For the past five years of President Muhammadu Buhari's
administration, I have dedicated my time and energy bringing to fore
grey areas his administration has rendered pathetic service to the
people. I have also consistently called out corrupt people in his
government. To be honest, I am really disappointed with Buhari's
government and Magu's case adds to it.
Democracy in Nigeria to me is like a merry-go-round - a running
around in circles where we repeat the same things to get the same
results. No Growth. No innovation. No Future. Since Buhari became
President in 2015, I will be a liar to say that we have transcended. It
has been the same old rusty road, blown around by the breeze of regret.
Repeating the same mistakes and learning nothing new from our failures.
Nigeria is blind, beggarly, and cursed. Things have gone from bad to
worse. This is 2020, we still don't have steady light. In 2018 alone,
over 20 million Nigerians were unemployed according to data by the
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Consider that with what we have
now. It must have tripled. We now have killer herdsmen and killer
bandits. Petrol at N143/litre. $1 is now N470. We are charged VAT for
renting a house, cars, food, calls, and almost everything. There is VAT
even to pay and withdraw your own money. It is hell in Nigeria. We buy
the same cars, computers, chairs, and many other things every year for
Buhari, his ministers, and the National Assembly. What happened to the
ones we bought the year before? There is change, but only the
politicians who live off our commonwealth, buying themselves different
cars and mansions every month enjoy the good part of that change. They
move around with the best of our police officers to protect them from
our filthy hands. They come once in a while to the villages riding
luxury cars and in the end, they fly back to Abuja, steal money meant
for projects turning our roads to death zones. I feel very bitter each
time knowing that we are stuck here with politicians who are willing to
enrich their pockets than work for the good of the masses.
So Sorry I digressed a bit.
Back to Magu.
I was a bit impressed by Magu's anti-corruption fight even though
it was selective. I had ceased from criticizing him after seeing the
manner he successfully prosecuted some notorious ex-governors, even to
the point of jailing them. He appeared to me like someone who came for
serious business. But while nailing the bad guys, he was unable to
account for the things he recovered from them. That was a bitter
turnoff.
I meticulously followed the drama birthed by his appointment and
the fallout between him and the 8th National Assembly. I had thought it
was a case of witch-hunting. It gave me serious concern. But, the
damning allegations brought against his person left me with nightmares
especially for the fact that the presidency as at that time dismissed it
as mere speculation instigated by his enemies to ridicule his person.
Now, the past has come to haunt him. One wonders if Buhari doubted
the report of the Department of State Security years back, accusing Magu
of graft and owning choice properties abroad, why is he acting now?
Inasmuch as I would like to see this as a wakeup call on the part of
Buhari, but something tells me this might be a powerplay between Magu
and Buhari's Attorney-General Abubakar Malami. I am not good at
conspiracy theories, so I will not go into details of the powerplay,
antagonism, and accusations of insubordination between the two.
Magu's case is symptomatic of Nigeria's many decades of systematic,
political, infrastructural, and educational decay that has left
political office holders usurping political offices for personal gain,
without an iota of accountability. These officeholders in their
desperate bid to confuse the citizens, regale us with unbelievable tales
of unspeakable vision to transform the nation.
When they get into
political positions, they treat us like lepers, make us their enemies,
ostracize and ridicule us while stuffing their pockets with our
treasures. Magu is not alone in this - we have hundreds of them in the
executive, legislative and judicial arms of government. Do you wonder
why a certain Nigerian judge will happily source to be given a 'lift' on
a plane? Tomorrow when we speak about the rot in the system, you wonder
why. When someone does you such a favour, do you think if you bring a
case against such an airplane owner before the 'honourable' judge that
you will get justice? The Nigerian system is a dung that corrupts even
the most upright of souls. It backs the rich while pissing on the poor.
It takes from the poor and gives to the rich. Corruption smells
everywhere you gaze. We have been invaded by men and women who lack
character, people who can sell their souls for money, acquiring enormous
wealth for generations unborn, evil-hearted, cold-blooded looters of
our common treasury.
The accusation that Magu re-looted public funds he recovered and
sold some off to his cronies is an embarrassment to the government. It
tells of a weak institution lacking checks and balances. A seasoned
culture of a total lack of accountability, oversight, and trust. It is a
disappointment on the part of the government that those they projected
as having impeccable character now make plans with the enemy to deprive
the masses of their rightful dues. How do you want the people to trust a
government that is represented by thieves? A government that has shown
its preference for harbouring rogues and dinning with dishonest
individuals. A government that loves appointing people with questionable
character into positions of authority.
Magu's downfall is a disaster for all of us. Who do we now trust?
Even Buhari can't be trusted. Now and again he fills our ears with news
of Boko Haram's defeat, yet daily our brothers and sisters are ambushed
by the terrorists and killed in gruesome fashion. His own appointees
flout laid down laws, break all protocol at state functions, bury their
dead in the company of mammoth crowd amid coronavirus pandemic while
celebrating the arrest of those who break the same rules they broke to
hold a house party. I know, they are special and above the law.
Something is really wrong with Nigeria. A country where the
commoners cannot get government jobs by merit. Slots are given out to
politicians and it is brought to public attention with no one feeling
disturbed. What do you call a country where ministers assign job slots
to politicians who in turn give out the jobs to the highest bidder, even
to their cronies, side chics, sugar mummies, sugar daddies, convicts,
robbers and all manner of persons at the detriment of those who merited
such positions? Such a country will birth incompetent and unqualified
folks who suck at their work. Greedy folks who demand bribes at every
checkpoint in town; religious warriors who can't allow you move freely
and legally at the airports without coercing you into giving them money;
folks who are ready to loot government fund at any given opportunity.
That is exactly what we have. That is your Nigeria.
Each day you wake up until you die, remember that Magu's downfall
is a reminder to all of us that our institutions are weak and the road
to a better Nigeria for our children is still very far. It reminds us of
our broken institutions, of a lack of accountability that has pervaded
the very core of our political existence. It is not Magu that has
fallen, it is Nigeria; it is our future.
Alexander Thandi Ubani writes from Lagos.
He's a journalist.
thandiubani@yahoo.com
Twitter: @thandiubani
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