Sack Of Customs Officer Who Rejected $412,000 Bribe And Issue Of Integrity In Nigeria

Hyacinth Chinweuba

From all indications, Assistant Controller General (ACG) Bashir Abubakar might have learnt one of his life’s biggest lesson in the most hardest way following his recent sack by the Nigeria Customs Service.

Abubakar came into limelight in 2018 after he reportedly rejected a whopping sum of $412,000 (about 171 million Naira) offered to him as a bribe by some unscrupulous Tramadol drug dealers.

He reportedly refused to be like others, in spite the huge sum involved, equally knowing that no one was monitoring him, and that the reward the Government he was serving will be nothing compared to that amount, but he refused to compromise- Integrity at it’s highest level!

He was rewarded with a promotion to an envious position as the Assistant Controller General (ACG) and equally honoured by President Mohammadu Buhari for his Integrity.

Sadly, he was not even allowed to enjoy his new position before his heart was broken by same Government he gave out all his best in service, just because of same integrity he was rewarded for. He was reportedly sacked for leading a team that bursted a large warehouse of ‘banned’ imported rice located in Daura, Katsina State.

Going by the reason for his disgraceful sacking, he was expected to turn the other way while the imported rice is allowed to rest peacefully in it’s chosen abode. He must have touched the lion’s tail and expectedly got bruised by the angry teeth of the ‘King of the Jungle’

So it leaves one wondering if Integrity has types which must be strictly strictly applied at different occasions, largely depending on who is involved. Definitely, Bashir Abubakar’s story/case has proven so.

Then you ask yourself, what thoughts might be running riot in his devastated mind at the moment? Is he now regretting his 2018 highly celebrated exhibition of ‘First Class’ integrity? Well, your answer(s) is as good as mine.

Believe it or not, this is exactly the situation which has configured our society into such a terrible condition in which most persons are not interested in the reward that comes with integrity because they can not trust the system anchored by their deceitful Government. In fact, some Nigerians, especially the youths tackled Bashir when the news of his Integrity story broke out. To the extent that some called him unprintable names, even letting him know that he will remain poor all his life.

And just like a prophetic leap into the future, he might be heading that direction. He must be visualizing how he rejected $412,000 in cash while gnashing his teeth in severe pains and fatal emotional and psychological crash. Then what do you think will happen should he get another chance to serve the country? He will definitely correct the Integrity mistake off his past, and like most Nigerians, they won’t even permit such a mistake to be recorded in their life before you even talk of correcting it.

The grave danger such mindset amongst the citizens portends for the nation is that we must continue to run a system, be it any level, glaringly deficient of men of integrity, whose love for their job supercedes every other thing.

To even make matter worse, his recent tragedy was greeted with little media attention which might have reversed his sack as a result of severe and overwhelming criticism and pressure. Unfortunately for Bashir, the whole thing looks like a conspiracy between the venomous Government and the media. Though the media is not to blame entirely for this, because the nation is currently littered with a far more serious issues of corruption sweeping across different agencies of the Government.

Is it that of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDCC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or the allegations levelled against the law makers in the course of investigating the huge corruption in NDDC, that should pave for Bashir Abubakar’s story? But hopefully, after the current corruption storm must have settled, that his case will be revisited and forcing a positive change.

Now, know it that anything short of that will detrimental to the fight against corruption in Nigeria. If the matter is allowed to continue maintaining it’s obscure position under the carpet, sure it will in turn breed thousands, if not millions of children that will stab the nation left, right and centre, with zero regard and space for your so called “INTEGRITY”.