By Adeola Aderounmu

What would make the ruler of Nigeria pardons a criminal and an ex-convict? The answer can lie in the fact that they are birds of the same feather. In Nigeria criminals are in power and the world knows it.

Nigerians know it and they think it is fine and like I always write, they assume that we will all become looters once we are in power. This anomalous mentality will be hard to erode under the insane system of governance in Nigeria.

In my book, The Entrapment of a Nation, I wrote about the monies looted by Alams. He is a pure criminal and as the governor of Bayelsa State, he looted and stole so much that it took the British government to put him on trial. He jumped bail in the UK disguising himself as a woman. He is a thief who has no shame.

In Nigeria, the more you steal the less likely you’ll be probed or prosecuted. Nigerian politicians are criminals and the judiciary is a mockery of the law system.

The police is simply a disgrace to say the least.

So you have a ruler named Jonathan who woke up one morning, gradually finding himself a lonely man, and decided to pardon a criminal because he’s probably thinking of his survival strategies for the 2015 elections.

This is 2013 and two years after his selection into power, this man remains a complete embarrassment to the black race.

Yet he finds himself able enough to start en early survival strategy for 2015. His former partner in crime came to mind and he thought the pardon would be a joker. It could be. In Nigeria madmen are in power and they don’t care a dime about your points of view or sane opinion. For them all that counts is how much they steal and how rich they get.

These people don’t know the meaning of life. They have no idea about the values and virtues of the human existence. For them life is about acquisition of material possession and monetary and wealth. That would be fine if it is done legitimately and it would be a matter of the choice they make.

But when the acquisition is from public funds and from a commonwealth such that over 100m people live below poverty level and several other millions living desperately daily unsure of the next meal, then it beat common sense how Nigerians reason.

That Nigerians have not revolted and violently overthrown the government is an aberration and I am as guilty as the next person. I am not even in Nigeria, how can I influence the change that I want down there?

But perhaps there are more subtle ways to change the government and the order of things. What about vigorous campaigns to decentralize power so that as a man from western Nigeria, I can influence how things are done in my region and how we manage our resources in western Nigeria? That for me is a better option to a violent overthrown of the useless democracy in Nigeria.

More than ever before my anger is towards the removal of the Jonathan government so that he does not stay one day longer in the office he has so enjoyed to ridicule. This man has shown that he is a criminal and that is why he can pardon his partner in crime. People should not forget that while Diepreye Alamiyeseigha was looting, Jonathan was doing the same as the deputy governor and later as the governor.

Is anyone surprised why the Niger Delta remained underdeveloped? Niger Delta is probably the richest zone in African but some of the world’s poorest people live there. These brothers in crime: Goodluck Jonathan, Alamiyeseigha and James Ibori are parts of the problems.

So the end is not in sight for the deliverance of the Niger Delta. For as long as their rulers and representatives remain criminals, the people will continue to suffer. This sad scenario is true for the entire region called Nigeria.

The country sits largely on different types of minerals and resources and has an overflowing abundance of human resources to tally, but waste and recklessness are the orders of the day. Nigeria is like a global waste in itself.

When criminals, looters and those who destroyed Nigeria enjoy pardon and make merry at the expense of 150m people then all hope is lost!