APC saints, PDP sinners, and Nigeria’s future

Day by day, the anti-corruption war of the Buhari  Administration is getting more and  more interesting and Nigerians like me are seriously enjoying it. It’s good for our country because it’s  Nigeria’s future that is at stake. And that is why every effort by the current administration to recover looted public funds from past leaders, who were clearly not posterity-conscious nor showed that they love Nigerians whom they were privileged to lead, should be genuinely commended and supported by all citizens who want a better country.

With the revelations that have so far come out since EFCC investigations started into how funds meant for procuring arms for our soldiers to fight Boko Haram terrorists were diverted into private accounts by former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, it is very clear that many highly-placed and hitherto-respected Nigerians have had their  hands soiled, their reputations dented, and their integrity battered.

There truly is a thin line between gift and graft like some other writers have pointed out even as it is clear that intentionally or unintentionally, we have made our society, over the years, to become one that condones corruption. The situation we have found ourselves in, for me, is a collective shame. If we will tell ourselves the truth, the country we have is one which corruption permeates almost all its fabrics.  Every society deserves the leaders it gets. We all are guilty.

Despite their preachments to the contrary, most of our politicians and public officers  have abused their positions and a very high number of them don’t have the fear of God even if they go to church to kneel before their pastors every Sunday or visit mosques for prayers every day. That’s my honest impression. They have an appearance or form of godliness but their hearts are far from God. I believe the political elite must accept blame that they have been united in corruption across religious and ethnic divides and have generally failed us. Do we even have visionaries among them? If any, how many?

The integrity of the media as a watchdog has also been called to question in spite of its contributions to Nigeria’s political history and democratic journey so far. Leaders in the private sector are accomplices to those in the public sector.  They also can’t say they are totally clean from the current mess  we are enmeshed in.

For our religious leaders and traditional rulers, they are not without blame too.  And for civil society activists, a good number of them say one thing in public but do another in their privacy and so can’t be trusted or believed. Many of them are good at promoting the personal interests of their benefactors and patrons in the guise of promoting public interests.

Our youths, on their part, seem to be disorganised, directionless and hardly come across as knowing their right from left. They are yet to understand that their future is much more important than the tokens they collect from politicians. They are also yet to wake up from slumber and give  coherent positions on political happenings in their fatherland.

For the men and women on the streets, they generally appear helpless and are taking solace in religion. And some among them who follow political developments prefer to abuse those who hold different political views from theirs instead of engaging in decent debates on issues affecting us all without any name-calling.

Therefore, whatever arguments we make or positions we hold, I believe everyone of us can do better in taking personal responsibility for our country like Ukraine-based Nigerian Pastor, Sunday Adelaja, explained in his recent article, How to Transform a Nation through Personal Responsibility, published on TheCable.

A citizen who takes personal responsibility, Adelaja writes, is one that sees something wrong in the society, something he is not satisfied with or that he cannot agree with and responds, not by blaming the government or leaders, but by designing ways and means of bringing a lasting solution to the issues at hand.

It’s a fact: We all can do much more in making Nigeria’s future a better one!

The main point I however want to call attention to in this intervention today is  my concern about the direction the anti-graft war of the Buhari government is taking.  For me, it is coming across like members of the President’s own party, the APC, are ‘saints,’ while members of the PDP are ‘sinners’. That the gathering of corrupt and dirty politicians is only under the PDP’s umbrella while those in the APC are clean, without ‘sin,’ and don’t need to be swept out from the fold and publicly exposed. I believe this really shouldn’t be so.

Or how else do you sincerely explain a situation where a long-standing associate of President Buhari and APC chieftain, Jafaru Isa, is arrested for collecting 5 million Dollars from Dasuki, allegedly from funds meant to procure arms but would be  released barely eight hours  later by the EFCC while Olisa Metuh, spokesman of the PDP, has been held for almost two weeks now without being charged to court?

