gra Gra) That he would with everything at his disposal fight corruption. Discerning Nigerians are correct because it is a ritual in Nigeria for a new man to boast that he would fight corruption but before long people around him would bring the Nigerian factor into his psyche.
He would be subjected to unnecessary pressure and railroaded to pitch his tent in the cesspool of corruption. He would be told in unmistakable terms OGA THIS IS YOUR CHANCE MAKE THE BEST OUT OF IT. WITH WHAT WILL YOU TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF WHEN YOU RETIRE.
He went on for the jugular of the most filthy department at Immigration, the passport section.
Alhaji Jere went to the Ikoyi office of the Lagos Immigration on the 16th of October 2021 as reported by the Premium Times and other media houses incognito.
Some unscrupulous officers told him five years passport cost 45k instead of 27k that is the official rate. Sixty four pages cost 55k instead of the official rate of 27k.
When he complained that it was outrageous because the Comptroller of Immigration announced amounts much cheaper they told him ‘ Go and get it at that price from Jere in Abuja’
Alhaji Jere then went to the Lagos zonal headquarters and their boss there was shocked to the marrows to see his master in mufti.
The officers were summarily dismissed to show that a new sherif has taken over at Immigration. Also six Assistant Comptroller General were reassigned and the shake up affected twenty six Comptroller Generals
This is an eloquent testimony that the information that had gained currency that the bribe that escalates the price of International passports percolates up the ladder to the oga on top may become a myth with a man of conscience like Alh Jere. It is universally accepted that the police ‘Toll Gate’ collection also goes as far as those at the very top. Probably a few would resist the temptation. It is a multi billion Naira business as little drop of water makes the mighty ocean. No wonder it goes on shamelessly with most of the generallisimos looking the other way.
Can anybody in Nigeria be oblivious of this police and even Road Safety collection of bribes on the road which is not done with any iota of secrecy. To lay credence to the philosophical aphorism of the German literary giant George Hegel who said ‘ What we have learnt from history is that men never learn from history ‘ some immigration officers who cannot cope with a seemingly new order of an incorruptible Comptroller General of immigration asked Nigerians on their way to Dubai to pay a bribe of 10k each at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport.This obnoxious act got to the hearing of Alhaji Jere and he immediately on the first of November dismissed the eight officers involved in the unwholesome act and 100 officers were redeployed from the buoyant and lucrative international airport.
It was from another highly celebrated incorruptible Public Officer Prof. Ishaq Oloyede in one of the many receptions held to celebrate him as a transparent man of honour when he remitted more than 8 billion naira to government coffers in one year while his predecessor Dibu Ojerinde paid only 200m in nine years that I heard of the axiom ‘If Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria ‘ is there any institution in Nigeria immuned and unsuspectible from corruption ? See the mess we are into. Some military officers sent to fight Boko Haram are in synergy with Boko Haram commanders and give intelligence to them of the movement of our soldiers.
Security men sent to protect crude oil going into the high sea in the Niger delta collude with bunkerers to the extent that half of the crude oil produced stolen putting Nigeria into the present financial comatose exposing the foolishness of our overdependence on only oil for our economic survival
Though there is no country in the universe where corruption is inexistent that of Nigeria is humongous. That is why when you see a few people in influential positions holding their heads while others are losing theirs they need to be adulated, venerated and celebrated with encomiums.
As a Muslim I am proud to say that most of those who have made a mark in terms of transparency, integrity and incorruptibllity in public office which even the greatest Islamophobic person would doff his hat for have always been Muslims. The only Christian that I can remember who put her life on the line to fight malfeasance in public office was Professor Dora Akunyili. She was a rare breed. A gem indeed. A courageous and dogged fighter of the highest pedestal. Unfortunately her tribal compatriots were the most guilty in the trade of fake drugs importation and they couldn’t fathom why their tribeswoman would be the one to spoil the business where they were making a big fortune without much sweat . When an attempt to assassinate her failed it was believed in certain quarters that the mysterious illness that eventually took her life had spiritual dimension.
Let me mention a few examples of Muslims who have become heroes in fighting the hydraheaded menace of corruption in our polity.
