The Power of Corruption and the Corruption of Power: Electing Dishonourable Men into the House of Honour! The emergence of men of questionable characters as flag-bearers of political parties across the nation in the just concluded primaries once again brought to the forefront of political discourse, the moral decadence and political shenanigans of cronies and cabers that have held this country hostage through the culture of political recursiveness or what is known as “Elite-Self Recruitment’ in sociological parlance. The calibers of men and women that emerged across the major political parties through a treacherous process leave less to be desired! Never in the history of Nigeria has power been so corrupted and electoral processes maneuvered in such a mindless prankishness that can best be explained in the word of John Emerich Edward, when he declared that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The depiction accurately captions the corruption of power within the Nigeria political landscape. THE CULTURE OF CORRUPTION In Nigeria, not being corrupt is an aberration while being corrupt is the norm! The long and cumulative years of ‘authority stealing’ and engorgement by past and present sleazebags and venally corrupted ‘rulers’ has not only ruined our political and bureaucratic institutions, but it has also turned our national wealth into an ‘eatery’ in which people take their turn to eat or are invited to ‘come-and-eat’. The legacy of past leaders in the historicism of Nigeria’s developmental dilemma is that of economic and political ruination. This colossal failure cannot be seen as an isolated happenchance. Corruption seems to have become “normal” In Nigeria. Virtues such as; incorruptibility, honesty, and uprightness seems to have become an aberration while being corrupt is the ‘normative’ behavioral pattern and an eccentric quality defining Nigerian citizenship. Corruption is now so much wide spread that it can be regarded as national culture. In Nigeria, it is not only that official is corrupt, but that corruption is official. The menace of corruption in both public and private organization is corrosive to the extent that Achebe (1984) warned us; Corruption in Nigeria has passed the alarming and entered the fatal stage and Nigeria will die if we keep pretending that she is only slightly indisposed. Thirty years after Achebe’s passionate warning, rather than reducing, the menace is evidently on the increase to the extent that, Nigeria is now synonymous with corruption. Corruption can now be described as the ‘fundamental directive of national policy’ and Nigeria could be registered at the Corporate Affairs Commission in Abuja under the trade name ‘aggravated corruption’, PLC. This aggravated corruption can also be described as a panacea to the monumental, social, political and economic ruination besetting the Nigeria post colonial state. ELITE SELF-RECUITMENT The same sets of politicians that have ruled Nigeria since 1970s are still jostling for elective posts after several decades of dwindling and retrogressive economic development and cumulative socio-political failure. The Nigerian politicians are never retired even when they have nothing meaningful to contribute to political discourse. It is the same set of individuals who are governors that are still manipulating their ways to become Senators and Ministers. And those who are too old to contest an election fill in their wives, children and political sons and daughters as their representatives. This ageism and gerontocracy offers little or no hope for Nigerian youths whose futures have been traded by incompetent leaders. The political system in Nigeria over the past 15 years has not only showed that most of our supposedly great men are unrepentantly bad, cruel, dishonest men and dishonourable men, the historicism of their rise to power and fame have also confirmed the moral decadence in Nigerian society at large. God-fatherism and political patronage have become the most promising and most realistic mechanism of clinging to power and regrettably, its retention. The dual consequential effects of these anti-democratic ethos and moral etiquette are nepotism and cronyism. Ascension to political power is more often than not achieved through a politically corrupt individual and albeit, through corrupt means. These Political parasites have not only ensured their continuous stay within the corridor of power, but, they have also ensured that their wrong doings are never brought under the search light of investigative apparatus of the state. They have become the de-facto state and over the years, personalized the instrument of governance. They have consequently thrown political ethics and meritocracy inside the dustbin of history and reprehensibly enthroned mediocrity FILLING DISHONOURABLE MEN INTO THE HOUSE OF HONOUR In the word of Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, “those who fight corruption should be clean themselves” The same cannot be said of Nigeria anti-graft agencies and legislative houses that are saddled with the responsibility of curbing excesses and corruptions through legislative apparatus. In Nigeria, rather than filling men of character into our senate and houses of assembly, the cabers and Godfathers that dictate the outcome of primary elections used their ill-gotten wealth and affluence to influence the emergence of dishonourable men and women into our house of honour! In Nigeria, corruption seems to be the only requirement for both elective and selective posts. These inter and intra-generational political patronage has not only ensured the perpetuity of some mindless engorgement and venally corrupted individuals around the corridor of power, it has also make corruption to vacate its position from the corridor of power and now flow naturally in our veins! It is this culture of corruption that produced Former Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah as Anambra North Senatorial candidate. Princess Oduah was sacked from office last year by President Jonathan following allegation of over-inflated cost in the purchase of bullet proof cars by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). This same shameless democratic (?) process produced a wanted drug baron and habitual criminal, Mr. Buruji Kashamu as senatorial candidate for Ogun East senatorial district in Ogun State. The questions that are begging for answers are; Are there no men of good characters that can represent their people at the national assembly? Are there no more honest and knowledgeable people that can voice the concerns of their constituents in the house of honour asides from these criminally minded people? When will the beautiful ones be born? Or better still, when will the beautiful ones be allowed to direct the affairs of this nation? When will mediocrity give way to meritocracy? THE LEGITIMIZATION OF CORRUPTION Corruption has become so powerful in Nigeria to the extent that it has now assumed a legitimate trait and identifiable attribute of Nigerians. This illusion and distortion are being perpetrated by the upper class and political parasites that are swimming in the ocean of criminal opulence. The intractability of this virus is a product of erroneous believes being perpetrated by political office holders that it is difficult to be in an ‘exalted’ office and be incorruptible! The submission of Solomon Alaimieyeseigha, the impeached Governor of Bayels State, lends credence to this assertion;”There is no person in this world that works in the exalted position of a governor or president that would say he is perfect human being, who depends solely on his salary! Nobody is a saint”. (Cited in Adebanwi 2010:153) These prebendal logic and sleazy practices across public and private enterprise in Nigeria make it plausible to conclude ‘that official is not only corrupt in Nigeria but that corruption is official’. Corruption is embedded in Nigeria politics. The corruption of power and power of corruption are intertwined. With the election of questionable characters as the watch-dogs; transparency and honestly will be permanently removed from our democratic diction, while the future of young generations will be traded on the altar of political patronage by sleazebags and venally corrupt individuals.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 07:21:01 +0000
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