FEATURE ARTICLE

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Wumione@AOL.com New York, NY, USA

MOST NIGERIAN POLITICIANS ARE LIKE VULTURES
CIRCLING THE GRAVE FOR SOMETHING TO DEVOUR

ost politicians in the civilized world seek power to make changes in the life of their citizens, to empower them, to give hope to the hopeless, and the underdog in the society and to leave a legacy of accomplishments to be remembered long after they die or leave office. Abraham Lincoln, Frankline Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F Kennedy and William Jefferson Clinton did just that. Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Ahmado Bello among others did just that, and we still remember. But the present generation of politicians in our country are something else, I must say. They are never in office to seek something greater than their own selfish interest The first thing they do on getting to office is to review their pay and allowances while totally neglecting the welfare of the governed. In civilized societies, it is common knowledge how much their political office holders including the President make in salaries and allowances. In Nigeria, that is a top secret the people are not supposed to know anything about. Once elected, the office holders are the boss until the next election when they dole out a little of their loot to oil or fine-tune their rigging methodology and political machine. it is simply unbelievable to conjecture how our country has been able to survive this constant blood letting and bombardment by councilors and chairmen at Local Government Level, by Legislators, Senators and Chief Executives at State and Federal Levels alike..

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". That was the youngest American President to ever assume the presidency addressing Americans more than forty years ago. That message still resonate today more than any time in the history of politics around the world. All the schizophrenic vulture politicians in our country are asking today , is how much money there is to loot, and how much they cherish the obnoxious 1999 Constitution as a refuge to protect them from prosecution, as long as they are able to hold on to office. Is it any wonder then that every incumbent Governor or Deputy, and every incumbent President and Vice would do anything to get re-elected, or to succeed themselves in office. I call them schizophrenic because they now claim they hear voices telling them to run or go for a second or third term. They ascribe those voices to God, but we now have cause to believe that most of them are either lying or hearing voices from Lucifer. I can well imagine what may be going on at night, right now at Aso Rock and each of the 36 Governors' Mansions across our country. We now know from Abacha's tenure in Akinola Aguda's House in Abuja, how many suites in that Nigerian White House are reserved for marabouts from Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Kaula in Senegal, praying on sheep skin 5 times a day, just to hypnotize our people in the name of Allah to accept Abacha as the only one who could rule Nigeria using the barrel of the gun.

Abacha who could not remember how many times he has used public money, to fly to Mecca on holy pilgrimage, as a devoted Muslim is the best example of how not to lead a country. If you still remember the confessions of Major Mustafa and cohorts at the Oputa Panel, you will understand what I am talking about. He was Idi Amin personified using body parts to appease the gods, so the five political parties he had handpicked and sponsored like Babangida would just declare him president for life without anyone raising a finger. As serious as the revelations of the Oputa Panel had been to the conscience of our nation, we have a President and a Congress in office who are too much embattled and preoccupied with their own survival in office, that they cannot think of what else to do. All we read about are huge furniture and other allowances, buying rams for Legislators to share in celebrating Christmas or any of the Muslim holidays. All we hear about are money changing hands so our legislators can vote for or against the impeachment of a president, eight months to the end of his term. Are these the best we can get for our country in the 21st century? Help me somebody.

You will not also believe, how many suites at Aso Rock are reserved for "Babalawos" and Ifa oraclers who also came from far and near to do their divination, to be sure the Abacha plot to rule Nigeria for ever never ran into a road block. Obasanjo has claimed he is taking his orders from Jehovah Jirreh and Jihovah Chikenoh, and so is our Senate President Ayim Pius Ayim, as revealed by his bosom friend, the one and only Arthur Nzeribe of this world. Governor for Life,. Adefarati is calling his own campaign to hold on to power, without a primary, for another four years in Ondo State as God's own project. No wonder the next Holy Ghost Night which normally takes place at the City of Faith, along Lagos/Ibadan Express Road, may soon take place at the grounds of the Government House in Akure, where "Asoga dumole" the famous Osanyin and Oyinle native doctor, in Akure may well have a little shrine set aside for him to ensure that God's own project in Ondo State does not crash in 2003.. Governor Adefarati has enough money stacked away in local and foreign Banks from Oil Revenues coming to Ondo State to ensure that the real Jehovah, King of Kings would simply look the other way while "Osanyin Mole" takes his own turn at assuring his victory at the polls come next year.

