Category: Editorial

The Department of State Services (DSS) has put the nation on notice again. Some elements are bent on disturbing the peace. They want to leave a trail of blood, deaths and broken infrastructure in different parts of the country.

It was on the eve of the Eid Mubarak celebrations. DSS has done this quite a few times, and it has discharged its duty to alert nationals to this shadow of violence cast over Nigeria.

In a statement credited to its spokesperson Peter Afunanya, the agency said, “Though there are already reported cases of such incidents in some areas, the service has uncovered a ploy by suspected criminal gangs to forge an alliance among themselves, with a view to launching further attacks on critical infrastructure and other frequented public places like worship and relaxation centres, especially during and after the holidays and festive celebrations.”

Given the frequency and preponderance of such attacks, especially in the north, it is sometimes hard to appreciate the value of such warnings from the security agency. We can take it to mean that the bandits have a vision to make such predations more sly, more lethal and more widespread.

We have seen the nature of their work in the past few months. Prominent among them was their onslaught on the train between Abuja and Kaduna. We have not seen the end of that bloody saga. Apart from the fatalities on the spot, we saw what we had not seen before. A bower of security that Nigerians had conferred comfort, safety and luxury collapsed from the work of hoodlums who took away over a hundred citizens on motorcycles with the impunity of casual confidence. One of them had a baby that graced with frightful innocence the front page of some newspapers and trended on social media. An old man and government top man volunteered a hundred million Naira for his safety. They live on mercantile violence.

We have seen the almost routine forays in Kaduna, in schools, on highways and the airport, turning that once-serene stronghold into a fragile underbelly of the nation. The governor of the state, Nasir El Rufai, has done quite a lot of carping, complaining and public outcry, showing his vulnerability and his sinecure status as chief security officer of the state, a flaw not of his making but the constitution.

But we should take the warning seriously. The statement hints at a possible new alliance among the hoodlums.

Afunanya adds: “The objective is to achieve some self-serving interests as well as cause fear among the citizenry. The service, however, recalls its earlier warning that some groups and individuals were plotting to stoke violence in the country.”

The DSS sees this as a job of public self-vigilance and intelligence sharing within the civic realm.

“Following these, patrons, owners and managers of aforementioned public places are advised to be wary of this development and implement basic security measures to deter the threats… residents are enjoined to go about their lawful businesses and share, with security and law enforcement agencies, useful information on the activities of criminals.”

This is a task that fellow Nigerians must take seriously. The statement did not give us enough specifics, and it did not name cities or regions of special vulnerabilities. The phrase “critical infrastructure” is vague in the statement. What is more specific is its mention of worship and relaxation centres.

Worship centres include churches and mosques. Bandits have targeted these places because they are often left unguarded. It is significant, and this requires the various imams and priests to rely not just on the spirit of God but also their own God-given wisdom to secure their places of service.

Akwa Ibom State governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, has joined those calling on the Federal Government to grant Lagos a special status among the 36 states of the federation. Like many others before him, the banker-turned-politician said, as a former federal capital for so long, and given the role that the state continues to play as the financial capital of the country, it deserves to be supported by all.

Emmanuel, who spoke when he visited the state in continuation of his consultation with leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the quest to be the party’s flag bearer in the 2023 presidential election, said the state, being the commercial hub of the country, should be treated like its counterparts in other countries. In Cote d’Ivoire, Abidjan that served as the capital from 1933 to 1983 continues to maintain a pride of place in national affairs, given its prominent commercial status. Yamoussoukro may today be the administrative capital of the country, but Abidjan retains the appellation, “Paris of Africa”, and “Manhattan of West Africa” among the people. It is promoted and supported to project the country’s importance in the comity of nations.

While the capital of Brazil has been moved to Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro as the former capital city until 1960 remains the international face of the country. It is even the more interesting that it enjoys national support despite being only the second most populous state, as Sao Paulo has almost double the population. But, everyone realises that the former capital is the home of tourism, fashion and industry, hence its importance in national affairs.

Nigeria needs to take a cue from these countries and others around the world that have changed their capital cities. The shift of capital takes vitality from cities. This has not been realised in Nigeria where Lagos continues to play host to citizens from all parts of the country. The ports are in a part of the city and, given the centrality of the ports in Nigeria as an import-dependent country, the traffic jam there has adversely affected residents of Apapa where the ports are located.

