The Real And True Enemies Of Nigeria And The Nigerian People

By

Akintokunbo A Adejumo

London, United Kingdom

akinadejum@aol.com

“Nigeria in the last 44 years has been stolen by a cabal and turned to their own. These few robbers have created dynasties for themselves and they pass us round. I have to call them owners of Nigeria because that is what I think they are and the rest of us are tenants.  Who are these people and why are they owners of Nigeria?”

Seyi Oduyela, in “Owners of Nigeria” August 15, 2004.

The above was a quote from Seyi Oduyela’s lengthy but very informative treatise written in 2004. He had called our political and military leaders “owners of Nigeria”, but with recent unfolding unsavoury events, in concert with what we have always known and experienced for the past 47 years of our nationhood, I would rather call these people “the real and true enemies” of Nigeria and the Nigerian people.

All these decades we have been laying the blame for all our problems on the door of the British colonial masters and those we call American and Western imperialists. We adduced that it was because of our oil that they need to keep us under-developed so that they can have access to the oil and mineral wealth of our land. In as much as I would like to believe this, the fact remains that it is our own people, our political and military leaders who have been deceiving us and grandstanding us. They are the ones who have deliberately kept us in the dark ages, killing us slowly for their own selfish reasons. In order to achieve this, they need to be corrupt, and to be corrupt, they need to be greedy.

“London court freezes Ibori’s assets• It was a restraining order, says Ibori” (Please note that Mr Ibori did not deny owning these frozen assets)

“EFCC may arraign Makarfi •Senate, NLC back trial of ex-govs, others”

“I was not quizzed by EFCC, says Egwu”

“EFCC investigates Ibori”

“Turaki, ex-Gov of Jigawa State arraigned by EFCC”

“Chimaroke Nnamani has 178 houses in one town in 8 years”

“Dariye charged for money-laundering”

“Orji Kalu indicted – many foreign accounts and businesses in Gambia, etc”

“Rev Nyame regrets looting treasury”

“Kalu, Ibori, Odili meet Yar'Adua at Aso Villa”

“ICPC to probe 31 ex-Governors”

These are just a few of the news headlines that assail Nigerians on a daily basis since President Yar’Adua came into power and the EFCC suddenly finds renewed energy in carrying out its duties. There is no respite from these continuous scandals, if you can call them scandals. And it seems that Nigerians are so much used to hearing such that we have sort of developed some immunity to the shock of the scandals.

I don’t blame the people. During the eight profligate years of Obasanjo’s administration, and despite the so much publicised fight against corruption (I will commend OBJ that this was at least the first such initiative  in the history of Nigeria), it had always been business as usual in our number one industry and  pastime; that of corrupt enrichment. Governors, ministers, senators, federal representatives, house of assembly members, local government chiefs and officials, civil servants, etc, all of them were in on the act.  And the Nigerian people stood passively by and watched their enemies take them apart bit by bit, complacent, and praying to God in mosques and churches, for deliverance. Heaven, they say, help those who help themselves. We are not helping ourselves.

I am not so much shocked at the fact that corruption is alive and well as the sheer and unbelievable greediness of these political leaders. Military rule definitely brought corruption on a large scale to the fore in Nigeria in recent decades, but at least, the officers were a bit genteel about it, until the advent of Babangida, when nobody cares anymore if they are known to be stealing government money. This is a proof of how degenerate our societal, moral and ethical norms have collapsed. In the old days, thieves are pariahs and persona non grata in the society.

I had always thought Shagari’s administration was the worst when it comes to corruption, but with the sheer incredulous and massive amount of money that Governors during our last eight years of democracy have stolen, I need to re-examine these statistics. Some school of thought are even now saying that what was stole during Abacha’s days was nothing compared to during the second coming of Obasanjo. I am indeed inclined to believe that.

