The Ibori saga has again exposed the despicable hypocrisy that characterises our attitude to the contentious issue of corruption.

People shout "thief", "thief" when they or their benefactors are not part of the plundering process; but when their "luck shines" and they are invited to join the party, they suddenly lose their voices and find the most ingenious or outrageous justifications for their new found dispositions. These self-righteous bigots all too often forget that corruption is deeply entrenched in every facet of society –private and public- and that even they themselves are in some way beneficiaries, or waiting to be beneficiaries of corruption. It is only convenient for them to crucify allegedly corrupt people when they are not direct beneficiaries of such corruption. Examples abound of these kinds of charlatans.

Do you realise that almost every Nigerian lives beyond his legitimate income? This applies to the lowliest messenger as it does to the Bank MD smugly reclining in his executive chair. If you calculate the legitimate earnings of most people in Nigeria, you will find that it rarely measures up to the lifestyle of these people. The 'blessed' ones among them that buy houses in VGC, Banana Island, Old Ikoyi , Asokoro, etc. for over N200M and sometimes almost N1b and claim to be top bank executives, retired oil workers, 'businessmen' and so on, what does that mean? If you investigate further you would uncover a litany of sharp practices sometimes cloaked in a deceptive veil of legality with which they amassed stupendous wealth. If not for CBN governor Sanusi, would we have known that Cecelia Ibru, Erastus Akingbola, and all the others were such greedy graspers? Ibru was said to have amassed a colossal N500b net-worth, while Akingbola came 'second' with a no less impressive N385B! Yet before the Sanusi Tsunami hit them, they were claiming to be ‘pastors’ in Redeemed Church and all that; did the church's leadership and members denounce them afterwards? No! Instead there was/is a grand conspiracy of silence. Yet when it comes to Ibori and politicians like that (who are in fact paupers compared to what Ibru and Akingbola stole), everybody will be shouting themselves hoarse in ridiculous self-righteousness. The pastors that buy private jets and own homes all over the world, where do the funds come from? Are they legitimate earnings from legitimate businesses? Isn’t there a missing link – especially when a vast section of their congregations wallow in poverty? Well.

The critical fact to understand is this: Man is by nature selfish and inclined to self-preservation (as rightly pointed out by Thomas Hobbes). As such, it is a profound act of hypocrisy to assume one’s own “goodness’, “selflessness” and “incorruptibility” as against the supposed ‘crass corruption’ of others. Everyone is innately inclined to adopt illicit means to gain comparative over the other; that is why there is supreme need for an impregnable system to regulate the affairs of all men and to ensure that things do not fall apart as everyone struggles to outdo the other. In this regard it is perhaps noteworthy to borrow the method used by criminals to share their loot amongst themselves: they all know that the other person is a cold-blooded, selfish criminal and that if given the opportunity, he would gladly appropriate the entire loot to himself. So they invariably institute a fool-proof system of ensuring that no one outsmarts the other and that the criminal inclination of each of them is neutralized by that impartial system. As such, the kind of anti-corruption mechanism that would work for Nigeria is such that is institutionalized and de-personified. Western society understands this fact, that is why their systems respect no one and is not selective. Once you are caught, you are dealt with by the law. Simplicita! The law-officer that does the catching does not claim to be ‘better’ than you; but the fact is that you were unfortunate to get caught, and he has a job to do, and he will do it – whether you the president or a beggar on the street. For as long as Nigeria does not INSTITUTIONALIZE and DE-PERSONIFY the fight against corruption, the crusade to fight corruption would remain a huge joke. This much was attested to by Condoleezza Rice when she visited Nigeria recently: Nigeria needs “strong institutions, not strong men”. Only that can check corruption for the good of our generation and subsequent ones. Other than this, the rest is hypocrisy and we will keep fooling ourselves with that.

what a silver tongued ministrel ibori has here

thank you for confirming what we knew all along -

People shout "thief", "thief" when they or their benefactors are not part of the plundering process; but when their "luck shines" and they are invited to join the party, they suddenly lose their voices and find the most ingenious or outrageous justifications for their new found dispositions.

you are clearly part of the plundering process

Do you realise that almost every Nigerian lives beyond his legitimate income? This applies to the lowliest messenger as it does to the Bank MD smugly reclining in his executive chair. If you calculate the legitimate earnings of most people in Nigeria, you will find that it rarely measures up to the lifestyle of these people. The 'blessed' ones among them that buy houses in VGC, Banana Island, Old Ikoyi , Asokoro, etc. for over N200M and sometimes almost N1b and claim to be top bank executives, retired oil workers, 'businessmen' and so on, what does that mean? If you investigate further you would uncover a litany of sharp practices sometimes cloaked in a deceptive veil of legality with which they amassed stupendous wealth. If not for CBN governor Sanusi, would we have known that Cecelia Ibru, Erastus Akingbola, and all the others were such greedy graspers?

see as you are contradicting yourself - are they not in jail right now?

why should it be any different for your generous uncle jamiu?

The critical fact to understand is this: Man is by nature selfish and inclined to self-preservation (as rightly pointed out by Thomas Hobbes). As such, it is a profound act of hypocrisy to assume one’s own “goodness’, “selflessness” and “incorruptibility” as against the supposed ‘crass corruption’ of others. Everyone is innately inclined to adopt illicit means to gain comparative over the other; that is why there is supreme need for an impregnable system to regulate the affairs of all men and to ensure that things do not fall apart as everyone struggles to outdo the other. In this regard it is perhaps noteworthy to borrow the method used by criminals to share their loot amongst themselves: they all know that the other person is a cold-blooded, selfish criminal and that if given the opportunity, he would gladly appropriate the entire loot to himself. So they invariably institute a fool-proof system of ensuring that no one outsmarts the other and that the criminal inclination of each of them is neutralized by that impartial system. As such, the kind of anti-corruption mechanism that would work for Nigeria is such that is institutionalized and de-personified. Western society understands this fact, that is why their systems respect no one and is not selective. Once you are caught, you are dealt with by the law. Simplicita! The law-officer that does the catching does not claim to be ‘better’ than you; but the fact is that you were unfortunate to get caught, and he has a job to do, and he will do it – whether you the president or a beggar on the street. For as long as Nigeria does not INSTITUTIONALIZE and DE-PERSONIFY the fight against corruption, the crusade to fight corruption would remain a huge joke. This much was attested to by Condoleezza Rice when she visited Nigeria recently: Nigeria needs “strong institutions, not strong men”. Only that can check corruption for the good of our generation and subsequent ones. Other than this, the rest is hypocrisy and we will keep fooling ourselves with that.

long grammer - it would be nice if you got paid a visit by armed robbers - based on your argument, they should not be prosecuted.

disgraceful stuff

thank God - your mentor was stupid - if he had hid in an african country, he'd still be flossing large - that dude, bail or not is enroute to scotland yard.

lets see how a BLACK man jumps bail in dubai

What is this one you've developed? A paronia for the fight against corruption? Gosh, where's that shrink

Hypocrisy and self - delusion.