An Exhilarating Twist

By

Tochukwu Ezukanma

My disgust with Nigerian politics stems from the spooky and shady characters that populate the Nigerian political scene. It is a scene replete with men and women who desire to practice the profession of stealing and killing, under the guise of a more respectable name, politics. I have always been perplexed by the kind of humanity Nigerian politicians represent. Do Nigerians, as they voted for elected officials, unwittingly hitch their stars with pathological liers, mindless kleptomaniacs and cold-hearted murderers, or are these politicians normal individuals transformed into monsters by the brute and vindictive milieu of Nigeria politics?

The national assembly, the activity node of national politics is packed with these shadowy characters posturing as politicians. Consequently, instead of being a stronghold of intrepid and vigilant guardians of the constitution, the national assembly is a bastion of venality and moral decadence, reflecting shame, instead of honor on its members. It is the epicenter of the Nigerian moral and ethical collapse. It is a sanctuary for graft and all other forms of corrupt practices. Motivated by greed and rapine, and not the public good or public service, the legislators are literally for sale. Major political decisions are made, not based on principles, convictions, or ideological leanings, but the size and weight of "Ghana-must-go" (stuffed with money) handed over to the legislators. Lacking both in discipline and decorum, their fights over the content of these "Ghana-must-go" and their other corrupt dividend have periodically spilled out into the open. There have been cases of fist fights amongst the "honorable" gentlemen and ladies over the sharing of their loot.

Not too long ago, the upper house of the assembly was presided over by Adolphus Wabara. Obviously, Wabara was not qualified for that office. He got to the job because it is zoned to the southeast, and the Igbo leaders had earlier empowered Olusegun Obasanjo to choose the occupants of the office. Zoning is founded on the fallacy that power, the presidency, can be rotated among the different geo-political zones in Nigeria. The concept belies an incontrovertible reality, that nobody can ever dash you power. You can never get power on a silver platter. Power is earned, and not given. No individual, or group of people can acquire political power, unless they earn it. No ultrustic imperative, or constitutional tinkering can bestow power on a political elite that lacks the will, courage and resolve to pay the price for power. The whole idea of rotational presidency, that is, that in the interst of equity and justice, power will be taken from those who have secured it and dominated it, and be rotated among the zones is fictional nonescence.

There have thus far been 5 senate presidents - a shameful rate of turnover - in the last 6 years. The instabilty in the office of the senate president, like every other Igbo problem, is the direct result of lack of leadership. When the Igbo political elite failed to take a stand in defence of Chuba Okadigbo, they invariably connived with Obasanjo to remove that brilliant and independent-minded mind from the senate presidency. They insensibly played dangerously into Obasanjo's hands. They gave him an ample latitude in determining future senate presidents. The office has since been reduced to a place for spiritless, political neophyte, positioned to serve at the pleasure of the president. It became a station for the weak-minded and marginally educated who lack the wherewithal to carry the weight of the office. He influenced the elevation of both Anyim and Wabara to the senate presidency. Neither of the two men was qualified for the job. They lack the celebral niche, vision, daring and panache needed for the post. Without the neccessary ingridents for leadership (intellectual depth, self-confidence and color - a measured streak of flamboyance and drama), they only helped to reduce a powerful and autonomous center of power to an extension of the presidency.

Lacklustre and undistinguished, Wabara hardly struck any distinctive chord in my mind. He first came to my attention with that his infamous faux pas, his statement that blamed Chris Ngige for the political crissis in Anambara state. In his view, the political conflict in the state was the fault of Ngige, because he breached a "gentleman's agreement". That statement was most revulsive. It was reflective of a debauched mind. Implicitly, he was applauding the ravages inflicted on Anambara state by Mbadinuju's administration. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, in keeping to an earlier "gentleman's agreement", gave a good chunk of the state revenue to his political godfathers, and then kept the rest for himself and his clique of thieves. As a result, his government could neither pay government workers, teachers and pensioners, nor provide basic government services. It wrecked untold havoc on Anambara state: destitution and poverty, starvation and death, delapidation and collapse, crime and lawlessness, etc.

Ngige lifted the pall of desperation and hopelessness that had enveloped the state, and brought hope and normalcy to the lives of so many by paying teachers, civil servants and pensioners. He reversed the deterioration and decay of public infrastructure by building roads and rehabilitating public facilities. He curbed corruption, checked the excesses of local government chairmen, reined-in the forces of greed and insensitivity in the state assembly, and reduced the crime rate within the state. To achieve these, he directed the resources of the state to the service of the people. He refused to hand them over to Chris Uba, a rapacious hooligan, a morally bankrupt powerbroker who planned to mortgage the future and welfare of the state to his personal whims.

And to Wabara, Ngige is a troublemaker for refusing to further Uba's greedy and wicked schemes. So, by Wabara's warp reasoning, the havoc the Mbadinuju wrought on Anambara state was a job well-done by a fine man who kept to the letters of a gentleman's agreement. What kind of reasoning could that be? He must be a deviant, reprobate - just irredeemably vile. He is a hoggish man that can only further his selfish interests at the expense of the Igbo nation. He can neither serve the Igbo, nor the country with honor. I have never wished him well. So, to me, the recent twist in his political career, his fall from grace, is most exhilarating.

Olusegun Obasanjo lacks the moral authority to fight corruption in Nigeria. Obasanjo himself is very corrupt. Like Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha, he has corruptly enriched himself, members of his family and his inner circle. There have been series of allegations of corrupt and illegal dealings involving members of his family and his political cronies. In addition, more than any other president in the history of Nigeria, he has used bribe, naira stuffed "Ghana must go", to advance his designs in the national assembly: pushing through his programs, plotting the political demise of his political enemies, whittling down the powers and prerogatives of the assembly, undermining the indepedence of the legislators, etc. Not surprisingly, his anti-corruption crusade is very selective and spasmodic. These periodic anti-corruption forays are political vendettas cloaked in moralistic sermons. He is using them as smoke screens to shape his personal and political agenda.

If Obasanjo is serious with his anti-corruption campaign, he should first of all apologize to Nigerians for his own corrupt activities. He, along with members of his family and his cronies should then account for the money they stole over the years, and return them to Nigeria. He should target the entrenched hubs of corruption in Nigeria, especially the NNPC and NEPA. In addition, he should address the 300 billion naira, designated for road construction when Anthony Anenih was the minister for works, that went unaccounted for, the contract for the Abuja stadium which was over priced by more than 40billion naira, and so many other egregious cases of corruption and embezzlement .

For now, Nigeria remains what she is, an oil rich nation reduced to poverty by the thievery of one of the most corrupt power elite in the world, a leaderless, lawless, chaotic colossus lumbering towards the unknown. And Obasanjo remains who he is, an amalgam of ruthlessness and intolerance, visionlessness and inefficiency, cupidity and greed. He is a despot with primitive and vicious instincts. He has encouraged the arrent thuggery of his political operatives, and fostered the degenerate oppulence a favored few at the expense of the generality of Nigerians who vegetate in poverty and squalor.

But, even in this vast scene of confusion, even in this most misruled country in the world, the Igbo deserve men with character, courage and conviction to represent them in the office of the president of the senate. Evidently, Wabara has none of these qualities.

Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Washington, DC.