The negative impact of corruption on the socio-economic development of any country is not in doubt.Corruption is a monster that renders everything in its path prostrate.

It is like wildfire that consumes, leaving ruins and desolation.So,nobody must excuse corruption, or handle matters that bear the slightest affinity to it with kid’s gloves.For Nigeria to take her rightful place in the comity of nations, corruption must be fought to a standstill, and reduced to the barest minimum.

In battling corruption, however,we must be discernible enough, so that we can distinguish between real crime, which must be punished, and mere conjectures, which may end up tarring the innocent with the brush of infamy.A case in point is that of former Inspector-General of Police, Mr Sunday Ehindero, which is currently before the court.

For over 34 years, Ehindero served in the Nigerian Police Force. He did not receive a query throughout the period.Rather, what he got were commendations and awards.So exemplary was his career, that when it was time to retire, his tenure was extended twice by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo.

A graduate of Mathematics from the University of Ibadan, Ehindero enlisted into the police in 1973, with 25 others. When he retired in 2007, he was the only one left of his 25 squad mates.Others had either retired earlier,  left the service, or were dead. But the grace of God kept Ehindero, he became IGP, and left service with full honours.

However, Ehindero did not leave the police without his imprints on the sands of time.He is today remembered as the officer who pioneered police prosecution in superior courts. Since the establishment of the Nigeria Police in 1930, no officer had appeared in the high courts or the Court of Appeal. Ehindero did in 1995, when he was Commissioner of Police, Legal, at Alagbon. Also in 1996, the then Attorney-General of the Federation, had requested for six lawyers from the police to assist the ministry with failed banks cases. This the police lawyers did to the admiration of the AGF.

Ehindero trained as a lawyer while serving in the police. And he proved that he knew his onions. He was the first police officer to prosecute and gain conviction of an Advanced Fee Fraud (419) suspect, who had duped a German national of 385,000 Deutsche Marks. The suspect was found guilty, and sentenced to 52 years imprisonment. The policeman-turned-lawyer went further to write six books while in service.

Ironically, Ehindero is now being prosecuted by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), over alleged misdeeds committed while in office.And curiously, when the former IG was invited to the ICPC office, and he asked for a copy of the petition against him, none could be produced. However,there is a buzz in police circles about the case.

As IGP,Ehindero had sidelined some officers from investigating graft cases, because there were official complaints lodged against them.Some of those who were trustworthy, and whom he deployed for such cases, now hold offices as high as AIG (Assistant Inspector-General). But then, some of those sidelined in the past have found their ways into other sensitive positions. So, it is now time to get their pound of flesh from Ehindero.Even more curious is the fact that the case for which the ex-IG is now standing trial is one that involves the office of the Inspector-General, and not Sunday Ehindero as a person. It is alleged that the sum of N557 million was deposited in the IGP’s account. No kobo of it was traced to Ehindero’s personal account. But we leave the courts to adjudicate on this, as our judges are impartial arbiters.

After reading law as an external degree student of the University of London, Ehindero was called to the Bar in 1985. The first of his six books was on ‘Police and the Law in Nigeria.’ He served in various capacities as DPO Ikoyi, DPO Lion Building, DPO Apapa Police Station, AC Advance Training, Ikeja, O/C Crime Alagbon, CP PMF (Mobile), CP Legal, Alagbon, CP Plateau State, AIG Zone 4, Makurdi, AIG Zone 2, Lagos, DIG, and finally IGP. In none of these positions was his integrity compromised.

Despite his present travails, it can be submitted that Ehindero is going through the price he has to pay for leadership. He is being prosecuted six years after retirement in a case that had earlier been declared as a no-case.

The mill of justice may grind slowly, but it grinds finely. For those of us who have implicit faith in the impartiality of the judiciary, the day will come when we shall rejoice with the former IGP. The court will consign the case to where it belongs — in the dustbin of history — and we shall clink glasses, and rejoice with a man who served his country meritoriously, and who deserves every bit of peace he can get in retirement.

BABATUNDE ISIOTAN      writes from Abuja