Conflict Of Interest And Escapism...The Obasanjo/Atiku Example Prince Charles Dickson Jos, Plateau Nigeria
The news media both
broadcast, print and internet, not forgetting the most popular...the
rumor mill has been awash with the on-going saga of Mr. Presido and his
Vice. The President seems bent on removing his Vice, despite the fact
they have been together in this marriage of connivance till now. I had
said recently that when Atiku was smiling at Obasanjo's son's wedding
and eating pounded yam, papers reported a truce between both men, I
argued that Obasanjo was good at attacking his opponent after such meals
of pounded yam, at least the likes of Audu Ogbeh can tell better.
However away from all
the ongoing drama, the accusations, the counters, and the mudslinging,
is the fact that the present leadership as it is, with months to its
terminal date is only exploiting the escapist theory...simple, ‘no be me
do am, na your fault, if not for me, and all such excuses to cover up
for its monumental failure.
Escapism is
mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape"
from the perceived unpleasant aspects of daily reality, the unpleasant
aspects of reality for our leaders is the true face of reality that they
have failed, so greed bcomes an escapist tool, and the reasons for their
actions give credence to the fact that they are running rather than face
reality
In the
context of being taken to an extreme, the word 'escapism' carries a
negative connotation, suggesting that escapists are unhappy souls, with
an inability or unwillingness to connect meaningfully with the world.
The world of the everyday Nigerian, the lack of infrastructure, health
care, education, roads e.t.c. Escape routes are all over the places, the
mansions they build abroad, the A class schools their children attend
are escapists.
Granted that the fear
of EFCC is wisdom despite their jungle justice method, at least they are
instilling some form of fear because like I have often argued whether
opposition or no opposition, if you are not a thief, you never will be
one and cannot be caught as one, even though one is persecuted Almighty
Allah will see you through. The anti graft battle with its limited
success whatever the end idea is for those who hatched it, I am sure one
day the EFCC would hunt Obasanjo down no matter how long from now. This
is not the thrust of this essay but it is pertinent to understanding why
Nigeria is where she is today and why leadership cannot seem to get
anything correct.
The present problem
between Obasanjo and Atiku can be summarized in the word ‘escapism’ and
the conflict of interest between two men and amongst business interest
as a result of selfishness rather than of selfless service to the
electorates whom they claim voted them in. Conflict of interest has
become a key issue in public debate and the present crop of leadership
provided by PDP has been the worst culprit and off course they have
exploited the so-called Nigerian factor. The privatization and
over-centralization of power has provided grey zones and opportunities
for corruption and abuse of office to thrive. The increasing volume of
transactions between the public and private sector has helped our
leaders distort competition, waste public funds and trigger
well-publicized scandals like we have now and this in turn only weakens
the masses trust in leadership and the nation’s Public Institutions.
Before now very few
Nigerians even knew what the PTDF was all about, just like hundreds of
such parastatals, there are serious cases of financial impropriety and
abuse of public trust by government officials in charge of these
corporations in large scale. The two men entrusted with providing
Nigerian with the basics of life have made decisions that affect their
private interest only at the expense of us all. We have continue to see
this at work with members of the National Assembly that are
beneficiaries of this and that from companies that they are supposed to
regulate for the benefit of the Nigerian public. We have witnessed
personal bias in public decision making and the present two fighting
between Atiku and Obasanjo has it in big dozes.
In today's Nigeria
despite all the talk of a transparent business environment which off
course exists only on paper, the two fighting men have several business
interests in form of partnerships, board memberships, investments,
government contracts, shareholdings whether blind, deaf or dumb. In
fact, Nigeria is run by our leaders, in a manner of for them by them and
them only, so when critically examined, the present saga of the PTDF has
a doze of assets being manipulated by the President and his Vice either
with each others knowledge or without. The return of the Dariye loot by
Atiku and the claim by Obasanjo that he did not participate but simply
loaned or is it now gave his Vice money to do a refund smacks of sharing
of liabilities and debts by the two men.
We all would have been
spared the agony of ridicule which these men are subjecting the office
of the President to, if at any point Obasanjo in his PDPian push had
made decisions without regard to personal gains, away from vengeful,
military, party-political, ethnic, and family lines. For Atiku, his
Marine Float, should have floated elsewhere while he served Nigerians,
there was little he could do, being the businessman he should have known
he was to abstain from involvement in official decisions that could be
compromised by private interest.
Atiku may not have
stolen any money, and most people could hang my head on this, and it is
true, the report did not say he did, but certainly, he took improper
advantage of his office, he engaged in a financial transaction which
involves using government's fund. He benefited, to what degree is not
the issue and how many of them involved is secondary. It is this
scenario that has led to the present escapism that is being played out;
the actions of both men do not bear the closest public scrutiny. That is
why, there is no consistency in the stories, information is distorted
and being disproved by each party.
We have a leadership
that has refused to demonstrate integrity, from rigging of elections,
widespread corruption despite the anti, and uncle corruption battle and
nobody is taking responsibility, it has been a case of buck passing, and
escapism, 'I never wanted to be President, he convinced me', and then
Baba says "He knew next to nothing about the whole third term saga".
Nobody is guilty, somebody has committed a crime, and everybody suffers
it.
While this drama is
distractive, let me say that the issues are still there, the masses have
been neglected, and their fate remains in the hands of crooked
politician but largely in their own hands. In a recent World Bank survey
of 112 nations we placed a dismal 94th on our so-called
reform programme. The survey saw neighboring Ghana and Tanzania in the
top ten. The yardstick included getting license and permits, protecting
investors, getting credits, time, cost and hassles faced by businesses
in meeting legal and administrative requirements.
Rather than face
issues such as these, our leaders are messing around and some
commentators are even encouraging them, by saying it is good for our
democracy. What is good is that the two men lacked the maturity to have
closed the door behind them and trashed the matter out. That way, the
monies and the deals would have remained a mystery just like the
disappeared Okigbo report and we never would have known. But today but
Parrot and the canary bird are whistling away, the tunes, very
discordant and thank Allah we at least know little..
Its few months to the
end of this adventure filled 8 years of Obasanjo and friends government,
in the last three months, the nation made approximately N1.2 trillion in
revenue. With oil accounting for about 80% of that, yet the region that
provides the milk is on fire, with their problems defying all solution,
a friend said to me the other day, if only they would kidnap governors,
Ministers and top government functionaries and leave the expatriates be
they Canadians or Gambians. The monies are only seen in paper, and
government continues to cry, no funds and I must state quietly and
almost unnoticed has started or better still continued to borrow money
from donor bodies.
The duo have engaged
in what at best is termed crapitalism or crony capitalism, where
government business is run by friendship, favoritism and cronyism,
corrupting political and economic ideals and we are tongue twisting
rather than start the weeding process. Nigeria can be great, but then
that can only happen if we move from hoping and take steps geared
towards achieving a comparatively stable status qua that we can build
upon or continue to improve upon. Help comes only to those who ask for
it. May Almighty Allah help us.
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