[Africa’s richest and most populous black African country is a cess pool of crime. But we are going backwards ourselves. Today it was announced that 37,000 Govt employees were being investigated for stealing money which was being paid to the poor. This is nothing new in South Africa. I have long heard stories of how black Govt officials steal money from pensioners for example. Blacks will tell pensioners that there is no money for them – when in fact the Govt employees have pocketed the pensioner’s money!! All that is surprising is the scale of it… and that the Police are checking on 37,000 employees. Yet, this does not surprise me.

This article was written by a black man in Nigeria – note how he compares Nigeria to hell. I have been saying for years that Africa is a Garden of Eden and Black people create their own hell here. They can blame White people or God if they wish, but the truth is they are the ones who squander the riches which God gave them (fantastic country, stacks of oil) and they create their own hell. Jan]

That corruption is a way of life in Nigeria is not contestable. That corruption has eaten not just deep but completely the national fabric is also not in doubt. That every Nigerian is viewed as a potential rogue by the outside world is also not in doubt. That Nigeria has made ‘appreciable’ improvement from being the second most corrupt nation in world to the third most corrupt, going by Transparency International (TI’s) rating is also a common knowledge.

Although, I still believe that if there is any country that is more corrupt than Nigeria then that country is either situated in hell or somewhere very near it.

Is there any other country in the world where every facet of their country is corrupt; where both religious and political leaders are corrupt?

Several comments have been made both in various symposia and many other public fora and several tons of newspaper articles have been written about corruption in Nigeria. So talking about it only amounts to repetition or as they say, singing an old tune. And so if you feel bored about reading or listening to people talking about eradicating corruption, you can be excused.

We have had several pretentious efforts by governments in the past to fight corruption. Of course their efforts fell flat and are totally below expectations because these government officials were more corrupt than those they sought to arrest, a case of charcoal calling pot black, you could say?

However, since the coming of the Obasanjo administration in 1999, we have been inundated with several anti-corruption slogans from several agencies set up by the government to fight corruption. Many of these agencies or commissions, at a time, I felt would have done better as musical or theatre groups because they were better known for their musical and theatrical prowess than for their primary assignments: catching criminals and fraudsters.

Although we have had occasional arrests, here and there, but several of such arrests and trials only amounted to chasing pawns rather than going for the queen, as would do a chess player.

Some credits must be given to the Obasanjo administration for its effort of late but I hope it is not coming rather late in the day.

The recent sack of the minister of education, Prof. Fabian Osuji and the exposition of the corrupt practices of the legislature by the president is a welcome development. Every Nigerian knows that the National Assembly is constituted by men of dubious pedigree, fraudsters and of questionable characters. It is a matter of common knowledge that what we have been having as ministers and special assistants are recycled crooks and fraudsters.

Not long ago the former Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun, was dismissed over a similar case of corrupt practices. An IG that is swimming in an ocean of corruption had the moral justification to arrest and dismiss several policemen for taking N20 bribe, what a pity.

Today, if you ask the current IG about corruption in the police force he will tell you that they are making efforts to eliminate the few bad eggs in the force, when in the real sense there are more bad eggs than there are good ones.

The Osuji and Balogun cases are the reason JAMB, WAEC and the police remain the citadels for corruption in this nation.

The interest of this piece really is not that a crook is caught here and there but the very dangerous dimension that is added to it whenever these corrupt officials are exposed. There is this terrible angle of alluding to ethnic, religious or ideological differences to cases of common criminality.

If a Yoruba man is exposed because Obasanjo is Yoruba, they say it is because the culprit is ideologically opposed to the president. And when an Igbo or Hausa is involved, they claim Obasanjo is out for ethnic cleansing or religious bigotry. Just what kind of nation is Nigeria?

This reminds me of the dark days of military regime where, when a government official and his family were denied entry abroad, he immediately begins to claim that these countries were against Nigeria as a nation.

We can’t all be fooled by this facade, we can tell the difference between a corrupt official and his religious, political or ethnic identity. When caught or sacrificed as some are wont to say, let them face the music and stop making extraneous insinuations or alluding their misfortunes to imaginary or real enemies. A corrupt man is corrupt whether he is Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo. Afterall, when Lawrence Anini and Osunbor were killed, they were not the only robbers in Nigeria, and there was no such argument that we should wait until all the other criminals were caught before they can be executed, neither where there divisions as to their ethnic, religious or ideological leaning. For me there is no difference between a corrupt minister, legislator and an Anini. A corrupt official is actually worse than a robber.

Again, I have heard people say that the corruption war has been selective and vindictive. I am still not impressed by this argument because it still does not take away the fact that the victim committed the crime in question.

Furthermore, this argument is lame because those who dine and wine with the devil have been advised to do so with a long spoon

Until we begin to separate ethnic or religious sentiments from our politics, this corrupt officials would always take recourse to it when found wanting in their respective duties.

Look at the Osuji case for instance, the issue now is not whether the man committed the offence, instead our dailies are now awash with reports that he is being punished because he is Igbo or because of his loyalty to the vice president, Atiku Abubakar. When he was appointed did the president not know that he is from an ethnic group or is the president just realising that he is faithful to Atiku. Or is he saying that those who are faithful to Atiku are untouchables?

I want to know whether he actually bribed the legislators or not and not whether he is loyal to Obasanjo’s friend or perceived enemy.

And again, if he actually did commit the crime let him sort himself out and if he did not, the option left for him is to seek redress in court like he has done, while we await the outcome of the case. I hope tomorrow nobody will tell us that he has been prevailed upon by his people to let sleeping dogs lie, because these dogs do not have any business sleeping now.

Personally, Obasanjo has just started fighting corruption, he should move further by ensuring that the searchlight is beamed on himself, his vice president and every Nigerian irrespective of their position or status in the society. The churches and mosques too should not be spared, because they are no longer sacred, as they now house crooks and robbers.

I also want to encourage the medium and style used by the president in exposing the Osuji-gate. The onus is on the victims to prove their innocence. We can no longer tolerate a situation where every crime involving ‘big men’ is swept under the carpet or allowed to drag for long thereby allowing external influences to stall the proceedings.

As for the National Assembly, nothing much is expected from there because this is a house of commons or equals in all ramifications of the words. Those of them who have conscience are either suspended or made uncomfortable. They naturally will sweep this as several others made in the past under the carpet. A carpet that is already reeking of filth and disgrace. For those with conscience, let them keep up and continue to speak out, posterity will surely judge them fairly.

But it would be interesting to see how the National Assembly handles this one. Is it true that the Senate President Adolphus Wabara collected and refunded N55 million? If true what was the money meant for? The issue here is not whether the money involved is a pittance but the intention or motive behind the action.

For those who doubted Mallam El-Rufai when he made his allegation against the National Assembly, does this not leave them downcast or lonely?

Until corruption is tackled with all the ferocity that can be mustered, this nation is doomed. We have suffered for too long owing to corruption.

Lest I forget, the American president should be applauded for his recent effort in assisting us fight corruption. He should go a step further by encouraging his fellow world leaders to enforce same law so that their countries will no longer be a safe haven for African thieves.

In fact President George Bush II remains my man of the year for this singular action. If there is no where for them to run to they would think the better of it and serve their people conscientiously.

For Ribadu and Justice Akanbi, what we have is only a child’s play. Let us catch them because if we don’t the chances are that all of us will continue to be seen as rogues by the rest of the world.

Source: AllAfrica.Com
URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200504050436.htm…/p>