SERIES: CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA
THE NATIONAL BLUEPRINT FOR A BROAD-BASED DISSECTION OF AND STRATEGIES TO COMBAT CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA
About the Eneke-nti-oba called Muhammadu Buhari
Every time Muhammadu Buhari rode to power, he would often begin his so-called war against corruption without a plot, strategy and focus, acting in the manner of an effervescent, hurling every person perceived to be corrupt into detention, sometimes without trials, and sometimes, where tried, the tribunal set up by him would trivialise a very serious national matter by awarding those adjudged to have been found guilty, a prison term of between 300-500 years, with a caveat to run (kwenkwenrrently) concurrently; and Muhammadu Buhari, ending up becoming the most corrupt in human history, would encourage and promote the erection of a myth of saintliness, integrity and uprightness about his own persona.
But his second coming has not only witnessed the de-mythologization of our 'Mr Integrity', and exposed him for who he is, a hypocrite of the highest order, but the destruction of Muhammadu Buhari, reducing him to a mere tribal ruler and supra bigot in the service of the House of Saud and Gida Uthman Dan Fodio, now moaning and whining that the cabals have hijacked his government, when in fact, he will for ever be remembered by Nigerians, all humanity, history and posterity as a mindless Luciferian, whose ineptitude is unparalleled in modern times.
If Mr Buhari, who now wines, dines, sleeps and companies with and kisses corruption on daily basis together with his family, the Anti-People Company (APC), political cronies, amongst who are the hordes of his political flies/egrets, political hawks, vultures, leeches/parasites and political Almajiris still have a modicum of honour left them; now is the time for all of them severally, to dismantle every instrument of state he had set up to terrorise his political foes, perceived or real and the Nigerian people, but which he has been deceiving all conscientious humanity that they are in fact, apparatuses of state with which to fight corruption, and go home, so Nigerians can be free and have their lives back.
APPROACHES TO FIGHTING CORRUPTION AND THEIR LIMITATIONS
"In contrast, you have played judge, jury, and prosecutor in the newspapers to convict former PDP Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke of corruption.
Is this evenhanded justice?
United States Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson taught: "[T]here is no more effective practical guaranty against arbitrary and unreasonable government than to require that the principles of law which officials would impose upon a minority must be imposed generally. Conversely, nothing opens the door to arbitrary action so effectively as to allow those officials to pick and choose only a few to whom they will apply legislation and thus to escape the political retribution that might be visited upon them if larger numbers were affected.
To investigate or prosecute based on political affiliation or opinion also violates Articles 2 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is unworthy of a great nation like Nigeria."
- Bruce Fein
Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/anti-graft-war-american-lawyer-writes-buhari/
1. THE ENEKE-NTI-OBA SYNDROME (ENOS)
Eneke-nti-oba in Igbo folklore was a very proud and self-conceited bird who challenged the whole world to a fight, only to be thrown into the village toilet by a mere sickly kitten, who held him in between his teeth, headed straight to the village toilet in the full glare of the crowd that had gatherd to watch the wrestling match which such swashbucklers were often made by the referees to start with, before engaging the most powerful wrestlers in the village to fight them.
This story is of interest to me personally because all who had emerged on the Nigerian ruling stage by way of coups or through the so-called democratic processes, boasting they would rid the nation of corruption had all ended up in the Nigerian toilet like the pompous Eneke-nti-oba as exemplified in Buhari's coup speech below.
Buhari in 1983, whilst forcing his way to power through a coup accused the Shehu Usman Aliu Shagari Government of corruption, so also did the Ibrahim Babangida Government accuse Buhari of corruption - and this accusation and counter-accusation of one Government in Nigeria after another has continued since the beginning of time.
