The actions and body language of the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency indicate that he is in an enduring romance with corruption. The perception that the President is very much at home and in sync with corruption is reflected in the comments of some leaders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, had stated at an event organised by the Nigerian Bar Association to mark the 2013 International Anti-corruption Day in Abuja on December 9, 2013, that the ‘body language’ of the President showed that he was not interested in fighting corruption.
The President personally responded at a function recently at the Presidential Villa, Abuja that those who criticise his government of corruption do so only to earn undeserved credibility.“The society is so funny that these days, anybody who wants to claim any element of credibility at all will go to the television and accuse government of corruption, that the President’s body language shows that he is not fighting corruption or that he is not ready to fight corruption.Sometimes, even the very corrupt people are those making these statements because if you attack government you are insulated, you become an angel,” the President said.
In one drama after another, rather than take the bull by the horns, President Jonathan’s position is that the situation about corruption is not as bad as is being portrayed. Jonathan had declared many times at foreign events that corruption is not Nigeria’s problem contrary to empirical evidence of the situation. The President not only lacks the resolve to frontally take on corruption, but is also an accomplice of corrupt practices.Last week’s suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, for“ financial recklessness” is an apt reference. Ordinarily, the President would have been celebrated for the action if Sanusi had not blown the cover on a number of massive scams in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and his call for probity.
President Jonathan’s swiftness in suspending Sanusi is the opposite of the President who had vacillated in the removal of Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, found to have engaged in gross financial misconduct.
There was also the case of Nuhu Ribadu’s taskforce set up by the President to probe the administration of oil resources after the subsidy protests in January 2012 and following the massive fraud uncovered by both the Senate and House of Representatives. After unravelling varying degrees of fraud committed by the NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum, the task force made, among others, a recommendation for a holistic reform of the oil sector. The report was not only thrown away but Ribadu was also called names by the President’s henchmen.
There are other instances but the hallmark of the President’s casual approach to matters of corruption was the granting of a Presidential pardon last year to D.S.P. Alamieyesiega, former Bayelsa State Governor, who was convicted of stealing hundreds of millions of naira of state fund.The President’s message is simply that Nigerians are on their own as far as the fight against corruption is concerned and that anyone who exposes corruption does so at his or her own peril.
The implication on the larger society, especially the youth, is that such acts of heroism and patriotism do not pay in our society as in civilised climes.While whistle-blowers and anti-corruption crusaders are not immune from sanction if genuine charges of misconduct are established against them, it will be suspicious if charges of corruption suddenly resurface shortly after they exposed corrupt acts of either individuals or agencies in the corridors of power.
