What did Wiki Leak?

Global diplomacy is surely no better for the leaks and Washington and other global powers are scurrying for their crisis management notebooks for the best ways to douse the embers of suspicion that now greet their every move across the globe. These are trying times for diplomats who exist for the overall good of their […]

Global diplomacy is surely no better for the leaks and Washington and other global powers are scurrying for their crisis management notebooks for the best ways to douse the embers of suspicion that now greet their every move across the globe. These are trying times for diplomats who exist for the overall good of their governments and the people they represent. But they need not worry about Nigeria or most parts of Africa. As long as there is rampant corruption, foreign envoys would continue to have access to ‘classified’ information for the price of tea or even less.

It is common knowledge that what the Official Secrets Act protects from Nigerians are easily accessible to foreign diplomats for the price of a cup of tea, wine or even less.  For the kleptocrats in government, self pride or national interest is second to personal interest and personal survival; it has always been and would continue to be as long as the status quo remains. Their inferiority complex is fuelled by their desire to grab and grab and to keep their loot far from prying eyes. Official rogues do not invest at home where at least the crumbs of their stolen loot could have benefitted the poor; they prefer to stash their loot abroad where electricity is constant, the roads are paved, there is relative security and transportation is functional. They need visas to get to their loot and that is why the foreign diplomat would always have access to what the kleptocrat seeks to keep away from the people. They think their secrets are safe with them but Wikileaks is out to challenge that.

Given this background, is there anything new about the leaks on the local front? Very doubtful. Most of the expose so far released have been subjects of beer parlour and pepper soup joints gossips as soon as they happen. Wikileaks only confirmed what the people mostly know. What Wikileaks can do for Nigeria and Nigerians is to tell us how decisions are made to grant visas to kleptocrats while those who qualify are denied? How much investment kleptocrats have invested in foreign countries to support the fact that Nigerians daily undercut their own country to stash the slush funds in overseas investments. That should be interesting but unlikely to happen as no foreign government wants its industry to collapse. If Nigerian slush funds are repatriated today, most first world economies will collapse.

The bits on the power play between Goodluck Jonathan and his late boss is common knowledge. So is the fact that nothing moves in the Nigerian bureaucratic circles until the oil companies have analysed it and found a way to circumvent the rules to their advantage. And when they seem to find that difficult, they turn to their own embassies to help them troubleshoot. I mean, how did the degradation in the Niger-Delta take this long to tackle? How has the oil companies survived government order to stop gas flaring? How come Nigeria does not know how much oil is being pumped, how much is paid and how it is utilised? These are pertinent questions that Wikileaks should help us find answers.

Diplomats are tin gods in Nigeria who drive under armed escort and use blaring sirens. They have unimpeded access to Aso Rock and are amused by beggarly guards requesting either visas or even simple things like lapel pins to grant express access. The local staff who work in these embassies may be better paid than their evil service counterparts, but they are treated worse than slaves. Used to circumvent the rules with frenzy, they are often threatened, insulted and physically and mentally abused but stay on because there are thousands other qualified locals waiting to take their jobs.

We do not need Wikileaks to tell us that President Goodluck Jonathan is as steady in his political convictions as a reed in a storm and twice as cunning. We do not need leaked cables to confirm how GEJ stoked the media over Yar’adua’s sickness to his own benefit or that foreign countries would support the weak leaders and help eliminate the brave. We would be grateful to know the roles played by foreign countries in the deaths of Moshood Abiola, Murtala Muhammed or Thomas Sankara. We’d benefit from leaks that tells us how the likes of Idi Amin, Mobutu Sese Seko, Gnassingbe Eyadema, Paul Biya and Jean Bedel Bokassa could stay on in power for so long.

Wikileaks has confirmed that despite being vice president and now president for almost a year, Goodluck has no blueprint for the transformation of our nation and that if he succeeds in beating the odds in his party to win their support and the presidency in 2011, he would spring no surprises. He has promised nothing evidently because his PhD does not equip him with the grey matter needed to change Nigeria. We have all that confirmation in the breakfast encounter with Robin Sanders.

Aondoakaa’s pathetic role in shielding the corrupt is well known. The question most people ask is whether he is made a scapegoat for blocking a powerful country’s access to the loot. His memoirs might do more damage than Wikileaks if he lives to write one.