2. THE COBWEB OR THE NET SYNDROME (CS/NS)
All who deceived the Nigerian people they would fight corruption using it either as a coup pitch or elections unique selling point (EUSP) just as Olusegun Obasanjo did and Muhammadu Buhari had done, always ended up in the web of corruption with they themselves becoming the most corrupt at the end of the full circles of their constitutionally guaranteed two-term tenures as currently reflected in the lifesyles of the past and present political officials, past and present senior military officers, amongst whom are former Heads of State and Presidents including their family members and cronies.
3. THE CHICHIDODO'S OR THE SCAVENGERS' TALES/ALTERNATIVE WARFARE
Fighting corruption by infiltrating the rank and file of the corrupt, using their political platform and resources to acquire power and hoping to probe them once one has attained the utmost height, but ended up getting enmeshed in corruption and unable to extricate onself from the rot/mess and the group whose resources one has used to gain power and ending up worse than all of them put together in terms of corruption and acquisition of obscene and mindless wealth.
The Chichidodo Alternative Warfare or Strategy or Approach aims to fight corruption from inside. The mythical chichidodo in a folklore of the West African State of Ghana never liked faeces, but ate worms that do feed on faeces.
4. THE FIRE-FLIES' DING-DONG OR LULLABY
Promising to fight corruption just as a campaign pitch to get votes from the electorate and after gaining the peoples' votes, ending up doing little or nothing at all. But if little, just selective probing of one's political enemies/opponents by scaring them into submission or silence.
5. THE SCARECROW APPROACH
Browbeat one's political enemies/opponents into total submission; keep warning and threatening the corrupt you will probe them, but doing nothing in the end.
Also, under the scarecrow tactics/strategy, when a government is urged by the international community to do something about corruption in their country, and as a reaction, such a government rounds up perceived corrupt political elements, sets up a kangaroo Anti-Corruption Tribunal or court and hurls their political foes into jails just to obtain loans, curry international goodwill, aid and diplomatic favour from international alllies.
6. OTAPIAPIA OR THE FIRE BRIGADE APPROACH OR THE EFFERVESCENT SYNDROME (OA/FBA/ES)
Otapiapia in Yala means somebody or something who initiatially appears full of the zest of life, elixir of life and quite enthusiastic about life, but before you know it that enthusiasm and superactive nature suddenly fizzles out or like a millipede that has just been touched by a niddle recoils onto itself.
And about all those once seeming natural enthusiasm and superactivity of the individual, it thenceforward can be said: Once upon a time! Rendering in Yala that light that has just gone out: "Otapiapia de kunyi pro-o-o-o" or "Owu pupu kunyi ngho-o."
Yala is spoken by the Yalas of Cross River State in Nigeria.
Likewise, a new government starts to fight corruption with unparalleled enthusiasm in the first three months or at the most, the first 100 days of ascendancy to power, sets up a panel of inquiry like the Olusegun Obasanjo's concocted Oputa Panel to address and redress all wrongs including corruption, but suddenly without warning, that ethusiasm got deflated - the report of the panel of inquiry on corruption and other matters are binned immediately after its submission to the Head of Government of the day and no more talks about fighting corruption - anyone who reminds the government about the report or tells it to fight kwerreptshen (corruption) is told to bring evidence against the people so named and bandied about as corrupt persons.
The OLUSEGUN OBSANJO STORIES in the Nigerian Federation explain the OTAPIPIA THEORY
7. OLOJUKOKORO/IJEKUJE SYNDROME (OS/IS)
A government that excitedly promises to fight corruption gets mired/sucked in corruption to the extent that it becomes more corrupt than its predecessors.
This explains the Nigerian story from the 1960s till the very present why one Government after another is more corrupt than the the one/s before it!
For example there is no coup/inaugural speech in Nigeria since the 1960s till the present that corruption did not feature very prominently, followed by the promise to fight it, but at the end of the tenure of every government that has ruled Nigeria, such a government becomes more corrupt than all the previous ones put together.
