The Diezani matter is now a national embarrassment

Sumner Sambo of Arise Television said on Wednesday what many of us have been thinking quietly. The Federal Government and the EFCC owe Nigerians a proper explanation on what really happened with Diezani Alison-Madueke's trial in London. After 11 years of headlines about recovered assets and billions of naira, a London court simply discharged and acquitted her. Something does not add up.

I have followed this case since 2015 when she was first arrested in London. The EFCC under Ibrahim Magu paraded properties, jewelry, and cash they claimed to have recovered from her associates. They held press conferences. They made Nigerians believe justice was coming. Now the same case collapses in a British court and the government has gone completely silent. Sambo is right to demand answers. If the EFCC knew their evidence was weak, why did they spend a decade building a narrative in the press?

This is the same pattern we saw with the OPL 245 case and the Malabu scandal. The government announces a big recovery, the media celebrates, and years later nothing happens. Meanwhile the country continues to bleed. The question is not whether Diezani is innocent or guilty. The question is whether our institutions are competent enough to prosecute high-profile corruption cases. So far the evidence suggests they are not. Be honest, do you still trust anything the EFCC announces about recovered assets?