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A video of naira rain at a recent glitzy event has kept the Internet buzzing for three reasons. First, it seemed to be a public contest for the wealthiest guest at the occasion. They made cash confetti in the air and put a carpet of notes on the floor. Second, the event evoked memories of cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye, better known as Bobrisky, and his encounter with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Third, and more worryingly, it posed a major question: are there two sets of laws for Nigerians, one for the common folk, and another for the rich and powerful?
Bobrisky seems made for the news. The latest is that he has finally flown overseas after Immigration officials bundled him off a KLM flight on the night of October 31 and promptly took him into custody over bribery allegations he reportedly made against the EFCC. Before the airport encounter, the 33-year-old social media influencer had presumably served a six-month prison sentence for abusing the naira. Showering people with Nigeria’s banknotes, or throwing them into the air like confetti, is common in the country but the law views it as an abuse of the currency and criminalises it.
As the Bobrisky naira rain video surfaced, the EFCC swiftly moved into action. They picked him up, had his mug shot taken and charged him to court. And the court was just as swift in reaching a judgment: six months in jail. All of this was widely publicised. But just when Nigerians’ attention was turning away from the controversial social media figure, a video of another naira splash surfaced believed to have been shot in the North. Whereas in the Bobrisky footage, he was seen dishing out the notes like a casino card dealer, the second footage featured several people splashing out the cash as though the money would soon cease to be legal tender. Curiously, the EFCC has not moved a muscle and has not apprehended the currency abusers. Nor has it issued a statement in that regard as it is wont to.
The anti-graft agency’s silence deepens concerns that it displays uncommon eagerness and agility when easy pickings are in contravention of the law but looks the other way when the high and mighty are the offenders. Where is the sense of equality before the law? That is why it is said that the jails are filled with the commoners and petty thieves while the rich crooks enjoy their loot in peace. Such a thing should not be said of the EFCC, which was established to bring the rich rogues to heel, which the regular police found difficult to do. The EFCC has a moral and professional obligation to prove that it is not as compromised or toothless as the police it replaced.
The second cash splash video coincided with the wedding of ex-governor Danjuma Goje’s daughter on October 25 at the National Mosque, Abuja. President Bola Tinubu and a raft of politicians, including the National Assembly leadership, and former and serving state governors were prominent guests at the event. Indeed, the social media was abuzz with speculations that the video was made at that wedding. But a spokesman for Goje, now a senator, has strongly denied the rumour, describing it as the attempts of “mischievous elements’ to tarnish the image of the revered family.”
That denial may be a relief for the Goje family but not the EFCC. It is clear from the video that guests at the event were people of immense social standing. The agency still has its work cut out. Why have Ola Olukoyede and his officials not swooped on them for turning the event into a currency fest? Why have they not issued any statement on it? The EFCC under Olukoyede has been battling with a reputation challenge. His well-publicised boast about bringing former governor of Kogi State Yahaya Bello to trial is fresh in memory. The agency’s silence on the second cash rain has not done its image any good. Olukoyede and his team owe it to themselves and to Nigerians to catch those who outdid Bobrisky. Until they do, they have no moral ground to go after any lesser mortal.
And as long as the agency tarries in bringing those cash-abusing moneybags to book, they owe the cross-dresser a big apology and substantial compensation.
