By Adeola Aderounmu

The arrest of James Ibori is a step forward in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. Corruption is the biggest obstacle to our development. Along with corruption is greed which leaves us with a combined vicious unit responsible for several retrogressive inclinations on which our society precariously rest upon. Once again, panic would have been running in the minds of those who have been stealing our money in Nigeria and those who are stealing at this moment. They know that they could be called upon when the smelly veil of immunity over their heads is gone.

Beyond this however, honest Nigerians want to see the successful prosecution of the likes of Ibori. We want them to answer and fully too to the crimes that they have comitted against their fellow humans who they subjected to abject poverty and penury by their reckless attitudes. In the course of the looting of our common treasury and neglecting the call of duties and the service to humanity, Ibori and others sent many people to their early graves through accidents, hunger and preventable calamities. Being granted a bail should not be the end of a trial! Honest Nigerians want to see that justice is done in the end.

I keep emphasizing honest Nigerian because it is so clear to me now that honesty is a rare human trait in Nigeria. I am so amazed how people have started aligning themselves to certain heroes in Nigeria in recent commentaries. To some, Babangida is a hero, to others Obasanjo is the hero. Atiku is a hero to some Nigerians; Orji Uzor Kalu is a mentor to many even to some Nigerians in the diaspora. Morerice Iwu must have his followership too by now. Many people will regard Anenih as their own hero while Tinubu must feel elated among the area boys of Nigeria. The likes of Bode George are heroes to many people as well. People have come to the public to tell us that Andy Uba is their hero and paymaster. This list of Nigerian heroes cannot be exhausted in this piece but if we don’t stop this parade of hungry journalism one day soon a Nigerian will go to CNN and tell the world that in Nigeria, shit is pizza. I am stunned!

Then, I return to EFCC. My appeal to EFCC is to make sure that the music which started to play again yesterday (on the 12th day of Christmas month) should be a non-stop music. Dust your record plates and pick up all those files. Look thoroughly once again and never stop this music. Honest Nigerians are behind you as you make this historic cleansing of Nigeria a task that must be done. You know the names of our heroes; please do all you can to award them the investigation and prosecution that they deserve.

On the 12th day of December 2009, I want to be the first to declare Nigeria a corrupt free society. I long for that day so much. My conviction is that this is possible if the music is not interrupted by you and your detractors. If the record cracks, please buy a new one. If the files get dirty, please clean them. Let this be the beginning of the end for those who have been looting our common wealth. Fear not! Honest Nigerians are with you.

The Coalition against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) came to your office recently in broad day light to make a very humble request. They wanted you to arrest and investigate Obasanjo. I don’t think they are asking too much. It sounds like a tall order but it is within the scope of your obligations. CACOL gave you a description of the man Aremu so that you are not mistaken about who they are talking about. Please play the music to Ota. Honest Nigerians are behind you. I mean those Nigerians who are not paid to write on who should be investigated and who should not be talked about of the pages of newspaper and web pages. I mean those Nigerians who worked for 35 years but whose pension were swallowed by certain greedy and heartless fellows.
EFCC, I am one of those who have called you a toothless bulldog and I will do that again if this music stops without bringing all the conspicuous thieves and looters in Nigerian unto the dancing floor. They must dance! Play the music louder. Let it be heard in Lagos, in Minna (where IBB lives), in Port Harcourt, in Katsina, in Maiduguri, in Yobe. Let it spread to the mountains, and let it penetrate into the valleys. Those who have no immunity should have no hiding place. Let us see the face of those who betrayed our children by spreading darkness and hopelessness mightily.

You have to re-open the files of all those who are now on bail and those whom you gave undesired leave after plea bargaining. The bargain is not enough. It is good that they return part of the money BUT we want ALL of it and we want them to be punished for the crimes that they have committed. Let the law take its full course on every man! We want to set permanent examples to upcoming looters and sycophants. There is no better time than now. Let us end corruption or bring it to the least possible level so that we can have economic growth, sound development and solid foundation for the building of a deserved future that our children can benefit from. Let us forget about ourselves for once and do all we do in the name of those who are coming after now. A nation always belongs to the future that is coming to inherit it. Let this man Ibori not go back to the streets parading and celebrating that his enemies were after him!

