One of the reasons why the international communities are not taking our war against corruption serious, is because of our corrupt approach. Where we stand as part of this enterprise of Nigeria is not well defined. We want change but we are not absolutely sincere about it. Yet no matter how we want to rationalise it, there can never be a better definition of corruption than perversion of our institutional controls and laws? We allow sentiment to becloud our sense of true judgement. Incidentially, some of these unruly practices have a way of coming back to haunt us.
Over the years, the Northerners were in charge of the military and they allowed all manners of individuals to get enlisted even without the required educational qualifications. They raised standard for all non-Northern candidates and lower it for the North in the name of federal character, that is what is boomeranging now. The result is what we are faced with today. We now have a military personnel who escaped military verification exercise over the years and eventually rose to the rank of Major General and was still not investigated as at the time he retired in 1985.
If these practices continue unchecked or the likes of Buhari are allowed to have their ways despites their records, it means a dangerous precedent has been set in Nigeria and it will haunt the soul of this nation forever. In advance nations, perjury is taken as a serious offence, but it doesn't matter in Nigeria so long as we like the one who commited such offence. What a nation! Sometimes I wonder what we expect the younger generation to learn from all these.
While President Goodluck Jonathan (GEJ) may not have done enough to convince some Nigerians why he must be re-elected, General Muhammad Buhari cannot be a better alternative. A man cannot change overnight, just as a tiger will never change its strips. Asides from the disputed certificate issue, Buhari has made many public indicting and inciting statements not befitting of a national leader. Making GEJ leadership ungovernable; bloody baboons stories, advocating BH amnesty, an attack on BH is a fight against the north and all of that.
Past leaders including Buhari instilled fear into people in order to conceal and covered their ill-acts while others suppressed the press and other out-spoken sources. Governments before GEJ killed and silenced every grassroot interest in politics. But now, we can write, campaign and advertise politics as we wish. This is democracy!
There are other meaningful improvements. As at today, Nigeria's Interstate High Speed Rail Project has been listed amongst the world's top 100 infrastructure projects with a sense of fulfillment. Nigeria now has two automobile industries manufacturing vehicles, Innoson in Nnewi and Nissan in Lagos under this administration.
And last time I checked, our GDP is now viable, overtaking that of South Africa and Brazil for the first time. Nigeria is now the biggest economy in African. All these were achieved under an administration led by someone people say he's clueless.
As for the insurgency, it's a collective battle. If the Northern leaders have genuinely agreed to work with GEJ just like South-South leaders persuaded the militants to surrender their arms, things wouldn't have gone this bad.
In conclusion, the war against corruption must be absolute and not partial and should be championed by credible people with verifiable records!
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