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Too Bad to Celebrate By Umar G. Pella
Arrests and Arrests. Everywhere. Charges of corruption, recklessness and impunity. Some admitted. Others refuted and contested. Most still under investigation and few are charged to courts. The courts which statutorily has the final say to pronounce any alleged culprit innocent or guilty. The same courts whom at the moment does not seem to enjoy the confidence of Nigerians as regards its ability to deliver on its statutory mandate. As it stands, all are on trial. The alleged culprits, the EFCC and the courts. While trying to avoid the judgmental trap of passing a verdict on what can be termed as the score card of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, it must be admitted that out of all the expectations that Nigerians have of the administration, one that the government must deliver unscathed is the anticorruption crusade. Of all the credentials and pedigree of PMB, the one that makes him stand tall is not his physical height even though he has much of it; it’s not the soldier in him even though he retired as a General; it’s not political sagacity or even the experience even though he was once a Head of State and consistent presidential candidate. What makes him dwarf all his contemporaries is his disdain for corruption and the corrupt. This has craftily been converted into a marketing brand that has politically sold him to Nigerians. Everybody knows Buhari is not a thief and therefore will not steal a penny from Nigeria. This, even his enemies would attest to. That the war against corruption and the corrupt has become the central agenda of the government is therefore a no-surprise. That arrests and interrogations is everywhere is an expectation. That EFCC has regained its teeth to bite even harder is no-news. Nigerians must jointly support this anti-corruption crusade because this might be the biggest if not the only gain of the courage and resolve of the March, 28th 2015 decision. The debate as to whether the fight against corruption is waged properly or whether it is done politically, is a polemic for another day. What is rather certain from the revelations of all the arrests so far made is that no single person has denied crossing path with the alleged public wealth. Therefore the argument for selective victimization is baseless. What is baffling is the speed at which Nigerians celebrate these arrests. It is rather saddening that we are celebrating instead of mourning. What is there to celebrate in the news that a prince has diverted money meant to protect his subjects against insurgents and shared it to unpatriotic Generals and irresponsible politicians? What is pleasant in the news that a Chief of Defense Staff sold out his country, even his village to enemies and abandoned the task of defense and converted the dollars to personal use? Why should we celebrate when a principal secretary to the president covets over 40 million dollar meant to secure his region of origin to his personal purse? What is there to celebrate in the news that a minister of petroleum converted the entire petroleum industry into a personal fiefdom, owns 18 million dollars’ worth house with over 3 million dollars furniture and a bulletproof gym in Abuja? What is pleasant in the news that the same minister owns over 10 million dollars’ worth jewelries, wears a million dollar wrist watch and owns an entire closet full of ornaments including diamond pants? What is cheering about the news that over 4 billion naira has been found in the personal coffers of a sitting governor of state which cannot pay its workers’ salaries? All these are happening at the time when poverty has virtually dealt an inerasable scar on the socioeconomic conditions of the people and rendered a substantial part of the country not only homeless but lifeless. But trust Nigerians, they are a terrible people with dreadful penchant for celebrating both good and bad fortune. We celebrate these revelations. We celebrate the fact that we have been dealt with by fellow citizens. We are happy that a sheriff is in town and is busy making arrests. We don’t even care whether recoveries are made. The sheriff is so engrossed with the past that we don’t remind him about the present. We also don’t care whether the new team the sheriff has constituted is derailing to the infamous path of our past. Like we are celebrating the present that was how we celebrated the past until it brought us to the present. Just because we like celebrating, we have forgotten, to mourn the situation that has brought us to this point. We have refused to be angry at a system that breeds this kind of greed, covetousness and inhumanity. We have refused to be sad that our institutions have become so weak that they can’t protect our collective commonwealth from the itchy fingers of a few among us. This indeed is so depressing. More depressing is the news that has temporarily surpassed the EFCC trailer this week. The arrest of an agent of the armsgate police. A prominent presidential committee member saddled with the responsibility of investigating the arms deal was alleged to be collecting bribe from the culprits. This might consume even the EFCC because its Chairman is a member of this committee. And bizarre is the news that the chief of army staff is a proud owner of Dubai choice properties at a time when the government is preaching accountability and transparency. The worst celebration is the drum and dance that accompany the taking over of the silver birds group from its common sense owner, distinguished senator Ben Murray Bruce by AMCON. Nigerians are in a rat race, celebrating this national misfortune. As usual, we have rolled out the drums again, dancing and even clapping our hands. Wearing regalia of all shapes and colours. Waging our dirty tongues. One of us is on the route to bankruptcy and we are all happy. What sort of people are we? Aren’t we really terrible people? Again instead of celebrating this misfortune, it’s more appropriate to reflect on how a bank like Union Bank with its long years of ethical business can part with a whopping 11 billion naira as loan to a single business entity without monitoring the performance of the loan over the years. Just within the week, I have heard such bad news like Aliko Dangote loosing over 3.7 billion dollars in a single day, Nduka Obaigbena’s Thisday Dome, Sani Dangotes property etc. being taken over by the same AMCON. These aren’t just bad stories for the businesses and the enterprise owners, they are equally sad signals to a nose-diving economy. The news of the failure of every giant business in every serious country should be a sad one except if the entire citizenry is a bunch of insensitive doomed sadists. Ben Bruce just like others must pay his debt. This I believe is a call his common sense must appeal to. He must be responsible to not only to pay his debt but pay his tax. Because as a country we need both. But we must all support him out of this situation. This isn’t politics. This is economics. It affects us all directly. He has said it somewhere, and I reason with him, this is one of his trying moment and even the silverbird group. We must appreciate his situation. It’s not easy to build a company that has survived the Nigerian economy for 36 years. Most of us who have tried this and failed respects people like Bruce who have conquered their fears and made success. Most people who are celebrating this misfortune are people who enjoy pettiness and have failed woefully at managing even their families. Check their records you might even discover how hard it is for them to pay a token borrowed from their neigbours. Before we celebrate the downfall of Mr. Bruce, let’s for once be sympathetic to the plight of over 1000 staffers and their dependents on the payroll of Silverbird group and the fact that the guy is a good source of encouragement to many emerging entrepreneurs which Nigeria badly needs and sadly lacks. This is not about PDP or APC. This is about Nigeria. We must stop empty celebrations. ***** Umar G. Pella, is a lecturer with the Dept. of Political Science, Adamawa State University, Mubi and a Faculty member of the DCP Thinking and Learning Lab.
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