Why is FG playing games with whistle-blowers?

There was a time everyone badly wanted to take up a career in whistle-blowing; considering all the stolen monies concealed all over the place.

Not anymore.

The federal government of Nigeria is messing up a good thing once again. As a result, whistle-blowers are now an endangered specie.

The last man who blew a whistle in Ikoyi that led to the recovery of N13B, has been declared a lunatic. You should see him now. He's screaming his lungs out in the press to get paid.

The other day, someone in the president’s anti-corruption advisory committee said the Ikoyi whistle-blower would have the percentage due him reviewed downwards.

It will no longer be the 5 percent he was promised, the government says.

A tale of 'two' whistle-blowers

Now we are being told that they are two whistle-blowers staking claim to the Ikoyi booty. Who cares?

"It is a bit complicated because more than one person is claiming the money and we do not want to disclose the identity of the whistle-blower”, said information minister Lai Mohammed.

"‘We have a very unique situation in our hands at the moment; it is so complex and complicated. One said we should not pay the other and the other one has gone to court.

"Now we have the authentic whistle blower and fake whistle blower, we hope to find out the real person”, Mohammed added.

Even though Finance minister Kemi Adeosun has announced that one batch of whistle-blowers (including the Ikoyi chap) will be paid by month’s end, no one is taking her word for it, no thanks to the annoying double-speak of the last couple of days.

Paying in November

“The total amount due to whistle-blowers, which also include Osborne Road, Ikoyi is N421, 330, 595. This is for the November batch and it is ready for payment”, Adeosun said.

“The only condition necessary is that the money will be paid to the whistle-blower who signed the agreement, not to any company.

“If we get the court judgement, we have to wait for three months to ensure that there are no encumbrances.”

Never has keeping one’s part of a bargain been this complicated. Why is the government making something as simple as paying a bunch of people who worked hard for their money, into rocket science?

ALSO READ: Whistle-blower rejects FG’s N325m, insists on N860m commission

The Ikoyi whistle-blower has gone from “insane”, to “confused”, to “a body double” in the space of a month. Now we are deploying calculators to drive him really nuts and put his anonymity in peril.

If you promised to pay someone as part of a deal, for heaven’s sake, just pay ‘em up!

There was a time I was seriously looking forward to a career in whistle-blowing.

Not anymore.