8. THE MEA CULPA SYNDROME (MS) OR STATE PARDON/AMNESTY OR PRESIDENTIAL PARDON/AMNESTY
Setting free the corrupt who had been jailed by one's or previous government after negotiation, especially if they are ready to make a refund of part of their loots to the State and appear contrite/repentannt.
Or granting them State pardon which wipes off their criminal records, so they can enjoy all over again all their once lost statutory rights as guaranteed every citizen by the country's constitution.
This can also be referred to as TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF (TOANLEAF) or just THE NEW LEAF APPROACH (NLA).
9. ESPRIT DE CORPS
One's constituency/profession, especially the military , even though known to be the most corrupt having been in control/command of virtually every public sphere/space by virtue of the fact of the military ruling the country for the better part of the nation's political history and existence as a sovereign nation.
10. THE DIALOGIC APPROACH
Persons that are on the watch list of a government and soon to be probed go through intermediaries to negotiate on their behalf to refund part or the whole of their loots, so they be left off the hook!
11. THE BULLS' ATTACK THEORY OR THE BULLS' DEFENCE
This is when the corrupt elements in the nation gang up to fight the government of the day that earnestly desires to fight corruption in the body politics to bring it down and force their way to government through coup or a hurriedly concocted election which will eventually see them in power.
Good examples: Muhammadu Buhari and fellow coupists bringing down the Government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari who was then probing the $2.8 billion missing oil money under Buhari as a Federal Commissioner for Petroleum.
The then Shehu Shagari Government had put machnery in place to re-open the case under the Senator Olushola Saraki-led Panel of Inquiry when Buhari and his gang struck on December 31st December, 1983.
The second example is the Ibrahim Gbadamosi Babangida-led coup which truncated the Muhammadu Buhari Government over the Gloria Okon saga on August 27th, 1985, consequent upon the mindless blasting off of Dele Giwa's life prematurely under the Ibrahim Babangida Government, thus inauguarating the dastardly killings of people by bomb blasts which have continued till today and have been taken to a bizzare and satanic point by Boko Haram.
Also, methinks it not yet late to ask: WHO KILLED DELE GIWA? And WHO EXACTLT KILLED BOLA IGE...Ta lo pa Dele, ta lo pa Bola?
11. THE ANANIAS' AND SAPHIRA'S TALES
A Presidential candidate/Head of State gives his words to the electorate/people he will fight corruption with all the machinery of government at his disposal if he wins the election, but on being voted in or his government having achieved stabilization, ignores all calls to fight corruption, even with evidence at his disposal about corrupt persons in the country and even in his governmenet.
Rather than fight corruption, he adopts a covenient method or slogan: "If you cannot beat them; join them" and ends up becoming the most corrupt in recorded history.
12. THE JUNIOR JESUS' SOLUTION (JJS) OR THE JUNIOR JESUS' WAY (JJW)
This involves identifying all the corrupt persons in the country and killing them as Jerry John Rawlings did in Ghana to attain a modicum of sanity, albeit, temporarily!
But news from Ghana with respect to Rawlings and wife, Nana is today rather very unfortunate!
WINNING THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA
Romans 12:2
The fight can only be won succesfully by re-ordering/re-arrangement of society, hurling all the corrupt into prison after prosecution, seizing all they had acquired illegally and making them to restitute.
Also, success will involve a process of formal and informal education across time and generations with the former becoming an integral part of the national educational philosophy and curriculum and the teaching of such subjects as moral instructions, history, civics, comparative religious studies, human rights and constitutional studies, policing studies, charity studies, customer service, etc.
Emphasis on the eternal verities of life - on substance, what is sustainable, what will endure eternally, redefinition of values with the overall aim of the fight/crusade being hinged on national rebirth or the Nigerian renaissance.
***My theories and limitations on fighting corruption are excerpts from my book: MIND LEPROSY, sub-titled: Corruption in Nigeria. We discontinued its serializaations some years back in order to attend to pressing national exigencies.