In a scathing critique, renowned Nigerian investigative journalist Fisayo Soyombo (@fisayosoyombo) has launched a verbal assault on Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, dismissing the recently initiated passport application automation process as destined for failure.
Soyombo, known for his fearless exposés, boldly declared, “Not-so-bold claim: Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo will NEVER be able to revolutionize Nigeria’s messily corrupt passport application system. Zero percent chance! You know why already: his hands are not clean.”
The investigative journalist asserted that Tunji-Ojo’s inability to reform the system stems from the deeply entrenched corruption within Nigeria’s passport application network. Soyombo argued that the minister, with tainted hands, cannot successfully challenge the widespread corruption that permeates the passport issuance process.
Soyombo revealed insights from a previously abandoned investigation, indicating that even high-ranking presidential appointees had attempted to intervene in the passport application process without success. He cautioned against underestimating the scale and entrenchment of the interests obstructing reform efforts.
Not-so-bold claim: Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo will NEVER be able to revolutionise Nigeria’s messily-corrupt passport application system. Zero percent chance!
You know why already: his hands are not clean.
Anyone who thinks Tuni-Ojo can, underestimates the depth and…
— 'Fisayo Soyombo (@fisayosoyombo) January 11, 2024
The journalist emphasized the necessity of a leader with “clean hands” to dismantle the exploitation by immigration officials. He pointed to Tunji-Ojo’s alleged financial dealings with Betta Edu’s humanitarian affairs ministry as a conflict of interest, questioning the minister’s ability to resist the daily extortions by immigration officials.
“A million websites and automated systems will not eliminate corner-cutting Immigration officials; they will continue bypassing the system, and they will be able to justify it,” Soyombo asserted. Drawing a parallel with former NAFDAC DG Dora Akunyili’s fight against the fake drug mafia, Soyombo emphasized the need for an individual of “verifiable incorruptibility” to tackle passport fraud within the Immigration system.
In conclusion, Soyombo invoked the proverb, “He who comes to equity must…,” suggesting that any attempt at reform must begin with an individual untainted by corruption and vested interests.
See the full tweet below
“Not-so-bold claim: Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo will NEVER be able to revolutionise Nigeria’s messily-corrupt passport application system. Zero percent chance! You know why already: his hands are not clean.
“Anyone who thinks Tuni-Ojo can, underestimates the depth and spread of Nigeria’s passport fleecing network. It is a wire that begins in Nigeria and extends to many of our overseas missions.
“I can say this now because I have since abandoned the story and moved on to other things; but before I became quite positively distracted by Arrows of God, I was tracking that passport story, the local-foreign connection (Someday in the very distant future, I will write a book on the stories I started investigating but abandoned.).
“In the preliminary phase of that now-abandoned investigation, I was stunned to discover that very highly placed presidential appointees had internally attempted to snatch the passport application process from the grip of exploitative Immigration staff, but it never worked. It doesn’t mean it never will, but don’t trivialise the scale, power, reach or entrenchment of the interests frustrating Olubunmi-Ojo and his direct and indirect predecessors.
“First quality of the person to unshackle Nigerians from greedy Immigration officials and their accomplices: clean hands. And Tunji-Ojo’s hands are not.
“Tunji-Ojo’s company cannot be receiving N438m from Betta Edu’s humanitarian affairs ministry (let’s not mention the honourable-member-off-your-mic saga), and he thinks he can deny Immigration officials their daily 50k or 100k. Zero chance.
“So, I’ll say this again: a million websites and automated systems will not eliminate corner-cutting Immigration officials; they will continue bypassing the system, and they will be able to justify it.
“Dora Akunyili did not fight the fake drug mafia with stained hands herself; Akunyili was as incorruptible as they come. In fact, when former president Olusegun Obasanjo was scouting for a NAFDAC DG, Akunyili’s track record of incorruptibility was the decider.
“The sanitiser of Immigration passport fraud has not yet been found; it must be someone of verifiable incorruptibility.
“He who comes to equity must….”