When the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cautioned Chief Ahmed Bola Tinubu to “stop playing god”, they completely mischaracterized his true identity. Bola Tinubu was not playing god. He is a god, a deity of corruption, and menacing ideas filled with deplorable wisdom and economic practices most foul that he has entrenched himself and his business empire in every facet of governance in Lagos State. Through him and by him, corruption permeates every major revenue generation contract in Lagos State.
Many lonely folks, adrift in the Nigerian political area,
keen to get into elective offices are drawn to the mini deity of Lagos. These
faithful servants of the mini deity of corruption starting from Fashola to
Ambode and Rauf Aregbesola were required to endure a ceremony to join the cult
that involved planting a seed of silence in them. Once elected, the seed
gradually grew until the transparent system of governance is replaced with
rotting contracts and concessions to the controlling deity.
To his credit, this mini deity of Lagos single-handedly rescued
Lagos from the impunity of election rigging by Obasanjo in 2003. The courage of
Bola Tinubu to stop Obasanjo from entrenching the culture of election rigging
in Nigeria is commendable. With the strength of the massive internal revenue
being generated in Lagos, Tinubu was able to checkmate Obasanjo. At one point,
he was running the state without the Local Government revenue from the Federal
government, a feat most states cannot even imagine.
However, the accolade may itself have accounted for much of the
arteriosclerosis in his government, with the complete decay of ethics. The cash
generated from markets and businesses in Lagos was rechanneled into thousands
of private pockets in a fashion that has never happened in the governance of
any state in Nigeria, not even the federal government. Mind you, Lagos State is
currently the fifth largest economy in Africa. Bola Tinubu thus presents a
vivid and frightening picture of how a great state could fall under the control
of one man.
If we accept the evidence that the total internally generated tax
revenue increased perhaps, several-fold under Tunibu’s re-engineering, then he
deserves the credit. But to extract a palm nut is exactly that - to extract a
palm nut; to take the entire head of palm nut is stealing. So, taking full
control of the revenue being generated in Lagos state for year’s amounts to
virtual paralysis in many sectors that need urgent infrastructural development.
What is new in Asiwaju’s modus operandi is not the existence of this
corruption, but its sheer scale and long-term implications.
A sea-change occurred in the ethics of government under Tinubu’s
watch in Lagos. He operated not through the impersonal administration, but
rather through, patronage and kinship. Bribery and abuses always occurred in
governments, of course. But under Bola Tinubu’s reign, they became the norm: no
longer abuses of a system, but an alternative system in itself. Everything was
bought and sold: Speaker of the State House, judges' verdicts and tax
assessments. Appointments to the lucrative Council Areas across Lagos became a
marketplace of power.
What Tinubu is in Lagos, Bukola Saraki and his family are in Kwara
State. These men are quietly constructing a political dynasty that is
undermining good governance in their states and Nigeria as a whole. Now, the
political structure of the mini deity of Lagos is so superbly sophisticated,
with loyalties and ties that cut across the Southwestern Nigeria and the APC
federal government. The sale is such that only the unusually brave could stand
up against his institutionalized corruption.
Institutionalized corruption in Nigeria is rotten and cancerous, yet
attractive. The celebration of an ex-convict by a serving Delta State governor;
the worship of corrupt mini deities in Lagos and Kwara State should be a source
of worry to Nigerians, especially those of us hoping to engineer cultural
change on corruption on social media. Clearly, when it comes to the treatment
of the corrupt but powerful deities by law in Nigeria, corruption is a troubled
concept.
If not, how could Bola Tinubu label PDP as chronically corrupt
(which they are) and at the same time be corruptly enriching himself in Lagos?
How could Buhari be using billions of Naira to settle Saraki and Droga and
their gang in the National Assembly while pretending to be fighting corruption?
How could Alpha Beta, a consultancy firm linked to Tinubu be pocketing about 4
Billion Naira monthly as “consultancy” charges and is in pole position to net
additional billions per month (forever and ever) in a recent law on the Land
Use Act in Lagos State?
The desire to find answers to these questions should be a starting
point in the fight against corruption. Why should Nigerians be dusting their
PVC to keep lining up behind these corrupt deities? Where is my generation, the
Nigerian youths beating our chest that we are not ‘lazy’ yet willing to kill
one another for Ibori, Saraki, Tibubu, Wike, Amaechi, Obasanjo and Buhari?
As if my concern about the corrupt deity of Lagos is not enough, the
Senate President Bukola Saraki paid a courtesy visit to EFCC Chairman
yesterday, to show “support”, where he was quoted to have said, "we are
together in the corruption fight". Once that came out of his mouth, God
wept for Nigeria. But there was a chorus of joy and singing in Aso Rock, where
the Presidency shouted “Yessssss!”
Finally, the permutation and combinations of the Presidency for the
2019 race appears to have brought two heavyweights, Asiwaju Tinubu and Bukola
Saraki with unmatched “integrity” when it comes to fighting corruption to
Buhari’s camp. With these two mini deities of corruption as the face of
Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade backed by Kemi Adeosun’s billions of Naira
ready to buy the National Assembly and willing politicians, you can only
imagine what will be left of Nigeria after the 2019 elections.
I have been told repeatedly that Nigeria is beyond redemption. But
only Nigerians who are crazy enough to think they can change the culture of
corruption are the ones who will. Even when we are not taking for granted the
immense power of the mob behind the mini corrupt deities in Nigeria, we will
not give up hope on our generation and posterity. The crazy Nigerians without
respect for the status quo will not be deterred. So, stand out, stand up to the
mini deities of corruption in Nigeria. Join the misfits and be a rebel for
anti-corruption struggle in Nigeria.
Together, we can
You can email Churchill at Churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com or
follow him on Twitter @churchillnnobi
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