I start today on the premise or saying that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. To dilate on this matter I will look at the life and times of three personalities in the news recently and the high expectations and anxieties hanging on their actions and inactions given their offices and ambitions in their environment. The first is our President Muhammadu Buhari, his fight against corruption and the public fury over the fact that most of the appointments he has announced so far have been lopsided in favor of the Northern part of the nation.
The second personality is Donald Trump, American real estate billionaire and for now the leading candidate of the Republican Party for the 2016 presidential elections in the US. The third is the EFCC Chairman Lamorde who is being tried for diversion of seized money by Nigeria’s Senate whose leader and his wife are good customers of the EFCC
on allegations of corruption.
The three gentlemen are very powerful individuals and attention is being drawn to their use and misuse of power by their actions or inactions in the last few days. Let me say clearly here that in any democracy such as Nigeria, the largest black nation in the world, and the US the leading global champion of democracy, the quest for equal opportunities and protection for all citizens, fairness and justice should be the yard stick to measure human progress and development. It is in the light of these values that I shall look at the relationship of these three leaders with the use of power or the quest for it in their various stations in life.
Starting with our President I think he should expect the brouhaha that the announcement of appointments has generated in the nation especially the South West. This is because it was in the Southwest that the egg that hatched a famous presidential 2015 elections victory was hatched and there is no need to mention any name. For now the people of the Southwest are stunned and in a quandary. It is not as if they are the only people in the South of Nigeria. But the last election results showed clearly that the South East and South South did not vote for the new president. So expectations are not high there on appointments as in the South west where there is palpable grief and disappointment on the domination of the North on the appointments so far. Which simply means that the President should do a rethink and redress the imbalance in the next list of presidential appointments. That is the only way to prevent the South East from celebrating what they see as the emasculation of the Southwest by the North and that really will be their way of making merry with the embarrassment of the South west which is what the present lopsidedness in announced appointments is all about.
Undoubtedly the President is experienced enough as a former Head of State and Commander In Chief to know that those who have sour grapes over his election are going to make mischief out of the appointments as they are and revive the fear of the Born To Rule syndrome associated with a once dominant North in our recent political history. Surely that must be in the past now and the president’s subsequent appointments must reflect Nigeria’s federal character. A redress in the geopolitical in balance of the present appointments is needed urgently to reflect equity and justice and reward those in the President’s political camp who put their lives on the line to secure his election and give him the huge powers now at his disposal.
With regard to Donald Trump his quest for the presidency of the US was treated with levity and contempt before obviously because of his controversial public image and outspokenness. Now most Americans as well as their political leaders are laughing with the other end of their mouths as Donald Trump is slowly but surely emerging as the popular choice among Republican Party members and most ordinary Americans. Trump is handling the campaigns masterfully and is oratorically sounder than the rest of the Republican Party candidates and I am not too sure that he will not beat the famous Bush name. Just like Barak Obama emerged from the blues a few years back to beat Hilary Clinton and clinch the Democratic Party ticket before going on to become the first elected black US president in history.
Donald Trump is lucky he is contesting in the US where he is assured that people will respect his immense wealth and know that he will not use his good offices when elected to loot the public wealth and common wealth. Which really is a common nagging problem in Nigeria when quite rich people go on to loot the state treasury on getting elected to public office. A situation that has made really honest and wealthy Nigerians to stay away from politics so that their clean money will not be dirtied by stolen public money which some have made indistinguishable from hard earned money by their greed and avarice.
Lastly the travails and trials of Nigeria’s Anti Corruption Czar Lamorde is to be expected. The saying is quite true here that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Lamorde should learn two things on the use and misuse of power on this senate trial. The first is that media trial of suspects and the destruction of reputation of suspects before going to court is not only unfair, it is unjust and undemocratic. That is what the allegation against him has done with his reputation and he has virtually no sympathizers as this has been the modus operation of the EFCC since its inception and under his leadership. The second is that some crooks are bold and shameless enough to claim what they stole as their own and are ready to contest the amount in question. A former governor of Kano State once said he left a certain amount in government house far higher than what the police said they found and that is the same thing happening to the EFCC boss nowadays.
Undoubtedly I do not see Lamorde getting away with the allegations against him at a trial in a senate which has many of its members on trial by the EFCC in the media. In a way its payback time for the EFCC boss and I do not envy him the grilling and harsh questioning awaiting him. I pray all the same that he gets justice in our senate. Otherwise I take consolation in the statement that what is good for the goose is sauce for the gander. Again, long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Ref: http://thenationonlineng.net/power-corruption-and-anxieties/
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