Our house of representatives or is it representaTHIEVES asked El Rufai or Hell Rufai to those who love to hate him to bring fifty million before being confirmed as a Minister. He not only refused to play ball, he held a press conference to expose the corrupt elements in our National Assembly, telling them he was coming to serve and not to steal. Unknown to them he wasn’t an hungry man but a guru in his Quantity surveying profession having made a first class at Ahmadu University . He was not the only one asked to pay bribe before being confirmed. Others paid and maintained an inglorious taciturnity. That is Nigeria for you.
What of the 14th Emir of Kano Shaikh Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. Rather than go to the then president Goodluck Jonathan for the sharing formular of the 20 billion dollars that vamoosed from the National treasury, he told the whole world the collosal amount that developed feet.
When the Senators or SINNATORS wanted to blackmail him to eat his words he called off their bluff but told them ‘ If you don’t want me to say the truth you can remove me , I will pack by bags and baggages and go back to kano. My father’s name is Sanusi not Governor of Central Bank.’
President Jonathan removed him and Allah rewarded him to become the Emir of Kano coinciding with the day he would have left office if he was not summarily given the boot. He cannot keep quiet and his criticism of the elephantine corruption in the government of Ganduje cost him the enviable position as Emir of Kano.
Allah now took him to the apex of spiritual excellence probably more prestigious than being an Emir.. He became the Head of the Tijanniya group in Nigeria .The population of members of Tijanniya in Nigeria definitely is greater than that of Kano state.
Today his name resonates internationally than when he was the Emir of Kano because no conference on how to boost the Economy of Nigeria is complete without this intellectual genius, this man internationally recognised as a cerebral homosapien.
Col Hamid Ali was reputed to be an ascetic retired military officer. When he was posted to the Customs he sent packing many corrupt officers some of who told me he is not only a non conformist but an eccentric. He doubled the revenue of the Customs within a year.
What of the Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu one of those who actually deserved a National honour. He was given the third most prestigious National Honour in the country CFR recently. . Many former VC’s of universities would tell who cares to listen that some of those who held sway in the education ministry before him would make sure your campus doesn’t get their allocation at TETFUND until you bring a portfolio filled with dollars.
A former vice chancellor told me of a Minister who lectured him on how to raise the bribe ‘Ask the outgoing vice-chancellor to introduce you to the contractors handling projects on campus. They would contribute the hundred million with the proviso that they would be rewarded with the next set of contracts either from TETFUND or capital project allocation’. Most present day Vice-chancellors would tell you the only day they met Adamu Adamu was the day they were sworn in.
Today without any equivocation the best Governor in Nigeria is Professor Babagana Umar Zulum of Borno state. Very selfless, courageous and incorruptible He remains a pride to the Youths of this country because of his workaholic nature and brazen cross swording with the notorious Boko Haram ravaging the North East. It is equally true that one of the worst Governor is a Muslim who thinks the way to develop his confluence state is to organise useless parties in honour of prostitutes glamourised as celebrities.
Alhaji Musiliu Smith as the Inspector General of police who created history when he dismantled the road blocks where policemen shamelessly collect bribes from motorists especially the commercial drivers but was removed unceremoniously by Ebora Owu Obasanjo when they perceived he was too clean to do the yeoman’s job of using the police to rig him for a second term in office.
Immediately he left office the road blocks or toll gates were back.
Alh Bashir Yinka Balogun erstwhile commissioner of police and former National secretary of the Muslim Student’s Society Of Nigeria had the same reputation as he was nicknamed when he served in Enugu as ‘Policeman who no de take bribe’ .
What of Muhammad Musa Bello the Minister of FCT This is a Minister who does not pokenose into how contracts are awarded but would supervise its execution meticulously. Since he doesn’t know how the contractor got the job woe betides the contractor who doesn’t do the job according to specification. Most understandably he is the most misunderstood Minister because he hates publicity like a plague. He hardly commissions projects with pomp and pageantry. He regards this as a veritable waste of public funds.
