When Shall We See through the Wool?
“You be thief (I no be thief)
You be rogue (I no be rogue)
You dey steal (I no dey steal)
You be robber (I no be robber)
You be armed robber (I no be armed robber)”
The above chorus of the song “Authority stealing” by the late afro beat musician Fela Kuti readily depicts the accusations and counter accusations being traded by Farouk Lawan and Femi Otedola over the six hundred and twenty thousand dollars bribery allegation.
The unfolding drama is the usual ploy by our looting politicians to pull a wool over our eyes when issues that should congregate us to condemn the wanton looting taking place in our polity arise and it is so unfortunate that the ever docile and accommodating Nigerian populace will choose to be distracted this time around again and forget the real issue.
How long do we have to remain in this sorry state as a nation? The political system we copied from the Americans have become so twisted and distorted to suite the plush and flamboyant lifestyles of our political elites and rent seekers masquerading as wealth creators.
Corruption have actually become a way of life in our beloved nation. Our actions and in actions have contributed in no small way to the mess we are in now.
Gratification and under hand dealings to do what the average civil servant or politician is paid to do have become the order of the day. It is no longer news that the usual clamour and bickering over sharing of standing committees in the state and national assembly is not because of their patriotic zeal to carry out their oversight functions over the respective ministry, departments and agencies (MDA) their committees will over see but the quest to line their pockets and that of their hangers-on with easy money. From the capital market committee scandal to a host of others everyone knows a lot of money exchange hands between the executives of these MDAs and the legislators thereby impairing their judgement in making appropriate recommendations and where appropriate recommendations are made the nonchalant attitude of the executive in handling these recommendation is a different ball game entirely.
From the accusations and counter accusations, the public is divided on who to take side with. On my part, I believe the antigraft agencies and the law courts should decide the guilty party but with the way the courts are run now, we would soon get to the point where justice have to be outsourced to the Queens land or some other advanced democracy. If we are to go by the antecedents of Honourable Farouk lawan’s colleagues in both chambers of the national assembly then we might not be wrong to infer there was indeed a demand by the committee. All over the world, bribe takers and givers are equally held accountable for wrong doing but ours is indeed different as with almost all other things Nigerian. It still beats my imagination that the Siemens and Halliburton bribe givers where indicted and jailed in their home countries while their collaborators in Nigeria who probably asked for the bribes are living large and flaunting their ill acquired wealth in our faces.
Have we wandered why we always get distracted when pressing issues that should make us take to the street and demand answers or justice arise?
Our leaders must be so “smart” or we are very dull followers. I see them smiling each time they pull the wool of tribal and religious sentiments over our face when we should be clamouring for their head. Believe it or not the average elites from all the multitudes of languages in Nigeria are at peace with themselves even as we are being manipulated to hate and kill ourselves.
We must do all we can to turn this country around from the part of destruction we are headed if not there will be no Nigeria for us in the nearest future as some have predicted. Its time we refused to be manipulated. Its about time we decide who should represent us based on their antecedents and track records and not base our vote on the one thousand naira handout during elections or on ethnic and religious sentiments. Its time we wake from our slumber and take hold of our country from these tribe of looters who parade themselves as our politician.
By Ogwuche Odoh
Kindly follow me on twitter @De_guch
Good observation Mr Ogwuche!, How I wish Nigerians can open their inner minds and see things from Diplomatic angle: Farouk saga, Boko Haram, Ethnic lines etc, are all ochestrated by our Political Elites just to keep us Divided on tribal, Religious and Ethnic lines While they loot our National Treasury. Please Nigerians open your minds to the Reality of the Second Slavery of our own using Democracy as a Smokescreen….God help Nigeria!!!
We all know that the people of nigeria are cowards. We are all like the ostrich that hides its head in the sand. Why won’t a certain group of people take us for a ride when we keep quiet when they do their stealing and other rubbish and we just fold our hand. We are a nation of grumblers, all bark and no bite. Check out what has been happening in other countries, people rise up to fight against injustice and they are, or will soon, develop their lives. We could have used the last fuel strike to come out and say we want an end to all this garbage, and we would have won, too. But like sheeps, we fell to the butchers knives. What are we then complaining for? Events have shown that we are comfortable with the way things are. We have laid our bed,and we must now lie on it.