| Temple Chima Ubochi |
 | ubochit@hotmail.de Bonn, Germany  |
Continued from Part 21Lust and greed are more gullible than innocence (Mason Cooley)Desperation can make a person do surprising things (Veronica Roth)  he desperation for power has made Buhari to make a big U-Turn; thereby recanting his earlier insistence that all corrupt persons would suffer under his rule. Using the words of Erich Fromm (1900-1980), I have to say that the (APC's) lust for power is not rooted in strength but in weakness. It has shown that the Party has nothing tangible to offer, but wants power for power sake, and not for the positive changes it can bring about for the majority of Nigerians. Why did Buhari revoke his verbigeration of locking all corrupt Nigerians in Kirikiri? For the sake of power, Buhari has jettisoned the pillar upon which he has built his campaign so far. Is this a man we can entrust Nigeria into his hands? I have maintained that Buhari's craving for power becomes a thing unto itself, and is no longer about taking care of Nigerians and Nigeria, but, a ploy to settle some old scores, just as John Boyd Orr (1880-1971) wrote that "Some wars have been due to the lust of rulers for power and glory, or to revenge to wipe out the humiliation of a former defeat". Buhari wants to live up to the infamy of tyranny, by using the influence of the Office of the President to the advancement of his own desires, but, to the detriment of others (assuming he wins).The drive to have power is leading Buhari to manipulation, unethical behavior, and outright lies. His strive for power is now without limit. What was Buhari thinking of, when he said that he would grant amnesty to corrupt past leaders, and will only probe new offenders?" It was reported that on Tuesday, March 11, 2015, and in what looked like amnesty, the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, declared in Kaduna, that he will not probe leaders who had been overseeing Nigeria's affairs from 1999 till date. The General said that when he takes over on May 29, only those found to be corrupt from then, will be punished. The Citizen Ng wrote that "Speaking in Hausa, during a campaign in Kaduna, Buhari said: "On the issue of past corrupt leaders facing trials in various courts across the country, I would allow the courts to decide on those cases, but whoever that is indicted of cor-ruption between 1999 to the time of swearing-in, would be pardoned. I am going to draw a line, anybody who involved himself in corruption after I assume office, will face the music." Can you imagine that? One can safely say, paraphrasing the words of Langston Hughes (1902 -1967), in a figurative way, that "Buhari went down to the river, sat down on the bank, tried to think but couldn't, so he jumped in and sank." Buhari really sank in Kaduna. Go figure! What Nigeria needs is a leader who will help punish the guilty and recover, at least, part of their loots. Oil worth almost nothing anymore; so, there's nothing tangible to loot from Nigeria henceforth, as all the damages have been done already, all these past years. For Nigeria to survive, the next president must heighten the war against corruption, and then, make sure that some of the loots are recovered. But here, Buhari, due to lust for power, has turned 180 degrees, and is now promising amnesty to the looters for the sake of power. Why is Buhari so desperate for power that he can make Nigeria to forfeit all that the "thieves" have divested it of? Unfortunately, Nigerians are mistaking Buhari's selfishness for a love for Nigeria, just as Simon Cowell (1959) wrote that "People confuse ego, lust, insecurity with true love". Buhari is setting a dangerous precedent, in that the real looting spree will take place between now and the swearing-in date, since all those who looted prior to May 29, 2015, would be forgiven. I have never heard of this kind of thing before. Buhari is a big disappointment to many, and this act of desperation shows that the picture is getting clearer to him that Nigerians will reject him again for the fourth time. Promising the looters the opportunity to keep their loots to themselves, would not help him get elected, rather, it would scare many, who were leaning towards his candidacy, away. Nigeria has lost more than 800 trillion dollars to looting since independence; and a huge chunk of this amount is still stashed away somewhere, both at home and abroad, so, it would be incumbent on the next president, Jonathan or Buhari, to make sure that some of that amount are recovered. But here, Buhari has given up on that move, by promising the looters an amnesty, claiming that only those who loot from May 29, 2015, if he ever wins the election, would be punished. Although Buhari might not win the election, but, his statement is dangerous. As I said earlier, there may not be much to loot again from Nigeria due to low oil prices and the measures President Jonathan has put in place to checkmate corruption: Things is getting harder that even the recalcitrant national assembly members have agreed to cut 25 percent off their salary. For Nigeria to mitigate the adverse effect of lower oil prices, a lot of past stolen monies must be recovered. But, when Buhari is promising to allow those who stole our money before to keep it, there may be no respite for the country financially, assuming he wins the election. My people say that "it's a bad thing for a dancer and his or her costume to be dancing different styles to a tune at the same time". While Buhari was saying that he would pardon all looters for the looting done prior to May 29, 2015, if he wins, his vice presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, was saying a different thing, the same day, same town and same time. While presiding over a town hall meeting between the APC leaders and religious leaders in the north west zone of the country on behalf of his principal in Kaduna state capital, Osinbajo said: "On the various issue of corruption, what General Buhari has said categorically is that as far as he is concerned, the