Nothing will happen

“It is not life that matters, but the courage you bring to it .”

-Obafemi Awolowo

in his Allocutus, September 11, 1963

“Courage is like love, it must have hope to nourish it.”

-Napoleon Bonaparte

It is amazing how myths are spread to protect illegality, frauds and villains. It is interesting how threats of heaven falling on the rest of us are made if certain things were to happen in Nigeria . It is at times bizarre to listen to bizarre theories of how the consequences of honest and serious action in the interest of the country could cause the break up of Nigeria .

It was reported that a couple of months before the former Inspector General of the Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun was arrested, when he was still basking in the comfort of his ill-gotten wealth he was boastful that nothing could happen to him in Nigeria, and there would be “hell to pay” if anyone even dared to arrest him or people of his ilk not to talk of trying him. Balogun had boasted that no one dares make any attempt to clean up Nigeria because such person would be dead before he even starts.

At times it even bothers on ridiculous the kind of empty threats that are weaved in theories about how Nigeria could disappear from the surface of the map if anyone makes the efforts to clean up Nigeria . This has been one of the major disinformation strategies used by the corrupt elite to discourage collective Nigerian action against their criminal acts.

But I am here to say that it is all lies. It is all empty threats. It is all spurious. It is all fraud. It is misleading. It is all bogus. It is all part of defence mechanisms on the part of those milking Nigeria dry. It is part of conscious attempts by the certified thieves of the Nigerian treasury to annihilate the hope and by extension, the courage of Nigerians to hold them accountable and bring them to justice. NIGERIA CAN BE CLEANED UP. If Nigerians decide to clean up the country, they will accomplish it. And nothing will happen.

Before the advent of the deranged General Sanni Abacha, Nigerians were regaled with the tales of woes that will sweep across the country if any sitting Emir of Sokoto who have been found wanting was ever “touched.” Nigerians were made to believe that there were some sacred cows that could not be touched. But Abacha has proved the lie in this. He has shown that when you are tainted, all gloves are off. And nothing will happen.

The removal of Emir Ibrahim Dasuki is evidence that anyone who oversteps the boundary of law and is not illicitly protected could be dealt with. All those who have stolen our money are beyond the reach of law now because they are still being protected with the instrument of power. The only reason IBB wants to come to power is to forestall his inevitable trial and protect himself. But this will only be for some time. Nemesis is around the corner and it will catch up with all of them. When it does, heaven will not fall. Nigerians will have a sigh of relief. And nothing will happen.

What I am saying, in case you do not get the picture clearly, is that if Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida is arrested today and tried for corruption, all the idiots running after him, telling the rest of us that he should be the next president will disappear and leave him to his fate. All his so called “IBB Military Boys” will be found out to be nothing better than ordinary “IBB Boys Scouts” who will even run helter-skelter to hide their own heads and their own loot. It is all a myth spread to discourage collective Nigerian action against their criminal acts. Soldiers too can die. Guns can kill soldiers as well as it can kill civilians. If any of them is arrested today and tried, justice will be served. And nothing will happen.

If President Obasanjo is impeached today and arrested for corruption, all the façade of power that he projects will disappear and most if not all of those who are defending him now will not have the courage to stand by him except his immediate family. Even his coterie of friends who benefited from him will not even be able to show their face for fear of prosecution. And nothing will happen.

If all the military governors who have stolen our money before the present dispensation are arrested and tried for corruption, they will be alone in their fate because it is what they have individually chosen. All their friends and those who benefited from them will disappear. And nothing will happen.

I sincerely believe that all the present civilian governors who have been found to be thieves can be impeached and tried for corruption. If it happens, no one will have the courage to come to their defence if it can be proved that they are certified thieves. Everyone that has any modicum of decency and dignity will run away from them and leave them to their fate. And nothing will happen.

If any of the other Inspectors – General of Police that have served this country and used their position to enrich themselves were arrested today and tried for their crimes against the country, the poor Nigerians will welcome such action. Everyone will run away from them, except their immediate family members. If they were found to be guilty and jailed, it will be celebrated. And nothing will happen.

Nigeria is not as bad and irredeemable as we are being made to believe. Nigeria is not beyond redemption. It is all about mind conditioning. It is all about our will. It is all about our desire. It is all about being ready for the necessary action. It is all a matter of opportunity. More so, as Frederick Douglas once said:

“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the

endurance of those whom they oppress.”

Yes, he was right. When we are ready to do it, we will. And nothing will happen.

