Femi Gbajabiamila and the Burden of Trust
By AbdurRaheem Sa’ad Dembo
I had read a particular story before that of Sahara Reporters where it was alleged that the Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had been engaged in racketeering of appointments.
The truth is that if one is in a public office all eyes will be on the person. It is also called public scrutiny, because the action and/or inaction of such a public officer would have direct bearing on the lives of the citizens.
In a democratic setting such is expected to occur over time in order to put public office holders on their toes. Sometimes it may be true and some other time it may be fallacious.
As a public office holder one must be vigilant and be wary of the works of traducers. Those who are saying all sorts of things about the Chief of Staff could be those who are also interested in that office. So they felt campaign of calumny against him could pave the way.
It is significant to say that one cannot be in a public office without a challenge; in fact, some times those who engage in the bribery are not the person holding the office but those who work in that office.
Mahatma Gandhi said “I believe in trusting.Trust begets trust. Suspicion is foetid and only stinks. He who trusts has never yet lost in the world”. Hence President Bola Ahmed Tinubu passed a vote of confidence on his Chief of Staff, RH Femi Gbajabiamila on Monday during the Federal Executive Council Meeting at the Presidential Villa.
His Excellency captured it thus:
“First of all, let me reiterate to all of you that I’ve heard the stories flying around. Mistakes will be made and perfection is only for God Almighty. I have 100% confidence in the intergrity of my Chief of Staff, RT Hon. Femi Gbajabiamilla. All campaign of calunmy against him must stop. If i make mistakes, i’m ready to own up to it”.
I was terrified when I read the story about the bribery, because a successor in government is expected to be better than the predecessor in terms of fighting corruption. My fear was allayed when I read President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s statement on Gbajabiamila.
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With all sense of responsibility the President’s statement was a watershed as it is capable of shutting the mouth of adversaries. Personally, I didn’t subscribe to the allegation.The reason is simple, Gbajabiamila is not a wretched or hungry person, because he has been in the National Assembly for two decades.
He was the immediate past Speaker of House of Representatives, so tell me which money Gbajabiamila would stoop so low for? Though it is regarded that human wants are unlimited and insatiable, yet this is a man with great wealth of experience in governance; he knows the implication of collecting such petty money.
Another reason is that Gbajabiamila has never been in the face of corruption in the history of National Assembly, at least no indictment of him has ever emanated neither from the EFCC nor ICPC on the basis of corruption. This and many more made it so difficult for me to believe such was happening.
To corroborate this, here is what Olaide Akinremi, a member of House of Representatives said on Monday about RH Femi Gbajabiamila: “Those of us who worked closely with the former Speaker of the House of Representatives during his years at the National Assembly know him to be steadfast, maintaining his integrity without compromise”. He said this while expressing his joy over the vote of confidence passed on the Chief of Staff by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Also All Progressives Congress(APC) Professionals passed vote of confidence RH Femi Gbajabiamila describing him as a man of integrity and long -standing excellence.They said allegation against him was childish and an outburst of desperate politicians who want to cause crisis where none exists
My candid advice as an ordinary Nigerian to RH Femi Gbajabiamila is that he should thank the Almighty God and his principal, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for passing a vote of confidence on him, thereby exonerating him from what turned out to be a campaign of calumny, given the President’s reaction. Indeed, the President’s position on the matter has brought so much honour to Gbaja.
Going forward, therefore, he should be very careful with those who are working with or around him and be above them in terms of sharing sensitive information. If such despicable thing has been happening, it should stop; and if it has never happened, the chief of staff should sustain the tempo.
Being in the public office is tantamount to a serious burden when it comes to trust, so our Chief of Staff should operate on a clean slate, because of today and tomorrow.
