Nigeria is rapidly becoming a metaphor –a theatre for the absurd. The worst-hit is our sense of values that has virtually disappeared. Nowhere else are these rot more noticeable than at road junctions where traffic grinds to a halt because everyone wants to cross at the same time! Until an arbiter—usually, a police warden shows up—movement would remain paralyzed. That dirty attitude has been unwittingly replicated into public offices where corruption has become a sort of pandemic—deadly. Rollback to the first Republic days when Ali Baba, then Minister for Internal Affairs was indicted for embezzling a mere 2.5 million naira.
Though there was uproar, that’s chicken feed in comparison to today’s madness. Fast forward to the present era where daredevil like Ibrahim Magu, entrusted with such huge State responsibility, turned around to commit such catastrophic theft! He is not even remorseful challenging the government to grant him bail. Something is wrong with our conscience. That he is showing no fear at all is the paradox we have found ourselves; an irony of the extent of official indolence, crass negligence and strangely, leadership aloofness! If billions could be stolen so easily by these predators, and all the leadership can do is to “suspend “them, your guess is as good as mine.
You can hardly blame the likes of Hushpuppies for his crime. Move over to the NDDC where a big circus show has also been playing out. The prime Niger Delta Commission established to promote the region is now the cauldron of insensate scary financial sleaze; instead of promoting the region, the commission is now the cash pot of anyone who gets to the “till” first. The werewolf’s or Vultures—whatever you can call them—are no more content with stealing mere one billion; they now go for unprecedented trillions. One of them, a shadowy “big man”, from the senate was allegedly caught with –wait for it—300 contracts for himself alone! And why not? Their predecessors were never punished for their own heists. You get more ovation and handshake from your vulnerable people for your boldness. That’s how it works in NDDC. Today, the entire region is thrown into confusion, caught in a sorry state of blood, tears, strife, sickness, disease and poverty. At the rate the robbery is going, that region may soon collapse. Yet, we have continued to remain unruffled. What more, the perpetrators go home with their loot and in return are elevated to greater heights with more juicy appointments. Godswill Akpabio who is there at the moment has never shown remorse for impoverishing the region; perhaps, judging from reports linking him to dazzling corruption– he has supposedly swallowed more trillions than any Nigerian alive– one wonders how he survives without corresponding ailments like diabetes, hypertension associated with octane opulence like his!
It is unbelievable; it is incredulous and shameful. President Buhari cannot continue to watch and let this malaise burst into flames. This is the time for him to show leadership: scrap both the EFCC and the NDDC. They have outlived their usefulness. For EFCC, you have FCID, CID, INTERPOL, capable departments to handle whatever EFCC is doing now; the NDDC should be a department in the Ministry of Niger Delta. If the President does not act, then it is bye to sanity!