Spread and extend your dragnet and Don’t stop the music please! Honest Nigerians are with you!

By Adeola Aderounmu.

John sat down at the waiting hall of Charles de Gaulle International Airport to take a rest. His breathe had become shorter and shorter but his heart slows down. He fell into a slumber. He never woke up again! I remembered my plight at this same beautiful airport two years earlier and before the famous collapse of some parts of it. I was stranded having missed my connecting flight to Lagos but the airline took the responsibility for my expected situation by lodging me at Sofitel. How could I have missed the clumsiness of the ticket booking that I was offered by my sponsor? I was not expected to be able to make the connection. It was a marketing strategy for Air France. Not only did John not make the connection to Sweden or to wherever he was heading, he died waiting. Of course the circumstances are different and I don’t know the airline he flew with.

The first time John left Nigeria was in 1989, the same year that I left high school. He bought a fake Syrian visa at Oluwole for 3000 naira but it was not detected at MMA (maybe he bribed the officials). Terrorism had not become a major threat in 1989 so I wasn’t surprised that the fake visa was undetected by the airport officials of the foreign countries he passed through. In 1989, who would have cared what you are about to do with your life if you were heading to that part the world? When he told me that he worked and earned decent living in Lebanon, Syria and later Hungary, the only thing that came to my mind was one of my history lessons in 1987. My history teacher taught me many things some of which I thought were very funny including how a cripple won a (revenge) war in one of the old empires. He taught me Wolof-Jolof story which I thought was the origin of Jollof rice. What caught my attention most was when Mr. Osuoyah told us that some people in some parts of the world in 1986/87 were seeking permission to eat humans. They were running out of rodents! So, for John to tell me in 2003 that he was in that part of the world making money in 1989 or 1990 was a huge surprise to me. Was my history teacher lying, now 20 years ago?

John was a little shy of 40 years of age when he passed on to a place where no one has ever returned from. Osaze who barely knew John told me that they must have followed him from home; they killed that boy from Africa, he said. When Mike broke the news to me, he pretended (typically Nigerian abroad) not to know the John that had been rumored dead. How many Johns did Mike knew in small or greater Stockholm? For the next few hours as the news filtered in from more angles and the image of the John became clearer, the most significant hypothesis was that if a man was coming from Nigeria and died in France en route to Sweden, they must have followed him from home.

Truth is constant, not only does it not change, the taste also persists. It is bitter. This was a young man who transverse the Middle East and Eastern Europe for more than 12 years before finally entering Sweden. If he went back home during those years, the society would have deemed him a failure because in his eyes and according to many of us, he would not have met the expectations of the people. A stroke of fate brought some luck; John got married and eventually settled to life in Europe. He could now go home or even visit the UK if he so desired. It seems that many people are keen and desperate on financial success as a substitute for a life of contentment. Doing menial jobs or working normal jobs 8 hours a day does not appeal to business minded individuals of all races. Even non-business minded Africans are also in a hurry to accumulate wealth and impress people at home. Eight hours a day job is almost abominable to persons on the fast lane.

We have had some friends we will never see again. We have friends that we will never know what became of their desperate and undesirable exploits. They just disappeared into thin air! We have friends who we have dined with but never really knew what they had under the table cloths. As a matter of fact, we have brothers and sisters we wished we could talk over to the patient side of life. Yes, that side that bears pains and trials. John, Femi and I visited an Irish pub in Stockholm 2 weeks before he went to Nigeria. We drank though it was a cold afternoon. You can’t wish for too much sunlight in Sweden. John’s wallet was fat enough to sponsor the drinks on that day and he was not happy that Femi wouldn’t drink blaming his Asthma for it. As usual, we talked about our struggles and our concerns for the future. In our minds it was imperative that we took the harvest home, to Nigeria. I had no inkling that John had been in and out of the country on several occasions often to Nigeria and back or that he was even planning a trip home soon. He did not even mention it this autumn afternoon as he had his last sip with Femi and me. But I knew he always talked about living in Holland again.