We cannot forget Dr Jubril Oyekan who for many years superintended over the Department Of Petroleum resources in the Ministry of Petroleum yet could not build a house of his own because he never took bribe or even gift from anybody. He had no petrol station but his secretary then built many houses and had many petrol stations for being a good boy to the head of many heads of multinational oil companies who were always queuing up to see his boss . Dr Oyekan inadvertently was doing the bidding of his secretary who had compromised his oath of office.
It would be an unnecessary repetition to mention Professor Ishaq Oloyede here. He Is in a class of his own and deserves the third most prestigious National award of CFR given to him by president Buhari recently.
You may say President Buhari is slow but his most destructive critic would not put corruption on his door step. He remains a transparent man of honour who not too long ago boldly said without the least fear of being contradicted that if he dies today his children have not much to inherit.
When he wanted to contest in 2015 and some Christian bigots were deliberately painting him as a Muslim fanatic but who at best is an average Muslim who sees nothing wrong in shaking hands with women which is intolerable in Islamic nobility , it was Cardinal John Onaiyekan who said Christians should also produce an incorruptible public officer like Buhari .Today he sounds not like somebody who has much respect for the president because of his perception that his performance is pedestrian f
I can continue ad infinitum to mention Muslims who are universally reputed to be above board in public office.
This is not to say that all Muslims in government are immuned from corruption. In fact many are as corrupt as their counterparts if not more.
Ahmed Idris the disgraced Accountant General of the Federation who allegedly pocketed 109 billion naira at a time he refused to pay for three years the salary of young poor new workers claiming the country was in financial distress.He is a good example of a bad Muslim.
What of Maina who stole the money of poor pensioners and is now licking his dented wounds at Kuje prisons.
Those aforementioned who are integrity personified were acting in consonance with the Qur’anic exhortation that says ‘ You Muslims are the best of people raised among Mankind you enjoin what is good and believe in Allah’ Holy Qur’an 3:110
Those emptying the treasury and pretend to be Muslims have lost their hereafter. And Allah said in the Holy Qur’an ‘ He who loves this world we would give him but he would have no share in the ( fantastic perquisites) of the hereafter Holy Qur’an 4: 126. Some dress like a good Muslim but their way of life is absolutely antithetical to Islamic injunctions in its pristine purity.
Some will not shake women but will shake dollars in fraudulent transactions.
That reminds me of a Chinese who told me a man came from an Arab country to his pharmaceutical factory and told him to manufacture a drug with 50mg active ingredients but put 500 mg on the packet . After the transaction he was asking for an Halal restaurant. The Chinese was flabbergasted thinking if putting people’s life in jeopardy was not more Haram than eating Haram food.
We need to continue to admonish our crazy people stealing what they don’t need .
The former Deputy President of Senate Ike Ekeremadu who is in jail in London over issue of illegal kidney purchase or donation had 40 properties seized in Nigeria, Dubai and UK. For Allah’s sake, what does a man need all these properties for when millions around him are wallowing in abject poverty and squalor? Is he going to live forever?
A worse example is Cecilia Ibru a woman who had 52 properties and 152 billion naira stolen from Equitorial bank. Is this woman not insane? She had six children all of whom were already wealthy. But Ironically our equally stinking judiciary allowed for Judicial plea bargaining . She forfeited 1.2 billion dollars and all the fifty two houses in Nigeria and Dubai.
She feigned ill health and spent her jail in a 5 star hospital as cosy as her personal mansion at Oyinkan Abayomi in Ikoyi or the family mansion in Apapa. As an ex- convict since her release from prison her social life had nosedived to zero as she knows wherever she goes people would stigmatise her as an ex- prisoner.
It is interesting to note that our Minister of justice Malami said since 2015 one billion dollars was recovered from looters. Since he is a lawyer not an accountant one would have expected those in the Ministry of Finance to assist him. Ahmed Idris after his stealing propensity was uncovered voluntarily returned 900.000 dollars not to talk of the recoveries from those who shared in the 2.5 billion dollars which Dasuki a father Christmas per excellent was dolling out to PDP stalwarts.
Praying the hunter would not become the hunted the clock is ticking for Abubakar Mallami himself after his sojourn in the corridors of power as it is alleged in public domain that he is equally ‘clean’ like the proverbial black pot.
