By Arthur Agwuncha Nwankwo

The saying that he who must come to equity must do so with clean hands is an old maxim that has found relevance in the affairs of mortals at various times in human history. Equity, as a matter of fact, is the altar of justice that does not admit double standards. African society is known to have this kind of mindset encoded in their values. Even as a child, I can recall several elders in my community in those good old days advising us to always be straight forward in our dealings. They would naturally flay those men who while in the open would pontificate as moral fibres of society; but who in their closet are worse that the Devil himself. As a child I was highly credulous and impressionable. I would always follow my father to the gathering of the elders. My father loved it. The elders were full of wise sayings and I loved listening to them address knotty issues with proverbs. I recall a particular incident in those days. There was this man called Okafor Nwagu. He was known as a forthright man and respected as such. He was a sort of moral beacon of the community. This was the impression we all had about him until nemesis caught up with him.

Village politics can be very vicious. One Chief Ofoegbu, as a member of the Igwe Cabinet, was widely tipped to become the new traditional prime minister. Everything was going well until Okafor Nwagu raised objections. Ofoegbu was accused repeatedly by Okafor of huge impropriety especially in the sale of lands belonging to the community. The major issue at stake here was lack of accountability by Chief Ofoegbu. Hemmed in from all corners, Chief Ofoegbu decided to spill the beans. He informed a bewildered community of how he had been organizing secret deals in the land case; how Okafor Nwagu prospected for buyers and what amount of commission came to him. The community was devastated. How could Okafor get involved in this type of sleaze? Okafor’s attempts to deny the allegations were feeble. He did not deny his involvement in the messy deal but was contesting the amount of commission Ofoegbu told our people he collected. This was a very sad day in my community. Okafor was after all a fraud and the anti-thesis of what we thought he represented. Disgusted and disappointed, my father had dismissed Okafor as deceitful describing him as a kettle calling the pot black.

I have always said that Nigeria is a paradox; a country of the absurd and a society of uncertainty. This is a country of many Okafors and Ofoegbu’s. They are shameless, clueless and blind- sustained only by a voluptuous appetite for the incredible. Here in Nigeria, our leaders suffer from chronic amnesia and usually are carried away by the allures of their offices. We all know that the only selling point of this APC presidency is its promise to fight corruption and deal decisively with Boko Haram Insurgency. But it is becoming increasingly obvious that dominating the arena of the fight against corruption are kettles and pots draped in black soot. 
The current admission by President Muhammadu Buhari that he only received two SUVs from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki as against $300, 000. 00 is worrisome and indicative of the anecdotal depiction of Okafor and Ofoegbu above. Dasuki is presently being hounded by the EFCC and other government agencies for misappropriating billions of Naira on fictitious arms purchase. That Buhari could in any way be linked to this fraud is suggestive that Nigerians are in for even more looting of the treasury despite the pretensions of the presidency. That Buhari’s touted credential of incorruptibility is a ruse is not in doubt. His acceptance of honourary doctorate award from a non-NUC recognized institution (Kaduna State University) lends credence to this. That his tenures as former military dictator and chairman of the PTF are laden with huge financial improprieties is common knowledge in the public domain. That Buhari represents the anti-thesis of the change mantra touted by the APC is very obvious. In the final analysis, Buhari’s presidency and avowal to deal with corruption is not only hypocritical and deceitful but also dubious and amounts to taking the Nigerian people for a ride.

The truth is that there is no difference between Buhari and the so-called corrupt system he promised to change. The denials by the presidential spokesman can only be dismissed by discerning Nigerians as feeble, tepid and insipient. The logical conclusion is that if Buhari accepted receiving two SUVs from the former NSA; then he certainly received the $300, 000. 00. One does not need to be a rocket scientist to draw such simple and logical conclusion. Does it not smack of shamelessness that Buhari could have gone round Nigeria during his campaigns condemning the PDP of corruption but behind the scene he was gleefully receiving substantial handout from the proceeds of that corruption. This is the height of mass deceit.

But I am scarcely shocked by this turn of events essentially because I know that Buhari is not the saint the APC propaganda machinery tried so hard to paint. I also know that he lacks the intellectual capacity and moral credibility to move Nigeria to the next level. That he could be receiving, albeit with profuse thanks, the proceeds of corruption collaborates my thesis that corruption belongs in the domain of the elite; and this is why the world regards Nigeria as the official capital of corruption in Africa. Nigerians are sick and tired of earlier pontifications about fight against corruption. The new mantra of change by the APC hoodwinked the country and today we are back where we started. Having the APC in power is vintage one selling a dog to buy a monkey. Today, the chicken has come home to roost and we are seeing the content and logic of Buhari’s change agenda.

Buhari’s pitiable acceptance of culpability in this scandal is only indicative of the road to perdition on which Nigeria is presently trotting. Six months into the Buhari presidency, we are yet to see the end of Boko Haram (a scourge the APC and Buhari promised to deal with in just three months); that the military could recently massacre many members of the Shite Muslims in the north, where over 1000 deaths were recorded despite government denial, shows how far the Nigeria security apparatus has deviated from the real enemy targets to innocent people expressing their religious beliefs. In the south-east the fire of Biafra is burning with massive strength and gathering momentum; in the south-south there are indications of renewed youth militancy while the scar of June 12 is still conspicuous in the south-west. 

What does all this tell us? It tells us one thing-Nigeria is sick; on a life-support and urgently requires surgery if she must survive. We need leaders that are visionary and committed for this surgery to be done? If this crucial surgery is not performed, Nigeria will certainly die. I am not being alarmist. The indices starring us in the face suggest that. That surgery is the unfettered restructuring of the country along the lines of true federalism. I do not see a capacious or intellectually endowed Buhari presidency able to read the warning signals on the horizon of our dark history; neither does Buhari possess the moral rectitude to fight corruption. In the final analysis, Buhari is a black kettle and as such he cannot justifiably call the pot black.