Gen. Buratai’s case proves the Buhari’s anti-corruption war a charade ‎-By Sunday O. Oladepo

Sunday O. Oladepo

When the present president initiated his anti-corruption crusade, most Nigerians were happy that a new Sheriff is eventually in town to sanitize our polity. The gra-gra of this campaign rekindled the hope of the people to believe again in the betterment of Nigeria. Those that have lost optimism in the country’s political system were made to have a rethink of their despondency. People’s confidence in the government was rebirthed. We all have the conventional belief that if the national incubus of corruption is tamed, the country’s commonwealth would be sufficient for its prosperity. We are not wrong in this assumption. However, we failed in our calculation to admit certain truths.‎

If indeed corruption is a monster that must be dealt with. It is pertinent we device a mechanism to deal with it. Corruption cannot be eliminated from our polity if the government is not sincere with its objective and genuine in its approach. This should not be a game of joker. It is expected to be a war of no veneration for any individual. Political shields should not be used to safeguard any convicted national cake eater from being crushed by the anvil of the law. The primary impulse behind a move determines the greatest portion of its results. Little wonder the said war against corruption is more of a media brouhaha. No tangible results!

President Buhari’s purported war against corruption is lopsided and selective. I have said it innumerable times. Whatever is not done with the right motive will not produce the right aftereffect. I do not subscribe to a war that abuses the rule of law. I cannot fantasize a war that is characterized with impunity and violation of human rights. I’m of the school of thought that a right thing must be done in a right way. I see it as corruption itself to ride on the charade of fighting corruption to hound a selected few. It is an abuse of power for anyone to punish his adversaries under the masquerade of a war against corruption.

Something prompted me to write this. I released an article on the recent discovery of  Gen. Buratai’s edifice in Dubai and his watery defense of acquiring the property with his personal savings. I made efforts to analyze the impossibility of using his acclaimed savings to acquire such a humongous property. It was a suspicious case of corruption. Some of us that have never believed in the integrity of Mr. Integrity used this saga as a bait to test the credibility of the present government’s anti-corruption war. At it stands, any smart follower of this case should be able to predict the likely end-point of it. I’m still lost in amazement of how Gen. Buratai who was the head of procurement unit under Col. Dasuki would be adjudged clean.

The ongoing national drama reminds me of the popular, allegorical and dystopian novella — The Animal Farm, where every animal is equal but some are more equal than others. The war against corruption of President Buhari looks from truthful to fraudulent, and from fraudulent to truthful, and from truthful to fraudulent again, but already it is impossible to say which is which.

Twitter: @sundayooladepo
Sunday O. Oladepo is a journalist, on-air personality and  public-affairs analyst.