INDIGENT INDIGENES

The unraveling web of the unimaginable acts of brazen daylight robbery of the Nigerian people and the satanic indulgence of the perpetrators of the heinous rape of the Nigerian psyche are no surprise to the generality of Nigerians. If anything, the only surprise so far has been that the nest of justice has not been cast wide enough to ensnare most of the chief perpetrators of this grand theft of our commonwealth. While it is admirable that the process of clawing back at least some of the pilfered  state funds is ongoing, it is also, without a shadow of a doubt, disappointing that the wheels of justice are rolling ever so slowly. Nigerians have been shortchanged and plainly assaulted by the consortium of criminals that misdirected the affairs of state for the past decade. The Nigerian people have been mercilessly ravaged and unfairly traumatized by the consequences of the criminal assault on their wellbeing. The country of Nigeria is now largely populated by indigent indigenes who merely subsist on hope that is as forlorn as that of a pig's attempt to outrun a cheetah.
The chilling irrationality of the PDP's initial cry of witch-hunting is now very clear amid the mind-boggling revelations of the fate of the billions of dollars Dasuki treated like confetti at a rowdy wedding ceremony. Even the whole world that has been hitherto immune to the reports and instances of blatant acts of corruption in Nigeria is aghast at the emerging details of Dasukigate. For most well-meaning Nigerians, the saddest aspect of this whole sordid affair, and others that are yet to surface, is the impact of the lasting legacy they have created. Many Nigerians, across all age ranges, now shrug off accusations and instances of corruption and dishonest behaviour in daily life. Some are actually bold enough to admit they would do exactly what those that have impoverished them have done, and more.
It is much easier to fight corruption and bring corruptors to book, but it is a wholly different ballgame to reconstruct the psyche of corruption that is so pervasive and embedded in the Nigerian society. Like I said elsewhere in my other blog (http://9jainc.blogspot.co.uk/), a lot thief catchers in Nigeria are just as bad as, if not worse than, the thieves they are after. As upright as we thought Ribadu was in his heyday, what became of him eventually? Didn't he choose to get into bed with the same rogues he was claiming to be at war with? Where is Ibrahim Lamorde today? Anyone seen him on the streets of Nigeria? Why has he decided to make a run for it? What percentage of judges in our law courts can be relied upon to fearlessly dispense justice? How many so-called men of God have a morsel of credibility? Gullible, impoverished congregations still being bamboozled into dispensing with their meager incomes to further swell the ever-deepening pockets of their pastors and overseers. Church members cannot afford to send their charges to the very schools and universities their contributions helped establish. Deceit is the order of the day in our society and the resulting damage to our culture is almost irreparable. Buhari and his government can holler all they like, not until the fundamentals of decent human behaviour are re-established can the war on corruption be deemed a success.
Yes, we are on the right path but Buhari must be careful not to end up wearying Nigerians by these endless revelations of corruption. We Nigerians are notoriously fickle people and we can now reasonably expect to begin to feel the impact of the change of direction of governance. Incessant fuel shortages, seemingly unending power shortages, worsening economic situation are the harsh realities for Nigerians at this point in time. Policies that could immediately bring relief to people would be most welcome; the short-term must not be overlooked, the medium-term must not be lost sight of, and Buhari can rest assured that Nigerians would buy into his long-term ideas for the nation. To expect Buhari to undo the damage done to our economy within seven months is absolutely insane. Change is a process, not an occurrence. Rabid sycophants like Femi Fani-Kayode, Olisah Metuh, Bode George and other disreputable wretched souls like them are just a pesky lot. They have nothing of value to contribute to the wellbeing of the Nigerian people and they have no justification, whatsoever, for their opportunistic forays into political discourse, talk less an economic one. They want to fight their way back into public consciousness, but their irrelevance is permanent, only they do not know it yet. Their moral bankruptcy is absolute and their intellectual fibre long deceased.
I wish all my fellow Nigerians the best Christmas in the circumstance and I sincerely pray that we may find happiness and may our hope for a better country be restored and realized in 2016 and far beyond. May we be deserving of the grace of the good Lord always.
God bless Nigeria and her very good people.  

