Nothing further exposes the insincerity of the present government which rode on the mantra of ‘change’ and ‘anti-corruption’ than the recent events in the country. The failure of the government cuts across all the arms of government; and it manifests in every aspect of our national life today.
Beginning with the most notorious in the acts of mis-governance, i.e. the Senate, one needs no bolder relief to understand that Nigeria is back to the precipice, from which majority of Nigerians believed they already rescued the country from when they voted massively for the present government in 2015.
The National Assembly, particularly the Upper Chamber have demonstrated adequately for those that are discerning enough, that the true change they desire cannot come as long as the shenanigans in that hallowed chambers are in charge of legislating.
We had stated clearly in recent time that as at now the Senate has degenerated to the level of constituting the leading clog in a government it’s supposed to be part of. And that the leadership of the Senate and their cohorts in the Red Chamber predicated on their baggage of corruption has consistently deployed every dubious means available to them to deflect and distract government from the very essence of its creation.
We stated unequivocally too that the Senate cannot be isolated in the situation the country is in; that isolating the Legislature will mean loss of circumspection. The Executive and the Judiciary are also deeply involved in the bringing of our country to this regrettable state! The Executive comfortably houses both elected and appointed public officials that have plethora of corruption allegations against them that are yet to be disproved. Babachir Lawal, Secretary to General of the Federation, SGF, we cited as a shining example along that dishonourable path of betraying the trust reposed on the present government via their votes in 2015. The SGF obviously has a lot to answer for, as far as the allegations against him are concerned, as against the clearance by the President which suggests that he had not been found wanting. Ordinarily, the SGF should have stepped aside long before now to thoroughly clear himself of the misconducts he is being accused of, we had said.
The subsisting situation has led to the present sad joke in the country that; “the Executive cleared its ‘own’ of corruption, the National Assembly cleared its ‘own’ of corruption and the Judiciary cleared its ‘own’ of corruption”! Tragic as the joke is, it is the reality of the present scenario.
The recent court rulings that have been in favour of suspected corruption criminals against the FG, portrays a situation in which corruption is defeating anti-corruption in the fierce battle to rid the country of the virus of sharp, immoral and corrupt practices.
Within four days, the FG through its anti-graft and security agencies lost some prominent cases. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC lost two, the Department of State Services, DSS and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC lost one each. The case against Patience Jonathan, former first lady, where a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos unfroze her $5 million account in Skye Bank and that of Godsday Orubebe, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, who had been charged to court by ICPC, in 2016 for N1.97 billion fraud, bothering on the diversion of funds meant for the compensation of owners of property on the Eket Urban section of the East-West road in Eket, Akwa Ibom State are instructive enough for the discerning minds. Orubebe was discharged and acquitted on Tuesday, as the ICPC withdrew the case against him under unclear circumstances.
Also Justice Adeniyi Ademola, his wife and one Mr. Joe Agi who were charged by the DSS to a Federal High Court at the FCT, Maitama, Abuja on 18 count charge was dismissed it all without finding them guilty of a single count.
It is being argued in public discourse that corruption cases being prosecuted by the FG have not achieved convictions based mainly on lack of diligence and substantive evidences. CACOL agrees with this to an extent, but we refuse to be deceived by the deceptions of a government that was apparently conceived on the basis of deceit.
This is why we believe all the arms of government are complicit in the situation we are in. The Judiciary is as soaked in corruption as the every other arm, and this is a sad commentary on the situation of country given that, that arm of government is supposed to be the last bastion of hope for the masses.
Despite all the brouhaha that witnessed the arrest of judges by the DSS, the pontifications of members of the Bench that, that the arm of government could cleanse itself of corruption, we see today that the cases that are in court which emanated from the saga are either being foot-dragged on, or consciously being ‘killed’ silently. This is exactly what has been characteristic of our judicial system where it is always easier for the ‘camel to pass through the eye of the needle’ than for suspected criminals answer to their charges and where perversion of justice is a pastime.
At the end, it is the ordinary Nigerians that are losing where governance has failed or is failing. Obviously, Nigerians need to rescue and take back their country given the foregoing background. So, the question is ‘what is to be done’ to take back the country from this glaringly unrepentant and incurably corrupt ruling class beyond agonizing?
The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL had always stated that the subsisting system is profoundly corrupt and cannot cleanse itself, and that it is the bounden duty of Nigerians to mobilize and organize themselves in their different social formations to salvage the country with the main of changing the subsisting system.
In our objectiveness, like some other Nigerians, we have had reasons to commend or condemn some of the operations of this government; tolerated some excuses based on benefit of doubts, but the present scenario apparently defies dialectical reasoning and presents boldly before our faces as Nigerians that, it is not yet Uhuru!
The struggles for anti-corruption and socio-economic and political emancipation can only be carried to fruition by the Nigerians, that is, the vast majority who are the victims of the present belligerent order. At times, we are wrong when we say the buck stops on the President’s or the government’s desk, because, the truth is that the buck stops at the desk of the people who institute government in the first place. It is time to put the country first! Our destiny lies in our hands!! We must organize and mobilize all right thinking Nigerians to resist the slope down to the abyss the present political ruling class are hell-bent on taking us down to.
We should take a cue from the Preamble to constitution of the United States -
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.--That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.--That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
History beckons on us all beyond the shallow and selfish interests of the political to salvage Nigeria from the path to perdition.
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