President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s suspension of the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, in order to pave way for unfettered investigation of the allegations of abuse of office levelled against him is quite in order. A statement from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), signed by the Director, Information, Willie Bassey, on the night of June 14 said the suspension was to allow for “proper investigation into his conduct while in office. “This (suspension) follows weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him,” the statement said adding that “Mr Bawa has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Director, Operations in the commission, who will oversee the affairs of the Office of the Chairman of the Commission pending the conclusion of the investigation.”

Bawa’s suspension came barely a week after the suspension of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele.

Indeed, this coincidence gave room to speculations in some quarters that he was suspended because President Tinubu and those around him were unhappy over the role played by Bawa in the naira redesign policy of the former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government. The naira redesign and cashless policy were ostensibly touted as a means to address monetary and fiscal issues, but some politicians believed it was targeted at them and Tinubu in particular, so as to deny them access to the money they had allegedly stashed outside of the banking system for the purpose of bribing voters during the elections.

But not a few questioned the sincerity of the exercise considering its timing, and especially the government’s refusal to reverse the policy weeks after it was glaring that it had failed, and in spite of the pains it inflicted on Nigerians and the destructive disruptions to the economy. Bawa himself had a few months ago lent credence to the story of some governors making attempts to pay salaries in cash to defeat the purpose of the exercise.

Such insinuation of a vendetta suspension can only make sense in the context of the banana peels that had dogged several of Bawa’s predecessors. True, it is not easy to fight corruption in a corruption-ridden country like ours without corruption fighting back. It may also be true that successive governments had found it convenient to remove the EFCC boss they met on ground and replacing them with their own candidates.

But that cannot entirely explain Bawa’s case.

The clamour for his removal predates the Bola Tinubu administration. Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had been protesting against the continued retention of Mr Bawa in office based especially on alleged disregard of court orders. Indeed, as recently as February, this year, some of the NGOs protested in Lagos over this issue as well as an alleged politicisation of the commission’s activities. Both Bawa and the former Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, were notorious for such disobedience to court orders. That the country’s chief law enforcer was disregarding court orders with impunity was bad. It was equally bad that a commission whose motto is “No one is above the law” was trampling on the same law with impunity. Unfortunately, rather than take action against them, the government that they were serving continued to condone their illegality.

Perhaps the last straw in Bawa’s case was the allegation by former Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State who accused him of demanding $2m bribe. Although Bawa has denied the allegation and had instead accused Matawalle of brazen looting of Zamfara State treasury; the former governor insisted he had enough evidence to nail the EFCC boss.

There is no doubt that these are weighty allegations on the parts of the two parties. Did Bawa actually demand $2million bribe from the former governor? If it was true, then what would the former governor want to conceal that would have warranted the demand for such a hefty bribe? These are matters of public concern that should not be swept under the carpet. The public has the right to know the truth and nothing but the truth in a matter as grievous as this, especially where the country’s anti-corruption czar is involved. The office of EFCC boss is such a delicate one and whoever is occupying that office must, like Caesar’s wife, be above board. It becomes problematic when that office is being tarred with mud.

We have nothing against the call for reforms in the appointment and removal of the EFCC boss to remove him from the apron strings of those he is supposed to check their excesses. Indeed, the instability in the leadership of the commission since inception calls for nothing less.

But this does not preclude the fact that only an unfettered investigation can unravel the truth in Bawa’s case, and this cannot be done with him sitting pretty in office.

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