Corruption: Accomplices all!

by Eze Eluchie

One Federal agency Nigerians seem ever willing to lampoon for corruption and gross inefficiency, is the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). This is not unexpected, considering their presence in our nooks and crannies and the highly visible profile of the Police in our polity and the injustice inherent in our polity (with the Police as the primary contact of the ordinary citizen with the injustice).

Time and time again, however, when confronted with evidence of corruption in their midst, the Police Force has remarkably acted with dispatch and alacrity, as exhibited in the dismissal of their personnel recently caught on camera negotiating a bribe.

When policemen get dismissed, realizing that the game is up, they go.

This cannot be said of other segments of our polity. When professionals, the Lawyers, Medical personnel, politicians and our ‘almighty’ civil/public servants (or more appropriately 'masters'). When these others are caught red-handed with their hands deep in the public till or enmeshed in acts of corruption, all hell is let loose. Not only is no one punished, but the society is forced to undergo despicable charades in the guise of an unending legal process which will gradually fade away when public attention is deviated by yet another large-scale crime by another 'high-brow' thief.

Rather than accept responsibility for his misconduct, a senior appeals court judge caught corresponding illicitly with counsels and parties in matters before his court opted to throw up tantrums, accusing everyone else, inclusive of the Chief Justice of the Federation, but himself, of corruption; rather than go and bury his head in shame, criminals who defrauded the Banks they once presided over as Directors, have engaged the country’s legal system in an endless hide-and-seek game; rather than go out in peace, public servants who stole criminally converted their agencies pension funds placed in their custody, Politicians who loot public treasury resort to age-old ethnic sloganeering to maintain a strangle hold on our collective psyche - in one sickening instance, a politician currently serving a prison sentence abroad for corruption recently had a lavish birthday celebration with 'religious' leaders and politicians in attendance .

The willingness of the generality of the populace to accommodate, and often times glamorize corrupt public office holders will be our undoing as a society. When we do not look upon corrupt persons with the disdain and scorn they deserve, we only, wittingly or unwittingly, encourage corruption. We actually become accomplices to the crime of corruption when we condone corrupt persons in our midst.

We do not have to look far to see the dire consequences of our complicity in corruption in our lives, our environment, our polity.

We have a choice; we can continue to condone and thereby participate in corruption and continue to exist (not live, because where corruption thrives, people only exist) in it’s after effects or simply say ‘No’ to it, individually resolving not to be accomplices to corruption.

NB: This post in no way deviates from my often reiterated views on the impropriety of the continued retention of MD Abubakar as the head of the Nigeria Police Force by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Video:  The Police officer negotiating a bribe in this picture was sumarily dismissed.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk4xeLjLReQ

Picture: Nigeria  Police Emblem

Corruption - a societal cancer.

by Eze Eluchie

Well over two decades ago when I ventured into the then novel terrain of private sector initiated re-orientation of the Nigerian youth, with a view to contributing towards the building of a morally well-rounded sane society, one of the first questions I would always throw at my mostly teenage audiences before the commencement of what I termed Public Awareness Lecture series (PALS) would be: 'What will you like to be when you grow up and why?" In response, the youths will voice their dreams, expressing desires to become professionals in diverse fields proffering diverse reasons as the motivation for their aspirations.

As the years rolled by, the questions remained same but the responses remarkably changed. From the choice of Lawyer, Medical Doctor, Engineer, and diverse professions, the most common responses increasingly became: Politician, Soldier, Policeman, Businessman/woman and in a couple of outright brazen responses, some teens frankly responded that they would want to get involved in '419'! (‘419’ is the number of the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code which relates to the offence of advance fee fraud - a scam which many persons outside the shores of Nigeria have pitiably fallen victim). The change in responses was widespread, stark, startling and in any clime where there is interest in societal development, ought to have been a grave cause of concern for all – not so in my good old country.

The PALS sessions I organized or participated in, held across the length and breath of Nigeria with youths of diverse ethnic nationalities, from such towns as Igbokuta (Lagos State), Ihube (Imo State), Offa (Kwara State), Wusasa (Kaduna State), Kano (Kano State), Gwagwalada (Abuja) and across all the States of Nigeria. In other words, the pathetic phenomenon was truly nationwide.

What could have occasioned the degeneration in the ideals of our youth, our future?

The human nature gravitates towards self-preservation. Man, generally, tends to gravitate towards comfort-zones, towards where s/he perceives self interest, survival and needs will be best met, served or better protected. The very choice children and youths make in life is influenced by, above all else, what they observe as most likely to assure wellbeing in the society around them.

At the inception of my outreach programs, the youths obviously influenced by successful professionals in various fields had no difficulty in aspiring to be like such professionals. As the years rolled by, and society, consciously or otherwise, altered its definition and perception of success, it was only natural that our youths, ever desirous to be successful, like youths elsewhere, will alter their aspirations and dreams accordingly.

A scrutiny of the preferences of our youths in recent times as enunciated above will reveal that they are vocations which have flourished and blossomed using corruption as a pedestal. The corrupt politician and the '419' kingpin who are able to amass a fortune practically overnight and the uniformed law enforcement or security officials who are able to, with impunity and corruption, subvert the course of justice, for self benefit, now parade as the role models of our youth, our future.

Like a cancer, the corruption canker-worm crept into our system and metastasized to the present gigantean monster which threatens not just our present, but worse still, our future and to a great extent several societies that look up unto ours. Our failure to tackle corruption head-on when it first crept in, has now exposed us to the present sorry state of being in the terminal stages of a pathetic societal cancer.

