The issue of Nigeria’s stolen monies has dominated political discourse lately, becoming hot topics in our social media forums. Upon returning from his US trip, the president was said to have been equipped with documents that will assist him recover monies stolen by immediate past administration. The purported document the officials of the white house handed him contained names of individuals who stole from the nation during Jonathan’s regime. Adding to this development, the presidency was said to be in handy with details of banks and countries where the stolen monies are kept. These two developments reaffirmed President Buhari’s determination to fight corruption as he has been demonstrating all along.

Notwithstanding, information about anti-corruption war has been most distorting this period with a lot of unconfirmed and unverifiable reports making headlines in our newsstands. News we receive about stolen funds, probes and loot recovery are often denied or refuted at the last minutes by officials of the presidency, like the two I mentioned above. Information has also been sketchy, scanty and clumsy. The President did not make any statement to follow up on the developments emanating from his US trip. It was allowed to linger for long and had kept our social media buzzing before a statement counteracting it was issued. This has given room for innuendos, widespread speculations and rumor mongering. It is becoming very difficult discerning facts, but it should not be so.

Not until he made it a public knowledge that probes will soon commence which also preceded his constitution of advisory committee, Nigerians were kept in suspense. With a lot of obscurity surrounding the campaign, it was not clear if progress were being made on corruption war. The dramas were unfolding quite alright and Nigerians were put on watch in anticipation of positive results. The ovations and publicity however have become loudest even when the actual job was yet to commence. In spite of the loud applauses greeting the president’s recent moves, in reality it has been cobweb of events.

This is because issue of stolen funds, missing monies, anti-corruption war is all but reoccurring decimal in Nigeria. Every regime claim to fight corruption but it all leads us to nowhere; corruption still flourishes after all said and done as we win only on pages of newspapers. Also, there have always been high profile corruption cases involving government officials, unresolved. Successive governments have not done much to curb corruption. The military and civilian administrations that had sway in power embarked on jamboree of looting. Fela sang about it but so far only late Abacha’s loots are being recovered. This was only possible because the late dictator was a villain of a sort. If not, is he the only leader that stole from the nation?

I do not doubt President Buhari’s capabilities in decimating corruption in Nigeria. It was his campaign promise; the selling point that ascended him to power. It is also the only aspect of governance he can make a big difference and whet the appetites of Nigerians who agitated for change. Aside that, he has nothing to impress Nigerians with as no project and programmes of his will sound new to the ears. However, I am becoming worried about the way this war on corruption is being fought under this dispensation. It has become a great distraction to the nation, taking our minds away from other pressing issues the country is faced with. Gradually, it is drifting us from taking deep thoughts on how to address issues pertaining to our economy, insecurity, crime, religious intolerance, national unity, environmental degradation, youth restiveness, unemployment, redeeming our National image abroad amongst others. God forbid we witness another ebola outbreak but with the way things are going, if it does happen we will fail in containing it promptly this time around.

It is not surprising anyway, since the President is of the APC stock, a party and people well grounded in propagandas. They are at it again, taking their propagandas deep into business of government. The president’s party men and his associates are trying to hijack this genuine war on corruption. They have made it a matter for media grandstand even before the probes start. They have failed to realize that war on corruption is our collective fight and not about any individual or political party. That President Buhari is spearheading the fight does not necessary mean that he is doing the country a favour rather he is performing his duty as a president. While I commend him for taking the bold step and for towing a different path in issue of corruption, I want to quickly remind that his government should not concentrate on probes and fighting corruption alone. There are other serious national issues calling for urgent attention. I mentioned some earlier.

Another ugly side is how individuals are beginning to preempt the president on the issues of corruption, probes and loot recovery. This is abuse of privilege and should not be encouraged. A certain Governor and some close associates of the president have been busy feeding the public with often conflicting and misleading information. These are not official sources to speak on sensitive matters like corruption and probes. The media therefore have no reason dwelling on stories coming from them. The country has agencies on whose purview issue of fighting corruption rests or has the president commissioned someone to do their jobs. Let there be a synergy amongst these agencies and other organs of government involved in this fight. The president cannot fight this war alone and will only succeed if he uses the apparatus set up for this purpose effectively.

It is also important I mention here that war on corruption is not fought on pages of newspapers. Neither is it fought on radio and television screens. In as much as there is need to carry the people, they are equally entitled to truthful reports. The media should be helpful with accurate information and stop being speculative in its reports. We must admit that the media have not been well fed with information about this probe and loot recovery because the campaign itself has not been well coordinated. Although it is important to keep the discussion flowing but the media should not do so by creating stories. They should always wait to hear from the right sources.

I drew my observations largely from the barrage of media reports emanating from the visits the two former Presidents and other prominent Nigeriand paid President Buhari in Aso rock recently. Journalists can be very nosy but publishing stories that does not tally, often credited to anonymous sources will damage their reputations. There are a lot of discrepancies in the way these developments were reported. We heard and read several versions of the same stories. A situation whereby a particular medium will Say A today and come back with a different story the following day is not good for media business. Most of these media have their correspondents stationed at the state house and are privy to official sources of information. It is true that rumours and gossips are clue to news but one has to dig deep to ascertain the veracity of such information and until one does there is no need rushing to press.

Also, it is now a common feature seeing unsubstantiated stories with catchy captions in our national dailies since the president declared war on corruption; 2.3trillion Dollars stolen under Jonathan, Diezani in 2.5million oil deal Scandal, Okonjo Iweala aided Jonathan Loots, NNPC diverted Federal revenue, and US to assist Nigeria in Loot Recovery, Looted monies are kept in Europe, Nigeria lost 150billion Dollars oil revenue due to Corruption in one year, we have names of oil thieves, we have names of those who stole under jonathan, Former Presidential aide caught with 30million dollar loots etc. if we already have all this information what then are we waiting for. Let us save ourselves the headache and recover all these monies. This is the time for brave journalists to prove their onions by helping to uncover some of these loots.

To my own understanding, I would say that the president is still consulting on how to go about the probes and loots recovery. He has been listening to prominent Nigerians. As expected, fighting corruption will be like seeing through murky waters. A lot is on the president’s desk right now due to arguments and criticism his recent moves have sparked. There are genuine concerns being raised and it should be looked into. In a democracy the rule of law is always adhered to as one cannot operate outside the ambit of the law. Where the probe should start is also germane and should be taking very seriously. Targeting a particular individual or regime in the name of probe to me will be an exercise in futility. Recovering only but a paltry portion of the loot while the actual looters are by the side cheering will be a bad job. To sanitize the nation and end the era of impunity and sacred cows, the honourable thing is to reopen and revisit of all pending corrupt cases and probe every administration under which our national funds were looted. These are some of the issues to be critically looked into before any probe can take effect.

There is still a long way to go and the much we can do is to keep our fingers crossed while we pray for the president to succeed in this war. Enough of this fuss until we begin to see results.
https://chukwunonsoabugublog./2015/08/17/president-buharis-corruption-war-the-distractions-the-hullabaloos-and-the-expectations/

ok

A true and excellent write up.