What makes Jonathan’s and Buhari’s anti-corruption approaches different?

Editor’s note: Chris Okotie, the guest contributor to The Sun, dwells on the President Muhammadu Buhari corruption fight strategy, comparing it to the approach of the former president, Goodluck Jonathan.  

Making things right

This, certainly, is not the best time for the grex venalium (the venal crowd) popularly known by ordinary Nigerians as treasury looters. The ongoing battle of President Muhammadu Buhari against this corrupt cabal, which has held this nation hostage for years, leaves no one in doubt that it is no longer business as usual for politicians of fortune. It is a mistake to assume that this is President Buhari’s private battle to clean the Augean stables. Rather, it should be seen as a determined effort to right the wrongs of the bad leadership, which has been the bane of Nigeria’s development for decades.

Previous attempts to fight corruption were somehow symptomatic, but the present government has adopted a strong pathological approach that aims at getting to the core of the matter, which is why every Nigerian should give the president total support. What is being done now, if carried to the logical conclusion, would free the country from the labyrinth of a deeply entrenched tribe of the Machiavellian politicians, whose sole purpose is to loot our common patrimony.

So different Jonathan

When the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, appeared on the scene, he displayed himself as a power-shy, harmless politician, on whose shoulders providence had placed the leadership of this great nation at the critical period in our political evolution. His moving story of how he had gone to school without shoes, like many Nigerians, caught the attention of the electorate, who gave him the mandate in his first-ever quest to seek elective office in 2011.

However, on the presidential seat in the enclave called Aso Rock we saw an altogether different Jonathan. Never has a president in Nigeria come to power with such level of goodwill, and lost it just as fast as Dr Goodluck Jonathan. Perhaps, overwhelmed by the demands of office, or ill-prepared for its challenges, the first president from the southern minority exhibited poor governing capacity and inherent weakness unbecoming of the leader of a huge country like ours. Jonathan had to be goaded to act with firmness when the occasion demanded, which was why he virtually lost control of the presidency to his cronies. His appointees and associates went about looting the public treasury with unprecedented impunity; not even the intermittent public outrage moved President Jonathan to sanction them. When he did, it was either too little, or too late. The corrupt ministers were dismissed from their posts with slaps on the wrists, while nothing was done to their loot.

Good luck has gone

With the current anti-corruption saga, we can understand why Jonathan and his PDP cohorts have spared no expenses to buy themselves back to power. This time, however, the good luck left them. The hapless president was sent packing. Serendipity was out of kilter! That era of impunity has ended suddenly, but we cannot just sweep what happened under the PDP government under the carpet. Regardless of who is involved, justice must be observed to send a clear message that leaders must be accountable even after they have left the office. I believe this is what President Buhari is trying to prove, that is why I support him.

The charge of selective prosecution and the ethnic or religious card being played by some politicians to discredit this anti-corruption war are nothing but a mischievous charade. Those arrested for alleged corrupt practices cut across the party, ethnic and religious divide. Nigerians must therefore not fall for the antics of the venal rich, who fight back using media propaganda to win sympathy.

Corruption is a hydra-headed monster that must be confronted by the gladiators of righteousness. The present campaign is a challenge to the integrity of our jurisprudence. The members of the bar and bench are Nigerians, and  they must not sabotage the efforts of the government to restore sanity in the country. There is nothing the EFCC has  done so far to suggest that it disrespects the rule of law. The president himself has said: “You cannot fight impunity with impunity.”

Chris Okotie is a former presidential candidate of Fresh Democratic Party, writing from Lagos.

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