Okon Iyanam
The Whistleblower policy is crystal clear. Compensation is the just recompense of the whistleblower. Nowhere in that policy is any precondition for qualification for compensation stated.
And nowhere is any conditionality prescribed for the just entitlement.
The risk of whistleblowing is too high and the expectation of reward (and its associated adrenalin level) is too stratospheric for anyone with the disbursement responsibility to make a hash of it.
This is why the current “upandan” on the mental status of the Ikoyigate whistler is both reprehensible and unconscionable.
Indeed, it is a shame.
Yes, a shame.
First, Magu lied to the international media that the chap had been paid. Through his Lawyer, the Whistler denounced Magu’s claims as a wicked lie.
Information next emerged that rather than being paid, the Whistler was in fact the unfortunate guest of the Federal Government, rotated to at least, 3 security agencies. Curiously, the verdict of these security outfits is that Mr. Whistler is mentally unbalanced and this, notwithstanding the obvious fact that none of them is an agency qualified to undertake mental evaluations!
In sum, government has adopted a resolution not to pay. To justify this resolution, the Whistler is now being denounced as mad and, thus, incapable of handling his money.
But Nigerians are not daft. We know the score.
Some rogues and scoundrels in government now have their eyes on that money. They want a large chunk of it. They are not prepared to let it go to the Whistler alone. Until he accepts their terms and the choice cut they want, he will not get anything and he will remain classified as mad.
He may also be quietly and permanently silenced to make way for the unencumbered sharing of his entitlements. Now, this dude, Sagay, has joined the fray on the side of those who suggest that the Whistler is mad. Pray, is Sagay now also a psychiatrist? What is now his business with the payment of compensation???
What is playing out now is the height of planned thievery. It is sheer skulduggery. It is also a shameful withdrawal from a publicly published position. This action is as reckless as it is stupid, even as it is a clear signal of what change should not be.
Magu and his accomplices should beware of the long term consequences of this plot they are playing out. It is an ill wind that will blow them no good
They should just pay the man his money. He wasn’t mad when he blew the whitle”.
