Musings on Nigeria

By Muyiwa Apara

WITH the damning revelations coming from the House of Representatives probe of the Power and Steel sector, the last of which we have not yet heard, the inevitable conclusion is that Nigeria has all along the years, evolved a criminal leadership cult. These revelations certainly have canonised the goggled dictator who bled this country white. The revelations have given even IBB a fillip, a moral muscle and a pedestal to offer comments that are judgmental.

What Nigerians saw during the heady days of the National Party of Nigeria, (NPN) when Alhaji Shehu Shagari was the president was a boy’s brigade parade beside what Nigeria has experienced in the last nine years. While some gullible Nigerians were led to believe that a war had been launched against corruption by the Obasanjo-led administration, the leaders of that administration were in the kitchen feeding fat on the country’s pantry.

But why does Nigeria breed leaders who are just plain thieves? Shameless Kleptomaniacs who see nothing wrong in pillaging the public till? Why is it that every politician campaigning to win an election is actually asking to be given an opportunity to rob the people? Why is it that politics in Nigeria pays better than armed robbery? In armed robbery, you could be caught and killed by the police bullets but in politics you can only go higher the more perfect you are at the business of raiding the treasury.

I have heard the malicious argument that ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo was worth just twenty thousand naira in his bank accounts when he was released from Abachas gulag. Presidency for eight years down the line has re-written that story now. He is arguably one of the richest Africans on the surface of the earth today. His business cocerns are strewn across the Nigeria economy and abroad to such an extent that he desires to be in the good books of many state governors so that his investments may not be threatened. It was argued by these malcontents that during his military days as head of state, he was only able to fix some miserable loans and some pieces of land before he went into retirement. When he saw what IBB and the goggled one did with power and how they became so wealthy, he shrank in pure remorseful envy.

When providence come calling later to give him another opportunity, he swore never to be so mean with himself again. He swore that he would recoup all his lost years and that he would never again be threatened by any form of lack or deprivation. I put all these arguments down to sheer malice from his detractors but the revelations from the House of Representatives probe, the acquisition of Bells University the vast plantation in Gembu and other places are beginning to give life and credibility to what I ignorantly and naively pass as empty malice.

I certainly do not expect to find ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo at the same bus stop with a paltry, cheap twenty thousand naira in his accounts after an eight year stint as the President of Nigeria in a democratic dispensation but I also do not imagine that the shrewd, stern, belt-tightening president would waive due process procedures to enrich questionable contractors in the bid to bring electric power to a country which he had led.

At least not after disparaging the slain Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige when that one held sway at the Ministry of Power and Steel as an idiot who did not know his right from his left. Is this what knowing one’s right from one’s left is all about?

At the recent launching of Professor Nwabueze’s three books ex-VP Atiku Abubakar in concert with the former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and ex-Ogun State governor, Segun Osoba put in a word for revolution in Nigeria as the only panacea for the country’s troubles. All of them are in the same political boat of the Action Congress having been emasculated and estranged from Obasanjo’s PDP. Governor Segun Osoba was a victim of Obasanjo political knavery in 2003 and Obasanjo had helped tremendously in unseating him as an AD governor who wanted a reelection. The details of the story leave a sour state in the mouth and Tinubu too only escaped being hauled from the Government House because it would have been exceedingly dangerous to use the arm twisting that was so successful in other South Western States. But why are they all recommending a revolution now? Is it out of genuine love for their fatherland or simply because of the pain of having been sidelined from political power and office? Their cry for a revolution sounds like the baying of a pack of desperate and angry hyenas in my ears.

If any revolution will occur in Nigeria do these people imagine that they will escape from its holocaust?

Distinguished Senator Olorunnibe Mamora one of the few credible voices in the Senate dropped a bomb during the week when he said that the money which the Senate committee on health took from the unspent budget of the Ministry of Health to attend a retreat in Ghana did not violate the Senate’s Code of Ethics. Well that may be true but does it sound right that a committee with oversight functions could effectively supervise an entity from which it was benefitting? Shouldn’t something be done to such a code of ethics which endorses taking money from unspent budget? Doesn’t the Senate appropriate money for itself for all of its functions to avoid going cap in hand to ministries which may not have been efficient in performing their functions? How can the Senate or the House of Representatives perform its oversight functions without being compromised?

RESPONSES

Dear Mr. Apara, kudos for the incisive analyses in your column GADFLY. One is pained that our Yoruba daughters such as Olubunmi Etteh and Adenike Grange could in the last three months be such an embarrassment to such a proud race! The Ibo race had the Okonjo-Iwealas and the Oby Ezekwesili in top positions of the last government without any scandal. Ditto for the North which had Nenadi Usman, where are the Mama Tejumade Alakijas, Bolanle Awes of yore amongst our leaders of today’s Yoruba women? My concern has become more imperative because of my long cherished association with the Yorubas moreso as a son-in-law. Yours truly Sam Ogbonna. Port Harcourt. 08053345213.