I have always argued that Obasanjo himself will never dip his hands into the treasury. I still believe this is the case, but he has gotten himself so compromised by those that he surrounded himself with and by those he considered his “boys” – many PDP governors and other sycophants and hangers-on, that he, as the President and initiator of anti-corruption drive in Nigeria, cannot absolve himself from their crimes against the Nigerian people. For indeed, the acts of kleptomaniacs in power stealing the people blind to satisfy their own personal greed, is nothing but a crime against humanity. Look at it this way: while Mr Ibori was buying a plane and buying/building  a refinery in South Africa with the money belonging to the people of Delta State, thousands of  his people are dying directly and/or indirectly on a daily basis due to lack of clean water, good roads, food, good medical care, good education, etc. And Obasanjo must certainly know that this was going on, instead he was chasing after lesser miscreants like Gov. Ladoja of Oyo State.

As Babs Ajayi opened in his article, National Leaders as Looters,” Looting has never been banished from Nigeria; it is actually a national pastime and a way of life. It is how Nigerian leaders make a difference and do as they wish. It is not only unfair to the people; it is unacceptable, greedy and reckless. Recklessness has become what leadership is all about in Nigeria, and millions of the people are worried sick about the lack of transparency, accountability and self-service”.

Yes, our leaders have always been looters. They are utterly unsympathetic, selfish, greedy, diabolical and morally bankrupt. I have written in previous articles that our leaders hate us. Here is the proof, yet again. What does a man and his family wants to do with 50 billion Naira or 178 houses in one town? This is the epitome of greed and selfishness, hard-heartedness, coupled with lack of concern for the common man they swore to serve. This is recklessness, criminal negligence, and mismanagement at best. It is wickedness, immorality and great sin in the eyes of God and disregard for God. They cannot claim to be good Christians or faithful Moslems. But there we have it, they go to church, sing Alleluia and mosques to pray five times a day, and when they come out, they visit suffering, poverty, death and disease on their people. One of them is even a Reverend of the Church. Yes, I am worried sick about this, because I do not believe that despite their recent exposition, the ones in there now would have learnt their lessons and adopt good governance to alleviate the plight of their people. No! It will always be business as usual, and at the end of four years, we will be again inundated with scandals. It will be a vicious cycle, never ending.

Please do not let us leave out the Ministers, Senators, Representatives, Local Government Chairmen, State legislators and councillors, Board chairmen and members, Special Assistants, Special Advisers, top civil servants etc. They are all in it up to their rotten and corrupt necks. None of them is doing Nigerians a favour. Most of them are common thieves and robbers. For example, our Constitution stipulates that a State Governor cannot spend a single kobo of State money without the approval of the House of Assembly. If such checks and balances are there, how are these Governors able to steal? The simple answer is that the Governors can only steal in connivance with the “Honourable” legislators. In most cases, the “execu-thief” Governors have the assembly members in their pockets. One good example was when ex-Governor Fayose of Ekiti State took all the PDP legislators and party top-shots to London and the United States on a shopping jamboree for over one month, (can you imagine how much that would cost and how was the state being governed for one month?) under the pretence of coming to study the Parliamentary system of the United Kingdom and that of the United States. We all now know what they actually learnt, don’t we? Even the State’s Party Chairman was there, all kowtowing to a younger Fayose and trying to outdo each other in their flattery and praises of him. I was there to observe them in London, and it was a nauseating scene. That was before the EFCC forced them to disown Fayose.

Also culpable of these crimes against the Nigerian people are the many unpatriotic Nigerians who front for these thieves. There are many of such front-men and women, living in and outside of Nigeria and who aid and abet in the raping, maiming and looting of the nation.

