Blackmail is the new game for the ‘dealers as leaders’ in Abuja. It is a new tool for those haunted by their past. It is a weapon freely deployed by those who have been challenged to prove their loyalty to the nation. Those accused of betraying the trust of the people resort to it rather than defend their honour. Confronted over the misapplication of $2.1b loan for military hardware, Sambo Dasuki saw the hands of Muhammadu Buhari in his travails. If such antics fail to fool anyone, his alleged confederates remind the people that Buhari has spent close to a year in office fighting only corruption. And while they engaged in profligacy spending N300m to buy toys before the passage of the budget, some self-conceitedly declare: ‘It is time Buhari delivers on his campaign promises and stop blaming GEJ’.
Or how about hilarious resolution shortly after its inauguration calling on Buhari to start implementing his N5,000 social welfare campaign promise for the unemployed with immediate effect.
Blackmail is also often used as a pre-emptive measure. Following the invitation of Bukola Saraki’s wife by EFCC, the House of Representatives swiftly produced a Dr. George Uboh who alleged that Ibrahim Lamorde, the then EFCC boss diverted over N1trillion the anti-graft agency recovered from treasury looters. When the Code of Conduct Tribunal, (CCT) insisted on trying Saraki, the senate president for alleged false asset declaration, his 84 ‘like-minds’ senators provided evidence to show that Danladi Umar’s personal assistant, Ali Abdullai Gambo, was docked by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) sometime in August, 2013 in Abuja for receiving N1.8m from one Taiwo Rasheed allegedly on behalf of the tribunal chairman. And when Obasanjo accused the upper house of corruption, there was a ready defence. They were merely following the footsteps of their father who they alleged bribed them back in 2007 during his third term debacle. For maximum effect they revealed that Obasanjo, nine years after leaving office, signed the Abuja Rail contract without an MOU or a design.
The purpose of the subtle blackmail according to Lai Mohammed, the Minister for Information and Culture was to delay prosecution which for the high profile politician takes between seven years and infinity. The sad thing is not the resort to subtle blackmail to delay prosecution but the real tragedy is that Buhari is yet to start the war on corruption. All he has done so far is attacking the symptoms of a deep rooted malaise unleashed on our nation through Babangida’s Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and Obasanjo mismanaged privatisation programme. The former allowed Babangida’s ‘army of anything is possible’ to pillage our land like a conquered territory resulting in the betrayal of the vision of our founding fathers. Part of the fallout is the depreciation of our naira from Babangida’s pre-structural adjustment programme value of N1 to US$1 to today’s over N300 to the US$1. With the latter, Obasanjo presided over the sales of N100b assets acquired over 50 years (1958 and 2008) for a paltry $1.6b to dealers and wheelers who embarked on asset stripping to buy private jets and build skyscrapers instead of running the industries they bought at next to nothing, efficiently.
The scandals surrounding the sales of Cocoa Industries Limited under the Babangida liberalisation policy and the Ajaokuta steel complex during Obasanjo privatisation drive easily call to question the loyalty of the two leaders to our nation. Ikeja Cocoa Industries was established by Western Region’s visionary leaders. It was a product of sweat and blood of Western Region’s cocoa farmers whose farm produce were heavily taxed through the marketing boards to raise funds for executing the ‘free education’ programme of the region as well as build a solid economic base to absorb its products. Unfortunately, Bode George, Sasaenia Oresanya and Mohammed Lawal, as Oodua military governors sold 60% of the then 24 years old company valued at N97, 958,000 by Messrs Onakanmi and Partners to Emerald Packaging Limited, owned by an investor from Kaduna State for N9m. Some other Oodua owned companies suffered similar fate.
Nothing demonstrates the betrayal of our nation than the total lack of transparency in the purported sale of Ajaokuta steel complex to an unknown Indian company. Part of the BPE report on negotiation with the preferred Indian investor who was undoubtedly fronting for our politicians read as follows: “This concession which saw the taking over of ASCL undervalued to the tune of about $300m and Itakpe was one of the biggest scams’. GSH was to pay nothing to the government but expected to inject its funds to revive the plant with some of the following conditions: the Federal Government should give GSHL two oil blocks; that GSHL be allowed to be lifting crude oil from Nigeria; that the Sapele Power Plant be given to GSHL to operate; the Concession of Delta and Warri Ports to GSHL to operate and that the supply of Natural Gas to GSHL must be at “competitive and reasonable tariff”. GSHL offered to pay N5.00 per cubic meter of gas as against the market price of N30.00). It also inserted in its conditions that “gas price should be kept reasonable and consistent.”
Britain sold the idea of privatization to us. But unlike Britain where all segments of British society theoretically benefitted from Thatcher’s privatization programme, our people suffered double jeopardy. At the regional level, youths were robbed of the wealth built through the sweats of their grandfathers. At the national level, inherited national patrimony which was to be held in trust for our children was shared by the military, their fronts and their groomed ‘new breed’ PDP politicians that bred nothing but corruption.
And what is the way forward? I think the starting point is resorting to subtle blackmail – the tool those who have stolen our nation blind now find very effective. In this regard, to take the war to those who have mortgaged the future of our children. Buhari who has so far been restricted to fighting symptoms should start by setting up a body to investigate what has become of our assets confiscated under the reign of one-eyed kings- Babangida and Obasanjo. Assets of those who engaged in asset stripping to buy private jets and build skyscrapers can be auctioned with the proceeds deployed back to rebuilding the industries so as to create jobs for our teaming youths. Let me confess, I don’t own the patent to the above recommendation. Russia does.
Russia under Gorbachev and Yeltsin went through our recent experience when she was forced by the West to embark on uncontrolled privatization in spite of her weak institutions. Few unpatriotic criminals cornered the wealth of Russia. Russia became a candidate for aids from the West. Putin adopted the above subtle blackmail. He was maligned and accused by the West of human rights abuses and of tampering with freedom of the press. Putin will not allow those who do not believe in rule of law hide under same to continue the rape of Russia. Today, with millions of Russians youth back at work, Putin is not only immensely popular at home, he has moved on to reestablish yesterday’s candidate for western aid as an undisputed world power.
We have no alternative than take control of our economy from dealers as leaders, importers of toothpicks, Morocco ‘Titus’ fish, South African chicken, Vietnamese rice, Italian ceramics, and US junks manufactured in Taiwan.
Jide Oluwajuyitan.