Probe OBJ? Who Is To Probe Who?
In the parlance of the Esan tribe of Edo state, when you point your accusing finger at a perceived enemy and charge him/her with heinous and recorded crimes, the other four would be pointed back at you. In a similar phraseology, PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULDN'T THROW STONES which means - Those who are vulnerable should not attack others. This proverb has been traced back to Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde'. George Herbert wrote in 1651: Whose house is of glass, must not throw stones at another. This saying is first cited in the United States in William & Mary College Quarterly. Twenty-six year later, Benjamin Franklin wrote, don't throw stones at your neighbours, if your own windows are made of glass. To live in a glass house is used as a figure of speech referring or given a warning to people not to gossip about people if you have secrets of your own.
Similarly, in John 8, Vs 1-9, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts; where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this point, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life, BUT sin no more.”
In the face of the growing indictment and unpopularity of Senate probes on BPE and Ex-President OBJ, it is however important to state categorically clear here that among our serving Senators and Honourables today, many have committed worst crimes than those common criminals currently serving jail terms at the Kirikiri Maximum prisons, yet they are walking freely on the corridors of power. This is another case of the kettle calling the pot black, whereas they are both black which appears more like an exhibition of crudity and attempted thuggery on the person of OBJ and against the intelligent people of Nigeria. Our Senators have no credibility, because all they know to spew is simply propaganda.
Why wasting our resources to carry out futile probes that will not yield the desired result? I think it is high time; Nigeria wakes up and probe the Senate leaders to ascertain what it cost them to constitute their phony probe panel. With this, Nigerians will know how much we have lost to such probe panels in the past that yielded practically nonsense. Who is actually fooling who? Our leaders should for once grow up than living in a fool's paradise. Their action sounds so portentous. This is exactly what puzzles and amuses and sometimes exasperates us about our politicians.
Has the senate probe the embezzlement of the 1991 Gulf War windfall by former military president, Ibrahim Babangida? In the event that the Senate leaders forget something somewhere, I will like to use this opportunity to remind them that section 44 of The Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act 2000 of the ICPC Act, was designed to combat corruption and promote good governance.
Pius Okigbo panel submitted its report since September 1994, stating that Ex- Military President Babangida's regime conspired with officials of the Central Bank to squander the $12b earned in 1991 on dubious projects, adding that $12.2 billion out of the fund was spent through "Dedicated Accounts" that were not available to auditors.
It is no more news that the Act, empowers the anti-graft agency to subject any past or present government official to criminal penalties and forfeiture of properties and wealth if, in the course of an investigation, they are found to have committed fraud.
I think that enforcing this legislation at this moment will redeem the fight against corruption by starting with all past heads of state, Sole administrators, President, Governors, commissioners, Ministers, DGs of Government parastatals across the nation and possibly extend the probe to our traditional rulers that benefited from the plunder. Anything short of this will surely make our 7th senate look too comical to be taken seriously.
In essence, what I am saying here is that the Senate Committee hearing or probing is an exercise in futility. This is because none of the past probe panels has been able to jail anyone in the country as they lack the moral will to do so. I would like to proceed with a foray into the minds of the people who organized the unproductive probing. To most members of the on-going Senate Committee hearing or probing, it is a prestigious assignment, something that can be gauged from the clamour for a place in it. Obviously it is a popular but misguided temporary rebellion. However, the way it is currently done, we would be wasting our time and money, yet again as it will yield nothing but absolute nonsense and no one will be jailed. This is a propaganda that needs to be laughed out of the room.
We need to quickly remind the Senators that our economy is in a mess in the wake of a global-economy-wrecking financial crisis and urgent steps needs to be taken to quash the uncertainty hanging in our financial airways. The Senators must as a matter of fact stop talking and go to work.
Let me in a very brief recount, that given the country's demography, unethical political history and the ongoing trends, nothing good will ever and I repeat, nothing good will ever come out from the Senate probing. They will certainly use tons of our money to try and unravel the real scam but at what cost? Since it is going to be done using the tax payers' money, I think it is time to wake up and ask some relevant questions.
Will it be a matter of constituting a probe panel with one billion naira to probe two hundred million naira? Will it really achieve what it seeks to achieve? Considering the politicians customary syndrome called: 'scratch my back, I would scratch yours' incestuous relationship, would they actually find, rather reveal anything? In the end, will anyone be jailed?
Lastly, Nigerians in all spheres of life MUST unite now to probe the Senate to know the actual cost of financing such probes in this country, so we would have an informed idea of how much the country have lost to all fruitless past probing. The big question right now is: Has the Senate (Politicians) suddenly undergone a considerable leadership and policy change that defies all form of looting syndrome or chop-I-chop, paddy…paddy Government? If the senate is truly serious in ridding Nigeria of corrupt practices especially in government, they should as a matter of urgency pass a law that would award death sentence on, treasury looters and the Executive kleptomanias in the Government. Ha..ha…ha….ha! I can bet US$150,000 with anyone that our Senators do not have the courage to pass such bill and no politician nor any political party in this country will ever allow such bill to see the light of the day! In fact, I dare our Senators to pass this bill and compel me to part with my US$150,000. If such bill is not proposed and passed, then there is no point for the kettle to be calling the pot black, whereas they are both black and birds of the same feathers, like they say flocks together. Now, you can see why no SERIOUS MINDED PEOPLE take these JOKERS of the Senate SERIOUSLY? He who gathers ants, infested firewood is calling for the invasion of lizards. I rest my case and wait for a rejoinder to this critique.
Contributed By: Kexter E. A. Donald Jnr.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Email: [email protected]