Infrastructure is inadequate for a city believed to have a population of about 20 million. A former commissioner for the environment in the state, Mr. Babatunde Adejare, puts the estimate of people who throng Lagos daily to settle at about 6,000. This continues to increase as the economy of the country regularly takes a dip. Thus, water supply, electricity for homes and businesses, state of the roads, employment, all remain serious challenges in the city because the resources cannot cope with the demand.

When lawmakers at the National Assembly raised the matter, it was shot down by those either blinded by jealousy or ignorant of the reality of requirements for building a mega city in the 21st century. Public transportation is a peculiar major challenge as the mini-buses are inadequate for moving millions of residents around. This has led the state government to embark on the light rail project that is gulping billions of Naira. This is one load that should not be borne by the state only, especially as an attempt to introduce a metro line was truncated by the Federal Military Government in 1984. So much man-hour is lost daily to traffic snarl caused by the sheer number of vehicles on the roads.

We commend the courage of Mr. Emmanuel for setting apart party differences to canvas special status for Lagos. Residents of the sprawling city should take up other aspirants on their plan for the state. The responsibility of taking care of Nigerians fleeing from other states to Lagos should not be left for the Lagos State government alone. Governor Emmanuel’s disposition could have been influenced by his cosmopolitan outlook, having lived and served as a top banker in the city. As a frontline governor, he has given Akwa Ibom State an example of strides in Uyo where his footprints are large. This vision of Lagos should be a requirement for the presidential contest in 2023 as a provincial mind is unsuitable for Nigeria in the modern era.

Rising cost of food items in the country is worrisome, and rightly so. Millions of Nigerians literally pay through their nose to put food on the table. What makes the situation dire is the fact that virtually all food items are affected, including ingredients and other condiments. It is so serious that people no longer discuss it in hushed tones; the complaints have now become too strident for the government not to hear.

It cannot be otherwise in a situation where a bag of rice which sold for about N15,000 a few years back now goes for about N35,000, a more than 100% increase. Similarly, a bag of beans has gone up from N9,000 to N28,000. Also, a bottle of groundnut oil which now sells for about N900 per bottle was sold for N400 a few years ago. Even seasoning, salt and sugar have also become more expensive. That is not all; a kilo of cooking gas, which was N600 around December, 2021, is now about N750.

The cumulative effect of these astronomical price increases is a plunge in the standard of living of Nigerians.

Although different people have come up with several lists of what constitute basic human needs, we can narrow them down to four. These are food, water, air and shelter. If any of the first three, at least, is not met, death beckons. One can improvise to some extent on the fourth, which is shelter. Each of the four serves different purposes to our bodies.

But food provides nutrients, that is substances that provide energy for our daily activities, growth and all other functions of the body like breathing, digestion and keeping us warm. We also need food to keep our immune system healthy. Nutrients, chemicals that our body needs include vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, protein and lipids, all of which also help in nourishing our bodies.

If food is this important, it follows that it should be within reach. In other words, it should come cheap, at least for the basic food items that would give us the appropriate calories that we need to function properly. This is the reason many countries subsidise food items, to enable their citizens meet their daily requirements of what constitutes a balanced diet. The United States of America, for example, subsidises agriculture to the tune of about $16billion annually. British farmers get about £3billion from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) annually despite comprising only about 0.7% Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Indeed, food is such an essential requirement of Iife that people have had to revolt due to lack of it, or when its price is beyond reach. As a matter of fact, it led to violent revolution like that of France in 1789. Even in this century, we have had a rash of food riots in many developing countries like Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, India, to name a few, over astronomical rise in the prices of what could pass for iconic foods in these countries. Thus, the riots which led to massive looting of stores, fast food restaurants and supply depots were caused by high cost of staple food items like rice, bread, onions, among others, resulting in deaths in some cases and erosion of credibility of governments in others. As the saying goes, “a hungry man is an angry man”. The only language a man that is hungry understands is to be provided with food. That is why many governments do all within their powers to stem rising food prices and prevent the anarchy that usually follows it.

