PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has done what his predecessors could not do: show Nigeria how rich he is. His earthly possessions are not too shabby, frank­ly. More importantly, Nigerians see evi­dence of honesty. Even Dr. Tai Solarin and Mallam Aminu Kano, two men who were hard to please while they lived, would have approved.

Those of us who refused to vote for him are feeling slightly relieved. Buhari’s occasional temptation to relapse into 1984, though up­setting, hasn’t become a big issue. He is en­titled to the conventional honeymoon. But I am inclined to believe Prof. Ben Nwabueze that the President, who is more accustomed to personal rule, postponed the appointment of his cabinet not because he could not find the “Buhari angels” but to postpone as much as possible the nuisance of having to share governance with ministers.

Another hope is that the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, now facing charges for illegal arms possession, will soon have his day in court. The earlier the better.

Standing with the President in the assets declaration move is, of course, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, a good man who might not make heaven, given all that cash. The Senator from Kaduna State, Ya­hya Sani, stands with the duo. In the com­ing days the hope is that there would be a deluge of men and women itching to show Nigerians how rich they are and how honest they intend to be, which would then signal a national rebirth.

The governing All Progressives Congress (APC) must be quick to get everyone into publicly declaring their assets, beginning with the public officers like governors, sena­tors, members of the House of Representa­tives all the way down to the local govern­ment councilors. Party officials must also demonstrate their commitment to the ideals of the party by also publicly declaring their assets.

The fight against corruption being one of the three planks on which the party was elected, time has come to demonstrate the commitment of the party. The APC has to lead by example, as the President has done. Any show of hesitation on its part will be fatal to the entire campaign. The country is ready and willing. It is waiting for leadership.

The President’s assets declaration is noth­ing but a down payment. If the party rises to the occasion and corrals everyone, the Presi­dent’s job will be easier. If there are hold-outs, he may have to do some lifting. Resis­tance to probity is a multi-party affliction. It may be worse in the National Assembly where an overwhelming number thinks the place is for easy wealth, the power of the purse granted by the Constitution, to them, is license for legalized treasury looting.

The fight against corruption in Nige­ria necessarily has to be a national move­ment. It must aim at 99 per cent mobiliza­tion or it will fail. And if it fails, that’s a national failure, and there’ll be hell to pay.

The chances of failure are too high. There are just too many rackets in Nigeria. How wouldn’t it be? This is a nation custom-made for “agberos” whose philosophy is ‘Wealth without work.’ Agbero at the airport, agbero at the seaport; agbero at the Senate, agbero at the House, agbero at the alkali court, agbero at the Appeal Court, agbero at the native court, agbero everywhere. It is distinctly Nigerian unknown in other climes.

Wealth without work happens as norm. Every bus stop in Lagos there is a racket. Government officials see it and look away and sometimes they are also in the take. Every intersection, every market, every licensing office, every health center, every military or police checkpoint, vehicle inspection officers and the Federal Road Safety Corps, to say nothing about Customs and Immigration posts.

Every filling station, every gas outlet, every local government office, tax offices, every ministerial confirmation, every over­sight hearing or investigation, to see a gover­nor or minister or commissioner or anyone that it someone.

Those who wish to join in an effort to re­form the system should simply declare their assets publicly. Those who t urn the issue into a political football should know that the country would also know that they want the rot to continue. It is a choice.

The report that the anti-corruption panel is deadlocked on certain issues is a good sign. It means there is a debate on modus operandi and if history is a good judge, the panel will eventually get it right. But trials are good for newspapers, good for TV, for publicity. But the least corrupt places on earth, Malaysia, Singapore, the Scandina­vian countries, are not so because they have less greedy citizens, less materialistic peo­ple. There is no proof of that. What is prov­able is that in the less corrupt nations, they have barricaded all or most of the sources of bribery and corruption through all kinds of safeguards.

They have committed police men who would not accept money to skip writing a parking ticket or felony charges. They have judges that can dispose of 200 traffic cases in a f ull d ay of work. They h ave p rison facilities that work 24 hours with in-house magistrates or commissioners who must interview anyone brought into the prison by the police on the same day or night to ascer­tain whether the accused should actually be there in the first place.

There is a ubiquitous police record in every police cruiser which contains every­one’s records — anyone who has ever had a driving license or has had anything to do with traffic or criminal or other offences. It would be impossible to have two driving li­censes because their records are almost im­mutable and fool-proof.

They don’t have adhoc laws by EFCC or ICPC or CCB or whatever contraptions Ni­gerians fabricate now and then and which lead nowhere. In their case, bribery is brib­ery; it does not matter whether the taker is a senator or a traffic police man.

Nigeria enroute recovery

With collective unity and total rejection of corruptio qith enbrace for change only then will PMB Successfully redeam our belove country

Dealing with corruption is a collective effort, the political class are smart enough to devise the divide and rule strategy always creating scenes where the masses would be busy fighting themselves along tribal and religious lines, while they do the fleecing.

Buhari would fail

WailingWailer00:
Buhari would fail

Don't say that Nigeria will succeed