Corruption – We cannot move forward (as if nothing happened)

The Daily Trust has never told me what not to write, nor do they know what I intend to write on, or if I am even writing at all that week. Like most casual worker I get paid per piece, so it’s up to me if I earn something or enjoy my idleness! But I […]

The Daily Trust has never told me what not to write, nor do they know what I intend to write on, or if I am even writing at all that week. Like most casual worker I get paid per piece, so it’s up to me if I earn something or enjoy my idleness! But I write what I want. A rare privilege for which I am grateful. This is not to say I don’t get the subtle hints and innuendos from the two masters of the art, Kabiru Yusuf and Mannir Danali, Chairman and Editor in chief respectively.
Penultimate Tuesday, when my piece came out Kabiru was the first to text me saying: “you told us some home truth AND ALSO SOUNDED LIKE AN UNOFFICIAL MEMBER OF THE (GOVERNMENT’S) ECONOMIC TEAM”. (Emphasis added) Mannir simply phoned saying he thought I got a job in the VILLA, which was why I was so scarce. None of which is true though I plead guilty to serious pro-Buhari bias. My PDP readers are less complementary. My nephew, a three-time senator had convinced himself even before the election that I was gunning for Alhaji Lai Mohammed’s job, and doesn’t phone me anymore.
The problem is real. I was beginning to sound, even to myself, like a praise singer. I was consciously trying to write in support of the Government. My dilemma is that even as we pray that a disastrous chapter like the Jonathan administration and the PDP would be just a sad and unfortunate one in our history; even as Buhari, despite the many shortcomings of his administration, has done fantastically well in ending serious insecurity and bringing sanity to our polity and psyche the government is fast being pinned in a corner by the crooks, pirates and scavengers who brought us to our knees and almost destroyed our nation. His policies on corruption, security, and the economy are way ahead of the grumblings and rear-guard antics of the opposition and their fellow-travellers. Yet the papers, airwaves, social media and even religious and ethnic champions are all recently being mobilised to derail everything. Even some disgruntled APC chaps have joined the bandwagon.
The first pet-hatred of this “reasonable” lot is the fight against corruption. Corruption is not the problem, they now say. Let us forget I, draw a line? How, why and who are they protecting? EFCC is only after the politicians from the East and South-South and not pursuing all the crooks, is another nonsense being peddled. Enough of the “blame-game”, pardon them and move forward (until another bunch comes, loot what remains and start to sing the same ridiculous songs?) no, this fight must be pursued to some reasonable conclusion, with maximum seizures and exemplary punishments.
Let us remind ourselves of the scale of the madness by looking at the tip of the sh…t they are trying to bury, as sent to me by a friend. Tompolo was paid N13 billion; Ex Chief of Defense Staff Badeh dug a pit toilet to hide $32 million; Patience Faka Jonathan grabbed $31 million for her medical kitty; Femi Fani-Kayode took N740 million; Olisa Metuh pocketed N400 million; Jonathan’s cousin Aziboala got N6 billion; Sen Nenadi Usman N3.5 billion; Gov Fayose N3 billion; Obanikoro N4 billion; Olu Falae N100 billion; Tony Anenih N400 million; Man of God Oritsejafor “helped” to fly out $35 million for cash purchase of weapons;Former Air Chief Amosu N2 billion; Lucky Igbinedion  N16 billion; Jolly Nyame N2.4 billion; Joshua Dariye N700 million; Nyesom Wike N4 billion; Dezani cannot explain $20 billion “missing” from oil sales and other NNPC funds; $15 billion missing from arms funs; Some INEC staff got N23 billion bribes; Bafarawa got N4.6 for “spiritual purposes. Dasuki often just sent trucks to CBN to cart away dollars. The revelations still keep coming at dazzling speed. Little wonder they are ready to buy out our national assets. Such lunacy must be exposed, punished and made examples of and no self-serving experts should look us in the face and tell us we should forget, even if APC cannot keep up the fight. I totally agree with the following remarks by John Kerry at the recent WEF meeting:
When Nigeria’s president Buhari took office last spring, he inherited a military that was underpaid, under-fed and unable to protect the Nigerian people from boko haram. The one reason is that much of the military’s budget was finding its way into the pockets of the generals. And just this week we saw reports that more than fifty people in Nigeria, including former government officials, stole $9 billion from the treasury.
I used to be a prosecutor, and I know how hard it is to hold people in positions of public responsibility accountable. But I know also how important it is. The fact is there is nothing, absolutely nothing more demoralising, more destructive, more disempowering to any citizen than the belief that the system is rigged against him, and that people in position of power are – to use a diplomatic term of ours – crooks who are stealing the future of their own people. And by the way, depositing their ill-gotten gains in ostensibly legitimate financial institutions around the world.
Corruption is a social danger because it feeds organised crime, it destroys nation states, it imperils opportunities particularly for women and girls, it facilitates environmental degradation, contributes to human trafficking and undermines whole communities. It destroys the future. Corruption is a radicaliser because it destroys faith in legitimate authority. It opens up a vacuum which allows the predators to move in. And no one knows that better than the violent extremist groups who regularly use corruption as a recruitment tool. Corruption is an opportunity destroyer because it discourages honest and accountable investments. It makes businesses more expensive to operate, drives up the costs of public services for local tax payers and it turns a nation’s entire budget into a feeding trough for the privileged few. That is why it is imperative that the business community of the world starts to demand a different standard of behaviour. That we deepen the fight against corruption making it a first priority national security imperative.
Next week we shall take up other ridiculous jokes by some experts with too much heat and little substance.