By Segun Imohiosen
The anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari from all indications is a serious affair. As they say in some quarters that his body language speaks volume. That of course sends the jitters to a lot of people. But why are some banks still concealing government revenues in their custody instead of paying it into the TSA. We are not still in the old order. From the outset, it is apparent that the administration is poised to leave no stone unturned to ensure that the glory of the country is restored.
Moreover, the move to enlist the government of the West in the anti-graft crusade to help Nigeria recover some of the patrimony stashed away by unscrupulous and fraudulent public office holders in foreign accounts is germane. This effort however, must be consistently concerted and sustained.
The case of the indecorousness of the former Petroleum Minister while in office is yet another episode in the age-long corrupt practices that is associated with many public office holders.
Just like a number of her predecessors got away with their loot, Nigerians will be further disappointed when no one has particularly been brought to book to serve as a deterrent. The alleged impropriety displayed by Diezani is a shame not to her person alone who rose to become the OPEC Chairman but to Nigeria in the global scene.
As Nigeria is entangled in the throes of this age long gangrene called corruption, the chances of salvaging the country appears very bleak considering the evil done to the economy of the country by a group of successive vultures who preyed on Nigeria like their carcass. If Nigeria has been a caldron where they fed fat, then so much work must be done by PMB and his team to salvage Nigeria.
It is crystal clear that the mayhem done to the country’s economy over the years by reason of poor accountability has put us where we are today as nation. Despite the sharp drop in the price of crude in the global market, it is not enough to suddenly depress the economy if those who held sway in the affairs of the country from time had posterity in mind while serving.
The question is, where is the place of education in all of this? It is worrisome, that with the exposure and the education of the former Petroleum Minister and to have out of sheer avarice conscienceless denigrate the office through alleged misappropriation, especially with the poverty and squalor so ubiquitous in the environment from where she hailed leaves little to chance.
This action paints a vivid picture of the observation of Lee Kuan Yew’s From Third World To The First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000, Singapore and the Asian Economic Boom comes to fore, that ‘Character’ ‘Competence’ and Chemistry’ are the major ingredients that qualify anyone to be employable. No wonder the axiom “a good name is better…” was what we heard harped oftentimes to us while growing up to guide our actions, unlike now that values have been thrown to the gutter.
The case of the former petroleum minister is a keen example of the proverbial saying of ‘the land that swallows its own’.
It is a common fact that she at one time of her life including her father worked in the notorious Shell Oil which is one of the major culprits of environmental degradation in the South-South that rendered the land uncultivatable, farmland overwhelmed by toxic and acidic substances, water ways putrid, destroyed the eco-system and totally anihilate the economic livelihood of the people of that region. Disappointedly as it were, she further buried her people by her singular non committal attitude, while her office ought to have helped in righting the wrongs in that environment.
Moreover, what she has done to the average Nigerian is much more destructive compared to the notorious Lawrence Nomanyagbon Anini (a.k.a. ‘The Law’ or ‘Ovbigbo as he was popularly called); the bandit who terrorised Benin City in the 1980s in the company of his sidekick Monday Osunbor who was eventually captured and executed was child’s play in the light of his crimes compared with the inconceivable and the enormousness of the gravity of the alleged looting of the treasury by the Petroleum Minister and so many others like her.
It may appear that justice was done to Anini, being tied to the stake to face the firing squad. Then, what should be done to a woman whose action further impoverished the people. The pandemonium Anini created in the old Bendel cannot be excused because that was very wrong and unethical. There are always noble ways to source for a living other than causing griefs and taking lives; it was evil and barbaric. Be that as it may, what do you make of the likes of these opportuned elitists group among us who are forever raping Nigeria with their pens and cronies who helped them to perpetrate these heinous atrocities.
If Anini, was tied to the stake to face the firing squad, what should be done to the likes of Dieziani and the many others who took the nation’s patrimony to buy properties in the foreign countries in tune of millions of pounds -dollars and stashed away our money in foreign accounts while the country folks are languishing in the throes of poverty and squalor, pupils and students unable to have decent classrooms.
The task before Buhari is onerous, he cannot afford to play to the gallery. If the lost glory of this great nation must be restored, Mr. President must be battle ready and very decisive. This gangrene must be destroyed; as such, a more horrendous punitive measure be introduced to discourage corruption.
Imohiosen wrote from Abuja. Email: segunimohiosen@yahoo.com