What else could go more wrong with Nigeria? Lengthy fuel queues previously thought to be one of the by-products of corrupt military rule, have resurfaced with their catasthrophic consequences for the economy all over the country. Foreigners, in a foreign land, are presently managing the health of our sick president. The Niger-Delta peace deal – regarded by many to be the President’s significant achievement since he assumed office, exploded in our faces with the resumption of attacks on oil pipelines over the weekend. No fewer than five Oil majors have signified their intention to divest from the country; and finally, to rub salt on aggravated injury, a supposed Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, quashed all the 170 counts of money laundering against former Delta state governor James Ibori!
In every other nation but Nigeria, the James Ibori imbroglio would have been a source of deep shame and lamentation for the party he represents. In more civilised countries, Ibori would have become damaged goods and a serious liability for any party hoping on popular appeal to perpetuate itself in power. But those who gave us democracy and all it portends, apparently never reckoned with Nigeria or the Nigerian politician!
The next big shock or absurdity – if at all we still have the capacity to experience both; is for Ibori to now declare his candidacy to run for the Presidency in 2011, or the one after it, if the PDP fails to reverse the outdated logic of rotating the office among the various geopolitical zones in the country. We have seen from the protests that trailed the virtual imposition of Chukwuma Soludo as the PDP gubernatorial candidate for the next elections in Anambra state that despite all pronouncements from the President to the contrary, the party is not done with the strong-arm tactics it employed under Obasanjo in the choice of its candidates into elective offices.
The only difference today is that bodies of rival politicians are yet to drop with uncommon regularity. On the surface, the EFFC too has been less susceptible as an instrument of executive coercion. Besides that, our politicians continue to bury their heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich. They are seemingly oblivious of the sort of civilized conduct required to rescue the nation from economic despondency and insecurity of the type never experienced on these shores since our independence.
They have learnt nothing from the spate of high profile kidnappings that has turned the Southeast and the South-South regions into one of the world’s most prolific crime zones. They fail to see the definite correlation between the spate of high-profile acquittal of indicted politicians and the raise in the kidnappings and subsequent demand for ransom money. They remain unwise to the dictum that jungle justice is often the first recourse for inhabitants of societies in advanced stages of decay.
And Nigeria today is not only a true reflection of a state in an advanced stage of decay the tragedy is that some people continue to pretend that it is not. They want to be among the 20 leading economies by the year 2020. They are envious that American President Barrack Obama chose Ghana instead of the so-called ‘Giant of Africa’ we still pretend to be for his maiden visit to the continent for reasons that have everything to do with respect for democratic virtues and good governance. When the United Nations decides to expand its Permanent Security Council, as it should have decades ago, Nigeria wants to pick one of the two tickets to represent Africa, and believes it has the peacekeeping pedigree to be so honoured.
There is nothing essentially wrong with dreaming, especially if it makes us feel a lot better at the end. The problem is that in Nigeria, we have wittingly, or unwittingly, decided to dream in perpetuity and in broad daylight. Our compulsive indulgence if daydreaming is compounded by the ruinous primitive impulses of our leaders and urban elite; the compulsive complicity of a media without a sense of history or vision for a united country, along with the total paucity of responsible citizenship among the governed. We have all failed this potentially great nation in different ways.
We want to be this and that without bothering to do our homework first. Deceit now appears to be the unofficial tool of statecraft. Distrust in pronouncements from those in the corridors of power has never been more profound. And why not? The authorities peddle lies with reckless impunity: absolute twaddle such as the promise 6000 megawatts of electricity to Nigerians by the end of this month.
We embrace mediocrity for the sake of political expediency. We reward incompetence by allowing Maurice Iwu to remain in office even when the President openly conceded in his inaugural address that his election was a ridicule of the democratic process. We make a mockery of our justice system by allowing Police Chiefs like Tafa Balogun who was convicted for stealing 17 billion naira to escape with a two-year jail sentence. We deepen the public disdain for the same process when a former governor like Peter Egbinedion, is compelled to pay merely fined a few million Naira, after their conviction for the theft of billions. Ibori just happens to be the latest case in that circle of absolute madness.
And so today, James Ibori has been cut loose by the courts, albeit temporarily. The EFCC could appeal or still re-arraign him if it chooses to. The biggest problem the agency will face, however, is that of credibility. So traumatized have Nigerians become from the outcome of previous cases of high profile corruption that few believe that Ibori will ever pay for his alleged crimes.
A more likely outcome from the entire mess could be that Ibori will escape with an extremely light sentence if he is ever found guilty, that is. He would thereafter be welcomed home likely a conquering hero by his brethren at home and in the Diaspora. A few Chieftaincy titles and honourary degrees could also be on the offer. And anyone who says Ibori cannot also contest for the presidency in future knows nothing about Nigeria or the PDP; absolutely nothing! It would not even matter whether he is an international pariah for the allegations pending against him overseas. This, after all, is PDP country okay?