15082018 - SARS: Osinbajo orders probe of abuses; IG rejigs squad

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2018 —17
VIRTUALLY every govern
ment in Nigeria was
overrun or infiltrated at one
point or the other by saboteurs:
Goodluck Jonathan himself famously
claimed his administration
had been infiltrated by
Boko Haram sponsors and
sympathisers. Government appointees
in Nigeria live large
and act out a script, sometimes
even without the knowledge
or endorsement of their principal.
They do the bidding of
other unseen actors and one
often wonders about the process
which enables or allows
so many strange characters to
occupy positions of responsibility.
How are leaders or appointees
really recruited by political
parties and doesn’t the security
clearance or vetting process
give insight into who
people really are? Very often,
nominees simply “take a bow”
and aren’t quizzed by lawmakers
prior to their confirmation:
this process ensures the political
class protects itself from
interrogation and those who
should be asking government
nominees tough questions on
behalf of the people they represent
refuse to do so realising
there are fingers pointing
back at them.
Therefore, many nefarious
characters get into government
and Nigerians defend
their activities, no matter how
dangerous. Nigeria’s corruption
machinery is so well oiled
that most citizens mistake what
happens in our country for the
norm. Everyone’s for sale and
dissenting voices can be silenced
through the strength of
a credit alert.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo
recently sacked the DG
DSS Lawal Daura following
the DSS’ illegal siege of the
National Assembly. Those
whose memories haven’t been
Olisah Metuh
Social media users furi
ously responded to pictures
of the PDP’s former Publicity
Secretary looking “hale
and hearty” at the Deputy Senate
President, Ike Ekweremadu’s
residence. His trial
was infamously stalled by his
alleged ill-health (scientists
must study this very interesting
propensity to fall ill once
one is tried for corruption in
Nigeria). Justice Abang, the
judge on this particular case
also reportedly wondered
about Mr. Metuh’s rather
‘convenient’ illness. The Deputy
Senate President whom the
EFCC alleges owns several
properties has also been asked
to explain how he came about
the money necessary for their
purchase. He fell ill soon after;
hopefully he hasn’t caught
Mr. Metuh’s spinal cord injury;
who knows how these
things are passed on.
Theatrics in the National Assembly:
Who is guilty of sabotage?
*DSS invasion of National Assembly
truncated by a desire to erase
or forgive all misdemeanors
based on partisanship and
strange loyalties to everyone
other than their country, will
remember the assault on the
National Assembly which reportedly
began during former
President Olusegun Obasanjo’s
tenure, during which governors
were allegedly impeached
and state houses of
assembly “induced” using various
means all with support
from very high up. So, the
Acting President’s statement
not just distancing government
from the DSS’ actions but condemning
them in earnest is a
relief. It is also a disappointment
for those who wanted to
convince Nigerians that President
Muhammadu Buhari
and his vice are cut from the
same cloth as they are. Swift
punishment for lawlessness
and sabotage is the only way
to restore public confidence in
government and to deal a
blow to those whose stock in
trade is to destroy everything
from the inside.
The truth is, Nigerians themselves
are oftentimes unknowingly
guilty of sabotage. We
have allowed so much to happen
to our country in the name
of accepting or defending our
“favourite” politicians’ right to
defraud us. Every illegality we
have supported will consume
us in the end unless we find
the moral courage not to view
life through the reductive
prism of ethno-religious bigotry
or sentiment and begin to
analyse the issues based on
fact and attempt to decipher for
ourselves what is real and
what is fake.
I have often said in this column
that a lack of education
and critical thinking in Nigeria
has played in favour of
politicians who know how to
manipulate Nigerians and
gain their support using flim-
sy arguments and flawed reasoning.
Most of us in this
country have Stockholm syndrome:
we love our abductors
and don’t even realise it. Although
the attack on NASS is
condemnable, it is interesting
how quickly #SaveOurDemocracy
trended. In a normal society,
NASS should be the symbol
of our democracy. But we
must ask ourselves how often
NASS, as presently constituted,
has acted in defense of
Nigerians.
