I start on the premise today that one man’s food is another man’s poison and with the addendum that culture is relative and I do not believe in ethnocentricity . I illustrate this stance first with a meeting between the US and Nigeria’s Attorney General of the Federation on further recovery of the Abacha loot , where the US representative gave a lecture to Nigeria and Nigerians on the evil consequences of corruption on society at large . It was a lecture that fell obviously on deaf ears and was nonchalantly oblivious of the fact that Nigerians are used to looting and are focused for now on the next presidential election in 2023 and corruption is not an issue on the table. Not only because it is an obvious distraction ,but simply because it is our way of life or political culture .
Compare that with Malaysia where a former PM was jailed recently for embezzlement and had pleaded in his defence he was misled into thinking that the money he was accused of misusing , was a gift to him from the Saudi Arabia government and Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim nation .Whereas in Finland , the PM , a lady had been asked to resign because of the way she was filmed dancing and wining with her friends at a party in her home and she was , in public alarm , asked to take a drug test on account of her unusual and energetic hilarity , but she passed the test .Load these events with a finished but contested election in Kenya , and the coming together of three former and hostile presidents in the chocolate nation , Ivory Coast and you will see , as I will soon show that it is not always the case that what is good for the goose is good for the gander where culture , especially the political type is at stake .
Starting with the Abacha loot , the story was that the US has returned 23m dollars stolen by the former Nigerian military ruler and Transparency International has estimated that Abacha looted up to5bn dollars of Nigeria’s public money but was never charged .That alone should have informed the US ambassador Mary Beth Leonard that her announcement in the latest deal that the US had agreed to repatriate more than 337.4 m US dollars is not news to Nigeria because Nigerians and its leaders have learnt to live with the Abacha loot and its shady and subsequent mismanagement and mis application . Indeed at election time this is extravagant and boring news for the simple fact that eligibility to rule Nigeria is not possible at any level without turning a blind eye and nose to our pervasive , malodorous and strong stench of corruption at every level of political competition and participation . That really is our road map to power and that is just sheer political reality and pragmatism .
In the Malayan PM Najib Razak’ s fall from grace to grass on account of corruption , the Supreme Court upheld an Appeal Court sentence of 12 years imprisonment linked to a multi billion dollar looting at the 1MDB state fund . Now this was a PM who ran a very controversial but bubbling administration and was a from a great political dynasty as his forebears had been PM before in Malaysia but he fumbled and the judiciary dealt with him to show that justice in the application of the law is blind . The excuse that the looted money was from Saudi Arabia was an appeal to religious sentiment in a nation that is Islamic but the judiciary saw that rightly as the last excuse of a guilty ,sinking man who will grab at a straw to save his hide . It did not work and the Malaysians have shown vividly that in their political structure and culture , no man or leader , no matter how highly placed is above the law , as the jailed leader was taken away to a prison forty miles from the capital immediately after the verdict of guilty .
Finland presents a show case of a pleasure society where the western values of adoration of the LGBTQ culture is in ascendancy . Finland’s PM Sanna Marin is 35 years old and is the youngest PM in the world .In her party at her official residence pictures of ladies kissing each other and baring their naked breasts surfaced and there was public outcry . She felt the pictures should not have been made public and initially said she was not drunk or on narcotics at the party , which a drug test confirmed . She however apologized later even though her party found nothing wrong with her behavior . Certainly Finland is in a world of its own and the ladies run the show . Yet that is their business or funeral , depending on how you as an African view the LGBTQ culture which is anti family and anti marriage and distinctly anti African culture .
In Kenya’s recent presidential elections the declared loser Ralia Odinga aged 77 lost to the winner William Ruto aged 55 . Odinga has contested for the presidency and lost five times . This time however he is supported by the outgoing president Uhuru Kenyatta who did not support his VP . The unique thing about Odinga’s electoral appeal is its quality and bold ness as well as the fact that four out of the seven members of the Kenyan electoral commission did not sign or approve the final election results leaving ball on the integrity of the election in the court of the Kenyan Supreme Court .In addition Odinga called the Chairman of the Electoral body ‘a rogue’ which is very harsh language indeed . It seems Kenya is about to teach the rest of Africa a lesson on the veracity of election petition unlike the bloody post election riots of the 2007 presidential elections that claimed over 1200 lives . This is a step in the direction of sustainable electoral contests and integrity and Odinga should be commended for his insistence and tenacity in getting the results right for the sake of not only Kenyan democracy but that of African nations at large .Election results should not be made fait accompli once there are glaring evidence of blatant electoral irregularities and anomalies such as Raula Odinga has portrayed so vividly in this last Kenya Presidential elections .
In the Ivory Coast the détente between the last three presidents of that nation is a lesson in political accommodation for the rest of Africa. This was a nation where former President Laurent Gbagbo was arrested in his presidential palace after refusing to accept the victory of incumbent President Allasane Ouattara at the polls. Gbagbo and his wife were arrested half naked and he was taken for trial at the Hague at the International court of Justice but was freed by a judge there for lack of evidence . Now he has returned and has been pardoned by incumbent president Ouattatra who recently got elected for an unconstitutional third term .Even though Ouattara has promised not to contest again provided the two former presidents stay out of politics ,the accommodation shown by the leaders in Ivory Coast is one to be emulated by other African nations . The lesson is clear . Politics should not be a do or die affair and that even after bloody civil war , dialogue and tolerance are still possible against all odds . It is a beacon for peace and stability for all of Africa and beyond .