Before All The Planks Are Pulled

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BY ‘DIMEJI DANIELS

Being a Nigerian President at this time is like walking a tight-rope, or having planks pulled one by one from under one’s feet while crossing a deep river. Unfortunately, the present occupant of the office and his lieutenants, especially his vanity-and-title-loving wife, seem to be oblivious of this as they trudge aimlessly around in a house whose top harbours a huge venomous snake.

This huge snake is not Boko Haram, but it is one of those things that festoon groups like Boko Haram – corruption. The first Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Lee Kwan Yu, in his autobiography -From Third World To First- wrote: “When we took office in 1959 we set out to have a clean administration. We were sickened by the greed,

corruption and decadence of many Asian leaders. Fighters for freedom for their people have become plunderers of their wealth. Their societies slipped backwards. We made sure from the day we took office, that every dollar in revenue would be properly accounted for and would reach the beneficiaries at the grassroots as

one dollar, without being siphoned off along the way.” Singapore was so corruption-ridden that she was showing all the symptoms of a country that could go under any moment, same symptoms Nigeria is currently showing. Leaders of Singapore knew this and did not for a second convince themselves otherwise, neither did they place propaganda above prosperity by hiring spent forces as media contractors to defend their ineptitude.

Singaporean leaders agreed that to progress was to do away with corruption, and so the Corrupt Practices

Investigation Bureau (CPIB) was set up and empowered in such a way that it could summon any government official, irrespective of his status, for questioning. In Singapore, if you are earning N150,000 monthly and you are seen driving around in expensive cars that you cannot afford with your salary, you will be invited for questioning. God help you if you do not have a reasonable explanation of how you came about the money! A Singaporean president would never take a ‘church gift’ and hope God would pardon him because it is a house of God. Even if God pardons him (which He would not), the state will not pardon him. A Singaporean leader or official would not say on national TV that he does not ‘give a damn’ about declaring his assets. If he does, he sure has a date with doom. These were, and are still, the measures taken to rid Singapore of corruption and make it a progressive nation. The leaders wanted progress and they showed the political will to actualise that desire.

Has Jonathan or any of his allies shown this will? Obviously not; instead he hires media goons to defend his inactivity and lack of direction. I couldn’t help laughing at the ignorance of one of them recently when he challenged El-Rufai and Pastor Tunde Bakare of Latter Rain Assembly to come up with suggestions on how Jonathan should run his government. By this statement, Doyin Okupe has clearly demonstrated that he is not a student of history and does not understand the rules of being a media aide – another wrong appointment made by Jonathan.

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History has shown, in all climes, that government, above all, must demonstrate the political will to effect change. In places where this is not so, people have resorted to violence, as is being experienced in Syria. No matter the zeal of civil society groups, NGOs or the masses, it will amount to naught or lead to violence when government does not demonstrate the political will to show that it is on the same page with those yearning for progressive change. It was the lack of this will and the inability of government to listen to the legitimate yearnings of the people that resulted in violence in countries like Tunisia, Libya and Syria. At some point, the people will get tired of talking and start acting. This is why I believe the ruling class is walking on land-mines. Jonathan, at present, has enough advice and suggestions on how to progress, but he doesn’t seem to “give a damn”. His body language is that of a man who has resigned to fate, expecting God to work it out for him. But if President Jonathan really believes in God as he claims, then he would know why Saul lost his throne to David. Saul’s inability to silence the Philistines, which little David did, made him lose relevance. Even Jonathan, Saul’s son, went against him. Jonathan identified with success by taking sides with David. This is to tell Jonathan that even his closest allies will desert him when the chips are down, so he must roll up his sleeves and do the needful – NOW!

This is not the time for him to hire media contractors who do not understand what being a spokesperson entails, rather a time to get rid of his hat and let his head enjoy fresh breeze so that he could think properly, away from the crowd, including Patience who is obsessed about nothing other than to take on all the titles in Nigeria. Jonathan should know that Okupe would not bring anything to the table; he would rather seek to make himself the news. He has always failed the first rule of being a spokesperson: “Don’t become the story”. Okupe’ style, since the Obasanjo days, has always been to make himself the story by insulting people and ending up making things worse. The job of a spokesperson is not to overshadow his boss, but to enhance his profile. People like Okupe elevate themselves over their boss. Very soon, everyone will start talking about Okupe’s mis-steps and not Jonathan, unless this is what Jonathan seeks to achieve – to scapegoat Doyin Okupe.

Apart from Okupe, another luxury Jonathan cannot afford now is a ‘Patience’, not his wife, but her idiosyncrasies. If he cannot be an assertive president, he should not also be a ‘yes’ husband. He should assert himself and stop the ‘Christmas party’ of his wife, for there has not been ‘Christmas’ in Nigeria for a long time. This solitary ‘Christmas’ she is celebrating can only lead to more complications for her husband. Not even a million ‘Okupes’ can shield her from public backlash if she does not stop glorying in vanity.

Having done this, he should ensure that the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) does not have to look to the Attorney-General of the Federation before prosecuting any corruption suspect. He should ensure that the ‘Otedolas’, ‘Maduekes’, ‘Otehs’, ‘Hembes’, ‘Farouks’ around him are properly brought to book. EFCC should be strengthened to be able to prosecute the president himself. This is why section 308 has to be expunged from our constitution. This section, which grants immunity clause to the President, Vice President, Governors and Deputy Governors, has done nothing but serious harm to this country in that it has allowed unscrupulous elements who have occupied these offices to glory in corruption, and by the time they leave office, they would have stolen enough money to hire unscrupulous lawyers who care more about money than a prosperous Nigeria to stall corruption cases preferred against them with all sorts of injunctions granted by unscrupulous judges.

The National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly, if they are serious at all, must get rid of this evil provision laced with military mentality. He who must come to equity must come with clean hands. Leaving section 308 in the constitution is like asking rogues to continue to govern us. The argument by the proponents of the evil provision is that it will shield the beneficiaries from unnecessary distractions. My question is, without the ‘unnecessary distractions’, what have they accomplished other than to plunder our resources?

Building a nation requires serious sacrifices which include self-denial. There is no time that Nigeria requires these sacrifices more than now. If the David Mark-led National Assembly and the Jonathan-led government cannot make these sacrifices, then they must get off before all the planks are pulled from under their feet and let serious-minded people start minding Nigeria, because at present, nothing is working for them, other than corruption.

•Daniels writes from Ekiti State.

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