Hear Babs Ajayi again, “Today, it is the Ghana-must-Go lifestyle at the Presidency and the National Assembly that is troubling many. Looting is always the name of the game and cash-and-carry is what elective office is all about in Nigeria. A new president who was bold enough to declare campaign contributions as part of his wealth hold sway in Abuja, Nigeria's capital! I am not sure many Nigerians bother to look at the declaration document of their president where he declared millions of campaign contributions as part of his personal wealth. The funds do not belong to his personal bank accounts at all; he ought to transfer the funds to his political party. The money should not even have touched his palms talk less of appearing in his bank account(s). Mr. Yar'Adua, I have no doubt in my mind that you have stolen what does not belong to you. You need to return the cash and tender unreserved apology to the nation.

Just about a month ago, Senators and members of that dishonourable House of Representatives collected nearly eight million Naira each to procure a car each. A total of N1.6 billion was paid to these men and women who knew next to nothing about serving the people. But now the same National Assembly plan to spend about N1 billion to buy 200 vehicles for the various committees of the two Houses. Where are those promises to serve and the desire to be responsible with the funds of the nation? The oil money looks so much but placed against the big problems and areas of needs facing the nation, the so-called oil wealth is nothing. Nearly all teaching hospitals are empty and lack facilities, our universities are just glorified primary schools lacking books, equipments, laboratories and basic needs. Senator Effiong Bob who is the Chairman of the Senate Services Committee is from a senatorial district and state where poverty is endemic and lack of basic necessities of life a daily problem to grapple with. But here he is championing the misuse of public funds and reckless spending. The obvious question is: where were the committee cars from the last session of the National Assembly? Will someone account for those cars and give us an update on the matter? For how long shall we continue to do this rigmarole and watch electricity degenerate to weeks without and months in darkness while the self-appointed leaders feast on the national cake with both hands and legs dipped in? This is frustrating and unacceptable, they are not interested in the plights of the masses that are jobless, hopeless, have no access to medical service and suffer in poverty and diseases. I learnt from very reliable sources that a visit to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi and the Lagos University Hospital in Idi-Araba will mean paying for your own cotton wool,  needle, injection, gloves for the nurse, etc. if you need to get an injection! You have to pay for everything and some people sit on high thrones in Aso Rock and preside over the looting of the treasury” (Please compatriots, read Bab Ajayi’s article for more nauseating news from our lawmakers)

Kleptomania and kleptomaniacs! Squander-mania and squander-maniacs! You see even the lawmakers lining their pockets, forgetting their election promises? I have tried to understand the rationale, the reasons and the psychology behind such unbelievable greed, and I can’t for the world of me come up with a single credible answer. I have tried to put myself in their position and see things from their point of view, yet, I come up short everytime. It cannot be justified. Was it insecurity as a human being living in a Third World country?  Was it as a result of a moral breakdown in our societal fabric? Why must you deny other people certain things in life just because you want to be comfortable?  Why would some human beings want to deprive their fellowmen and women their rights to justice, equality, good standards of living and to a general good life, when there’s enough to go round everybody? Why do we want to hurt each other because of money and power? Why do we find it difficult to do the right thing, when we know that doing the right thing is the right thing to do? And why is it that the hiding place for the loot must be in overseas countries? What have Nigerians done to these leaders to deserve such inhumane treatment from their leaders? These days, it is not enough to steal millions, it must be billions.

I wish a psychology student can do a research on this extraordinary phenomenon of the greed of the Nigerian leaders. Or perhaps, it is a job for a psychiatrist, because I can only ascribe this monumental greed to some mental aberration. Yes, these are not sane and rational people we are dealing with here. These are people usually prepared to kill to preserve their corrupt lifestyle and activities. They are criminals that is established, but also mad criminals. They are also religiously evil human beings.  Like the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti sang, they are “Vagabonds In Power”, and they have been ripping us off for decades. And look back to decades since Fela said this.