Although many observers believe the rising price of fuel, particularly diesel, is responsible for the rising prices of food items in the country, as farmers still have to transport the items to the town, this only explains a part of the story. The most important reason food prices are soaring in the country is due to insecurity. Farmers have, especially in recent times, become an endangered species. People now go to farms with their hearts in their mouths, as terrorists have made many farmers abandon farming for fear of being killed, kidnapped or their wives and daughters raped by the heartless criminals. Add these to the recurring destruction of farmlands by herdsmen who trample on farmlands, destroying farm produce in the process, we cannot blame farmers who are fleeing their farms in droves. The consequence is shortage of food items that in turn breeds high prices.

Governments at all levels have to do a lot to remedy the situation and stabilise the prices of foodstuffs in order to save Nigerians from malnutrition and anarchy. Already, they are battling with all manner of hardships occasioned by bad leadership, either by the present administration and those it inherited. Taking food items beyond their reach is going to be one problem too many. It is therefore incumbent on the Federal Government in particular to fight the insurgency war more vigorously so that farmers can confidently return to the farms and work towards reversing the spiralling prices of food items. Other factors militating against agriculture can similarly be tackled once security is guaranteed. Rising food prices is an open invitation to chaos and disenchantment, the end of which no one can predict.

On April 19, a Nigeria Air Force (NAF) trainer aircraft, an MFI-395 Super Mushshak, crashed in Kaduna, killing the two pilot-officers on board.  The cause of the crash is yet to be made public.

While accidents remain a grim part of aviation, rigorous safety protocols, which have cut air crashes to the barest minimum, are also an integral part of the industry.  That generally high safety record has kept air travel as prime choice, especially for the long haul.

But these last 14 months, the reverse appears to be evolving, in Nigeria’s military air space.  That trend is rather troubling, echoing the crisis in Nigeria’s civil aviation in 2005, which prompted rigorous civil aviation reforms.  Might that also be overdue for the operation of military aircraft?  That appears so, for the military’s recent air safety record is far from stellar.

The crash of May 21, 2021, was by far the most tragic of them all.  A Beachcraft 350 military aircraft bearing Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, the ill-fated Chief of Army Staff and 11 other military top brass, crashed near the Kaduna International Airport, killing all on board.

But that “season” of military air tragedies started with a crash of February 22, 2021.   In that crash, seven NAF personnel on board, officers and airmen, perished.  The plane, which took off in Abuja, was on a rescue mission to Minna in Niger State. It never got to its destination.

On March 31, 2021, another Alpha-Jet aircraft vanished from the radar.  It was involved in the anti-terror war.  The two pilots on board were never found, though plane’s carcase would be found, months later, in Sambisa Forest in Borno State.

On July 18, 2021, another Alpha-Jet crashed in Zamfara State after it was reportedly shot down by bandits.  But somewhat, its pilot, Ft-Lieut. Abayomi Dairo, managed to eject and make it to safety.

These are threatening and frightening records, particularly of bandits developing the capacity to shoot down military aircraft. That led to outrage in the land, calling for strengthened air defence, out of reach to any rag-tag bandits; or even sophisticated ones.

It would appear reassuring, however, that since that July 18, 2021 crash, there has been no more talk of bandits downing military aircraft on anti-terror sorties and strafing. The reason is not clear but it may be safe to assume that the military high command has bolstered the military’s air defence capability.  That would be good news, if true — and such should be deepened and consolidated.

But the story is clearly not the same with routine, non-combatant crashes, as the latest one on April 19 that claimed the lives of two military pilots.  Pilots are not cheap to train.  So very galling is the idea that two of that rare species would perish, just like that, on routine training flights. The jets too don’t come cheap. They take time and money to procure.

So, what could be wrong?  An aging fleet of aircraft?  Negligence on the repair and maintenance front?  Human error?  Weather problems?  What really is happening?

Whatever it is, the military high command needs thorough introspection.  Such would start with a clinical probe of the current stage of things, with both personnel and materiel.  A honest and faithful result would deliver a clinical diagnosis, on which equally clinical solutions would be built.

Such a process begins with rigorous investigations into the cause of all of these non-combatant crashes.  Even if, for security reasons, sensitive parts of such findings are not shared with the general public, the military owes itself being earnest on this one — first, for its own self pride; and for the tax payer that sustains its expensive operations. That way, it wouldn’t condemn itself to repeating avoidable mistakes.