What we now have in Nigeria is a mixture of God and Mammon by our politicians, all in the name of ambition to, for ever, hold on to power while Nigerian workers starve and go without salaries for months, and while the rank and file of our people are going out to the garbage dump to look out for something to eat. I am not sure that Sodom and Gomarah had performed any worse than Nigeria is doing today, and we all know the outcome. I can well imagine why nothing is working out for our country either at home or at The Hague. Those Nigerians who are advocating outright war against the Cameroon had better be careful. They must remember Cameroon has a Defence Pact with France and that the international community and the UN are all with the Cameroon on Bakassi, and that Nigeria is all alone. Not even our erstwhile colonial master, Britain, is with us on this. Those of us who are old enough to witness the Biafran War must not forget the lessons of Abagana Disaster when our Federal troops ran into land mines nicknamed "Ugbunigwe" that gave Biafra its biggest victory against Nigeria in the entire war. It was "ugbunigwe" that forced the Nigerian side to take the unconventional step of sending a horde of cattle for advanced reconnaissance in the hope that the cattles would detonate the "ugbunigwe", as the cattle graze and clear the grounds for Federal troops to follow. If you think that kind of crude improvisation could help us in confronting France and the Cameroon on Bakassi, I have an island to sell to you in the Pacific.

I don't want to sound like a prophet of doom here, but my crystal ball tells me the 2003 Election which is programmed to return all incumbents back to power, by all means, may well signify the beginning of the end for our country, even if Chris Okotie becomes our modern day professor Peller when he gets sworn in as President next October. It will be nice to watch. Stay tuned. The vultures are here eating up the country, mindlessly turning our country into their private estate, while the rest of us do what the late Bola Ige used to do better than any other Nigerian in living memory "Siddon de look"

I refrain from calling Obasanjo as one of these vultures right now, simply because I have no evidence to prove it. It's hard, however, for Obasanjo to remain a saint in the midst of devils, but I have not seen or heard any hard facts I can use in this article to back-up any suggestions that this President is in deed a vulture like the rest of his colleagues in Government. My only grouse against the President, in this piece, is the fact that he is not doing enough, in my judgment, and I could be wrong, to send a powerful message to all and sundry, that he is determined to really do something drastic about the vultures eating up our country. Mere posturing and rhetorics alone will not cut it.. The suggestion for Obasanjo to try and end the financial hemorrhage of our country by these vultures has never been taken seriously by OBJ because he knew the suggestion could very well derail his sweetheart deal with the North and scuttle his plans for a second term, regardless of what God Almighty might have told him a few months back. Mayor Bloomberg of New York City had said it best, when he opined that any Mayor doing precisely what is expected of him, and doing it with conviction and fearlessness, might not be re-elected. By the same token, any President any where in the world, but more so in Nigeria, who dares to do what needs to be done to clear the augean stable, will probably not be re-elected. He could even lose his life prematurely like Murtala Mohammed did, because the forces of evil lined up against him might just have been too formidable. But such a President would have gained immortality and respect of History and posterity just like Murtala Mohammed had done after ruling the country for only 200 Days. It was 200 Days into our hearts and into Eternity.

I knew Murtala Mohammed a little bit, because I worked for him in the Ministry of Defence. He knew the risk involved in his wanting to be a catalyst for change in our country. Murtala was determined "to walk under the shadow of the valley of Death", to quote Obasanjo when he took his oath of office in 1999. The difference is that Murtala was prepared and willing to pay the price, and he did. Murtala, by his track record, would not have condoned corruption or appeased any of the state Governors, like Obasanjo is doing today, simply to win a second term. The Murtala that I knew, would rather die or lose a second term than start co-operating and colluding with corrupt Governors, Senators and Legislators, that are willing to use their political machine for him to win re-election. It is only time that can tell, if in deed Obasanjo could be described as a vulture circling the grave at this point. This article is all about proving that the majority of the people we have put in power today in Nigeria are terrible vultures. I deliberately used the statement "put into power" because most of them including Mr President were selected and not elected in a fair and free election. The year 2003 Election which is less than eight months away, is going to be a repeat performance of the 1999 charade all over again.