I called Femi and told him the bad news coming from Charles de Gaulle and he couldn’t believe his ears. Femi had only been in Sweden for 2 months and he had the privilege to meet John just that one time through me before his last misadventure. After months of speculations and guessing, the truth gradually filtered in on why John sat, slept and never stood or woke up again. It was not the carelessness of the Airport officials. People can take naps at the airport while waiting. It was not fatigue per se and it was not due to anything like they followed him from home . John had swallowed wraps of cocaine and the thing had backfired. Who will complete the houses that John started? Who will John impress with his wealth or anticipated riches now that he is gone?

There are many questions. So, when I keep reading about people swallowing stuffs and been caught at various destinations worldwide, I imagine but I cannot comprehend the risk. Is it really worth it? No one would ever believe that it was their turn for misadventure. A person who is not caught can die anytime from ill luck. Isn’t that scary enough? Oh well, we mourned and buried our friend. Every time we gathered for one event or the other or just basking in the rare summer heat, we always remember John. He was a funny guy and he said many things that made us laugh. But we have moved on with our individual lives. John’s wife too had since moved on with her life. Wetin concern oyinbo?

Dedicated to John. May the soul of the departed rest in peace.

Adeola Aderounmu

If we don’t do away with Iwu in our public arena and let him be HEARD NO MORE, someone will wake up tomorrow to tell us that Iwu is a hero. At that time, the likes of Babangida, Obasanjo and Atiku would have become saints and ordinary Nigerians would have been totally converted to their footstools. Iwu must go now!

Nigerians should not get tired of reading about one man or one incident day in day out. It is imperative that all of us who feel genuinely concerned should continue to echo our thoughts and actions where necessary until we rid our society of evil and atrocities. Mr. More-rice Iwu is one man we must continue to elaborate on until he is gone. He MUST go! He was quoted immensely by a recent report (10th Dec 2007) in This Day Newspaper

He stated that the conduct of the elections was far better than the June 12, 1993 election which is generally regarded as the freest and fairest in the history of Nigeria. Apart from confirmed madness, I tried in vain to find any other rational reason why any entity would make this kind of reckless and thoughtless statement. Would any sane person compare the worst election in human history with the best election ever held in Nigerian since 1959?

Iwu went further: Nigeria was able to transit from one civilian regime to another for the first time in the history of the country. This is a very, very useless line of argument. What is the value of a history that promotes shame, ridicule, lawlessness and executive madness? The significance of any election is not in the transfer of power; it is in the meaning that it adds to life. The significance also lies in the realization of the wish of the people, the need for a proper and appropriate change where necessary and the hope for a greater tomorrow. I will repeat that the 2007 selections in Nigeria were nothing short of a farce. It is a slap on the face of the intelligent minds that abound in Nigeria and those abroad.

Nigeria is fond of setting bad examples to other African countries and it is a big shame. It appears to me that Nigeria has not made any progress democratically despite the mistakes and shortcomings of the past. We repeat history and never learn from them. It was very stupid of us all as Nigerians to accept the outcome of the useless 2007 selections in the name of civilian to civilian transition. After the 29th of May 2007, we still couldn’t bundle into jails all those who squandered our future. I am really disappointed that people like Obasanjo and Iwu and the others who have contributed to the demeaning of Nigeria are not investigated or placed on trial. We need to take control of our lives, our destinies and our future. It must start from someone, from somewhere. Yet it seems that we are wasting this opportunity which is still very fresh.

The INEC chief said in spite of the odds against the smooth conduct of the 2007 general elections, INEC was able to organize free and fair elections that produced winners from state assemblies to the office of the president. This is a classical example of what Fela termed “Animal talk don start again, hear o another animal talk”. I feel so enraged each time I read comments from Iwu. Who do I blame? I blame a system where people worship idiots like him. This is a man that should by now be facing the full wrath of the law. Where is due process and where is the so called ruse of law? Where are our investigative police and judiciary in all of these messes? AG nko?