Back to the travails of the ex-Governors. True and sincere Nigerians should have no sympathy for these rogues. And please don’t talk to me about the “Rule of Law” here. As I have mentioned in a previous article, this matter of the corrupt ex-Governors should not be settled under the rule of law. Where was the rule of law when they rigged their way into power? Where was the rule of law when they were lording it over everybody and causing death and misery with their actions or inactions? Should their only punishment be to refund or return all the money they have stolen from us, and then we say “Thank you, ex-governor, for returning our money” and then let them off? No, these rogues should be made to serve long jail terms, and no plea bargaining. This will serve as punishment and as a deterrent to others waiting in the wings to commit such financial crimes. The enemies of Nigeria must not be allowed to continue to take us for granted.

I wrote then (Democracy, Corruption and the Rule of Law In Nigeria) that “why should the rule of law apply to people who had flouted the rule of law in the first place to get where they are today? Ninety percent (and this is my own guesstimates) of people holding political positions today in Nigeria got there by committing electoral fraud or corruption. They therefore do not have the moral right to shout that the rule of law is being flouted when they see things not going their way. People seem to forget this fact………….. Again, at the risk of being labelled an anarchist, I submit that as far as Nigeria is concerned, taking into consideration how deep the hydra-headed monster, that malignant tumour called corruption, has eaten deep into the Nigerian psyche and polity, the rule of law cannot effectively tackle it, unless we are not serious about this war. To people shouting rule of law, I don’t think they realise that Nigeria is not what one will call a “normal” country for now. As I have said in previous articles, Nigeria is an Aegean stable. It will take a Hercules to cleanse it. A bad disease requires a bad medicine; that is what our elders used to say. This is applicable to getting rid of corruption in Nigeria for the next 10 or 20 years.  Believe me. There has to be a time when we call a spade a spade, but people who are benefiting from this corrupt system, who are now finding it really hard to contemplate alternative means of income are shouting wolf and scare-mongering and professing to know about rule of law.”

Corruption, in all its ramifications, is the one single factor that has been holding our country back for decades; that has not let Nigeria and Nigerians fulfil their God-given potentials; that has not let our enormous wealth and resources work for or benefit all of us, but a few rapacious, evil clique. Corruption it is that has contributed to our underdevelopment, lack of progress and underachievement, poverty, high infant and adult mortality rates, etc. Corruption is the reason why we do not have good leaders (and even worse ones are battling to replace them), good roads and transportation systems, good water, good medical and health care, good food, good education system, good foreign policies, excellent sports facilities and great sportsmen, a fair judiciary and efficient police and security systems and good governance in general. Corruption also breeds tribalism, nepotism, favouritism, injustice, mismanagement, neglect, etc. It is the reason why millions of Nigerians are living in abject poverty or dying by the hundreds everyday and why more millions of Nigerians are living outside Nigeria today. And these are caused by the real enemies of Nigeria – our leaders.

My problem with Nigeria is not the “Rule of Law”; it is with corruption and corrupt leaders and what they have done to our lives, our environment, our society. That is why the leaders who perpetrate and perpetuate corruption in Nigeria must be tackled not by the rule of law, but by the most heavy-handed, maximum-possible “force of law”.

When Jerry Rawlings (God bless him) took the bull by the horn and decided to make away with four corrupt former Ghanaian heads of state in the seventies, there was world outcry, there was indignation and he was almost made a pariah. Decades later, the world has forgotten that he executed many corrupt people in Ghana, and Ghana today is a much better country than Nigeria in very many ways. That is the result of a leader who wanted the best for his country and people. In fact he himself said it on his most recent journey to Nigeria in July 2007 that corruption is the one great barrier to Nigeria’s development, progress and greatness.

I could not agree more with former Secretary-General of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Chief Frank Kokori, who said that political office holders have been taking Nigerians for granted because of their failure to fight for their rights. He further said that for the country to move forward, Nigerians must be ready to resist any anti-people moves of their leaders. This again proves my assertion that our leaders hate us. They are anti-people. However, they have forgotten that power is derived from God and the people you govern. If your people don’t give you power voluntarily and back you, you do not have power. That is why military governments do not last. And that is why corrupt governments will not last either.