day he is sworn-in as president, he would have drawn a line. Anybody who runs afoul of the law, anything that is been investigated before will continue as it is. "If you are found to be corrupt, you will receive the consequence, no matter who you are. Whether you are his brother, sister, his friends there will be consequences. That is what he has said and I think that is in line with the position of the party." He is just so straight forward to do that. You know he can never do that. There is no way is going to sign any agreement, so let us be very clear. I don't even need to ask him that. Buhari will never be part of any under hand deal. I know him well enough that he will never sign anything of such". I wonder if Prof. Osinbajo consulted his principal before making that contradictory statement, as it has been alleged that Tinubu is not comfortable that his handpicked protégée, Osibanjo, contradicted Buhari in the same town, after he, Tinubu and other corrupt persons forced Buhari to jettison his stance of punishing anybody for corrupt practices perpetrated prior to May, 29, 2015. It doesn't worth it anymore dwelling on those bogus words of Buhari above, because, as my people say, "we must kill the kite first before denying the women its meat". Buhari hasn't, and might not, win the presidency, so why the fuss or cacophony now? We all know Buhari's antecedents, and there's no prove that he's a changed man or that he will be better than the last time, assuming he's elected. Buhari doesn't know how to operate under a democratic dispensation, and he doesn't have an understanding of the economy. That was why he threatened to send all corrupt persons to Kirikiri, forgetting that he did that only during a military rule, when he ruled by fiat, but, now, it's a different ball game, because, under the democratic dispensation, the institutions must play their roles, so, Buhari will have no power to send anybody to Kirikiri without first of investigating the case; charging the person to court, if there's evidence that such a person committed any crime; and the court will then adjudicate whether the person is guilty or not. Such processes are usually long and time consuming, as the corrupt ones use long adjournments and all kinds of tricks to thwart justice. It's a pity that Buhari's vice presidential candidate is a law professor and a SAN, and still, Buhari remains a novice in the legal process. Buhari claims he will do this or that without telling us how he would go about them. Femi Aribisala wrote "What would Buhari do differently to fight Boko Haram? He would study the situation and restore morale to the military. What would he do to restore the economy? He would increase the international price of oil single-handed. What would he do to create jobs? He would build interstate highways in the middle of a drastic slump in Nigeria's income in order to energise motor-mechanics and bukaterias. Buhari says: "I will revive and reactivate our minimally performing refineries to optimum capacity." How does he propose to do this? "I will provide one meal a day for children in public primary schools." Where is the money to do this? "I will generate, transmit and distribute electricity on a 24/7 basis whilst simultaneously ensuring the development of sustainable/renewable energy by 2019." Is he now going to nationalise the GENCOS and the DISCOS? "I will make direct cash transfer of 5,000 naira to the 25 million poorest and most vulnerable citizens, if they immunize children and enroll them in school." My o my! Did Buhari do the maths before coming out with this pie in the sky? This amounts to a 125 billion naira handout; nearly equal to the entire annual income of Edo State". Buhari, like a drowning man, hangs to a straw, even when that will not save him. What's the point here? Buhari is still hanging on to a discredited economic policy or plan. Not only that, Buhari still quote disproved allegation as one of the sins of the current government, even when such allegation has been discredited. Ochereome Nnanna wrote in The Vanguard that "Sometimes you have this feeling that Nigerians can be a very gullible lot. Some of us can be very easily hoodwinked. We have a penchant to leave things that matter and pursue things that have only empty noise value. Perhaps, people like General Olusegun Obasanjo discovered this long ago. That is why, in spite of his atrocities against the people and the country, even at his sensitive family level, some people still attach some importance to his words and activities when he ought to have been consigned to absolute ignominy long ago. I am led to this sad conclusion after PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) submitted its forensic audit report of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). In a nutshell, PWC reveals there was no such thing as "missing 20 billion dollars" as alleged by former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who today sits pretty atop the royal throne of Kano as the Emir. The company says the National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the NNPC needs to complete the process of remitting to the federation account the outstanding sum of 1.48billion US Dollars being an amount it earned from the sale of its assets. It also recommended the reform of operations of the NNPC, as they are no longer in tune with modern best practices. Now, with the conclusion of the PWC forensic audit and the establishment of the fact that there was no missing money, what next? Should we just move on? I do not think so. Somebody took this nation for an expensive ride. Someone lied to Nigerians for his own personal closure. Does the law not have any punishment for that?" Femi Aribisala also added that "General Buhari, the APC presidential candidate, has used this fictitious $20 billion dollars to preach his own school-certificate economics on the campaign stump. He said: "$20 Billion at N210 to $1.00 is equal to N4.2 trillion- nearly a year's federal budget." If so, how can Buhari believe an amount