Besides, in this season of serious war against terror, a formidable Air Force holds the ace.  A spectacular Air Force puts the fear of God in terror criminals, even before any shot is fired.  Aside, it’s trite psychology: it’s paralysing trauma for the terror column when they realise that no matter how fearsomely armed they are, the Air Force boasts superior, nay supreme, arms to make mincemeat of whatever the terrorists can offer.

Such formidability is never attained by the optics of military planes routinely dropping off the skies.  Which is why the military should sit up, sincerely probe these unfortunate crashes and ensure that a stop is put to them.  Anything less is not good enough.

As political boundaries separating geographic spaces like communities, provinces, counties, countries or towns from each other, either natural or artificial, borders have always played political roles. However, social, economic, and religious transactions happen across borders, more so in a globalised world. Countries have huge territorial jurisdiction over their borders and as such determine who and what activities can operate through them.

The Nigerian government had in August 2019 ordered the closure of all its land borders as a way of checking the illegal importation of food, drugs, arms and other products from sister West African countries. Another reason given by the presidency for the border closure was to encourage Nigerians to consume locally produced agricultural products and encourage farmers, in order to create employment. According to President Muhammadu Buhari, the country has the land, people and the capital to produce what its huge population can consume.

However, the Seme, Mfum, Illela and Maigatari border posts were reopened in December 2020. The recent instruction to the Nigerian Customs Service to reopen additional borders of Idiroko in Ogun State, Jibiya in Katsina State, Kamba in Kebbi State, and Ikom border in Cross River has been a subject of national discourse. What are the economic implications, what value did the country get from the closure, are there statistics to show implementation and the value thereof?

We commend the attempt by the government to encourage local production and discourage the illegal importation of drugs, food and arms into the country through those borders. However, we feel that closure of borders for such long periods, no matter the reasons, (except in war situations) says a lot about the system as a whole. Borders are international gateways for countries and there are statutory agencies that ensure that the laws guiding the international bilateral and multilateral relations are implementated to the letter. The Immigration, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC),  Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and many other agencies that are supposed to check the movement of people and commercial products at the borders have merely been tacitly declared incompetent.

As a rule, border closure must not be seen as a magic wand to encourage local patronage of goods and services. The government ought to ensure that those manning the borders in different capacities do their jobs. Blanket border closure can never be the solution to the ills of cross-border criminal and illegal activities. Some observers even insist that nothing changed between the time the borders were closed and when they were reopened because there were no checks and balances at those posts. There were even suggestions that the borders in some sections of the country were never really closed at any point.

Given that there are still tons of imported food items like rice and other products in the Nigerian market, there is still a proliferation of small arms and light weapons, fuelling increased insecurity and the high cost of food items in the market, we would expect the government to do some soul-searching. Did the border closure open more room for smugglers? Why are the youths still having access to drugs? Has there been a reduction or an increase of all the things government claimed the borders were closed to achieve?

Government must learn to build strong institutions and stop the knee-jerk approach of random border closures. In a twenty-first century world, border security is being enhanced with technology, including drones. Also, the human angle to securing a country’s borders should be taken more seriously, given the problem that insecurity of lives and property has been to our socio-economic life. The allegation that most of the criminal activities of some herdsmen, bandits, unknown gunmen, Boko Haram, ISWAP and other terror organisations are traceable to non-Nigerians says a lot about the works being done by our border control personnel.

The government must take better policy actions like strengthening bilateral relations with sister African nations, with a view to making them more concerned about the consequences of breaking certain economic agreements. We equally feel that there must be an audit of the gains or losses of the border closures to serve as a guide for the future.

The report of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, on how members of the National Assembly divert funds meant for constituency projects is mind- boggling. While the National Assembly unlawfully inserts humongous amounts for constituency projects in the national budget, their members, in turn, allegedly appropriate the projects to themselves, and in some extreme cases, pay the budgeted sums into their private accounts, while the projects are abandoned or remain unexecuted.

The constituents who elected such fraudulent legislators suffer a double whammy; for, while the tax-payers’ money for the project may have been stolen by their representatives, the projects due to the community, which have not been executed, are reported as having been performed by the same representatives, to the millennium developments agencies. So, while the person elected as gatekeeper has become a thief that steals from the family barn, he also becomes a tale bearer of a false dividend of democracy for his/her people.

