Political office holders in Nigeria regale us with the tale of how they left their “lucrative” work and business to take up a political position which is not as lucrative as what they were doing.

Many go as far as rewriting their stories by telling us they suffered while growing up as they had no shoes among other verifiable lies. All these are fascinating and attractive until they face the true test of leadership which exposes who they are.

They hate transparency and anything that has to do with it. They will rather cut corners when their integrity is being questioned.

These acts stated above is being displayed at the moment in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has accused the former governor of Akwa Ibom and Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio of some financial misappropriation while he held sway as the helmsman of the state.

These allegations include a “gift” of N1.4 billion to a bank during his eight-year tenure. In a sane society, its expected that the senator will submit himself to investigation and assist the anti-graft agency in its quest to unravel the mystery behind the allegedly misappropriated funds.

But the Senator won’t have any of that, the state government acting on his script went to court to challenge the powers of the agency to probe him and he has been avoiding the agency since then.

Several former public office holders in Nigeria have approached the court as an escape route to prevent a probe of their administration.

If truly public officials are serving the people and not themselves, transparency must be a norm.

Editor