David Jemibewon recently portrayed a rather puerile sense of analogy by implicitly comparing his former position as minister of police affairs to that of the comptroller- general of customs and concluding that he would have resigned if he was asked to wear police uniform during his tenure.
The revered former two-star general and one-time minister of police affairs is one of the few defenders of Hameed Ali, the retired colonel now serving as comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). Ali, who behaves like the sole administrator of NCS, is locked in a fierce battle with the senate over his refusal to wear NCS uniform. Jemibewon is on Ali’s side in the standoff with the senate.
Two weeks ago, Jemibewon told a reporter that Ali was his hero for refusing to demean the army by wearing the uniform of a paramilitary service after serving in the military. That is Ali’s lame excuse too.
Jemibewon only added a bizarre analogy to the failed argument by asserting that he would have resigned his appointment as minister of police affairs if he was asked to wear police uniform. His analogy sounds like comparing apples with oranges. Jemibewon was minister of police affairs. He had no business wearing police uniform since he was not the inspector-general of police. Ali is the NCS equivalent of inspector-general of police. He should wear NCS uniform.
The truth however is that Jemibewon would not have resigned even if he was asked to wear police uniform as minister of police affairs. Nigerians are not known for resigning their appointments over issues of principles.
Most Nigerians watching the standoff between the senate and Ali expected the CG to either show up in uniform as demanded by the lawmakers or resign in protest. But the man covets the juicy appointment and may be enjoying the acrimony between the executive and legislature.
Jemibewon and Ali were not telling the truth by claiming that wearing the uniform of a para-military service after serving in the army would demean the military. Ali retired from the army as an ordinary colonel.
Tony Hananiya retired from the army as a major-general. Hananiya was appointed corps marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) after retirement. He wore his FRSC uniform throughout his tenure. No one complained about a retired general in FRSC uniform. Hananiya is a disciplined soldier who would not cause a stir in the country by heading a uniformed organization in mufti.
Conversely, Ali is a man with super ego who would rather have his cake and eat it. He savours the enormous perks of office as the comptroller-general of customs but sees the NCS as the synonym of corruption. The uniform is the only thing that would reduce him to the level of NCS men and women who have stolen so much from Nigeria that some of them may be richer than Ekiti State.
Ironically, Ali lacks the courage to follow the path that Jemibewon claimed he would have followed if he found himself in Ali’s position. The comptroller-general of customs is a very honest and incorruptible person. He is surely a man of integrity. At the end of his tenure, no one expects to uncover huge hideouts for luxury cars traced to Inde Diko, his predecessor. Ali is a man who lives by his legitimate means.
But Ali’s achievement as comptroller-general of customs begins and ends with his enviable character as an honest man. He has failed to take the NCS to the level of his transparency. The NCS under Ali may even be more corrupt than before because the CG is an outsider. It takes a thief to catch a thief. A clean man like Ali does not know the tricks used by NCS officials to dupe Nigeria. Men of the NCS are used to double dealing. They collect huge bribes from smugglers and open the country’s borders for them to ferry in their smuggled goods. When the goods are in the market, the NCS raid the shops and confiscate what they had collected illegal tariffs on.
That is what happened at Sango rice market in Ogun State some weeks ago. The NCS broke into shops in the market and carted away 14 trailer loads of rice and cartons of groundnut oil in an operation that started by 1am. The owners of the bugled shops claim that the raiders stole the money left in the shops. The NCS denied the claims, but the truth is that huge sums of money were missing in the raided shops and only the raiders could explain what happened to the money.
The sea ports remain the thriving scenes of graft that they were before Ali was brought in to salvage the situation. Customs officers still go home with huge Ghana-must-go sacks brimming with money extorted from smugglers. After 20 months of service, Ali has failed to take the NCS to his level of integrity and incorruptibility. Now the showdown with the senate over uniform has crowded out his focus on the needed reforms. He should dump the NCS before his enviable image is smeared by a service contesting with the police for the notorious toga of the most corrupt institution in Nigeria.