After eight years in power, what else? But we see governors who have ruled for eight years and made ill-gotten billions of Naira still struggling to be Senators and Ministers, and when this failed, they become godfathers.  There is no end to this greed. They have decided to make corruption a life-time career. There are 150 million other Nigerians to be considered, but No, it must be only them. Now you see the reason why I said these people are not normal human beings? Greed has consumed them and turned them into rapacious unthinking beasts. Such greed-crazed beasts must be killed or else they infect others with their sickness and insanity.

Governors who are greedily acquisitive, who deduct over half of their state’s allocations immediately they are paid and put this into their personal bank accounts or transfer it abroad, these are the enemies of Nigeria. Ministers who are supposed to provide and implement good roads, good medical care and facilities, food and water and fail to do so because of personal greed are enemies of Nigeria. Senators and Representatives who collude with other government officials to loot the country and squander our wealth are enemies of Nigeria. Local Government bosses who fail to provide the services they are supposed to provide at the grassroots are enemies of the people of Nigeria. Board Chairmen and women who are just in there for the ride and the money they will make are enemies of the Nigerian people. Civil servants who are colluding with politicians to ensure that services are not provided and are also stuffing their pockets with our money are enemies of Nigeria.

We know them. We have to fight them to the finish; otherwise there is no real hope for us and our children and future generation. It must stop. True Nigerians must engage these enemies on their own ground. If your enemy wants to exterminate you, you must either take evasive or precautionary action or take the fight to your enemy. You cannot stand back and watch while your enemy kills you slowly, and this is what these shameless, evil people are doing to us. Personally, I no longer have faith in our leaders delivering to us the dividends of democracy and ensuring equitable distribution of our God-given wealth. All they are doing is pulling the wool over our eyes and pocketing such dividends and wealth, and in doing so, killing us. We must no longer tolerate these crimes.

Democracy, despite all its shortcomings, has provided us with a chance to deal with these enemies. The people of Nigeria have a chance. Do not elect people you know are not going to serve you, and even if you do unknowingly, there are rules we can follow to reverse this. We can recall state legislators, Senators and Federal Representatives, state and federal, by recalling them. We can force legislators to impeach errant Governors and their deputies. We can also petition various law enforcement agencies like ICPC and EFCC to investigate them. Labour unions can also fight them by civil disobedience and strikes and make the country and states ungovernable for them. We need political reforms and re-orientation of our people. Governance and politics should be made unattractive for people whose sole intent is to come in and make money. When we start electing honest, sincere, committed, knowledgeable and sympathetic people who genuinely have their peoples’ interest in mind and with minimum distraction from sycophants and hangers-on, we have a chance of a great nationhood. If these do not work, we can lynch them.

It is welcoming to note that President Yar’Adua has dissociated himself from protecting these evil men, but more needs to be done. He should discourage all these visits by indicted ex-Governors to Aso Rock. It is also welcoming that the new Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, who is now overseeing the EFCC, has given EFCC a free hand, at least for now to continue with investigating these people. The searchlight must not be beamed only on ex-Governors, but also on ex-Ministers like Anenih, Ogunlewe (they must be made to explain what happened to the trillions they said they spent on federal roads) and others, Local Government chiefs, Senators like the Senate President David Mark (he has already started distributing money among his colleagues-in-corruption) and other legislators, as well as senior civil servants. So also ex-Board chairmen like Bode George and party chiefs.

These are the real and true enemies of Nigeria and the Nigerian people. Let’s take our country, our wealth, our life, our future and our survival back from them. We must not trust them to change anything. They can’t do it, they won’t do it, and they shouldn’t be allowed to do it. We will always tell the truth and expose the lies of the real and true enemies of Nigeria.

Akintokunbo Adejumo, a social and political commentator on Nigerian issues, lives and works in London, UK. He is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985). He also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media