The jargons that keep coming from Iwu went on: “It was a sad moment to say that 2007 elections was the worst elections when we knew what was happening in other parts of the world.” What does this mean? Which other parts of the world? Is it Sierra Leone that just emerged from a civil war and yet managed to conduct more credible elections? Is it France that conducted their elections a few weeks after the scandal in Nigeria? Is it South Africa from where he imported electoral materials days after the pre-prepared results have emerged? Is it Ghana that had been reaping the dividends of democracy such that Nigerians are now relocating to Ghana? Which other parts of the world was Iwu talking about? Why do we even have to look at any other part of the world? We are talking about madness and lawlessness in Nigeria and he wants us to look for greater madness to see how blessed we are.

At a public forum last week, Iwu mentioned that politicians wanted coup in April 2007. What a cheap blackmail? Which coup in the history of man will ever surpass the one masterminded by Obasanjo and executed by Iwu himself? Why have we done this to ourselves in Nigeria or why are we permitting this kind of persistent shame? Are we normal in Nigeria? Is this what it means that Africans are less intelligent? I don’t know what more to ask. Really it is very annoying and frustrating. I mean we went to school in Nigeria and we knew how intelligent our teachers and lecturers are. So, why do we get all these nonsense from those parading our public life? It is hard to understand but if this is what the outside world will hear in order to judge us, then where is the intelligence? Where is the non-fraudulent mind if one of it exists in Nigeria public arena? Help me!

Just when I thought I have read all the nonsense that Iwu had to say, he dropped another line of lunaticism. He said:

“The 2007 elections we agreed were not perfect, it was a human undertaking. It won’t have been perfect. But I still maintain to the annoyance of some people that the 2007 elections were free and fair.” Yes Mr. More-rice Iwu, I am seriously annoyed and if I was a lawyer, I would dedicate the rest of my life to your prosecution until it shall comes to pass. Free and fair? Is this man normal? Iwu said that he is resolute in actualizing his missions of reforming the country’s electoral reforms, in line with what was obtainable in other developed countries. This is ridiculous.

That takes me to Yar Adua who has been talking about electoral reform. Is it the same reform that Iwu is referring to? Is the anticipated electoral reform Yar Adua’s project or Iwu’s mission? Iwu’s mission remains evil in nature and will never achieve any good or positive results. He will only end up setting more tasks for the judiciary who will continue to annul and rule in favour of re-election or resuscitation of proper candidates. That will also plunge Nigeria into deeper crises. Similarly, if the power to appoint the chairman of INEC still resides with the presidency, then it looks like Umaru is going to leave Iwu to continue with the imaginary reforms he has been talking about. It would be a nice way to pay back Iwu who presented the certificate of office to Umaru when everyone was still shouting foul play. Anyhow, Umaru Yar Adua lacks the foundation to orchestrate an electoral reform as the battle for the soul of the presidency remains undecided. So, Iwu’s reform or Yar Adua’s reform, Nigerians loose either way. What a tragedy!

When Iwu mentioned that … when we knew what was happening in other parts of the world and then…… in line with what was obtainable in other developed countries. I knew for sure that he was absent minded. This is a man who said that we should be happy with our election by comparing it to other parts of the world and at the same forum saying that he wants to make electoral reforms that would compared to what is obtainable in other developed countries. So, the developed countries are in another planet or what? Truth is constant, it is not malleable. Inconsistency and heresy are clear symptoms of a die-hard liar. Iwu is a hardcore liar!

What are the terms governing the operations of INEC? Can the National Assembly do something about it? Apart from an unwillingly and a slow presidency, who else can we turn to for the removal of this cankerworm called Iwu? What about the Integrity Group? This man MUST go! The removal of Iwu is one of the steps we must take to move Nigeria forward. Let us rise up against all the evils in our society and their platforms.