In normal circumstance, if you are forced to choose between two evils, you not only choose the lesser evil; you choose the one you have never tried before. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why anyone will be rooting for PDP or any of the two parties registered with it for the 1999 Elections. The three have all failed, as far as I am concerned, but the worst villain is the PDP which is so disorganized and inept, that it cannot even if restrain its own members from building a house, and pulling the same house apart or setting it in flames thus becoming its own worst enemy. If Pius Ayim, the Nzeribes of this world and others like them are the best that the PDP has got to offer for our country, forget it. If the PDP is going to do to Nigeria what it has already done to itself in the last four years, Nigerians will be foolish to vote for the PDP again, in a free and fair election which is probably not possible in Nigeria. The PDP deserves to lose and lose badly because it is a bad choice for Nigeria.

It was therefore a tragedy that INEC did not register many more parties than the three added to the existing three. I am reliably informed that Babangida is behind the three new parties because the man is richer than the whole country, at this point, and can afford to bankroll them. If any of them wins, Babangida wins. I cannot trust Babangida because of his track record in office. I also question the source of his wealth, and believe that he is a leopard who is not about to change his skin. I don't know about you. Those who are saying that the National Conscience Party, for example, could not win, are only saying so, because they know that a free and fair election in Nigeria is only a wishful thinking. Once again, the year 2003 may well be another "anno horribile" for Nigeria, to borrow a cliché from Her Royal Majesty, the Queen of England, describing her own Family's trials and tribulations after her Windsor Castle got burnt in England.

Every office holder in Nigeria today from Councilor to Senator or Governor, not to talk of those appointed through the political spoils system, is seeking office not to improve the lot of the common man but to enrich their pockets. You see in every nook and corner of Nigeria very poor politicians who had been selling "pure water" as they call it in Nigeria, suddenly, becoming multi millionaires or billionaires within a year or two of getting into public office. Many of them acquiring properties in the United Kingdom and America and with fat Bank Accounts all over the world without anyone asking a question. If I don't know the exact situation in other states of Nigeria, I, sure, know the situation in Ondo State. Our current Governor was a retired school principal with less than average means when he took office in 1999. He could not boast like Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State who recently declared that he had no less than 2.9 billion Naira in his Bank Accounts, when he entered the race in 1999.

Governor Adefarati had simply rode to power as a nominee of the Awolowo Party because Awolowo name and aura had become the "fons et origo" of success in Politics in our own neck of the woods in Nigeria because of the imperishable legacies Awo had left behind. But if you factor in, the level of corruption going on in Ondo State today, you have to marvel. Ondo State which used to be one of the poorest States in Nigeria while Chief Ajasin, Commodore Bandele Otiko, Dele Olumilua, Okhai Mike Ahikgbe and others were Governors, is now the 4th richest State in Nigeria. You can quote me on that. So much money is coming to the State from the 13% oil derived revenues going to Oil producing States in Nigeria. A lot of the Ekiti citizens I know, are scratching their heads, and wondering why they had to leave Ondo State, to begin with. Many of them feel their lot would have been better served, if they had remained in Ondo State. There is very little to steal in Ekiti State beyond the Federal monthly allocation due to them, and many of them are unhappy about that. Abacha created Ekiti State to break the solidarity of Ondo State, and to get more support for his self-succession plan at the time.

You will hear Ondo State Governor and his Administration tell the whole world they have been awarding scholarships to all students of Ondo State at home and abroad. The last time I checked, much of the 50,000 Naira scholarships given out, were all awarded to children of Party cards holders across the State. There are many Ondo State students at the Obafemi Awolowo University with a grade point average of higher than 3.5 who applied, but did not get the scholarship, because their parents were not AD members. If Awolowo, as Premier of the old West, had done that, a man like MKO Abiola would never have qualified for Scholarship to study in the United Kingdom where he had the best result in Accountancy in his final year. Pa Adefarati's Government is making so much money from its monthly allocation from the Federal, but the money is being misappropriated and stolen and squandered at all levels. The graft and corruption is not only confined to the Governor's Office alone, it has permeated to the various Ministries and all the parastatals in the State.