Politicians in Nigeria are
quick to engineer situations
where they appear to be victims
and it is even easier to
do so using social media. For
Russia’s interference in the US
elections and, much closer
home, the Cambridge Analytica
scandal which showed
huge amounts, flouting our
campaign finance laws, were
allegedly spent by the Goodluck
Jonathan campaign to
influence perception of key
all its gifts and benefits, we
must also recognise the dangers
of social media which
even the Western world is
slowly waking up to, given
Senator Godswill Akpabio
THE former governor of
Akwa Ibom State surprised
many Nigerians by defecting
from the PDP and joining
the APC. Honourably, he
also resigned from his position
as Senate Minority Leader.
While the reasons for his defection
are still sketchy, he at
least had the moral courage to
resign, acknowledging the
fact that the position he occupied
belonged to his former
party. The apologists of bad
behaviour will come up with
some spin as to why this
shouldn’t apply to the Senate
President. Defections are unusual
in modern, mature democracies
where party politics
is based on ideology rather
than personal relationships;
but baby steps in the right direction,
for the sake of honesty,
shouldn’t be ignored. A
younger or newer generation
of politicians must at some
NASS should be
the symbol of our
democracy; but we
must ask ourselves
how often NASS, as
presently constituted,
has acted in
defense of
Nigerians
point have the courage to reform
party politics and to review
party membership based
on ideas rather than regional
or electoral calculations.
members of the APC and paint
them in a bad light.
In Nigeria, yesterday’s villains
become today’s heroes
and we love nothing more, it
seems, than to watch them escape
prosecution or use our
gullibility to manipulate situations
to their benefit; ironically,
only assaults on the “freedoms”
of politicians are taken
seriously, no one is moved by
violence when it affects ordinary
Nigerians. Those who
pretend to be offended because
our “political favourites”
are being “mistreated” (meaning
investigated) but saw
nothing wrong with the decade
long weaponisation of
poverty and religion which led
to the violent crises brewing
today across the nation, are
the real enemies of democracy
because democracy to them
isn’t about equality in front of
the law, nor is it about social
justice, it is merely another
system of operation whose
rules can be broken and rewritten
endlessly. From Generals
to “royal fathers”, to legislators,
the list of those angry
at Buhari is often comprised
of those who simply aren’t
getting their way.
If one reads between the
lines, one sees a system which
captures state resources, funds
violence, chaos and instability
and feeds Nigerians the
deluded view that poverty is
the natural order of things
despite this country’s abundant
resources. The amusing
#NeverBelieveOBJ call on
social media is proof Nigerians
are slowly awakening from
their slumber: Nigeria is no
one’s property, so no one’s
voice or beliefs are to be accepted
unquestioningly. People
are beginning to see
through the empty realignments
and defections which
are not done in the interests
of Nigerians.
Interestingly, President Buhari’s
attempts at being a democrat
by refusing to throw his
weight behind a particular
candidate for Senate President,
has cost him dearly, as
NASS might as well have been
led by a member of the opposition.
Every time the President
tried to follow the rules,
he was punished for doing so
because those who are resisting
the fight against corruption
and government reform
(for obvious reasons) have no
such qualms. No one can reform
Nigeria without Nigerians.
There is as of yet no real
movement emanating from
Nigerians themselves (I don’t
mean dubious political support
groups which exist to extort
money from politicians) to
push for real progress. Without
true grassroot mobilisation
in favour of change through
specific action points, politicians
will fight each other to
protect their personal
interests(to our detriment),
confident in the knowledge
that Nigerians never react.
Tabia Princewill is a
strategic communications
consultant and public policy
analyst. She is also the co-host
and executive producer of a
talk show, WALK THE TALK
which airs on Channels TV.