If we don’t probe and try the previous and serving administrations and their key players, we will be taking steps that will only reveal that we are not destined for greatness. We need to stop thieves and deceivers like Iwu in high and low places and put everybody on alert for national revamping. Making Nigeria great is not going to be a day’s job. It will be a collective duty on virtually on frontiers of our lives. But Nigeria will never be great if we don’t resolve to take the first step. Many more generations will be wasted and people will continue to wallow in poverty despite the wealth of the nation. My heart has been bleeding for Nigeria, a rich country where values are not placed on human existence but which instead has become a place for the glorification of sycophants.

Let us not coat evil with honey. Nigeria must do away with Iwu, he is the resident evil, the remnant of the 2 dream killers who disenfranchised 140m people in a world record scandal and farce called election in April 2007. Let us continue to make all the sincere and necessary inputs that are needed to salvage Nigeria even if we have to do that a million times on the same issue. We are living with many evils in Nigeria, from Babangida to Obasanjo, and the rest of them. One of these evils is very much at large and for as long as he remains relevant and influential in the order of things in Nigeria, this country will know no peace and the disappearance of the entity called Nigeria can be catalytically enhanced by such a fellow. If Iwu remains in charge of elections or electoral reforms, Nigeria’s doom day is surely at hand.


He MUST GO NOW!

Adeola Aderounmu

The < Nigerian Light House ) will join in the marking of the UN Anticorruption day.
Now, this is a delicate issue…..yes it is.
How sincere is the UN in the establishment of this campaign? That question should be a BIG debate in the public arena considering all the injustices going on around the world which bother on corruption. But I’ll leave that, it’s global, it’s huge.

How should anti-corruption campaign be marked in Nigeria?
Nigerians (as in the civil society) should mark this day on Dec 9 and on other days probably the last Friday of every month!!!

Yes it is that necessary for Nigeria. I will not speak for Bangladesh, Haiti or any other country. I speak on behalf of my country only where possibly 90m people will sleep tonight without the security of waking up to a breakfast.

Our Politicians are so corrupt and selfish that I think a sustained mass action has become imperative so that corrupt people like Babangida, Ibori, Obasanjo and Odili among other should be made to answer for their corrupt practices.

If Nigerians stay away from work every last Friday of the month demanding on each occasion the investigation or prosecution of one or two corrupt politicians, I think in 5 years time, we would have succeeded by a gradual process to put the guilty ones in jail.

The eventual investigation, prosecution and sentencing of corrupt leaders will serve as a deterrent for others who are going into politics to steal and loot. The effect will also be felt in public service as everyone will now know that their ineptitudes and corruption are no longer tolerated.

GRADUALLY, sanity will return to Nigeria and by 2011 we will be able to conduct a more credible election as the riggers and cheaters in the past would have been drilled or perhaps serving jail terms for crimes against humanity.

So, DEC 9, just one day out of life is not going to have any effect in Nigeria. Corruption in Nigeria (and in other places no doubt) is a very BIG UGLY MONSTER.
My proposal is a signal to the Labour Unions and Agents of Democracy in Nigeria. Let us talk, let’s have a plan. Call people out every Friday and have a peaceful plan of how to send the message across board.

Dec 9 may be investigate/prosecute Ibori day for example. We’ll keep on with that before we move on to the next person. Dec 16 can be prosecute/investigate Obasanjo day and so on.

A non-useless government will not want the citizens out every Friday, it would quickly round up all the sacred cows before the country becomes ungovernable.

Someone may be whispering that it is better said when some of us are abroad but the CACOL-Corruption against Corrupt Leaders- I am sure is based in Nigeria and believe me, some of us abroad can carry placards and do one man demonstration if possible. It will not be that bad, we will support you from here. We will march to Nigerian embassies here every time you call for a mass action.

We have done it before, Nigerians at home and abroad under the umbrella of Concerned Nigerians Worldwide (an offshoot of the Nigerian Village Square ) have succeeded before in conducting a global protest on the same day worldwide. Who says that cannot be repeated in the fight against corruption? Let’s borrow the slogan from NIKE, Impossible is Nothing!

Nigeria, may your Glory come!

By Adeola Aderounmu.

You have read about this several times, I know. Writers, critics and the civil society have proffered solutions too BUT nothing or very little has changed. Nigeria is still corrupt! Counter critics say that they are tired of reading our problems, they want solutions. What kinds of solution do we want to proffer again?