Many Nigerians are falling for the theory that Nigeria can not be cleansed. They have been susceptible to the theory that Nigeria is too big and diverse to be cleansed of corruption because of ethnic loyalties of our people. It is all lies. It is all specious. It is all phony. It is all fraud. It is a fallacy being sold by those who are benefiting from the system to discourage Nigerians to the point of accepting corruption as impossible to tackle. Corruption can be tackled. Nigeria can be cleansed. And nothing will happen.

Here and now, I can vouch for the good sense of majority of Nigerians. Here and now, I can vouch for their integrity. Here and now, I can vouch that majority of Nigerians in spite of their ethnic loyalties still retain some modicum of dignity and aversion to corruption as presently being witnessed. I can vouch that even the village men of the corrupt public officials will not come to the defence of such officials if they (the village men) are faced with incontrovertible evidence that their beloved village boy is a certified thief. If such village boy ends up being tried and jailed, it will be a relief. And nothing will happen.

The only reason some are feeling bad about the present spate of prosecutions is that it appeared selective. It does not seem to be evenly distributed as the acts of corruption has been. But even then, it is better than nothing. At least we are starting somewhere. The only reason I will feel bad is if the arrested and tried is innocent. The only reason I will listen to the complaints of the ethnic loyalists is if the impeached is innocent. The only reason I will listen to anyone who feels this is unfair is if the jailed is innocent. But other than that, Nigerians are happy that something, if only cosmetic, is happening to the corrupt. If it goes deeper than the surface, it will be welcomed. And nothing will happen.

Someone asked me where do we start with this kind of war since corruption has been with us from day one? Another has argued that this can be difficult since there have been too many involved? Nigerians should not fall for that line of thought. It is meant to preserve the status quo. It is aimed at preventing anyone who might have the courage to start from somewhere from doing so. It is aimed to foster the culture of corruption. I posit that it does not matter. Let us start anywhere we can. Let us catch any one we can. Let us try any one we catch. Let us jail any one found guilty. And nothing will happen.

It is important for Nigerians to pay attention. Those who are interested in the future of Nigeria should beware of apologists of the status quo. It is important that the rest of us are not hoodwinked by the certified thieves among us and those who eat from their crumbs as well as their sentries in the market place of ideas. This is because as Ernesto Che Guuevera once said in a private letter dated February 26, 1964 to a critic of his:

“Unfortunately, in the eyes of most of our people, and in mine as

well, apologetics for a system can have more impact than

scientific analysis of it. This does not help in the task of clarification

and our whole effort is aimed at inviting people to think……”

(emphasis mine).

I will just take a cue from the above and add that the objective here is not just inviting people to think but it is INVITING THEM TO ACT with courage. If they do, they would have liberated themselves from the bondage of corruption. Such action will put to rest all the myths of the apologists of the status quo. And nothing will happen.

Nobody should be above the LAW and nobody really is. It is all a myth. Nigerians should not buy it that some people are untouchables. Anybody can be tried if he or she commits a crime. It does not matter if the person is an Oba, Emir, Obi, General, Major-General, Brigadier, Colonel, IG, Police Commissioner, ex-President, ex-Head of State, ex-Governor or whatever. It is a state of mind. It can be done if we want to do it. And nothing can happen.

In fact unknown to many, most of these so called “sacred cows” are cowards. They are jelly beans and without back bones. They have no balls. That is why they resort to assassination of their opponents because they do not have the courage to face them down. More so because their hands reek and are afraid what might happen if the public should know their dirty secrets, they become desperate and resort to violence of assassination. All we need is to face them down, expose their vulnerability and bring them to justice. And nothing will happen.

As long as it can be proved that someone has stolen the public money, such person can be successfully tried and jailed and the money and properties acquired taken from him and his or her family. And nothing will happen.

Robot  Villager

# 1 Nobody should be above the LAW and nobody really is. It is all a myth. Nigerians should not buy it that some people are untouchables. Anybody can be tried if he or she commits a crime. It does not matter if the person is an Oba, Emir, Obi, General, Major-General, Brigadier, Colone...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 11.12.2005 13:10

