Nigeria is reeling under the potentially threatening squalls and the blinding forages of corruption. The country's general milieu is overwhelmed by the evil forces of darkness; corruption is virtually found, everywhere and is perpetrated by, almost, every institution of government. It is an evil, perpetuated by some elites in government, which continues to remain in the country; and it has been the bane of life of the country's development. Every institution is involved; political, military, religious, traditional, judicial institutions, etc.
Politicians are, always,"playing politics", and we all know what that means;"playing politics"could even mean playing with our intelligence. When soliciting for our mandates, they promise us heaven and earth, but after clinching our mandates they play abracadabra on us and disappear into thin air; never to be seen until the eve of another Iwu/Jega (i.e. election) season. One only gets a glimpse of them when they come to pass by him, even then, if they are not in a tinted glassed vehicle. As legislators, they make laws for us and place themselves, high; as hangers-on, they hang on.
Military profession is a profession that teaches one how to kill and avoid being killed. Our Nigerian military seem to have forgotten that this practice is only carried out at the battle-field; but come to think of it, may be they are not forgetful; Nigeria is the battle-field, and we, the so called"bloody civilians"are the enemies. So we get killed and await prayers.
Police, the so-called"friend"of the masses, is unfortunately one of the worse, if not the worst institutions, maligned by corruption, in Nigeria."Police are your friends", we are told; what a slogan! One readily gets maimed or killed by a police officer, in Nigeria, today, for refusing to part with a N20 note mandated by the police, by virtue of their"common sense law". One either gives or shoulders the heavy burden of his misdeed (refusal to give). There are instances, where the police engage in an uncalled for shootings, in the air, thereby intimidating the neighbourhood, wasting bullets unnecessarily and exposing the public to risk/danger. Should anybody be hit by their stray bullets, they would readily plea the"defence"of accidental discharge, mistaken identity or brand the victim as a terrorist. The shootings are done at some areas, in the morning, when people and school children are on the way to their various destinations, and in the night, when people are supposed to rest, after a hectic day; just to give the government an impression that all is still not well in Kano.
Religious leaders are also infected by the scourge of corruption; many of them support any government that cares to pander to their whims. They dance to the tune of any government, as long as it is ready to allow some paltry amounts, out of public treasury, to them. They are always ready with a verse or more, which they will misinterpret and manipulate, in order to achieve an egocentric desire; they use religion as a facade to achieve a psychedelic aim. They teach us that as a rule"the meek shall inherit the earth"; we become the meek, but the religious leaders inherit every bit of the earth. In the end, of course, we (the meek) shall inherit earth; six feet under-ground, where we shall lie below holes, of which we hold no certificate of incupancy (oh! it is occupancy).
Traditional leaders, sometimes referred to as traditional rulers, are also infected by this epidemic. Each traditional ruler is seen and regarded by his subservient as a"father of the people". But because of the corruption, inherent in many traditional institutions, now, their conducts imply the phrase to mean"further off the people". So off they furthered, faltered and feathered nests. They used to serve as mediators between the people and the political office holders; but now, many of the traditional leaders are allies of the corrupt elites in government. Whenever any of the corrupt political office holder wishes to play with the intelligence of the people, by means of gobbledygook agenda, he rushes to some of them with a token,"gift"; they in turn, sweet talk the unsuspecting masses into accepting the agenda, as the most thoughtful, without premeditation as to what would be the end-result.
Judiciary is regarded as the last refuge of the downtrodden; it is expected that whenever there is an element of injustice against a downtrodden, he readily rushes to courts for redress. The courts would, in turn, ensure that justice is done, without due regard to class or whose cow is gored. But some of our present courts give priority as to the office/status and wealth of the parties in a case before them.
The common men/masses are not left behind in this ignoble conduct of corruption; infact they play a very big and vital role in it. They patronize it, in the sense that they are given a token amount to sell their prides (votes) to anyone that cares to buy it; thereby becoming infra dignitatem. Furthermore, even among the masses, corruption has become the order of the day. Trust is lost among them; in transaction, one, presently, finds one member among the masses trying to outsmart the other, out of greed. Where the people are opportuned to have a good leader, his assistants/aides taken from the masses, urge him to commit himself and start misruling other masses. They go to the extent of consulting any undesirable element, that they feel, could hypnotize or mesmerize the just leader, to dance to their tunes. The people of this kind do not care as to what would happen to other people; all they care for, is themselves and their egocentric goals.
To achieve the desired goal of development, we must, consciously, fight corruption and theft of government resources at all levels. So long as thievery continues to be perpetrated by Nigerian elites in government, unchecked, so long we shall continue to drift further from the Promised Land. Furthermore continuous thievery, as we are witnessing in our recent history, is preventing the emergence of credible leadership, in the country. We have, in recent past, had enough resources in the country, to reverse the ugly social trends, in our society, but the resources were and are still being stolen.
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