When I see the broom, I will pass over you

Once politics is corrupt, it spurs corruption at other levels. If I used unfair means to become a governor or president by using public funds to fight my election, I have no moral basis on which to stand to ensure that things are properly done (Olu Falae)

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines corruption as “dishonest or illegal behaviour especially by powerful people. In lending its voice to the meaning of corruption, the Transparency International defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”.
Rightly and wrongly, Nigeria, and her citizens have always been identified and associated with corruption. I remember an ugly experience I had in Malvern, Johannesburg, South Africa. I went to rent an apartment owned by an aged Indian-South African woman, and the first question the woman asked me was this: Where are you from? When I answered Nigeria, she told me that she can NEVER rent her apartment to a Nigerian. When I enquired from her the reason for this anti-Nigerian sentiment, she retorted: “you Nigerians are criminals”. I further enquired from her as to how many Nigerians she has met in her life. She replied: “Don’t you watch the news my boy?
It is with little wonder and bewilderment then that one will view the brazen description of Nigeria as a “fantastically corrupt nation” by the immediate past British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron. My only problem with the Cameron submission hinged on his inability or rather unwillingness to x-ray the role that some British people and institutions played and still play in the sponsor and encouragement of corruption in Nigeria.

That corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of the Nigerian society is a fact. Therefore, it did not come as a surprise to serious and committed political pundits that President Muhammadu Buhari won the last presidential election in Nigeria on the backdrop of his anti-corruption credentials. He came with the change slogan. He charged Nigerians to kill corruption or it will kill Nigeria. In fact, before the presidential election of 2015, many rallied around Buhari, and heralded him as the political messiah.

Owing to this widely held perception many people hoped and believed that once in power; Buhari will strangle the neck of corruption. In fact, many Nigerians believed that a President Buhari would not have sacred cows as far as the probe and prosecution of corruption cases were concerned. How wrong we were. President Buhari’s pre-election political messianic postulation has now turned into a nightmare that has unleashed a great dosage of hardship and regret on those who gullibly campaigned for change.

As it stands today, the anti-corruption campaign of Buhari has degenerated into an exercise of witch hunt and intimidation for the opposition political party stalwarts. The corrupt politicians in his political enclave, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have been anointed with the oil of exemption and immunity. As long as you are corrupt but a loyal member of APC, old things have passed away, and you can walk around in saintly strides. Once one remains a dedicated chorister of change, he or she has been transformed from an economic Judas into a political St. Paul. And once you are clever enough to hang your broom in front of your castle of loot, the angels of probe and intimidation (EFCC and DSS), will pass over you. The embattled Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives are in hot waters chiefly because when the change angels and agents were unleashed for assignment, they did not find their brooms hanging on their castles of illegal possessions and undeclared assets.
Nigerians now know that the anti-corruption campaign of Muhammadu Buhari is not credible, and must be discarded as a charade, because it is spiced up with double standard and hypocrisy.

There has never been any honest and conscientious effort aimed at rooting out corruption in Nigeria by our so-called leaders. This is owing to the fact that many of them (if not all), are mired in the mud and dent of corruption. In the same regard, no administration in Nigeria will successfully purge Nigeria of the scourge of corruption, while at the same time engaged in hot romance with those steeped in corruption.
One would recall that shortly after the Buahri administration was ushered in, many state governors declared that their states were bankrupt and therefore, unable to pay workers salaries. Truth is that they used workers’ salaries for Buhari’s election campaign. Is it not an irony that Rochas Okorocha is battling to pay workers salaries after hugely contributing funds and resources to Buhari’s campaign? Then on which moral ground would Buhari stand to fight corruption.