It seems to me that the best way to keep our unreliable and unelected politicians in shape is to continuously remind them of their grave and unacceptable shortcomings and that millions of Nigeria are still very are angry, hungry and unhappy with the way things are being handled.

These public administrators and officials are present in all levels of the government and so is corruption. Public administration is supposed to be about service to the citizens of the country, some of the many careers in this field are explained on this public administration degree site. If the officials that serve and communicate with the public are corrupt, what hope is there for the government and country as a whole? Indeed, corruption is a worldwide phenomenon and no country in the world is free from it but it varies in degree and intensity. It also varies on its impacts on the general population.

Many Nigerians observe foreign news with keen attention and they try to discern the truths from fallacies. Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries in the world is a popular expression that one comes by anytime one reads or listens to news about Nigeria in the western press. That Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries in the world is actually a fallacy. The correct comment is that Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world. Else, what have been the effects of anticorruption crusade in Nigeria since the veil of immunity left the last sets of looters? By the way, one patriotic Nigerian, not Oprah, wrote recently in the Punch newspaper that
All Nigerians are corrupt How about that?

The only solution to eradicating or minimizing corruption in Nigeria is to punish ALL living and serving offenders. For more than 47 years now it has been difficult to prosecute quite reasonably well any of the key players who have aided the demeaning of Nigeria. From the first republic to the fourth or fifth and through all the reigns of absolute dictatorship and tyranny, only on one or two occasions were allegedly corrupt politicians hypocritically sent to jail en-mass. But what the military did immediately after those pretentious acts was absolutely way of it-they looted and milk the country to dryness. Eventually, corruption became not only organized and institutionalized but also an acceptable was of life. Our fellow NIGERIAN Chukwudi, in a recent post, gave a chronological account of corruption in Nigeria

If a country is credited with the worst election in human history, it can only be possible if that country is the most corrupt in the world. Otherwise, how do you categorize, in the absence of any election, the occupation of thousands of political offices from the level of ineffectual local government chairmen to that of a power-drunk presidency across a landscape of over 900 000 km sq?. I don’t think any country in the world (today) is competing with Nigeria at this level of charade, scandal, idiocy and shamelessness. Nigeria is a remarkable country thriving on a dirty home grown version of conventional democracy.

I have been to a number of places and countries in the last 6 years of my life and at no time have I followed global news than this period of my life. I have never seen any country in the world where the anticorruption agencies do so very little while making so much noise. I have never seen anywhere in my life where a self-styled so called chief law enforcer in any country apply the rule or ruse of law to the detriment of the society at large. I have never seen where such a fellow uses unnecessary delay tactics or abnormal protocols to obstruct or deny due justice. The Attorney General of Nigeria enjoys more popularity than all Nigerian politicians together including the lukewarm president for the wrong reasons .

Nigeria is one of the very few countries in the world where a politician can steal or loot more than 20 billion dollars and walk free and the only place where such a looter can be a presenter or key speaker at a function organized by Nigerian writers. That will definitely confirm the allegations that many Nigerian writers are indirectly busy writing for or on behalf of corrupt politicians and looters who are directly killing the citizenry slowly and steadily. Conscience remains the greatest judge of all time. Nigeria is the only country in the world where state governors will build or buy several houses abroad while leaving no trace of housing foundations in their own domains in Nigeria. I have never seen (in my entire life) where a mayor for example develops a foreign country while the local citizens suffer. Our politicians are remarkable. England does not have to
worry or fear. after failing to reach the EURO 2008 finals. We will send ONLY one of our governors to pump 2 billion pounds into their economy. Chicken change!

England’s economy is being taunted by the fear of parting with a paltry sum of 2 million pounds in 2008 only. Very interesting! Does anyone know how much Nigerian politicians loot monthly while we are pursuing mirage of economic rejuvenations? If Sweden is looted a quarter of the same way as Nigeria, all the 9 million inhabitants will be penniless and the world acclaimed social system will suffer a fatal fate. A Swedish lady visited Nigerian during the Tafa saga. Today, she is yet to recover from the shock of that mild but shameful revelation about the looting police boss. If anyone tells her how much some key looters have stolen in Nigeria, she will suffer a heart attack, instantly. Paradoxically, Nigeria is one of the few countries in the world where politicians will be mocked if they didn’t become rich while serving . .