Not to divert our attention from Cecilia Ibru who is a metaphor for irresponsible and fatuous accumulation of filthy wealth. What does a woman need 52 houses for or 150 billion naira? In the midst of impoverished Nigerians? Her Husband Olorogun Michael Ibru one of the richest Nigerians that ever lived left stupendous wealth that if each of the 16 children were given 100 billion naira each there would still be enough to go for charity.
But when he died on the 6th of September 2016 instead of him to rest in peace his children didn’t allow his soul to rest they made erudite lawyers smile to their banks by heading to court fighting over the legendary wealth of their patriarch.
Oboden Ibru one of the children was the first to proceed to court followed by a counter suit by his sister Janet who believed there were bastards among the children and until all the children undergo DNA test in the US the inheritance should not be touched. If the dead could see what was happening after his demise Michael Ibru in heaven will cry like a baby and wondered of what use was his leaving so much behind.? He could have shared it among the wretched of the earth in itshekiri land his ancestral home.
The most outstanding revelation of family feud over inheritance is that of Timi the law (Chief Alade Rotimi Williams) who was the most celebrated lawyer in Nigerian history. He had all his children from one wife and over twenty years after his death the children are still in court over how to share the humongous wealth he left behind. In the process of fighting for the father’s wealth the first son Ladi Williams a senior advocate of Nigeria and a prosperous Nigerian in his own right also died. One would have thought that with his personal enviable financial endowment he would not need his father’s property.
Up till now the legendary wealth of the business mogul, MKO Abiola the erstwhile richest Black man of his time has not been shared. The children are also at logger heads. The issue of paternity is one of the issues bedevelling the family of this man arguably the most philantropic Nigerian whose charitable mien is identical to that of his equally late compatriot Alh Abdulazeez Arisekola Alao Is there any need for fabulous acquisition of wealth which indolent children would fight over or squander after your demise?
That is why the likes of Alhaji Isa Idris Jere the comptroller General of immigration who wants to live an untainted and transparent life are worthy of emulation and should be celebrated.
From information at my disposal his ascetic life must have been influenced by his commitment to the activities of Tabligh Jamah where you are admonished to live a spartan spiritual life bereft of the deceptive, transient, ephemeral and evanescent world. You cannot be in Tabligh and make life of opulence your trademark.Humility and absolute spirituality is the watchword.
When I learnt Mallam Jere lives in Kubwa in Abuja where commoners live not in Asokoro or Maitama where the movers and shakers of Abuja live, where a plot of land can go for as much as 500m I was not taken aback.
The temptation of staying in hybrow official quarters is to find a corrupt means of buying something similar. Assuming he stays in Asokoro would he go back to kubwa the domicility of average Nigerians after retirement?
Lateef Jakande was the first Governor who never used official car for a day and stayed in his private house till he left office and he had no money to build another house till he left this sinful world. He left no money but left a good name for posterity. His life was not controversial because he was transparent in its absolutism.
I pray Alhaji Jere will be undaunted in his revolution at the immigration. It won’t be easy but if he succeeds posterity will write his name in Gold and the most important thing is the hope of any Muslim, jannat Firdaous. May Allah elongate our lives to that glamorous eternity.
For the crazy elements stealing our country blind in foolish acquisition of what they don’t need if nemesis doesn’t catch up with them in this world It would definitely catch up with them in the hereafter .
Let me end this write up with another philosophical quote on marble:
HE WHO LOVES MONEY WITH DESPERATION, HE WILL NEVER BE SATISFIED WITH MONEY WHEN WEALTH INCREASES THEY INCREASE WITH HE WHO OWNS THEM AND WHAT ADVANTAGE IS THEIR OWN BUT ONLY TO PERCEIVE IT WITH THEIR EYES THE FULL STOMACH OF THE WEALTHY AND GLUTINOUS WILL NOT ALLOW THEM TO SLEEP.
Ishaq Kunle Sanni is the Chairman and Chief Executive People Earnestly Against Corruption And Exploitation (PEACE); a new organisation formed to assist government in fighting corruption in this potentially great country that is being wrecked by public officers and civil servants. If you see any act of corruption contact us on peace2022@ gmail.com
