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To Ignite War Against Corruption, More Pressure On President Jonathan

February 15, 2014

Methinks that it is very important that Nigerians and friends of Nigeria in order to ignite War Against Corruption should continue to pressure on President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR. This is the only credible option on the imperative to renew the forgotten War Against Corruption in Nigeria.

Methinks that it is very important that Nigerians and friends of Nigeria in order to ignite War Against Corruption should continue to pressure on President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR. This is the only credible option on the imperative to renew the forgotten War Against Corruption in Nigeria.


 
President Jonathan from all indications turns blind eye to the mandate of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, {as amended} which in Section 15{5} stipulates that the State shall abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power. Or as the Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal well observed his body language seems to condone corruption.
 
It is on this score that one was elated few days ago when Mr President said, ‘The society is so funny that these days, anybody who wants to claim any element of credibility at all will go to the television and accuse government of corruption, that the President’s body language shows that he is not fighting corruption or that he is not ready to fight corruption. Sometimes, even the very corrupt people are those making these statements because if you attack government you are insulated, you become an angel’.
 
Mr President in this occasion wondered why Nigerians would accuse his government of not fighting corruption when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission {EFCC} recently made a publication indicating that the Commission had so far convicted 250 persons.
 
My dear Compatriots, the pressure is mounting and we need more of such to wake our dear president from deep slumber. For corruption is the main cancer undermining our development. Don’t you think so?
 
One could hear some saying, leave the sleeping dog to lie, after all we have less than one year to cast our ballot. Relying on the truism that the
core ingredient of election in all liberal democracy is referendum on the
incumbent. They go further to remind us that the All Progressives Congress
{APC} has the War Against Corruption as its first cardinal program. Pepping it up that Major General Muhammadu Buhari {rtd} will lead the crusade against corruption.
 
To this class of our citizenry, and this school of thought, one cannot rule their optimism out; but only opine that if we do not wake up President Jonathan to wage the War Against Corruption now, we risk a Bull in the China shop.
 
It is my candid view that it is safer to goad him to purge the monumental corruption under his watch; pressure him more to name the very corrupt people making the statements which demonize his regime and conversely make them angels.
 
Pressure is a veritable weapon in this crusade, as pressure may remind Mr. President that out of the 250 persons convicted by the EFCC, apparently none is a Political Exposed Person or a public official. These are most of the
time common criminals and for that matter these actions get no applause from the citizenry.
 
One will continue to plead that pressure from eminent Nigerians and people of all classes is the surest bet to get our dear president back on track. The War Against Corruption is win-win war for the billions of dollars stolen can fix our decayed infrastructure and build new refineries.
 
The scenario of a Bull in the China shop should be avoided at all cost for its unintended consequences. For the avoidance of doubt, the Bull will
become desperate as we approach the presidential election and all manner of
brinksmanship will be deployed to manipulate the election.
 
In the political horizon, supporters of Mr. President especially are doing all within their propaganda machine to eclipse the citizenry from making the election a referendum on our dear president’s performance. Religious politics is being unfortunately introduced and many eminent Nigerians, including the chairman of Peoples Democratic Party {PDP} have warned against these vicious tactics.
 
For one like myself who lacks foresight, it behooves on me to pay adequate attention to notes of history. In this instance, one can reasonably argue that the recent dismissal of the Chief of Staff, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, and Ms. Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation were outcomes of intense pressure.
 
Otherwise, political judgment could have made a decisive president to drop Chief Oghiadomhe long time ago and no decisive president could have allowed Ms. Oduah the leisure after she was caught in a scandalous purchase of BMW Bullet-proof cars. The law even in the jungle gang of thieves is don’t be caught.
 
These were just scant instances of the imperative of intense pressure if you want President Jonathan to reverse a course of action. To mention just a few again, is it not the unprecedented mass action which led to drop of the anti-peoples’ increase in fuel prices? Same with the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ {ASUU} strike, which a decisive president could have halted before it dislocated a whole academic session with its attendant consequences.
 
Recently, ex-president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi were forced to write pressurizing letters to draw President Jonathan’s attention to the dangerous slide of Nigeria into a failed state under his watch.
 
Ordinarily these two Nigerians have access to Mr. President, and indications show that their verbal whispers were neglected and even now that the letters were made public it is doubtful if concrete action has been taken. Hence more pressure.
 
Otherwise, how on earth can the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria and constitutionally authorized Economic Adviser to Mr. President counsel that there is missing billions of dollars from the vault of the federation and a blind eye will greet such information.
 
Or is it appropriate that after losing over N2 trillion from importation of refined petroleum products in 2011, N1.1 trillion in 2012 and almost N1 trillion in 2013, that President Jonathan still stuck to the nebulous and inchoate economic policy that government has no business in business, hence cannot build new refineries?
 
Making one believe that he didn’t take note of or glossed over how his Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke violently violated Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, by dismissing off-handedly the patriotic directive of late President Umaru Musa Yaradua on Kerosene. Section 5 says that the executive powers shall be vested in the President…..and maybe exercised by him either directly or through the Vice-president and Ministers of Government…. .
 
Late Yaradua’s directive on kerosene is sacrosanct and germane since it has not been reversed; therefore Mrs. Alison-Madueke has shown us how she exploits the indecision and ineptitude of Mr. President.
 
In sum, one can conclude by saying that President Jonathan clings to the time-worn African Big-Men’s tradition of do nothing and when the pressure becomes irrestible, do as little as possible. More pleasure please!
 
Mr. Osita Okechukwu
Obodo Amankwo
Eke Enugu State
 

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Topics
Corruption