A typical Nigerian is corrupt and highly opportunistic. It is a reflection of the rot and decadence of governance that has always lacked probity and accountability. If we have done appropriate justice (as the solution in this case) to all previous looters and thieves, perhaps this mentality would have been eroded for long. But we have not and we are still not carrying justice appropriately, so the mentality that I must steal, loot and plunder remains inherent and lingers.

There is no point writing forever about what you already know. We conducted the worst election of all time, we glorify politicians who steal from us and we therefore encourage armed robbers in their own evil ways. We paid assassins as little as 10 000 naira to take invaluable lives. For every little misdeed we propagate in our professional or occupational endeavors, we add to the pile of rubbish created by the greedy politicians and looters. Indeed for every unpunished corrupt politician, millions of souls are sent to everlasting penury in Nigeria. Millions of people have lived and died in Nigeria knowing nothing but poverty! Additionally, corruption in Nigeria has taken a new dimension. After years of speculations, foreigners are now finally confirmed as part and parcel of the menace in Nigeria. The corrupt SIEMENS have rekindled the burning flame of corruption in Nigeria. So is the involvement of unnamed SHELL workers in the celebrated WILLBROS scandal. Nigerians are waiting anxiously to know the names of the foreigners who are helping to propagate corruption in our land. They must be named too!

Truth does not change, it remains bitter! In my own very personal opinion, Nigeria is the most fertile country for corruption to thrive. The consequences are numerous including the 60-90 million people/family that will groan today while surviving on less than 1 dollar for the next 24 hours. But Nigerians are still happy people no doubts, having reasons to celebrate sports, arts, banks, western union, American thanksgiving, religions, births and deaths among other things. All these show that we still have hopes but with handicaps like EFCC and the office of the attorney general and a tepid illegal presidency, help is not near, it’s not even in sight. Hoping is not enough; we need to do something to actualize all the solutions overflooding in the books! How can we go about this?

______________________________________

Are you in doubt if Nigeria is the most corrupt country or do you think my views are unpatriotic? Then please give me the answers to the following question

Just a few questions….and maybe I’m wrong with the headline.   

1.       Which country is credited with the WORST Selection in human history?

 2.       How many countries in the world are political offices occupied over an area of 900 000 km sq. without any election?

3.       Regarding question 2, what other phenomenon apart from corruption (or is more important than corruption) that can aid such a hopeless possibility?

4.       Name another country in the world where someone stole more than 20 million dollars and still had the gut to seek re-election WITHOUT having answered in any way whatsoever for past misdeeds (which also include murder of innocent citizens among which is a reputable journalist)?

5.       Name 2 countries in the world that the anticorruption agencies go global to make noise while doing little or nothing at all?

6.       Name 2 countries in the world where the AGs are openly known worldwide for delaying (under the guise of ruse of law) investigation and prosecution of looters?

7.       Name one other country in the world apart from Nigeria where the AG is an open enemy of the Financial Crime Commission and yet became the AG particularly for that reason in the first place?

8.       Name one country in the world where the former minister of transport had the worst road leading from the business capital to his hometown?

9.       Name one other country in the world that has failed over a period of half a century to successfully prosecute a handful of looters (and the looters have not been on exile)?

10.   Name 2 countries in the world where plea bargaining is an alternative to prosecution?

11.   In which country is one man stronger and more powerful than 150m others put together?

12.   In which country in the world can 150m people be disenfranchised without stress?

13.   Regarding number 11 and 12, if not corruption (what is the source of this anomaly or the man’s power)?

14.   Regarding 11-13, the 2 men openly known to have brought about number 12 are still alive, name 2 countries where such men can be walking free on the streets without facing justice?

15.   If not corruption, why should they be free men? What other phenomenon could be responsible for their freedom?