The essence of government is to guarantee the security of life and property of the people. President Buhari is not to blame for this insecurity but the military. Before the military took over in 1966, Nigeria was operating a regional system with each region growing and developing at its own pace. These regions were closer to the people. Killings or insecurity was alien to our culture then. Nigerians love one another though they were divided politically.” – Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), elder statesman and founder of ABUAD speaking at Ado Ekiti while hosting the group Northern Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) when they honoured him with Sir Ahmadu Bello Platinum Award recently.
“The second point I proposed to the administration of Jonathan to be tackled immediately was corruption. Corruption is one of the leading reasons for the ongoing political and economic failures. In our active days, corruption like it is today never existed. In broad terms, corruption is the abuse of public office for private gains. Politics to me is not a profession… I have always maintained that all those who aspire to elected public offices need a primary profession. Most of the time I served in public offices, I did return to my profession as a lawyer.” – Late Ambassador Mathew Mbu, former First Republic Minister of External Affairs and elder statesman in his autobiography titled –M. T. Mbu: ‘Dignity in Service’ to be launched on April 10.
I salute Aare Babalola and late Ambassador Mbu for their blunt, patriotic and altruistic stand and position on the state of our nation. We need such noble and patriotic men and women to speak the truth and tell the Nigerian people where our major problem lies. Greed, avarice, selfishness, corruption, ethno-religious perception, action and reactionary forces have brought our once prosperous and famous country to this near failed state. Aare Babalola hit the bull’s eye in stating unequivocally that we should blame the military for all the wahala ravaging the nation.
The military in 1966 in a bizarre and adventurous journey to nowhere dissolved our regions and brought over 250 ethnic nationalities under one military unitary system. In Africa parlance, we know what happens in a polygamous family where the husband has many wives and scores of children residing under one roof. It is war without end.
President Buhari is not the problem of Nigeria. The elite who have been kindly favoured and nurtured by this country’s benevolence with its resources in the golden years that Aare referred to above, have turned their backs against the very fatherland that raised them from birth and made them who they are today. We boast of world renowned intellectuals and professionals in every field of learning. They are products of Ivy League clubs – Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, IMT and co. Others attended our premier university, Ibadan, OAU, UNN, ABU, UNILAG and sundry reputable institutions. Many are distinguished professionals in the Diaspora. Here at home they run the governments and the Ministries Department and Agencies. They are captains of industry and manage the huge Organized Private Sector. But what do we find?
Nigeria’s elite thinks, acts and seeks SELF first; next tribe; third religion. Nigeria’s overall national interest is sadly placed last. The former military leaders who terminated our democratic and regional system in 1966 attended the best military academies and staff colleges here and abroad sponsored with our resources, but they turned against a constitutional and elected government thereby committing high treason punishable by death. They captured Nigeria and garrisoned it. With no clear vision and bereft of any knowledge on how to run a political economy, they dismantled a well-organized regional arrangement that was set up by our founding fathers. Then they began a relay race as one group of generals handed over to the next group. They introduced ‘military adhocism’ in governance. They conspired to loot our commonwealth. They institutionalized and entrenched corruption and impunity. None has been held to account. Some of those who destroyed Nigeria – OBJ, IBB, Danjuma and others, all violent men of arms have now become armchair critics vilifying Buhari rather than repenting and apologizing to Nigerians. All are elite!
Ministers, heads of MDAs and other government officials corner the budgets and divert the monies into their accounts here and overseas. They own mansions in every major city in developed countries and here at home. Pensions of our workers who have laboured all their lives are diverted to personal use. State governors loot public funds in the name of security votes and inflate contracts in order to receive a kickback. Members of the National Assembly immorally and unconscionably earn millions in a month in a country with over 100 million living below the poverty line; where the minimum wage is a pittance of N18000 per month. The distinguished and honourable members also insist on embarking on constituency projects which is statutorily in the purview of the executive, a conduit pipe to corner the funds voted for such projects which are either not implemented or abandoned. Annoyingly when they are called to account by the anti-graft agencies, they claim political witch-hunt. All are elite!
Police officers who send policemen to collect money from poor citizens on the highways; customs officers who aid and abet smuggling after receiving huge bribes from offenders; military officers who divert and steal funds meant for procurement of weapons for the military to fight insurgency; judicial officers who hawk court judgments for sale to the highest bidder especially in electoral matters; lawyers who buy verdicts through bribery; bank managers who loot depositors funds and conspire with corrupt elements to conceal and launder their ill-gotten wealth; operators of the organized private sector who break all the rules and regulations in order to fleece the country and amass undeserved profit; operators in the oil and gas industry who enrich themselves and their firms to the disadvantage of the nation and its people such as the fuel subsidy cartels. All are elite!
Our professional bodies form cliques putatively for self-advancement and self-protection and are not interested in the world outside themselves. The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) which calls on its members to down tools and abandon helpless patients because they are demanding better conditions of service (no regard to the Hippocratic oath); academic and non-academic staff of our tertiary institutions who send students home for months demanding better conditions; PENGASSAN and NUPENG and their affiliates who regularly shut down the economy on the flimsy reason that some local staff of a service company have been disengaged; (recall the last PENGASSAN strike in December 2017 triggered the subsisting fuel scarcity); the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) which defends the interests of the rich and undermines the core philosophy and tenets of the Rule of Law which considers no one above the law, a situation where thousands of our fellow citizens awaiting trial and not yet convicted are imprisoned indefinitely for minor offences, while the looters of our commonwealth relax in their mansions enjoying their ill-gotten and filthy riches. The Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) which has no idea on how to repair our refineries, build durable roads and provide housing; journalists who compromise their professional ethics and become partisan. Not to forget our men of God who have converted the Church of Christ to a huge money-making enterprise, abandoning the truth of the gospel. The more they preach, the more evil abounds. The list is endless. All are elite!
Nigeria’s military, political and corporate elite accepts this state of anomie as normal. So rather than support the anti-corruption war, they resort to unreasonable criticism and politicize the entire noble crusade to heal the country of the core disease of corruption which has rendered our lives hell on earth. Life goes on and our nation continues this descent to the abyss. Our elite live in self-denial, hypocrisy and greed. Nobody talks about countries where former presidents are facing corruption charges such as Brazil, South Korea, China, South Africa, Israel and many others. Here our elite have formed a club of sacred cows who are above the laws of the land and it is sad. Until these elements that destroyed our nation are called to account, the war against corruption will merely be a dream that will soon fade away.
We must appreciate our great patriots – men and women who strive to make a difference. I salute Aare Babalola, late Ambassador Mbu and many other genuine elder statesmen and patriots who have contributed positively to our country since independence. It is regrettable that we can find only a few of such role models in our country in these troubling times.
- Elder Okochi writes from Akpugo Road, Agbani Nkanu West LGA, Enugu State.