Dr Promise Adele

By Promise Adele

Nigeria’s former maximum ruler, General Sanni Abacha, has become an enigma in death. He may be dead but lives. Like the double character in Athol Fugard’s play Sizwe Bansi is dead, Sizwe Bansi metaphorically dies but continues to live as Robert Zwelinzima. Since Abacha’s death in 1998, he has lived as co-financier of the Nigerian project. Yet President Mohammadu Buhari, a famous man of integrity, claimed that the late head of state did not steal public funds. Of course, the mortar and pestle know the truth. Abacha was a demigod. The mention of his name strikes fear into the hearts of mere mortals. But the Supreme Being had other plans and the rest, they say, is history. Today, when Nigerians speak of looting, Abacha’s name immediately comes to mind. The question is, besides Sanni Abacha, who else looted the Nigerian treasury? Are we aware of Abacha’s loot because he is dead? If Abacha were alive, would we have known that he recklessly plundered the public purse?

Nigeria’s history is replete with examples of abuse of power by politicians and government appointees. How many former Nigerian heads of state have been plundered like Sanni Abacha? How many governors, ministers and other government appointees, past and present, have stolen and still steal public funds? Did Shehu Shagari steal public funds? Since Shagari’s death, has any country come out to say it stole public funds and hid them in foreign accounts? To my knowledge, no country or bank has charged the late president. Assuming he stole the money, the information would be made available to Nigerians. So it can be said that Shehu Shagari did not steal Nigeria’s money. Did Muhammadu Buhari steal Nigeria’s money? Although reports allege $2.8 billion disappeared from NNPC when he was oil minister in the late 1970s, there is no evidence that he stole public funds. But we can’t say for sure because he’s still alive. When he answers the final call at the right time, we may learn more about his management.

Did Ibrahim Babangida steal public funds as a military head of state? We may not know because he is still alive. Although some people have described Babangida as the best president Nigeria has ever had, his nullification of the June 12 elections annihilates every shred of positivity he has achieved in office, thus sending him back to Nigeria’s palace of infamy. When I met him and Professor Hope Eghagha at his mansion in Minna in 2017 for an interview, he struck me as someone who deeply understands the Nigerian situation. Soft-spoken, yet tough, IBB is proud of what he’s done and admits to making mistakes. Whether Babangida stole public funds is not explicitly clear as in the Abacha case. When the gaping-toothed former head of state finally bows out, maybe we’ll learn the numbers he stole or didn’t steal.

Did Abdulsalami Abubakar steal public funds during his short stint as head of state? Well, we might not know because he’s still alive. Did Olusegun Obasanjo Steal Public Funds as Head of Civil Status? He’s still alive, so we can’t say for sure. Did Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua steal public funds? Certainly not, because he is dead and since his disappearance, no country has accused him of stealing public funds. Did Goodluck Jonathan embezzle public funds? We can’t tell because he’s still alive. It seems that it is only when former heads of state answer the inevitable call that their cases of financial embezzlement come to light. Time will tell us. But beyond former heads of state, there are other officials, vice presidents, governors, chief executives, permanent secretaries, senators, Senate committee chairmen, members of the House of Representatives, members of the House of assembly and other categories of public persons who plundered the national purse, but because they are alive, these matters do not fall into the public domain.

Nigerians today are impoverished due to the senseless looting and looting of the collective treasury by public servants. For them, the name of the game is stealing. Some stole while in power and continue to steal. Some former governors flew while in office and still fly. How do they still plunder the public treasury even when they are not in power? Simple!!! They deploy their companies and proxies to execute bloated contracts for states. They collect a huge and boring amount of money as pensions from the states they served. They have their old states in their pockets and decide on the next governor of the states. If a stubborn, objective person becomes governor and refuses to pander to the whims and whims of these thieving ex-governors, they will either be impeached or lose a second term.

Nigerians today are impoverished due to the senseless looting and looting of the collective treasury by public servants. For them, the name of the game is stealing. Some stole while in power and continue to steal. Some former governors flew while in office and still fly. How do they still plunder the public treasury even when they are not in power? Simple!!! They deploy their companies and proxies to execute bloated contracts for states. They collect a huge and boring amount of money as pensions from the states they served.

It is easy to identify former public officials who contributed to the impoverishment of the country through looting and indiscriminate theft. Let’s examine the economic status of these former public officials before they entered politics and their current status as emperor, billionaire. Some of them were average and could barely boast of having a house or even a few cars. After serving the public in various capacities, boom, they become billionaires, even richer than some states in Nigeria. They are now foreign currency billionaires. Mention them one by one, and look at their ways of life. How did they make money? Of course, some of them were entrepreneurs before entering the civil service, but there are some with no known income. If one of them dies today, are we going to be bombarded with reports from foreign countries about how they stole billions of public funds?

Unfortunately, many Nigerians are irresponsible when it comes to holding officials accountable. We ask no questions. As long as the man is from our ethnic background, he cannot do any harm even if he kills our mother. I don’t have good records from my state Imo regarding former and current governor. Everyone should ask questions. We must consider it a civil responsibility to question public officials about their sources of wealth. When these people steal our money, display it in front of us and we bellow and shout their praises, then we are complicit in helping them to impoverish ourselves. Why should a member of the House of Assembly drive cars worth millions of naira? Why should a commissioner have hotels across the country worth millions of naira? Why should a minister have residential estates in Dubai? Why should former governors, current governors, their wives, girlfriends and children spend dollars in an impoverished country like Nigeria?

Did we ask the Nigerian government what happened to all the money recovered from Abacha’s loot? No, we will not ask such questions. If we do, we will be stigmatized as enemies of certain political parties. Have we asked in any way what our respective governors are doing to develop the states? Did we ask how much each of our states generates each month? Have we wondered why civil servants and retirees are not paid in our respective states while governors live in prodigious abundance? OK, if we forgive ourselves for not doing the right thing in the past, should we also forgive ourselves for helping thieves in Aso Rock and various government houses across the country? Ask yourself who is the raider you support to stay in power next year? If the owner does not notice and complain, the looter will continue to loot and until death knocks at the door, we may not know how much of our common good has been stolen by criminals in politics.

Adele PhD Promise

mountain top university

[email protected]

Twitter: @DrPee4