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When Prof Jerry Gana was helmsman of the Mass Mobilisation for Self Reliance, Social Justice and Economic Recovery (MAMSER), former military President Ibrahim Babamasi Babangida’s political orientation agency, a popular refrain then was: ‘Nigeria na my country; I must do better for am’. I’m not so sure if Gana would say he achieved success at his assignment or that Nigerians began loving Nigeria enough to have rosy thoughts for or about her.
All I can say is that Nigeria is a mystifying country where everything is about self-interest. It is a country so blessed, yet so accursed. It is a country ruled by crookedly endowed citizens whose preoccupation is to make a kill out of her and move on. It is a country where ‘success’ is celebrated irrespective whether it comes from hard work or blood sacrifice or sleaze.
Of late, Nigerians are inundated by chilling stories about the shenanigans in the corridors of power, especially the rape of the public treasury. We are told tales of how Ibrahim Magu, the thief catcher at the Economic and Financial Crimes Comission (EFCC), is allegedly a thief himself and now fighting the battle of his life to remain a free man.
In Edo State, former chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, checkmated his successor as governor, Godwin Obaseki, and set him running away from the APC. Unfortunately, OshioBaba danced too much he did not know how he fell off stage. More significantly though, his trouble with Obaseki was because the governor resisted his moves to be godfather of Edo politics, a malaise OshioBaba himself fought against and gloated over their decimation. it is ironical that he would now wish to be godfather.
On the road to making Obaseki governor, he described him as his brain box and engine but now Obaseki is none of those. He presented his now Man Friday, Ize-Iyamu, in the most uncharitable terms as a thief and all that. Strangely, OshioBaba is singing the praises of the same man he called unprintable names, canonising him as a saint and saviour of Edo people. These politicians are strange, only the initiate can understand them, and that is why they meet mostly at night like witches.
However, OshioBaba will come to greater grief of Ize-Iyamu beats Obaseki to emerge as governor. Expecting the ‘thief’ to forgive and forget how his reputation was shredded and denied victory during the last election would be foolhardy. There will be a payback time.
Now the immediate past managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joi Nunieh, recently shocked the country with the narrative of the audacious hot slap she claimed to have served the Minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, a former senator and governor of Akwa Ibom State. Wow!
Nunieh claimed the minister wanted to ‘come on her’ and Akpabio found this mountain too touch to climb and retreated. Never did he know that the private exchange would become public knowledge by the Port Harcourt girl herself, who claimed to be the only woman to have slapped the minister. Expectedly, Akpabio has denied this narrative.
Women for long have suffered humiliation in the hands of philandering men, who feel the only route for a woman to rise is to spread her legs. Many people do not even believe that a woman can achieve success on her on merit without sleeping around. However, it is baffling why women must resort to accusations of sexual abuse or harassment once they come into conflict with men. This is a disservice to womenfolk and makes it difficult to know when someone is saying the truth or just crying wolf. As in the instant case, it is only the two actors that know the truth of what transpired between them, and God, of course.
Nunieh’s claims are incredible but not exactly salacious. It may have been garnished and I have a problem with the timing of these revelations. Why did she not speak out then? Who was she trying to impress when she revealed that Akpabio asked her to remove a lawyer because of his northern descent? This doubtful revelation is dishonourable and does her no credit. It is most unlikely to win her the trust of those whose sympathy she obviously wanted.
In any case, that would not be surprising, as such is the lot of this country where tribalism dictates everything, especially under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. The country has never had it so brazen and, no matter how hard the Buhari marketers try, the facts are there that cronyism and nepotism are the hallmarks of this administration.
I have heard it argued in some quarters that this government has done this or that for the South-East, for instance. This is standing logic on its head. Minus the constitutional provisions, some people in positions would leave other areas bereft. In fact, if it were possible, they would have amended the Constitution to ensure that those hated areas get nothing at all.
Nevertheless, one sure thing from the Nunieh-Akpabio altercations is that Nigeria remains one big cesspool of corruption. So is the Customs, the police and every sector of the public service. Even Internet fraud has assumed a life of its own. However, the NDDC remains the headquarters of corruption in Nigeria even as the people whose suffering it was set up to address die in droves due to distortions in the ecosystem and environmental pollution.
Incidentally, the NDDC was set up by the administration of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) to address the deplorable condition of the area that is the nation’s cash cow. Unfortunately, rather than do what it was set up to achieve, the place was turned into a bazaar for dizzying corruption. Almost everyone that sets foot in that intervention agency believes his days have been buttered. Such is the situation that, no matter what Nunieh or whoever tells the National Assembly probe panel, we all know that nobody that has even a semblance of association with NDDC will find it easy to extricate himself from the corruption oozing out of the place.
Talking about the National Assembly, it is also doubtful if they will do a thorough job of the probe. This is because it is also not exempt from the swirling corruption in the land. The various probes of the NASS since the return of democracy are still accumulating dust somewhere unattended to. This is a reason the probes can be likened to the proboscis of anopheles mosquitoes, further inflicting malarial hemorrhage on the country’s lean treasury. In fact, nobody is afraid of the NASS probes anymore. That is why those summoned have the temerity to walk out on them and nothing happens.
Most times, too, members of NASS leave their oversight functions in pursuit of personal gains. Even the process that throws them onto their seats is far from egalitarian, and, so, their allegiance, rather than to the people they purportedly represent, lies elsewhere, thus robbing them of the respect of the executive to whom they owe subservience. Any wonder that appointees of the executive could swagger into their hallowed chambers and disparage them and instead of wielding the big stick, they would elect to go on odd pilgrimage to Aso Rock, begging for the respect that should be naturally theirs.
Shameful as the putrid revelations at the NASS NDDC probe may be, the good thing is that the lawmakers can seize the moment and rid the nation of its mournful condition. NDDC must be cleansed and those found culpable for the rape of OBJ’s legacy should be made to vomit their loot.
