I had wanted to make my displeasure known as regards Mr Fani Kayode's recent gaffe in his recent piece,The Bitter Truth about the Igbos. Then again I thought it will be a waste of time. There are far too many important things to talk about. I mean I do not think some one who is part of those that have kept Nigeria where she is today is worth taking seriously. When someone in his right senses(?)refers to the Woolwich killing,where a british citizen killed and (almost) cut off the head of a british soldier,as "some kind of State-sponsored Illuminati-style human sacrifice" ,you begin to question that persons state of mind.
I had wanted to make my displeasure known as regards Mr Fani Kayode's recent gaffe in his recent piece,The Bitter Truth about the Igbos. Then again I thought it will be a waste of time. There are far too many important things to talk about. I mean I do not think some one who is part of those that have kept Nigeria where she is today is worth taking seriously. When someone in his right senses(?)refers to the Woolwich killing,where a british citizen killed and (almost) cut off the head of a british soldier,as "some kind of State-sponsored Illuminati-style human sacrifice" ,you begin to question that persons state of mind.
At a time when everybody is trying all they can to co-exist and live peacefully one guy is trying to incite ethnic and tribal hatred. To think he was once a former minister makes me sick.
Governor Fashola in my opinion made a mistake-one which I expect him to learn from. Everybody make mistakes. He still is one of the best things that happened to governance in Nigeria.
We recently heard about the recovery of some of our money from Late General Sani Abacha which made headlines and I was wondering what the fuss was about. This Abacha loot thing has been going on for a while that I ask if its only General Sani Abacha that has looted this country. We would not be where we are today if it was only Abacha who stole from Nigeria.
Nigeria is where she is today because of the looting activities of so many of our leaders. There is so much looted money that needs to be recovered,not just the Abacha loot. It will be news to me when one day we hear that stolen money( stashed away in foreign banks) of most of our leaders,both serving and retired has been located and recovered. But then again I am thinking of what use that money will be to the ordinary Nigerian. We have been here before have we not?
We have had celebrated cases where some public office holders were prosecuted for engaging in corrupt practises. These too were stolen monies. Where is the money they looted? There was a time last year when the government claimed urgent action was being taken to repatriate the DSP Alamieyesigha loot. That was the last we heard before he was granted pardon. Has the loot landed? If it has,then where is it? If it has not, then why? We at least deserve some explanations.
It was reported that some billions was recovered from Tafa Balogun,the former IGP. What happened to the loot? Where did the money go?
How about the Ibori loot, Igbenedion loot, Ehindero loot and all the other loots? Are there efforts to recover them or have they been recovered and re-looted?
There is plenty of our money out there looted by the corrupt elements in our system that needs to be recovered,but when you think of how the money ,if recovered, will impact the ordinary man,you are wont to ask if it is even necessary to recover the loot in the first place. What happened to the previous loot recovered from Abacha? What impact did it have on the ordinary man? What was it used for? I am very certain it was re-looted. Why recover looted money only to end up re-looting same? Looting in this clime is like a culture.
This morning I stumbled on an article written by one Micheal Burleigh shared by Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili on Twitter. He, in the article, was wondering why the British government was still giving Nigeria aids when the money will "only be recycled into bank accounts in Switzerland". Since independence according to him, Nigeria has received up to 400 billion dollars in aid. I did not even know we received aids. Where in the world has the money been going? Why am I even asking?
This is a nation that is ranked 172 out of 215 nations surveyed by Transparency International on financial corruption.
I think this whole noise about loot recovery is still in the interest of the corrupt few. It has never been in the interest of the ordinary man,so why bother recover the loot to re-loot? Why make it sound like we are being done a favour when in the real sense the recovered loot is used to line their pockets?
My take is,these guys should stop deceiving and distracting us with the loot recovery noise and focus on making life better for the ordinary man.
Chiechefulam Ikebuiro
[email protected]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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