Yet, the primary responsibility of a legislator is law-making, not the execution of contracts, which seems to be more attractive to members of the National Assembly. Without equivocation section 4(2) of the 1999 constitution provides: “The National Assembly shall have power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the federation or any part thereof with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative list set out in Part 1 of the Second Schedule to this Constitution.”

But in the ‘interim constituency and executive projects tracking report of the ICPC’ published recently, the reverse seems to be the case. The report cited cases where legislators allegedly awarded contracts to themselves or their proxies. The report posited: “Budget insertion remains one of the egregious, yet illegally acceptable phenomenon that has distorted the nation’s developmental planning and implementation of developmental programmes.” It went further: “Analysing the 2021 National Budget alone across key sectors of education, water resources, health, power, science and technology, environment, works and agriculture, we found duplication to the tune of over N20 billion.”

If members of the National Assembly as alleged, were only engaged in distortion of the budget through duplication of projects, it would have been bad enough, but they are accused of more egregious abuses. One such report alleged that the: “contract for the construction and renovation of blocks of the classroom at the Federal University Staff School, Wukari, Taraba South Senatorial District, executed by a company owned and operated directly by Senator Emmanuel Bwacha”, was “haphazardly nominated, appropriated and executed in locations that have no need for such projects.”

The report also indicted the representative of the Rivers West Senatorial District, over the supply of tricycles, tagged an empowerment programme. Apart from allegedly using his cronies to execute the contract, the report said: “while the contract was never performed, the sum of 30 million Naira was fully paid and shared.” In Osun West Senatorial District, an agricultural empowerment project was diverted to a private use. The report alleged that: “while the intended beneficiaries were trained, no cattle were given to them, instead, the lawmaker established a private ranch, using the cattle procured with government’s fund.”

There are more of such reports. Having identified those who allegedly used their position as lawmakers for self-aggrandisement, the ICPC should take necessary legal steps to recover the monies allegedly stolen or misappropriated by the concerned persons. As a matter of fact, some of the reported cases are clearly fraudulent and those involved should be prosecuted to discourage others from toeing a similar path. Above all, the National Assembly on its own should introspect, and save members the temptation, by concentrating on its constitutional responsibility of law making, while allowing the executive branch to execute the laws they have made. Where this does not happen, Nigerians should put pressure on the government to stop this odious practice.

We have always known that no other reason could be behind the idea of constituency projects as presently operated except the intent to shortchange Nigerians. So, the ICPC report has merely confirmed the general fear of Nigerians on the matter.

The idea of constituency project is another manifestation of corruption, the bane of Nigeria’s underdevelopment. Unless it is aggressively addressed, underdevelopment will remain the nation’s albatross.

It is an old nut that has proven difficult, if not impossible, to crack: why despite the presence of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the country has not only remained a haven for fake and substandard products, but one in which incidences of product adulteration and faking have refused to abate.

While the nation gropes for answers, a former president of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Eugene Nweke, has since counselled that the nation tackle the problem from the root, the enablers of the rot – the shipping lines.

Said he: “The SON knows too well that its greatest challenge stems from its lack of regulatory control over the shipping lines, which it needs to checkmate them publicly…” And his arguments: Nigeria is a notorious haven for international shipping lines whose modus operandi runs contrary to best practices.  That the shipping environment allows for collusion between foreign shipping lines and local proxies that are no more than fronts by some unscrupulous politicians, especially those that fall short of international best practices. Finally, that foreign shipping lines easily transmute into national one through the instrument of a registered national association – hence the reign of extortion in the shipping industry.

The above, an important dimension to the crisis, obviously deserves to be taken very seriously by the Federal Government. Indeed, we couldn’t agree more that the situation demands not just the overhauling of the shipping industry but also a fine-tuning of the relevant laws and regulations governing the sector, to address the weighty issues rendering shipping and foreign trade an all-comers’ affair – issues that continue to serve as enabler to the indiscriminate dumping of substandard products on the citizens. In that regard, there is obviously room for collaboration.

