“Having power destroys the sanity of the powerful. It allows their irrationalities to leave the sphere of dream and come into the real world.”
Saul Bellow, 1915-2005, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ p 195.
There are some things that a person considered responsible should not be known to do. But, in Nigeria, power seems to wake up all the demons in some State Governors. Governors are absolute rulers. The Nigerian constitution which covered them with immunity, also created the opportunity for licence bordering on lunacy. In the end, the states suffer from under-development. Surprisingly, virtually all of them receive awards and acclaim from sections of society.
As far as the beneficiaries of their impunity are concerned, they were God’s gifts to their states. That is not surprising. Long after the Federal Government, under Obasanjo, had received millions of dollars of Abacha loot, Buhari on the tenth year of his death told reporters in Kano that “Abacha was not a thief”. He has since then collected more Abacha loot since 2015. Corruption redefined!!!
I am giving Obiano the benefit of doubt. But, since he has not spoken and the matter is still not in court, then one can still comment on it. Nigerians would soon discover that one of the allegations, regarding SURE-P, was an accident waiting to happen. And, the author of the script was Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala – Minister of Finance under Jonathan.
However, on no account should anyone regard the comments on SURE-P as an attempt to exonerate Obiano, who I never met; and have no wish to meet. I just want to lay out the facts from as far back as 2011-2013.
“Obiano will be grilled by detectives over alleged misappropriation of public funds, including N5bn Sure-P and N37bn security votes which was withdrawn in cash.” News Report, March 19, 2022.
Let me disentangle the allegations; and address them one by one. SURE-P was a bundle of palliatives rolled out by Okonjo-Iweala to persuade Nigerians to accept FG’s subsidy removal proposal. As you would soon discover, the SURE-P programme, which was hastily drawn up, was virtually a give-away programme to Governors in office then. In fact, if a comprehensive investigation is carried out, it is doubtful if any ex-Governor will escape jail. Here is why from 2013.
“SURE-P: OKONJO-IWEALA’S WATERLOO.
“Every great enterprise starts off with enthusiasm for an exalted aim and ends up bogged down in petty politics”, Charles Peguy, 1873-1914.
However, SURE-P is different in one respect – it was so hastily cobbled together, by the Finance Minister, and full of unattainable goals that the original document was ordered withdrawn by President Jonathan in less than six months. That was after millions of naira had been wasted printing the pamphlets and a multi-media campaign was underway to promote the illusion of progress. It was not Okonjo-Iweala’s finest hour. …The decision to junk the original SURE-P programme was one of the most courageous decisions of the President – given the global profile of ….Dr Okonjo-Iweala. Unfortunately, for the President and, more so, for the Minister, even what was left was bound to fail to meet the objectives set for it – even if no kobo was stolen….The Senate discovered N500bn missing….But, unknown amounts of the funds have been stolen already and the Senate might have discovered another whopping misappropriation of SURE-P funds. Corruption being so endemic in the Nigerian system, expecting a multi-billion naira scheme to be corruption free represented the triumph of wishful thinking over historical experience. Now SURE-P is in a mess and that is putting it mildly…The new scepticism is fuelled by SURE itself. The 17-page document, providing the justification for subsidy removal, would be graded D by the most generous Professor of Economics at either Harvard or MIT for several glaring reasons. It contains unpardonable omissions; deliberate or inadvertent and, worst of all, THE FIGURES DON’T ADD UP.
“SURE-P was a complete disaster under which probably over N500bn was stolen. So Obiano’s alleged N5bn misappropriation represents less than one per cent of the heist. Where is the rest?
The N37bn allegedly in cash is another matter, altogether. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, better be telling the truth. Otherwise, it should be disbanded forthwith; because Nigerians are not the only people reading our papers or listening to Channels TV. The whole world might think that we are all mentally-deranged people in which the most lunatic govern.
If true though, then, certainly, Obiano could not have pulled off that crazy stunt alone. He had a lot of top level accomplices to the madness. Was the cash loaded from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN? Then, the Governor and the person in charge of releasing cash must be brought in to answer a few questions, primarily concerning their sanity at the time. Was it a commercial bank which piled the cash into the bullion van? Then, the Managing Director and all the Executive Directors must be rounded up and taken to Aro Mental Hospital, Abeokuta, Ogun State — before going to court. Nobody in his right senses can be a part of something as atrocious as this. It is only after we have established their individual and collective sanity that we can take them to court…
To be continued….
Vanguard
