Wow!!!! A glimpse into some minds on Nairaland reveals so much diversity and ethnic bias
that one has to wonder why we try to glue ourselves together under the caricature of brotherhood.

Let me help the pro president’s peeps here and also try to disappoint the anti Jonathan pessimists.
First, corruption is corruption under whatever guise it manifests and no tribe in Nigeria is immuned from it.
The problems with Nigeria are Nigerians playing the country like a card game without rules and you will be
surprised at how versatile and knowledgeable Nigerians are when it comes to rules.

In Nigeria, aces don’t necessarily represent winning cards if the person holding the aces is not
part of the ruling clique made up of tribesmen and hawkish politicians.
Simply put, a person with a lost hand in a card game can be declared a winner in Nigeria if
the umpire is of common ethnic or political creed.
That is the Nigeria we have today where laws, rules, policies, decorum, you name it are discarded
with impunity in favour of political and ethnic favouritism and prejudice.

The big question is; can we really fight corruption as one indivisible people when we are already
divided? The answer is no, and there is no better place to get that answer than reading the posts
here on Nairaland. The diversity that is supposed to be our strength has now become a curse.

Let us look at Nigeria like a corporate public liability organisation, where we the people are
the Shareholders represented by the Judiciary and the Legislators are the Board of Directors (BoD)
and the Presidency including all its direct and indirect operating arms and agencies are the Management,
with the president as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

If a company fails, the general norm is that the CEO is usually the first casualty because he has
the responsibility of managing management. Therefore, activities inimical to the growth of the organisation
will not be tolerated by the CEO because he knows his head is on the line if the system fails, that is
why you have the BoD to keep him in check.

Just like government where the president is allowed to pick his management team i.e, Ministers,
Chairmen of parastatals, DGs etc, the CEO is also within permissible bounds allowed to pick his
management team. And just like corporate organisations where the heads of departments report to
the CEO, Ministers, Chairmen of parastatals DGs etc report to the president.
By extension, the civil service headed by the president’s appointed Ministers report to the president.

Why then is it that In Nigeria, the presidency is not accountable for the actions of its agents
as universally recognised and practised?

Recently, the president fired the IG for complicity on security grounds and this was widely lauded
but the same president under this current administration has not relieved any DG or Minister of their
position even with Nigerians inundated with daily escalating corruption and fraud cases.

Were these individuals not appointed by the president? OR is corruption related offences outside
the exclusive list of the president?

We can argue this back and forth but really, the best way to solve corruption in Nigeria is to always
pass the buck of inefficiency in the arms and agencies of government squarely back to the president’s table.
If our system of governance and shared responsibilities is designed to first indict the CEO,
Chairmen of Local Governments, Governors and the President when there are negatively consuming lapses
in administration and management that should have been nipped in the bud by relieving them of
their positions and thereafter go the whole hog in prosecuting the actual perpetrators,
then we will start to see a visible decline in corruption.
Until we adopt that policy, people will always fly the ethnic kite to promote corruption.
For example, if the president knows his job is on the line because of fraud perpetrated by a
ministry or parastatal under his watch, there will be no need for any ad hoc legislative committee
to carry out probes since the president would have fired the individuals responsible for fear of being
indicted himself and this will make the relevant agencies responsible for investigative duties bring
these people to book.

Not doing anything is an indirect admission that the president has his hands deep in some of the rots
and it is also the reason why no one has ever been convicted directly of fraud related offences.

Before I forget, let us look at the functions of the BoD under corporate organisation again and then
try to juxtapose it with legislative oversight functions. Apart from policy formulation, the BoD can
relieve the CEO of his position just like the national assembly is empowered to execute but unlike the
BoD the national assembly cannot carry out this function independently without the state legislators and
as it is always the case in Nigeria, there is the added hurdle of attaining two third majority in a vote
to impeach the president.

Why then can’t we have a law that makes it simpler with fewer bottlenecks to indict and remove the president
where there is a proven case of negligence and dereliction of duty?
If part of the functions of the National Assembly includes oversight function on the administrative functions of
the presidency, then a probe of any Ministry or Parastatal of government by law makers is without doubt an
indictment of the president’s inability to manage its arms and agencies well which is the same as the CEO being
relieved of his position by the BoD in a corporate environment.

If we agree that the judiciary is the voice of the people, the representative arm of the shareholders,
the interpreters of laws guiding the activities of the Presidency and legislators,
why then is our common wealth being pilfered blatantly with the judiciary incapable of steming the rot by
achieving one convincing conviction with appropriate punitive and discouraging judgement for future offenders?
Why is our children’s and grand children’s future being fragrantly mortgaged by all for a pot of porridge?
‘’Paddy paddy government’’ if you ask me.

Definitely, we need a radical law to address corruption in Nigeria. Laws that will be so simple and straight
forward that clowns who parade themselves as the representative and voice of the people will no longer be able
to manipulate our collective will to our disadvantage as a people.

Finally, if you are thinking once again about that ethnic and tribal dimension to this, please go get a life.
Yes, I am from the Niger Delta and there is nothing wrong in anyone calling the president names if they are not
happy about his performance. The position of president is not forced on anyone. People put themselves forward to
serve their country and they have to be accountable for their actions.
They can resign voluntarily like civilized politicians if the heat is too hot. To ask us to be praying when our
fellow Nigerians are being killed daily under the guise of marginalisation is criminal particularly if it has
to take the Presidency and CBN to play the roles of state governments in providing basic amenities.
Why are States Chief Executives not accountable for the appropriation of the monthly subventions they get from
the federation account? why did Ibori have such a field day in looting our treasury in Delta state and it has to
take the courts in England to convict him?

Personally, I believe President Jonathan can rewrite our history by confronting the so called cabal in our
political sphere and particularly in his own government headlong and also prove that he is not one of them.
The South South has a unique opportunity which might not present itself again for a very long, long, long time to come.

If Nigeria can be rebuilt, I am more than convinced that a minority president has a better chance of
pushing through radical changes in the system than our majority kins and it would not be a bad idea if the
current president takes up that challenge.

Let him make even a haphazard start in the war against corruption and let us see if he will not have our
absolute and collective support. Corruption has been institutionalised in Nigeria and we are all playing an
ethnicity card game where there are no pre defined rules.

It is high time we came together with one voice to condemn corruption in whatever form and guise.

God bless Nigeria!