nearly equal to Nigeria's annual federal budget could possibly be missing? No matter how corrupt a nation can be, it is ridiculous to presume that public officers would go ahead and steal the entire annual federal budget? Haba! Buhari then used this malarkey to formulate his own voodoo economics. He said: "If it is true that this sum cannot be accounted for, this is grossest form of corruption. Just think at N5 million per vehicle, this money would have bought 840,000 patrol vehicles; (this would have improved security in every town and village in the country). At N13.5 million for a high capacity bus this money would have bought 311,000 buses; (this would have revolutionised the transport and production side of the economy)." It is this kind of rudimentary economics that Buhari has been presenting as an excuse for an economic policy to Nigerians in this election season. Just listen to this vain platitude from our eminent retired general. He says: "The monies we realised from anti-corruption campaign will be adequately used to build key sectors of the economy." Now that is an economic policy that is practically meaningless. Because of the nuisance value of men like Buhari, the Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was constrained to ask for a forensic audit of NNPC accounts in order to put the matter to rest. She chose PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC); one of the big four auditors in the world, along with Deloitte, EY and KPMG. PwC has now provided a conclusive report that shows Sanusi's allegation of a missing $20 billion is one big fabrication. This matter needs to be emphasized now that the report is out. Lamido Sanusi lied. The Central Bank governor deliberately cried wolf when he jolly well knew there was no wolf. He was just determined to malign and discredit the government; and he was playing a script to the benefit of the opposition APC. This then lends credence to the PDP allegation that Sanusi was an APC mole in the government. Indeed, the PDP claims Sanusi gave the APC 1 billion naira of Central Bank money to open its offices nationwide. It also maintains that a fraudulent N48 billion contract was awarded by Sanusi's CBN to a leader of the APC, while a further N5 billion was paid to another APC member as consultancy fee. So much for APC's anti-corruption hogwash! Abu Bakr (573 CE -634 CE) wrote "Do not follow vain desires; for verily he who prospers is preserved from lust, greed and anger". What Buhari said in Kaduna shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody, taking cognizance of the fact that he surrounded himself with the biggest looters in Nigeria, so, we need to weep for Nigeria, because, in the words of Cindy Sheehan (1957), "Our country has been overtaken by murderous thugs... gangsters who lust after fortunes and power". I don't know how many of us have read what Shaka Momodu (Editor, ThisDay) wrote about Tinubu and Fashola? Let me quote some of his excerpts here, but, endeavor to read the whole report below: "Even though some of these allegations are not new, the scale of the malfeasance and the cheekiness revealed is truly remarkable and frightening. The alleged unrestrained greed exhibited in the quest and method of acquisition is quite troubling. To me, these change agents need thorough examination especially at a time like this when the change mantra has rented the airwaves, and many are being led to believe the magic wand to solve all of Nigeria's problems is change. Striped of the politics, we want answers. And the fierce urgency is now, today not tomorrow. ……….. ………. It is difficult for one to understand the voracious appetite of some people, who it is alleged have shared our collective patrimony among themselves and yet have the audacity to tell us that for our tomorrow, they have given their today - when in actual fact, for their today, they have taken our tomorrow and that of our children. The architects of change have been caught in a scorching irony of hypocrisy. ……….. ………. Indeed, more than ever before, I am convinced that the change we need is from those who have craftily hoodwinked the people into believing that they are the ones who can bring succour to them. We need change from those who have cunningly played on the gullibility of our people to fleece them of their commonwealth, only to point an accusing finger at others as the cause of the problems of the country. When they claim Lagos is working, I say, oh yes indeed! It is working for their pockets. I am yet to see anybody who is a beneficiary of the alleged sleaze that will not tell me Lagos is working in the manner it is currently working for the pockets of a few. The scale of what Tinubu and Fashola are accused of appropriating from Lagos taxpayers is so mind-boggling that I fear for the future of this country - I am frightened of what may happen to Nigeria if these people are entrusted with power at the centre. More baffling is that instead of Tinubu and Fashola responding to these specific allegations, all we hear is an impotent threat of a lawsuit from Tinubu, while Fashola who has been very vocal on the "missing" $20 billion on the campaign stump has kept a deafening silence. ……. …….. The Critical Care Unit of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja, built and equipped with state funds, is now owned personally by Tinubu. He has put Dr. Sikiru Tinubu, (a supposed cousin of his) to run the outfit. It is run as a private unit and proceeds are pocketed by the duo…" To be continued! Read more: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-change-we-need/203669/ http://elombah.com/detail.php?world=29724 http://www.guardiannewsusa.com/buhari-vs.-ibb--unfinished-fight.html TIT BITS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX_b8v4hywk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np7ZDE0rUdo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NArOJ3mHouU&index=1&list=RDNArOJ3mHouU THE THANX IS ALL YOURS!!! Continued from Part 21  |
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