Dayo Sobowale
I recall a popular Lagos saying that roughly translates to the conclusion that when you see a slanted load on a k-legged person’s head, the fault is not at the top, but the bottom. I embellish that with another wise saying that notes that when the fish is rotten, the fault is from the head. These wise cracks are also in a way scientific, in that they are based on empirical, observational facts and they form the basis of my analysis of the topic of the day from the various events that happened in the world this week. I intend to be coldly analytic and avoid sentiment because the issues involved are important and sensitive for the survival of ethical standards and democratic values, which should drive good governance, peace and prosperity in our time and age , especially in Nigeria.
I will illustrate my observations today with events in the US, Nigeria, the UK, and Israel. In the US there is a hostile, legislative albeit verbal civil war, going on in the US House of Representatives in the name of the Impeachment proceedings against the 45th US president, Donald Trump. In Nigeria the Nigerian President who got elected on an anti corruption reputation and integrity, finally found his voice and spoke out against the waste of budget padding with lawmakers additional costs on budgeting, which has slowed down the economic progress of Nigeria in the last ten years. In the UK the coming Brexit election of December 12 has pitted a very socialist Labor campaign against a high spending Tory one in a manner that both parties seem to have thrown caution on cost control and well tried austerity measures to the wind in trying to woo the British electorate, one which has become disenchanted with the last Parliament and politicians in general, over the last Parliament’s foot dragging and dilly dallying on the manner of implementation of Britain’s exit from the EU .In Israel where an election was held recently and where the result was close, both front runners have not been able to form a government and now the PM, Benjamin Netanyahu has been found guilty of corruption, but has accused his prosecutors of a coup against his person and government.
Before going to the issues involved in today’s analysis let me put on note, the underlying sovereign reputation of these nations in the comity of nations, as well as a brief observation on how they came to the present dispensation. We start with the US which is the world’s leading presidential system with the principle of separation of powers that seems to be falling to pieces in the Trump presidency with the Impeachment proceedings showing clearly that the US may not really be USA but a very polarized and Divided States of America- DSA. In Nigeria the reputation of politicians have always been that of very corrupt leaders and even right now former high ranking officers and military governors literally run the political system especially the legislature. And even though the present president has waged an anti corruption war based on his honesty and integrity, there is no denying that corruption is fighting back, even as more revelations show that it is becoming more difficult for politicians and bureaucrats to steal and siphon public fund under the Buhari Administration.
In the case of the UK and the Brexit election, it is clear that Britain can no longer cut its coat according to its cloth or size. The cost of running the British Empire and Colonialism has made immigration a political nightmare in Britain and has led to Xenophobia and Islamophobia culminating in the Brexit referendum of 2016 and the next election of December 12, 2019. In the case of Israel the reputation of that nation is that of a bully state of the Arab world in the Middle East now getting even more violent with the support of the US President Donald Trump in making life more difficult for Palestinians and making peace between Israel and the Palestinians an impossibility in the Trump era.
Let us now look at the issues involved in each nation, starting with the US where you only need to look at the opening statements of the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, a Democrat and see how violently it portrays the US president to witnesses and how it encourages and glorifies pro Democrats witnesses to the world and its audience even before they have uttered a word. Of course the ranking Republican in turn characteristically runs down the Democrats on their Russian interference allegations, the lies and insults on Trump culminating in what he calls a phony Impeachment process that he thinks lacks merit and is aimed at disturbing Trump in running a government he was elected to run by the US electorate, and even making sure that he does not get elected in 2020. Either way the bitterness has so deteriorated to the level of real personality clash and hatred amongst the members of the Intelligence Committee and it is difficult to see a peaceful resolution of the process before it goes to the Senate where Trump’s Republican hold the ace . Definitely in the US Lower House for now, one can say that between the Republicans and the Democrats on this Impeachment process, there is no love lost and it is ‘every body for himself and the devil take the hindmost ‘in the pursuit or defence, of President Trump on Impeachment. That however is not the spirit of the separation of powers and checks and balances supposedly inherent in the US Constitution, as the US founding fathers spelt out at the beginning of the American Republic.
In Nigeria the report of the ICPC together with the Office of the Secretary to the government showed clearly that the anti corruption body has its hands full in exposing corruption in all arms of government in Nigeria. The murk of corruption is really deep and the fact that the President can tell the legislature that it has nothing to show for the over one trillion naira it has spent on constituency projects it has forced on the government to have the budget passed, over the last ten years, showed that the government is not succumbing to blackmail and has not gone to sleep while the thatched house of governance and budgeting in Nigeria, is on fire.
In Britain the new election has given the Labor and Conservative Parties new opportunities to go back to their ideological roots and even to adapt or change their political course to get power at the elections. Labor is brazenly socialist and almost Marxist in terms of planned nationalization of parastatals and infrastructure. This is in contrast to the privatization and marketization of the Thatcher era that made the fear of nationalization an issue that gave her power then. The Tories have promised to spend money on welfare like they have not done before. To me pragmatism and reality have fused on either side and the British people will profit from this Brexit or No Brexit election of December 12, no matter who wins.
With regard to Israel it is clear that Benjamin Netanyahu is digging in against the rule of law and the political establishment in Israel. It is clear he has learnt a few things from his mentor in Washington who is the US President. Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are is an applicable saying here. But can he last and can he act with the same confidence that has made him the longest serving Israeli PM? Corruption corrodes authority and leadership, and Netanyahu knows his people are battle hardened and will not cower in challenging his mettle and integrity to lead Israel with the sword of Damocles of Corruption hanging around his neck. Just as that of Impeachment has become a luggage of contraband on the back of his mentor in Washington. Once again long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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