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aoabada@yahoo.com Cape Town, South Africa

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OSUJI ET AL: WHENCE COMMETH THOU HOPE?

he unceremonious exit of Professor Fabian Osuji following the bribery scandal puts the blame squarely on the doorsteps of the military that usurped powers that caused the outright co-option of those perceived to be leading lights for re-engineering of societal values. As I went through the Obasanjo list of who is who on the corruption scandal that crumbled Osuji, it finally dawned on me that the heavenly kingdom's promise to the righteous is unattainable with the current crop of human beings parading as Nigerians.

Some Nigerians, including myself, argued at different fora that the root cause of the corruption bedeviling our country, and failed leadership, was due to uneducated and very unenlightened ruling elites lording over the people. These elites had failed to separate their personal fiefdom from those of the public. The open and shameless appropriation of the wealth of the people for their personal advancement became their stock in trade.

I reasoned at those times that redemption will eventually come around when properly educated, and engineered characters take over the reins of governance. Alas, I was horrified to discover that degreed individuals presented more dangers to our country's development than their predecessors who never passed through the four walls of the university education.

When Nigeria was still under the Babangida/Abacha military spell, a university professor was appointed to a cabinet post. In his premises at the University were about 10 government owned sedan cars meant for official business. I wondered what the educated professor needed those cars for. It has since become clear to me that having those cars parked on his premises indicated to the outsider the level of power wielded by him. The non-use of those cars that were bought and serviced by poor Nigerian taxpayers was nothing more than misappropriation and shameless corruption. Currently, the legislative and executive organs of government have persons with enviable resume` whom we thought would bring stability to a polity over heated with corruption, abuse of power and open thievery. This hasn't been the case.

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Spearheaded by academic professors, and seasoned bureaucrats, our country has been reduced to a bubble. Poverty, hopelessness, religious fetish are just some of the legacies that these crooks are leaving behind for their people. Clearly, General Obasanjo is no way free from this miasma that now envelops the art of governance. Adolphus Wabara emerged as senator in the most controversial of circumstances. Every sane and open democracy will not have allowed Wabara to assume the esteem leadership of the senate. But he was perceived to have had presidential support; hence he swept all before him to be elected. This administration since it came to power via a hidden and concocted plot by the moneyed generals continue to have the good forces expose the yansh of evil that they represent.

A fraud known as Buhari schemed his way to the Speakership only to be exposed, and further granted amnesty by Obasanjo. With that singular act, the president fired the shot, which enabled all the corrupting elements at the racing block to deepen their quest for stealing from the public and not be caught. Had Buhari been allowed to pay his dues, Professor Fabian Osuji would have learnt that stealing from the people in order to grease the dirty hands of Wabara et al posed a greater risk to his career than the yeye threats of those pot bellied and unfit assembly men.

Obasanjo should spread his nets wider. Some commentators already argue that the General is a seasoned practitioner of selective justice. They finger the Anambra fiasco, the never ending national identity card scam, the Omisore 'freedom' and a host of unresolved crisis plaguing Nigeria as issues that would eventually stain his legacy. Credit should be apportioned where necessary. But this should be partial until all those named and indicted by the latest robbery are fully prosecuted and made to feel the full weight of the law.

The president must visit those states like Delta, Rivers, and a few others particularly in the oil producing areas which receive huge revenues but have nothing to show for it, except personal choice property and development in South Africa and Europe. I am also reminded of the disgraceful behaviour put up by some Nigerian vice-chancellors during the just concluded African Universities conference in Cape Town. Some of them did not bother to show up for sessions, but chose to go shopping. They bought expensive items that confounded some of us who witnessed this profligacy and opulence. This is at a time when lecturers and ASUU are fighting for funding. Where dem get the money? Our people have been diabolically conditioned to accept their fate.

When a sitting governor spends N100,000,000.00 on funeral rites, and no formal enquiry is done to find out why those governed in his state still wallow in misery, there must be something wrong with the corruption crusade. Uncle Sege needs our support to route out the rots. EFFC needs our skills and co-operation to expose those moving monies overseas. Until then, it will be corruption as defined only by the crazy elites running around Nigeria naked. Na so I see am ooooo