Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

By Richard Akinnola

No man is above the law, including Tinubu. If there are reasons to investigate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, it is within the purview of the EFCC to do.
However, perception in most cases, is stronger than reality. Tinubu left office 14 years ago. For the EFCC to suddenly wake up now and be asking the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) for Tinubu’s asset declaration forms, reeks of all ingredients of conspiracy theory, particularly against the backdrop of his suspected presidential ambition. I recall that Jonathan government made a similar stunt with the same CCB, leading to the trial and acquittal of Tinubu at the Code of conduct Tribunal.

During the onslaught on former Senate president, Bukola Saraki, l did say then that the EFCC made it too obvious that it was up to a hatchet job and the whole trial fell flat on its face, with Saraki’s acquittal. I’m usually suspicious when the EFCC becomes “overbearing” on matters that fall within the purview of the CCB. It would have been a different thing if the CCB on its own, initiates this move but coming from the EFCC, makes it too suspicious.
But like l said, nobody is above the law but even within that context, the investigating authority should not leave anyone in doubt that it’s acting altruistically. Otherwise, it would amount to another shadow boxing, particularly regarding the subject of the investigation.

Love him or hate him, Tinubu is not your ordinary Nigerian. You either love him passionately or you hate him intensely. It would be irreverent to the memory of Awo to compare him with Awo but it is indubitable that an attack on Tinubu at this time, despite his baggages, would be seen as an attack on the South West, the same way Coker commission of enquiry was the prelude to Awo’s treasonable felony trial. Ditto for Abiola’s June 12 travails.

I recall that when Abacha arrested and tried Obasanjo for treason, Gani Fawehinmi said:”Obasanjo is not my cup of tea. I have never liked him but we would make this country ungovernable if Abacha goes ahead to execute him over this phantom coup”.
In the same vein, l can’t see how Tinubu’s current investigation by the EFCC can be divorced from his supposed presidential ambition, a move that would inevitably garner him more sympathy than opprobrium.

– Richard Akinnola, journalist, human rights activist and public affairs analyst, writes from Lagos