Anxiety and despondency; this appears to be the miasma of Nigerians as they slip into morbid fear of everything. There may be spurious denials, claims and counterclaims in this draconian season of violent and unsparing corruption; but as the gory details of the fearsome Pandora’s box unfold, it is clear we are facing a far worse and dangerous enemy than the mediaeval insurgency-or banditry. It is crazy but true; a handful of mercurial, well-placed public officials—or cabals as we know them– programmed to go on the rampage, dipping their soiled and corrosive hands into our collective treasure and stealing almost everything within their realm; rapacious greed; sublime finishing; dragging the nation into the horrific abyss.
This is not what we can call a cesspool of corruption; it goes beyond that: the APC government is adrift in the high seas. Officially, the nation is not under any known declared war for this is supposedly a democratic dispensation; but unofficially, Nigerians grimace under two ominous battlefronts resulting from the monocratic environment we find ourselves: the one in the dense eerie forest of the delta regions or the Sambisa or the plateaus where rebels inflict blood, tears, and sudden death on hapless Nigerians; the other in the cities where wholesale conspiracy and daredevil embezzlement of Nigeria’s wealth leaving hunger, pain, thirst and sadness in the land. All the while, the thieves live in opulence, lavish and glamorous lifestyle.
Who will bring them to book? There is none yet, as the Constitution, our pride and supreme guide have been subjugated, bastardised including our sacred laws and regulations. Why not? When they can interpret the rules the way they like, why not. The mystery deepens as more revelations unfold: it cuts across the gender barrier; in this malevolent free-for-all looting of the nation’s treasury both men and women compete to outdo each other; scroll from the NDDC where some stately billions were stolen—don’t try to count because you can not—even students school fees were not spared—to the EFCC where both houses recovered from known thieves were re-stolen secretly by trusted helmsmen; besides, the declared huge sums recovered in both foreign and local currencies fast-track to NSITF where a woman broke records acquiring houses ( roughly 48) in major cities of the world!
Then this bombshell: a serving minister responsible for the Niger Delta generously authorized stupendous payments for himself and few others at a time hunger is almost paralysing the country. Nigeria has security agencies, Intelligence Units, Policemen, and of course the Courts. But as it is we are all becoming casualties! Apologies to John Pepper Clark. This is the lowest point any nation might sink.