Yet, much as a great deal of attention to the above would enhance the overall environment of regulation, we nonetheless disagree with the suggestion that SON be given some regulatory control over the shipping lines. Such a call, which is neither practicable nor entirely helpful, will only serve to confer on SON such powers that it does not even need. It assumes, falsely, that SON is not a part of the problem. And finally, that it would not ‘export’ the same in-grained regulatory weakness and compromises to shipping operations were such powers to be granted.

No doubt, there will always be room for the organisation – or any organisation for that matter – to make adjustments in capacity upgrade to enhance overall efficiency. Even at that, we must state that the case for such has not been sufficiently articulated by SON, at least not at this point. In fact, the problem would seem not so much about a lack of capacity but corruption and a lack of will. We see this in the activities of the operatives, many of whom continue to give regulation a bad name, and their bosses who feign indifference. For, while it is hard to imagine a single container of sub-standard goods moving from the ports to the warehouses and ultimately to the market undetected without a group of corrupt officials abetting the crime, that the leadership of the organisation appears to have surrendered to the rot must be seen as the ultimate tragedy.

Here, Nigerians would recall the example from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of yore under the doughty leadership of late Dora Akunyili. Then, the agency not only stood for best practices but took on the challenges of regulation very seriously, with impressive results to show. It is the absence of that kind of committed leadership that allows Nigerians to be treated to recycled excuses.

Nigerians expect SON to live up to its billing. Standards are what they are supposed to ensure, a kind of guarantee not just of value but safety. Anything short of this would amount to a rip-off, a trade in something with potential to cause harm. It is not sufficient for SON to roll out standards; it must, at all times match up with measures to enforce them. Purging its ranks of corrupt elements to ensure Nigerians are guaranteed the best of value would, in the circumstance, be a good starting point.

Kinsmen of former Plateau State Governor Joshua Dariye and his Taraba State counterpart, Rev. Jolly Nyame, are reported to be planning grand receptions for the men following their release from jail terms to which they were sentenced for grand corruption. Dariye and Nyame were the most notable names among 159 convicts recently granted state pardon by the Muhammadu Buhari presidency.

Dariye, who was Plateau State governor from 1999 to 2007, was convicted for laundering N1.16billion of public funds and sentenced to 14 years in jail, which was later reduced to 10 years at the appellate level while Nyame, Taraba State governor (1999-2007), was also jailed 14 years for misappropriating N1.6billion of public funds – a sentence that was reduced to 12 years at the appellate level. Both former governors had barely served three years of their respective jail terms when reprieve came for them by way of the controversial state pardon.

Sunday PUNCH last week reported that indigenes of Bokkos council area of Plateau State had concluded plans to stage a grand reception in honour of Dariye, who contested the Plateau Central senatorial seat election in 2011 and got elected as senator. According to the report, Bokkos council chairman, Joseph Guluwa, confirmed having raised a committee to organise the welcome party, adding that the people were exultant about the imminent release of their ‘son’ and were eagerly awaiting his return from Abuja into their warm embrace.

The paper also reported that the kinsmen of Nyame under the aegis of Mumuye Cultural Development Association were planning a lavish reception for him in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital. It cited the national president of the association, Dr. Abraham Makoso, as saying: “Nyame, our son, leader and former governor deserves a grand reception and we won’t do anything short of that upon his final release. Jolly is a political figure and he will continue to be our leader. He deserves a heroic welcome to give him psychological balance to serve humanity better.” Already, certain groups have reportedly printed and displayed all over Jalingo T-shirts, banners and posters celebrating Nyame’s release and welcoming him back, and as well hailing President Buhari for the pardon that everywhere else elicited fierce criticism for perceivably undermining government’s anti-graft crusade.

Those planned receptions echo similar ones staged 2007 in honour of former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha in his Amassoma hometown after he returned from jail time for looting Bayelsa State treasury blind, and in 2017 for former Delta State Governor James Ibori in his native Oghara after serving five and half years of a 13-year prison sentence in British jail for laundering huge piles of Delta’s common wealth in the United Kingdom economy.

