Guest
As concluded last week, contrary to the conduct of their counterparts in democratic nations like the United Kingdom, a majority of Nigerian politicians are public masters who are above the law and consider it condescending to submit to rules of appropriate social conduct. Between 1960 and 1999, politicians have taken this for an expensive, corruption-ridden, ride that has cost a colossal sum of $440 billion. With that sort of money in their private bank accounts, it is no wonder that nothing, including government, works in this country.
The fact of the matter is that the country’s corridors of power and her political parties are riddled with brigands who see themselves as members of some gentlemen’s club. They both make the rules and defy rules with impunity. The conduct of our politicians challenges the intelligence of even the most brilliant psycho analysts. That is why corruption rules our corridors of power and the nation reels from one corruption scandal to another- from Etteh-gate to Siemensgate, Nepa or PHCN-gate to Halliburton-gate. As the government attempts to shut one gate of corruption scandal from the prying eyes of the public, another bigger gate of corruption opens. This trend is not surprising in a nation where the Minister for Justice does nothing but defend the interest of his master’s corrupt political associates.
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Unlike in the United Kingdom where MPs have been sanctioned by their parties for financial recklessness and some Ministers have had to step down, in Nigeria, with the exception of a few scapegoats who probably fell out of the Master’s favour, no Minister has ever stepped down from his post, no lawmaker has been suspended, and no political appointee has resigned for misconduct. Despite President Yar’Adua’s hollow pledge to eradicate corruption and take action against political office holders who abused our country’s finances, nothing has happened except a few image laundering acts that smirk more of an attempt to re-brand the government’s image. Political appointees, Ministers, Governors and Special Advisers found to have soiled their hands continue to serve in various capacities and appear to be candidates of first choice for national positions.
Obviously, like the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, recently proposed, it is about time the international community does something about our thieving class parading themselves as political leaders. Until such international action against corruption in Nigeria and is commenced, developed nations will continue to host millions of our able-bodied, highly educated young men and women who troop to Europe and America as refugees. Recently, the indefatigable Mallam Nuhu Ribadu urged the United States government to expand its crime law to enable it nail high level Nigerian recipients of bribe, who our political leaders usually protect.
While giving a testimony on corruption in Nigeria before the House Financial Services Committee of the US Congress in Washington, Ribadu acknowledged that although the responsibility of eradicating corruption ultimately lies with Nigeria, America could help narrow the operating space for what he described as “high-stakes elite bribery” with an expanded law that would rein them in, irrespective of their country of origin. Needless to add that this columnist supports Ribadu’s recommendation but believes it is the responsibility of the Federal Government of Nigeria to start our nation’s re-branding on the corruption warfront.
This is because corrupt politicians in this country are shielded by the very institutions that are meant to rein them in and bring them to justice. Otherwise, those involved in various scandals from Etteh-gate and the Siemens-gate, to the Halliburton/KBR corruption scandal should have been in the slammers by now. If it were possible to build a brand new Nigeria from the scratch, what has been stolen from us by our political class since 1960 is enough to build a new, vibrant, developed and wealthy Nigeria ten times over.
Albeit, our political masters (not public servants) done give a hoot if we remain impoverished. Otherwise, the likes of ex-Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State who the EFCC under Mallam Ribadu found to have 25 bank accounts in London alone with a loot of around £10 million pounds, plea bargainer and former Governor of Bayelsa State D.S.P Alamieyeseigha with bank accounts in Cyprus, Denmark, USA and Bahamas, properties valued at £10 million pounds in London and 10 million Rand in South Africa, would not be walking our streets as free men. Neither would the likes of Ex-Governor Nosakhare Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State, and the ex- Niger Delta Governor who offered Mallam Ribadu a bribe of $15 million, which Ribadu claimed he put into a national bank as evidence. Obviously, President Umar Musa Yar’Adua needs very little else in terms of evidence to nail the ex-Governor involved.
But like this column has so far argued, Nigerian politicians are not public servants.
Unfortunately, Nigerians suffer from this class of marauding public masters and praetorian soldiers who are politicians as well. Many Nigerian soldiers operate like members of an unregistered National Party of Nigerian Soldiers, a melting pot for soldiers of different shades, ranks and political affiliation, united by esprit de corps against a powerless civil populace. When such soldiers decide to shoot their way into political office, they acquire power illegitimately and exchange their camouflages for flowing robes and suits while at the same time, acquiring the mien of conquering warlords that lingers on even after they hand over to democratically (s)elected civilians. Whether they agree or not, soldiers in and out of government are answerable to the people whose interests they claim to be representing by shoving out greedy politicians. Albeit in Nigeria, political soldiers turn out to be public masters of the worst kind.
