BRUTAI AND THE DUBAI HOUSE

 What is good for the goose is good for the gander goes an eternal English cliche, and on this I based my position as far the issue of ownership of house property in Dubai by the current Chief of Army Staff: Major T.Y. Brutai is concerned; yet I still feel there is much ado about this issue. Be that as it may, there is need for official investigation and consequent prosecution of Brutai if found culpable; but till then, he should be presumed innocence until proven guilty. 

There is no question as to the ownership of the said property as the man in question has not denied the ownership of the said property; so what is in contention is the source of income he used in purchasing the property. This question has also been partially answered by the Army spoke-person (though I find this disturbing, as the Army is not the one being investigated here, rather, it is Brutai and he needs to respond in person).

According to the Army spoke person, General T.Y. Brutai bought the said property with his personal savings from farming business, salary, and wife's saving. So what is in fact is in doubt is whether such claim is through or not; and the General Brutai and Buhari through the EFCC owe Nigerians explanation through thorough investigation of the claim as well as official publication of the report of such claim. Otherwise, the anti-corruption war of the Buhari government is as good as dead on arrival.

And this brings me to another issue bordering on our Constitution which make active engagement in personal business while serving as appointed or elected public office holder an offense except if it has to do with farming and book publication.

To me the position of the Constitution in the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution which mandate a public official not to engage in any other business asides its normal official duty cannot but encourage corruption. It also encourages laziness and make a mock of the good men and women who maybe willing to serve the country. Suffice to say, there is need for amendment of the Constitution to provide for part-time work of public offices, otherwise, we have willingly and unwillingly encourage people to engage in illegal means to supplement their income.

However, on this issue, perhaps we can have a respite now since the President has directed the Defence Headquarters to investigate the case, and we do hope the investigation will not be compromised while also calling for the outcome of the investigation to be made public.