Events as these are typically inspired by a primordial sentiment of kinship that lives in willful denial of circumstantial facts and promotes the overall effect of radicalising corruption. People see their kinsmen convicted of corruption as no worse off in the universal equation of the malaise. And so, touting the ‘our son’ connection, communities stage heroic welcome for errant members who were called to account for abusing the trust of those very communities. Leaders of those communities tend to rate kinship of higher importance than the moral flaw that got their ‘sons’ into jail, thereby betraying a crooked sense of communal morality. That crookedness is entailed in a shared mentality of corruption whereby affected communities do not see stealing public funds as a crime, the crime would rather be that their ‘son’ was in power and did not seize the opportunity for betterment of his own lot and immediate circle of kin as well as other cronyistic  benefits. As such, thanksgiving services are held and priests even cast the returning convicts as persons divinely rescued from gross acts of injustice! It is suspected that crowds with which the reception parties are staged are largely rented, meaning they are neither genuine nor spontaneous. Even then, those people who yield themselves to being used for such effect deserve strong censure for being gullible and complicit in whitewashing corruption. Or how do you explain people deprived of basic developmental benefits because resources that should have been used for the common good were stolen, coming out to celebrate the same actors who had robbed them?

It is a stronger censure that must be reserved for the returning ‘sons’ who, rather than retreat shamefacedly into a quiet life after being proven guilty of corruption, take the grandstand to be celebrated as misunderstood heroes. The planned receptions are as odious as the very presidential pardon that left the former governors off the hook barely a few years into their jail terms. Dariye and Nyame owe their respective community and entire Nigeria apology for abusing public trust, and no magnitude of reception upon their return from jail can efface that.

It is that cycle again in our political life. Men and women seek offices at different levels, from the local government to the presidency. It is a distracting fair. Especially to those who are currently holding public positions.

Even some who do not hold public offices also concentrate the minds of those in office. The evidence is everywhere today. One of the great examples is where state governments have asked their cabinet members who have ambitions to run for any office in the runup to 2023 poll should hand in their letters of resignation. The letters are pouring in. In spite of that, they have not stopped distracting the men in office.

For instance, in Akwa Ibom State, the governor has picked a person he sees as his choice of successor. But rather than let the matter go into the political space, the disgruntled in and out of cabinet have been pouring invectives and trying to force the governor to issue statements. Governor Udom Emmanuel has kept the matter out of the public fray. Hence, the matter has not escalated.

In Ekiti State, the outgoing governor, Kayode Fayemi, has been known to roll his support for the APC nominee even before the primaries, and it played a role in diverting attention from governance in the state. It still does.

In the case of Osun State, Governor Gboyega Oyetola is seeking a second term, and in anticipation of the tempest of the primaries, a minister came to town to divert attention and the state walked a thin line between violence and peace.

Even at the federal level, the matter might get to a boil with ministers who want to run for president and are serving as cabinet members. While the state governors, in deference to the electoral law, have asked their staff to quit, the ministers insist on staying in office. The ministers, Rotimi Amaechi and Chris Ngige, have not shown any intention to quit the cabinet. There have been calls by members of the public pressuring the president, Muhammadu Buhari, to ask the men to resign. But there is a case in court awaiting a verdict on the matter based on the interpretation of the Electoral Act. Attorney General and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami who also is eyeing the Kebbi State governorship seat, had secured a temporary verdict that allows the office holders on the surface to work as both candidates and appointees simultaneously.

But the ministers are key appointees, one holding the government key on labour, especially with the maelstrom of university lecturers’ strikes; the other recently embroiled in a turf war with the vice president over responsibility for the Abuja-Kaduna rail attack from bandits.

Running for office is an intense activity. It involves meetings after meetings, barnstorming and late-hour consultations. It is a laborious affair and takes away man hours from governance.

Even those in office are looking out at those outside looking in. They play the game of positioning and exclusion, of mudslinging and whitewashing, and this goes on while more important matters suffer.

This is a country that hovers between poverty and extinction, and those who run it keep it so as though they enjoy the tension. Hospitals continue to serve as consulting clinics when they are even at their best, for many times there are no specialists to consult. This keeps patients’ lives precarious. Cost of living is rising, and partly because farmers work at their own risks. They cannot go to their farms because bandits have owned the highways.

Public funds that should go for development are being diverted to political work, paying for delegates and campaign offices, and supporters’ blocs called structures.

It is a cycle, an inevitable cycle, but the distraction is avoidable if our politicians have integrity.