VEXATAE QUAESTIONES

Anyone that has ever been on a roller-coaster will have experienced the palpitations that unfailingly tangle themselves in a web of exhilaration. But then, that's a joyride, a fun ride. Nigeria has hardly ever enjoyed the emotions of a fun ride but has been ridden and serially raped by the very people who have been joyriding it for the better part of half a century, but none more so brutal than by the consortium of evil that has choked Nigeria in the past decade or so. What is any decent human being with a beating heart to make of the Balkanization of the Nigerian State? Vexata quaestio. Why is the dream of our nation's founding fathers proving so unreachable, so unattainable? Vexata quaestio. Why do we still harbour and tolerate these hardened criminals and downright evil animals among us? Vexata quaestio. Why, when it is so blatantly obvious that these animals brazenly engage in daylight robberies, the so-called judges still bend the laws of the land to shield and protect them? Vexata quaestio. Why? Why? Why?
The cases of senseless corrupt acts and sharp practices keep flooding through and all we can do is sit on our collective backside and do nothing. The Dasukis, Sarakis, Jonathans, Iwealas, Diezanis are still prancing about in Planet Nigeria. Why are we so goddamn impotent? Vexata quaestio. If I were not a fierce opponent of the death penalty (only because of the possibilities of miscarriages of justice, mind), I would not even bat an eyelid to see these animals tied to the back of a truck and dragged through the streets. Soldiers are putting their lives on the line for our collective security and peace. These same soldiers are being denied the proper equipment with which to take the fight to the enemy, and dying needlessly because of these ars*holes' insatiable thirst for wealth. The animalistic accumulative traits of these criminals are unparalleled. The sums of money that have been stolen from our commonwealth can only be guessed at and not to be sniffed at. When are we going to egress this regressive cycle of lawlessness and unimaginable level of corruption? Vexata quaestio. Even the 'thief catchers' are themselves thieves. Where do we go from here? Vexata quaestio.
In reality, all of these questions are not vexatae quaestiones; they merely are quasi-posers. Anyone with half a brain knows that the judiciary is the chief facilitator of corruption in our society. Desperate people, with the acute need to stave off hunger, caught nicking a tin of rice or a bag of gari (not that that in itself is condonable though) get thrown into prison with consummate ease and impressive speed, in many cases without legal representation. The number of inmates all over the country that have been incarcerated for years without justifiable reasons can only be imagined. They are the lost brigade, with virtually nobody to bat for them. Human rights legislation doesn't apply to them. They cannot feign illness to allow them to go abroad for medical treatment. What injustice! Now, we have political and executive robbers who have killed  thousands through their avarice and destroyed generations through their greed. When they are called to sense the smell of justice, SANs in their droves come to their aid and protest that their fundamental human rights are being violated, that they are being witch-hunted and that their 'clients' need to go abroad to treat a hitherto unknown debilitating ailment. The judges are only too happy and ready to acquiesce and the wheels of justice are clamped. Heaven knows how many cases are languishing in various courts all over the land.
Thus, the nostrum that should be on the rostrum of political discourse and national rediscovery is the revival of the unimpeachable tenet of justice. When these political and executive thieves realise that impunity is no longer an acceptable word in our political dictionary and national consciousness, and its display would be met with the stiffest penalty the law prescribes, politicians, executives, professionals, businessmen, civil servants and all Nigerians would realign and straighten up. Whistle-blowing should be given prominence, manifestly encouraged and amply rewarded, while our law enforcement agents and military personnel are treated with the dignity they richly deserve and the respect they rightfully expect.
Buhari and his government have a lot on their plate and should be given all the help they need to decapitate this hydra-headed monster of corruption that is threatening us as a nation and people. You see, these willful destroyers don't give a rat's arse unless they are hounded, smoked out and booted out. The laws that guide human conduct don't apply to them because of their incorrigibility. The principles of decency are alien to them because of their intrinsic evilness. They flout the parameters of acceptable human conduct because of their insane inanities. The coordinates of empathy are blurry to them. Only yesterday Facebooks's Mark Zuckerberg and his wife declared they would be giving 99% of their estimated $45 billion to charity, thereby joining the likes of Bill Gates and the Sage of Omaha, Warren Buffett, and a host of other multi-billionaires who made their fortunes through the sweat of their own brows, as opposed to political jobbers and opportunists in Nigeria who looted the people dry and stash their loot in foreign banks and financial institutions. The table has turned and they will be made to regurgitate what they have unlawfully swallowed and put away for good. They lack dignity. They lack class. Their time is up.