A sum of 600 million was said to have been lost last year when a ship bringing Rice shipment from Thailand for Christmas bonus to civil servants in Ondo State, had sunk on the high seas. Not a single word has been heard from the State Government, on that loss, ever since. A Commissioner or two had confessed to stealing or mishandling no less than 500 million for a purchase of some landed properties in Lagos, and some others in Abuja while nurses and teachers in the State have not been paid their salaries several months in arrears. Staffs of parastatals like the Water Corporation, Investment Holdings and so many others in Ondo State go without receiving salaries for months. Primary school and Secondary School buildings in Ondo State are in state of total disrepair. If you listen to Ondo State Radio and Television, you will think Ondo State has, all of a sudden become El Dorado under Governor Adefarati. It is all a lie. The Akambi Commission in Abuja which is supposed to complete and release its report on Ondo State, has been dragging its feet due to instructions from the Federal, because releasing such a report before the year 2003, may well derail the unholy truce between the President and the AD Governors. Obasanjo's Government is going to soft-pedal on getting the Akambi report out sooner , so as not to create problems for Governors like Adefarati from being damaged beyond repairs, in time for the Primaries in Ondo State.

Since Governors and their Deputies cannot be prosecuted, not even for murder, until they are out of office, that is why so many of them are so desperate to hold on to power regardless of their performance or track record in office. Who is fooling whom now? What is stopping Justice Akambi from releasing his report on Ondo State? The good people of Ondo State need to know whether or not Governor Adefarati and his present team deserve to be re-elected or not. Only information can help us determine if the AD Government in the State should be re-elected. . Obasanjo should simply come clean with the people, and put the interest of the Nation before his own individual interest. He should let Justice Akambi release his report, and to let the chips fall where they may. Obasanjo is not going to help end corruption in Nigeria by colluding with corrupt Governors simply because he needs their support to get re-elected. There are far too many people who can be Governors in Ondo State, if the candidature of Adefarati can no longer be sustained. At 72 or 73, Adefarati is not too old to seek public office, but we need information to determine if his track record justifies his re-election in a free and fair election in our State. In an era of plenty in Ondo State, Governor Adefarati has no excuse not to make Ondo state the pride of our Nation by being honest and truthful with us.

I repeat that most Politicians in Nigeria are vultures. Just imagine what is going on right now between the Senate President Pius Anyim Pius and his Oguta colleague Arthur Nzeribe. I thought Nzeribe was already a self-made multi millionaire before seeking the office of Senator. Now he is being suspended indefinitely and charged to Court for fraud against the Senate for a sum of more than 22 million Naira in fraudulent allowances claimed over a period of time when Senator Nzeribe was Chairman of the Committee on Health matters in the Senate. How come the allowances received by our councilors, chairmen of Local Governments, legislators, senators, speakers, Governors, and President are clearly higher than the salaries they are paid? What kind of a country are we running when a senator like Nzeribe is making over 22 million in allowances alone in a country where people are going into the garbage containers to look for something to eat. It makes me sick to my stomach to hear or to read about how heartless and corrupt Governors, Legislators, Senators and office holders who will stop at nothing, are bleeding our country to death.

I believe we are going to hear more on the can of worms now opened by the Senate President by openly confronting the most dangerous politician in the history of Nigeria. Arthur Nzeribe is a terrible senator who is able to blow hot and cold, and who strongly believes the end justifies the means. Because he is filthy rich and diabolical, he is for ever fishing in troubled waters. He is one politician who believes he can ride on the back of a tiger, and not end up in its stomach because he believes he is damn smart and devilish. He had started out being in opposition to Obasanjo. He actually wanted Obasanjo impeached within a year of the man coming to office, but may now be working for the President to ensure his re-election. The President may be ready to play ball, because he wants to be re-elected by all means, and could care less how he does it. I never believed that Arthur Nzeribe is also one of the pen robbers taking as much as 22 million Naira in allowances approved for him by the same Senate President when the going was good.

It is time to stop the financial hemorrhage of the poor country. It's time for Obasanjo to have Justice Akanbi Commission do his job, and to step up to the plate and to deal with those who are bent on running our country aground. It is time to flush out the vultures.