Unregistered

# 2 I hear you and I agree. Nothing will happen. Posted by Unregistered| 11.12.2005 14:23

Palamedes  Villager

# 3 The only reason IBB wants to come to power is to forestall his inevitable trial and protect himself. Indeed to go legitimate - as they say in the criminal world; surely, not because he has brushed off his mediocrity or have acquired an MBA. Many Nigerians are falling for the theory that Nigeria can not be cleansed. … of corruption because of ethnic loyalties of our people. It is all lies. It is all specious. It is all phony. It is all fraud. It is a fallacy being sold by those who are benefiting from the system to discourage Nigerians to the point of accepting corruption as impossible to tackle. Corruption can be tackled. Nigeria can be cleansed. And nothing will happen. I have found a soul mate in you Mr Remi Oyeyemi: We might be lonely but who needs a crowd. In conversations with Nigerians – at home and abroad, I have consistently hammered home these points, but pity, some even see it as blasphemous. Their reverence to these rogue leaders offends me and sometimes even causes me irritation In antiquity, kings, queens and religious leaders would claim that they were god’s representatives on earth, and the masses believed them. The masses also created their own myths – of mysterious and supernatural powers of their leaders. Pity, today, the masses still believe these myths; and our leaders still claim these powers. Our people are also confuse about boundaries: boundaries between the rule of law, culture, tradition, and religion: In the minds of our illiterate and ignorant compatriots, only culture, tradition, and religion exist. Explaining the rule of law to them is as difficult as describing snow. We must continue to hammer home the point that these rogue leaders are humans and subject to the laws of our land. Posted by Palamedes| 11.12.2005 17:56

emj  Villager

# 4 What a brilliant expose of the situation in our nation nigeria. More will happen, infact more will unfold, there is going to be unimaginable shaking in our land. It has stopped being business as usual, mark my words, it is the same power by which they acquired comfort that will bring about the beginning of their end Posted by emj| 11.12.2005 19:14

sandy

# 5 our whole system,and i mean the WHOLE SYSTEM is corrupted,we are busy lamenting on the ALAMIEYESIEGHA ISSUE,leaving behind the main issues.the number one man is a BLOODYFOOL,i tell u,with his aids,they will surely pay 4 their sins. Posted by sandy| 12.12.2005 06:05

wete-ego

# 6 what we need for this country is a divine intervention from God,and the way people were purnished in the old testament of the Bible,you do something bad and recieve your purnishment at once.i know that with that,a lot of people will be careful on how they maltreat the masses. and in my whole life and history of the WORLD,i have never seen a regimn with so much misfortunes,infact the OBASANGO REGIMN IS CONECTED WITH THE DEVIL,he is an agent of the devil donating innocent blood to his master. Posted by wete-ego| 12.12.2005 06:24

Unregistered

# 7 useless nigerians..always crying wolf where there is no reason to do so..you are reaping what you have planted...so dont cry...primitive *****S.. Posted by Unregistered| 12.12.2005 08:57

Unregistered

# 8 OBASANGO REGIMN IS CONECTED WITH THE DEVIL,he is an agent of the devil donating innocent blood to his master.- WETE-EGO What are you, a sorcerer? We are talking real world here not mysticism. Posted by Unregistered| 12.12.2005 13:22

Unregistered

# 9 Regarding corruption, l think the president is more concerned about repartrating stolen wealth than just throwing people in jail. Let us face it, if you have to apply a leveled playing field on corruption in Nigeria, we will never have enough cell space to hold convicted criminals even if we convert 3/4 of our landmass to jailhouse. See what the government is going through right now trying to recover Abacha's loot from the even more dishonest and hypocritical western countries. Who knows, may be most of Babangida's loot are being secretly ploughed back into the country now by way of investment. No sonner you pronounce a person like Babangida corrupt with illgotten wealth in a Nigerian court than the western countries will move quickly to freeze his assets and place them beyond his reach and that of the Nigerian government. There might be a silent agreement for the repartriation of stolen money between him and Obasanjo who probable feels that recovery of the stolen money and plugging the loopholes that made such large scale stealing possible, will by far be more meaningful than wasting resources trying to pursue and punish these alibabas. It was no accident that the governor escaped from Britain. The British goverment would want Alam to disappear so that they can seize his bail bond. And that is exactly what happened after his escape. The government will now work 10 times over to recover that money if it is ever recoverable at all. This could be part of the reality of Nigerian situation for Obasanjo. This does not make me a supporter of Obasanjo's method. I am just trying to put thing in perspective and l stand to be proved wrong in my reasoning. The EFCC was in this frame of mind when it handed down a light sentence on the ex-IG in exchange for his cooperation and willingness to return his loot. Posted by Unregistered| 12.12.2005 19:31

Unregistered

# 10 i agree totally with your submission. nigeria is being silently re-engineered by the few (but growing in rank) people who have stood up to be counted against corruption and evil. and i dare say nothing is happening. nothing. except more and more people are beginning to see that we are not that different afterall. they are seeing that the so-called differences (in tongues and cultures) are magnifyied by the corrupt and evil men who have been united by the same corruption and evil. Posted by Unregistered| 14.12.2005 06:58

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