I think the Buhari government should not carry on as if it cares little about how its actions are perceived by citizens or seen by  the international community. A serious government, anywhere in the world, wants to be seen  as doing the right thing at all times. But when there is a slight hint or indication that it is trying to shield its friends and hunt its enemies, it not only opens itself up to ridicule and blackmail but also raises questions about its sincerity and integrity.

Now, no one should get me wrong. I am fully in support of the President’s anti-corruption war. It is good for our country. It is right for Nigeria’s future. Corruption has for long hindered development and stunted growth in our country like it has done in many other African countries. So, having a leader who is serious at correcting the ills of the past and recovering stolen funds from corrupt officials is great. All of us should thank God for that. I believe no patriotic soul would argue with punishing impunity especially of the level perpetrated during the Jonathan Presidency.

Where I have an issue is when it is being selective or perceived to be so. Such efforts won’t be far-reaching enough before it is discovered for what it is. If we are serious at taking back our country, all known looters should be investigated and punished according to the law if found guilty.

Because he who comes to equity must come with clean hands, it’s always better to remove the log in your own eyes before removing the speck in another’s. But when the President claims there are no corrupt people in his cabinet like he did during the Presidential Media Chat on December 30,2015, despite damning and shocking allegations against some of his ministers like Rotimi Amaechi, former Rivers state Governor, and Babatunde Fashola, former Lagos state Governor, then, it gives serious cause for concern. How many Nigerians even believe him on that?

And if followers can no longer completely trust the words of their leader, it won’t be long before such leader losses the remainder of his personal integrity and public acceptance because his sincerity is already in doubt.

Now, some Nigerians have argued that  if this administration puts all ‘PDP thieves’ in jail, when next the PDP wins elections, they can also put ‘APC thieves’ in jail and our country will be the better for it. While the idea is not bad in itself, I doubt if this wouldn’t be called vendetta.

Anyways, since fighting corruption appears to have taken the major attention of the President and his men so far, I also think we must not  take our eyes off the big picture.  The President and his team need to be reminded that the economy deserves more attention than they are currently giving it if businesses will thrive, jobs will be created, poverty will be reduced and wealth will be generated.

I strongly believe we need leaders who are not lost in the hullabaloo of now but  who devote themselves to preparing for our tomorrow. While such leaders understand that  confronting current challenges of their people are critical, they also realise that they must plan well for the future because it is the failure of past leaders  in appropriately preparing for the future that led us to the current quagmire we are in.

These men and women and youths I talk about are visionaries. They see the future long before it arrives and adequately prepare for it. I hope we have such leaders in the current government who are thinking ahead for Nigeria and planning ahead for us. Leaders who understand that while their party, and the President must fight corruption, their Presidency is much more than that because of the promises they made to Nigerians.

They want to bequeath to the next generation a far greater, beautiful and more prosperous country than they inherited from their own predecessors. They are those who want their footprints to still remain in the sands of time long after they are gone all because of our children, our children’s children, and our country’s future.

And because Nigeria’s future should be of paramount importance to us above all other individual or political interests we may have, I totally align with Prince Bola Ajibola, former Minister of Justice, who says public office seekers must be henceforth mentally examined, tested, and their performances and previous public positions looked into thoroughly to know if they are fit and proper persons to be in office.

With the heartless corruption we have suffered in the hands of past leaders in Nigeria, as well as the glaring reality that those with dictatorial backgrounds, almost 30 years after they first took power, still exhibit such tendencies by not minding trampling upon the constitution despite being packaged as latter-day democrats, I believe Ajibola’s elderly counsel is one that is full of wisdom and would do us a lot of good  in effectively curbing corruption and the abuse of power in our country as we move on into the future.

Kolawole, an award-winning journalist and author, is Publisher/CEO, POSTERITY MEDIA, a publishing and communication company based in Lagos. You can follow him on twitter: @ofemigan.