Who will save Nigeria from its “sacred cow” senior officials? People employed into public offices, given enormous powers and opulently catered for, see themselves as being above our laws and our sacred institutions.

The law is now only for the underprivileged who are violated even by the law enforcement agencies for doing the right thing.

The current probe of the alleged oil theft amounting to $2.4 billion has exposed just how rotten the system is, and why a reformist leadership is urgently needed.

A whistle blower had claimed that 84 million barrels of our crude oil was stolen and sold in China in 2015. When the story broke back then, a presidential committee was set up to look into it, but as usual, nothing came out of it.

The whistle-blower brought the case back to the front burner recently. A group carried out protests in Abuja, demanding action from the Buhari government.

The House of Representatives set up the Mark Gbillah Committee to investigate the issue.

The Committee wrote relevant officials, such as Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, AGF; and Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, to come with crucial documents to help unravel the truth of the issue. But they ignored the summonses. Also, the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, was summoned to explain why the whistle blower was harassed, intimidated and threatened at gunpoint by a now retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mike Obeazi of the Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID. The IGP chose to send a representative rather than appearing in person as directed.

We are relieved to learn that AGF Malami has agreed to appear before the House Committee on Thursday, April 27, 2023. We look forward to seeing his Finance counterpart, Ms. Ahmed, in the hallowed chamber saying all she knows about the alleged oil theft and sale.

We also expect the IGP to appear and explain the purpose of police intimidation of the whistle blower when they should be protecting him for performing a patriotic duty to the nation.

Any police officer found to have played any role to conceal this alleged crime or oppress a patriot must be treated as an accessory if indeed the crime is confirmed.

We must set a firm example with erring senior police officers to remind them that their job is to prevent, investigate and prosecute criminals, not take sides with them.

The public has the right to know the truth about this issue. The $2.4 billion in question is capable of solving the crises in our health and educational sectors.

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