Maximum Security Needed for Mr. President As Corruption Fights Back -By Joe Igbokwe

Joe Igbokwe

As President Buhari digs in without looking back in fighting corruption in Nigeria, corruption is ferociously fighting back like a wounded lion. The most corrupt political party in Africa and the world, PDP was the first to start the blackmail and intimidation. They tell us is that the President should hit the ground running and stop chasing shadows. When it suits them, they tell us that President Buhari is clueless and unprepared for the big business of governance and hence the pretence to be fighting corruption. In another development they tell us that Boko Haram has killed more people in a very short time when compared with the same time frame during Jonathan’s tenure.

Soon the ‘Pay me I write for you’ diaspora internet warriors in Jonathan’s camp joined the foray in hitting at Mr. President to form his cabinet as a matter of urgency and give them what he promised. The charge-and-bail lawyers and charge-and-write writers among them said the president’s inability to appoint his cabinet three weeks after being sworn in clearly shows unseriousness and unpreparedness on the part of the President, who sought leadership for sixteen years. They are angry. They are frustrated and frightened. Jonathan made heavy investments in them to help him realise the dream of governing Nigeria for 10 years but the project crashed like a pack of cards. They are yet to come to terms with what hit them. Pains, tears, abusive languages, hate speech and name calling have become their ways of life these days.

Frustrated, left and right, they sought the help of General Abulsalami’s Peace Committee to intervene an rescue them from the bottomless pit they are going into. The Peace Committee moved in with their blackmail and intimidation also to suppress the anti-corruption machine of Mr. President. Hear them: “I think what we are concerned about is the process (of fighting corruption). It is no longer a military regime and under our existing laws, everybody is innocent until proven guilty.” The Peace Committee spoke about former President Jonathan’s commitment and his spectacular deeds as president, whatever that means. But when we look back to see the deep rot in the system and reckless looting of every strata of our institutions, the so claimed spectacular stuff in Jonathan’s deeds varnish into the air.

Now enter Professor Nwabueze and Ohaneze Ndigbo. After sharing Jonathan’s billion of naira and dollars to help him win an election he was bound to lose they have resorted to their own arm twisting and subterfuge. They insist that President Buhari must start his war on corruption from the days of IBB in 1985 (30 years ago). After abusing President Buhari, after accusing him of being a Boko Haram sponsor, after denying him of votes from the South-East and South-South, they are now setting an agenda for him. They are now dictating to Buhari what to do after selling their votes for a mess of porridge. After marginalising themselves politically, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and his other politicians in Ohaneze are now complaining of marginalisation of the Igbo. How many votes did Igbo give to President Buhari? Did we not tell them that Jonathan will not win the last election? Did they listen to us? Did they hear us? They abused and shouted us down. Now, you cannot eat your cake and have it. Please go to where you took your bath and pick your clothes. If you call your boat a useless boat, children will play with it. Woe betides a nation whose leaders are children. I thank God that the South-East APC has risen to rebuke the children in Ohaneze for defending Jonathan who ran the most fraudulent and corrupt regime in the world today. According to Mr. Osita Okechukwu, the South-East APC spokesperson, “We are yet to find any sentence where any of them, even our revered icon, erudite, and constitutional lawyer Professor Ben Nwabueze, in any form denied the mindless, pervasive and unbridled corruption which pervaded ex-president Jonathan’s regime”. There is nothing more to add than to ask Ndigbo and the children in Ohaneze to move on with life and borrow a leaf from Ijaw nation that had moved on since May 29, 2015.

President Buhari has been stunned into disbelief by the gamut of rot PDP left behind after 16 years. According to Governor Oshiomhole: “If Nigerians know what these people did, they will stone them to death”. These scavengers were not interested in building Nigeria, they were not interested in creating jobs, they were not interested in moving Nigeria to join the human race, they cared less about what Nigeria becomes in future. They were only interested in their pockets. It was a big scramble to pocket anything in sight and damn the consequences. It was primitive accumulation of even what they did not need. It was a bazaar. PDP leaders who were less than 0.5 percent of the population stole 80 percent of our common patrimony without caring a hoot. Others called it mindless looting, I call it total madness when people do not know when to say enough is enough. These people are ready to do anything to keep their loot. They are sleeping in the hospitals abroad pretending to be sick. They are using blackmail and subterfuge as a cover up to divert attention. They are shouting from the rooftop to deceive gullible Nigerians and the world but there is no hiding place for enemies of progress. They want to run away from justice and keep the loot.

This is the reason why I want maximum protection for Mr. President. The world and concerned citizens of this country must help this President to succeed. Those who looted Nigeria for sixteen years are too two rich and too dangerous to be ignored. They can do anything to retain their loot. They can destabilise the government with their huge resources. They can topple the government of President Buhari if we do not do something tangible to protect the man.

If anything happens to the President now the war on corruption will come to a standstill and the looters will smile away. I know that God will keep President Buhari to do this great job but we have to do our own duty also by being vigilant. If you are surrounded by enemies, you must be vigilant all the time.

Joe Igbokwe is Publicity Secretary of the Lagos Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).