This Buhari And His Caricature Of The Anti-Corruption Fight -By Churchill Okonkwo

Churchill Okonkwo

As more high profile appointees of Buhari’s administration are embroiled in corruption allegations, Nigerians shrug. The Buhari administration came to power pledging to eradicate corruption, but most of his close aides are tied to corruption and corrupt acts. Now it is clear, that President Buhari is turning a blind eye. Nigerians should, therefore, call Mr. President out for what he is: an enabler of corruption, wittingly or unwittingly.

No more excuses. Nigerians are sick and tired of the conduct of a President that is unaware (as they want us to believe) of what is going on under his nose. We are watching the emergence of a powerful anti-anti-corruption gangsters at the heart of this presidency. Corrupt political opponents that have dared to voice suspicion at the predations of Buhari’s administration are attacked and crippled. Atiku Abubakar is the latest. Bola Tinubu and Saraki will follow if they dare.

Nothing makes Nigerians more furious with their leaders than corruption. President Buhari’s critics accuse him of encouraging a cult of corrupt aides while he hides in a cocoon of not being in the know. They point to the fact that this government has been targeting their opponents or their supporters. On the other hand, his supporters point at mostly belated and insignificant acts as an indication that his anti-corruption drive is restoring his tattered and tarnished credibility.

My take is that corruption has remained so familiar under Buhari’s presidency. The debacle at NNPC between Kachikwu and NNPC GM Baru; the subsequent belittling of the intelligence and sensibility of Nigerians that they have “reconciled”; the employment scandals at DSS, Central bank and Federal Inland Revenue; the “Grass Cutting” daylight robbery that was swept under the carpet and now, the grand conspiracy to recall a corrupt fugitive is exposing President Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade to be an elaborate rigmarole.

In recalling Abdulrasheed Maina, a chronically corrupt fugitive civil servant, the Attorney General Abubakar Malami, Head of Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, “Thief” of Staff to the President Abba Kyari, the Director DSS Lawal Daura are making a mockery of anti-corruption in Nigeria. With these men, it is clear that ant-anti-corruption is the new name of the present caricature of fighting corruption in Nigeria.

What is troubling with President Buhari’s anti-corruption charade is that preventing this new scourge will be very hard with the highly placed corrupt conspirators around him running the show. President Buhari should wake up and perform a “surgical” operation on ALL, I mean ALL this his aides starting with the Attorney General Abubakar Malami. Failure to do this will signal the beginning of the beginning in the anti-anti-corruption crusade of this administration.

It’s only a mug that would argue that there’s a dearth of corruption under Buhari’s watch. What is worrying about Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade is that in his nearly 3 years in power, not a single political “tiger,” to borrow Chinese President Mr. Xi’s term, and only a few “flies” have been brought down by corruption charges.

It is apparent that Buhari’s government is unwilling to undertake a serious cleanup, even at a moment when cutting the cost of corruption could compensate for depressed oil prices. President Buhari’s top priority, just like Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan, is not purging corrupt elites, but nationalizing them. For each of these administrations, the elites have the right to be corrupt, but only if they have proven their loyalty.

The presidential aides’ hunger for scandal and corrupt acts has fed a deep, slow-burning endemic corruption in the system, further infecting our political culture. Mr. President need not be reminded that basic corruption-fighting steps require firm leadership. That leadership is missing in this administration. EFCC and ICPC are like a headless hammer with blunt nails in the hands of lepers.

Now, the idea that something can actually be done about corruption in Nigeria is fast fading into oblivion. Nigerians are thus expecting nothing less than the sacking and prosecution of all involved in this and previous corruption scandals that have rocked this administration. Nothing less than this will serve as the much-needed reset in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.

The sacking of these aides is long overdue, but it won’t solve the problem of endemic corruption. Corruption is so prevalent in Nigeria that it has become the normal way of doing business both in public and private service sectors. The middle class in Nigeria to a great extent is composed of these same bribe-taking officials that are involved in collusive corruption. The overdue dismissal and prosecution of these chronically corrupt aids in addition to embarking on serious radical reform will hopefully prevent further abuses of power.

On the larger challenge of changing a pervasive culture of corruption, Nigerians should be encouraged to monitor and report corrupt acts. Civil service reform is critical to battling corruption in Nigeria. Public service officials like police, customs officials with immediate, day-to-day powers over the public need a living wage to reduce the temptation to behave dishonestly. Bonuses and better assignment in public service should be tied to honest work as part of the cleanup campaign.

It has been acknowledged that corruption is still at the heart of many of the most pressing problems in Nigeria. What is depressing is that we are all beginning to accept corruption’s ubiquity. Buhari’s government caricature on the so-called anti-corruption advances the idea that corruption is our way of life and is thus a natural phenomenon. Such is the deplorable state of corruption in Nigeria that for the first time majority of Nigerians are in agreement that this current caricature of fighting corruption can best be characterized as anti-anti-corruption.

In conclusion, Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade like others before him has been judged and found wanting. As we watch them lie again and defend the indefensible, our hearts stutters, our faces turn red, swollen with anger. Yet, we appear helpless, weak and powerless.

The important question on my mind therefore is: is Nigeria unimaginable without pervasive corruption?

You can email Churchill at churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @churchillnnobi.