As our contraption goes through the pains of this societal cancer, we are faced with the reality that mere analgesics, in the form of high sounding names of toothless governmental agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions (EFCC) or the Independent Corrupt Practices Commissions (ICPC) are insufficient to douse the pains of our cancer or cure the malady. The treatment for advanced stages of cancer is very painful, usually excruciating bouts of chemotherapy. At the stage we find ourselves, we are actually faced with the sole prospect of full scale exorcism, amputating the diseased segments of our polity which has been infiltrated with corruption.

Some say the number of amputations to be carried out will be simply horrendous - the response to that would be to inquire as to which option is preferred: removing a few thousands or risk a conflagration that will result in widespread sufferings, diseases and deaths on a proportion that will benumb the globe.

When we decide to commence the treatment that must be, some will say it is too messy, but that will be because they either choose or do not to see the pains we are presently going through or they are part of the causative factors of the cancer.

The operating theater is set.

Are we ready for the surgery?

Picture: Corruption

Redefining A Coup.

by Eze Eluchie

For decades, the practice of foreign interference in the domestic affairs of other independent countries had assumed the status of an international norm, despite repeated protestation by all countries that they refrain from such interference.

Weaker and less economically endowed countries more easily capitulate under interference from stronger and more financially affluent countries. Nowhere has foreign interference in the affairs of other countries had greater dire consequences for the populace than in sub-Saharan African States and now in North Africa.

Decades after mostly cosmetic political 'independence', most countries in the African continent are ruled by proxies of foreign powers or lackeys who would rather pander to the desires of their external paymasters than hearken to the needs of their peoples. Foreign governments, in one breath pontificate on issues of democracy, good governance, 'anti-corruption initiatives’, and respect for territorial integrity and sovereign rights of States, whilst at the same time, supporting and propping up dictators, sociopaths, kleptocrats and sadists to rule over countries where they may have interests.

The practice of imposition of rulers preferred by foreign powers for emerging countries attained its height during the cold war era and was more rampant in mineral rich countries. Coup d’etats and often times, outright murder of progressively minded heads of governments was common place. Some of the victims of this dastard practice included Patrice Émery Lumumba (of Democratic Republic of Congo), Thomas Sankara (of Burkina Faso) and Murtala Mohammed (of Nigeria). In replacement, rulers of clearly deranged mentality, without any ideas as to how to move their countries forward were imposed as infamously represented in the case of DRC Congo, by the imposition of Mobutu Sese Seko – a classic case of an imbecilic nitwit.

With the expiry of the ‘cold war’ and the onset of a ‘new world order’, which touts intolerance of Military intervention in democratic governments, the pattern of imposition merely changed, with resort to the use of (s)election processes as a ruse to impose lackeys. Elections Observers/Monitors became a covert way to impose candidates. When a candidate that is deemed not ‘conducive’ is on the path of emerging victorious, announcements are made to the effect that the political process is ‘irredeemably flawed and not likely to be free and fair’. With exactly the same processes and circumstances in a polity where a ‘preferred’ candidate is ‘programmed’ to emerge, the announcements quickly change to ‘there are problems with the process, but they are isolated and not likely to adversely impact the free and fair nature of the elections’. Gosh!

Once in every long while, a candidate deemed ‘not conducive’ will slip through the well guarded sieve and thus leave the powers that be with no other option than to use a military coup and or ‘civilian’ uprising to ensure the ‘cleansing’ of the polity and installation of a ‘preferred candidate’. The 1992 Algerian military coup organized to oust the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS - Front Islamique du Salut)) from power and deny the FIS its electoral victories is again a classical example of instigated coups.

With the generalized abhorrence for military intervention in political settings, it has become unfashionable and inelegant to support a ‘military coup’ per se. So rather than refer to a take-over of a democratically government as a coup: call out the population to express support for the military take over, and pronto, a ‘military coup’ becomes a ‘civilian revolution’!! Great thinking!!

But there will be consequences.

History and modern efforts at combating extremism, has proved severally, that it is always better to have a definitive idea of your foes, where, who and how s/he is and be able to engage in some form of meaningful dialogue with such foes, than to have to contend with thin air. As a party in government, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood party was beginning to exhibit early tendencies of scuttling the intendments and achievements of the Egyptian revolution and curb freedoms of Egyptians whilst enforcing fundamentalist Islamist ideology on Egyptians.  Other forms of pressure could have been applied to check such descent. The military coup (or rather ‘uncoup, since most governments have refrained from referring to what took place in Egypt as a coup), will be ultimately counter-productive and further fan the embers of radical extremism. With the present crackdown and violence, the Muslim Brotherhood will become like 'thin air'.

As the members of the fundamentalist Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Party are hunted down, massacred and imprisoned by Egyptian security forces in the streets of several Egyptian cities, and trumped up charges are levied against President Mohammed Morsi, one does not need to look too far into the crystal ball to realize that the thirst for revenge, an integral part of Arabia culture, will in due course set in. For each member of the Brotherhood that falls to the bullets of Egyptian security forces, over 50 arch extremists would have been created – who are willing to cause harm to others, perceived as collaborating to cause the present crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

As Egyptian military strongman, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and his henchmen turn Nasr City into Egypt’s Tiananmen Square, one cannot but wonder if an opportunity to engage in dialogue with the Muslim Brotherhood has been irretrievably wasted?

After over 10 years of combating the Taliban’s and hundreds of thousands of lives wasted in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, there is now resort to dialogue – how many will be wasted before the resort to dialogue in this instance.

When the reprisals begin, would the redefining of what constitutes a coup, as is now taking place in Egypt, have been worth it?

So sad.


Picture: Violence in Egyptian streets as troops open fire on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood