Religion, corruption and the Nigerian state: Why ‘we’ mock ‘them’

ON Thursday, November 23rd, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and Christian pressure group, The Christian Conscience, held its annual public lecture themed: “Religion and Corruption: Strategic Direction in Fighting Corruption in Nigeria” at the Chapel of Christ the Light Hall, IPM Avenue, CBD, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

As is usually the case with many Nigerian “big men” with no stomach for “turenchi,” keynote speaker, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara; mother of the day, Her Excellency, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo; Special Guest of Honour, His Excellency, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, were conspicuous in their absence. Ambode, however, was represented by the state Commissioner of Home Affairs, Dr. Abdul-Hakeem Abdul-Lateef, who was also a bona fide discussant at the event. The guest lecturer, The Rt. Rev’d Dapo Asaju, was also ‘unavoidably’ absent although he was adequately represented.

The “High Table” did not miss the presence of the ‘big men’ as Ven. Taiye Aluko, who stood in for Asaju, did justice to the topic while Dr. Oby Ezekwesili ably led the discussants, which included Mr Ladipo Johnson, a lawyer, and yours truly. Unfortunately, however, the guest lecturer fell into the same error, made famous by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, that the church is accountable for the spread of – and possible redemption from – the cankerworm of corruption in Nigeria. This is not just a fallacy but a hideous lie from the pit of hell. It is a-historical and has no basis and foundation in reason and sound logic but before we pursue this issue further, I beg to digress.

Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, bemoaned last week that journalists mock the Buhari administration. ‘Don’t mock us but criticise us;’ he was quoted as saying – as if mockery is not an established form of criticism! We mock them because they deserve to be mocked and also because they daily make a mockery of themselves. We mock them because their so-called war against corruption is a mockery; even the war against insurgency where they appeared to be doing fairly well before has now become a mockery. As Boko Haram day-in day-out gives the lie to government’s declaration that the insurgents have been degraded, we hear laughable and discordant tunes from government. For the umpteenth time, President Muhammadu Buhari has told a worried and bewildered nation that the spate of Boko Haram bombings is the last kick of a dying horse. “Last kick” even as the kicks have become incessant and vicious? When shall we truly see the last of the last kicks? Boko Haram has started gaining and holding territories again. Chief of Army Staff Tukur Buratai said it is now left to the political class et al to end the Boko Haram insurgency! How? What an audacious and mindless passing of the buck! If it is the sundry fellows listed by Buratai that will end the war, then, know for sure that the war will never end. Everyone knows that the Nigerian political class had never before been this hopelessly divided. The Presidency itself is mindlessly divided with all manner of cabals gnawing at each other’s innards!

We mock at them because they deserve no less. A government that claims to be fighting corruption is as corrupt, if not more corrupt, that the governments before it. This government came into office with trailer-loads of goodwill like none before it; it has frittered all. Buhari as a person came with an integrity equal to none; that is now in tatters. Should we remind Lai Mohamed that Buhari surrounds himself with corrupt elements – Ministers, Service chiefs, and presidential aides? Buhari has not only turned blind spot to corruption cases involving his top officials, he has given them clean bill of health and shielded them from prosecution. It rankles that the same man engages in self-righteous pontificating and runs after opposition figures. Physician, heal thyself! Buhari has played deaf and dumb to cries that he does something about the humongous corruption in the ranks of his loyalists and close aides. He has mocked his own wife and daughter’s shrill cries that his government has been hijacked; that he has been turned into an onlooker instead of the pilot; and that mind-boggling corruption is taking place right under his nose. Nigerians have never before witnessed a presidency as divided as Buhari’s. It is like a sheep without a shepherd; various warring cabals have carved out spheres of influence where they hold court, akin to the warlords of the failed state of Somalia. That is why we mock them. The saddest part of it now is that Buhari has lost what is left of his integrity with Maina-gate. When he should have been man enough to own up to ordering the recalling and reinstatement of Maina, he feigned ignorance and pretended he was a Daniel come to justice. Now the wind has blown and the rump of Buhari’s fowl is exposed! Head of Service of the Federation indicted Buhari in her leaked memo on Maina; Maina, himself has now confirmed Buhari knew more than he has publicly acknowledged.

In his three years, Buhari has put virtually every foot wrong – on the economy, once bubbling but which went into recession under him; on his ‘criminal silence’, even complicity, over the bestiality of Fulani herdsmen; compare this to his truculence against Niger Delta and resurgent Biafra militants, not to mention his unimaginable lop-sided appointments, which continues apace despite protestations. The recent one is the Code of Conduct Bureau, which has never been headed by a Southerner and which, by the new names sent to the Senate, will once again be headed by a Northerner. No thanks to ‘our own man’ VP Yemi Osinbajo, who, when he could have done the needful, allowed provincialism and selfishness to override the cause of justice and subvert the interest of his own people. The first Southerner who was eminently placed to become the chairman of the Bureau was torpedoed by Lilliputians playing god; a first class Yoruba Oba was deceived by the leading Yoruba politician in power. “They” will not treat “their” Emirs or Sultan in such a disrespectful manner.  So much for Lai Mohamed at mocking Buhari slash Nigeria dot org!

Now, were all Christians in Nigeria to be incorruptible, including VP Osinbajo himself (don’t laugh, please!), will that end corruption in the country? It will not because there are other religions in the country. Were Christian leaders to be incorruptible and were they to preach and rail day and night against corruption, will that end corruption even in the Church? It will not! Corruption is as old as society itself. Corruption is older than the Church, nay, religion! One of the reasons religion came about was to tame corruption by prescribing acceptable norms of social behaviour. The Bible is replete with all manner of corruption – financial, moral, sexual, material, power-drunkenness, name it. Important Bible figures who got caught up in the vortex and cesspool of corruption included but were by no means limited to Jacob, Reuben, Judah, Samson, David, King Saul, Eli, Ahab, Jezebel, Judas Iscariot, to mention but a few. The children of Eli were corrupt; Samuel’s, too. Kings and nobles were corrupt; the mighty and lowly were corrupt; Achan was corrupt; even Rachel stole her father’s idols. God railed ceaselessly at corrupt ‘men of God’ who perverted the course and cause of justice; so exasperated was He that He warned judgment would start in His own house. The conclusion drawn by God should interest everyone: Although He had created all things, including man, to be good; the heart of man, He noted, became corrupted in his youth. That is the game-changer. Things are never, ever going to be the same again. Not all hearts will return to God again, even though He stands and shouts: Return, ye backslidden children! The reason for this should be obvious to all: The devil, having lost his place in heaven, has been cast out into the earth and the word of God made no mistake when, because of this, it bemoaned “Woe to the inhibiters of the earth…” The devil like a roaring lion looks for whom to devour and, unfortunately and no matter how hard we try, he will find some in all manner of places – the places of worship inclusive. If the fathers did not succeed in eliminating corruption from the Body of Christ during their time, I doubt if we will in our own life time. Indiscipline and greed have been the age-old twin evil fuelling corruption; two more have been added in Nigeria – necessity and impunity. When the Church was small and close-knit, and therefore easier to manage, as opposed to now that population explosion has made Church management Herculean, the effort of the Church fathers to establish communalism was thwarted by the greed of Ananias and Sapphira.

The Church – and indeed other religions – is, at best, one of the agents of socialization needed in the fight against corruption. Others include the family, the schools, and, most importantly, the government. The over-riding role of government in the fight against corruption was emphasized at The Christian Conscience lecture. Whereas corruption is to be found in every human society, the prevalence of the cankerworm is low where government is alive to its responsibilities. Good governance – not Church sermons – is the most effective antidote to corruption. It is when political leaders fail to discharge their responsibilities that they shift the blame for societal ills elsewhere. We should not assist them peddle such lies. Good governance reduces the prevalence of crimes while lack of it accentuates it. That is the experience of nations all over the world. Necessity is not just the father or mother of inventions; it is also great incentives for corruption. Where government abdicates responsibility and people have to provide the basic necessities of life by themselves, there will be the tendency for people to be corrupt. Pensioners cannot get their entitlements; people who cannot fund medical trips abroad die like chicken; the children of the poor are condemned to sub-standard schools – the tendency will be for people to cut corners, make hay while it shines so as to prepare for the rainy day. Finally, in today’s Nigeria, there is no greater incentive for corruption than the way the corrupt thrive in Buhari’s administration.