If there is someone to thank for the current discussion on the future of a developed Nigerian entity, it is President Muhammed Buhari. He took the fight against corruption to the people and made it an issue for discussion and a matter of state policy. Irrespective of whatever perceptions, a touchy subject such as corruption is now a matter of critical national discourse.
Previously, most people never fully accepted that corruption is a destructive national cancer at an advanced stage in our polity. High profile cases of barefaced theft and looting have opened our eyes to a precarious state of our national life where badly needed resources for national development are looted by demonic agents of underdevelopment and re-looted by their minions. The judiciary is not spared, as various allegations have been leveled against that revered sector of the national conscience. Indeed, President Buhari is unmasking the dreaded masquerades of corruption.
For the past two years, Nigerians have all been involved in the struggle for the survival of the soul of the nation, releasing it from the captive claws of a thieving cabal, the Dm. Of course, like Mr. meaning Mister, in this case, Dm. is the prefix meaning for Demon. Our Dm. in this instance had over the ages recruited agents of madness and indoctrinated a greater part of our population, who like zombies pay heed to their demonic dance to the beats of corruption. The scourge is so pervasive that children have been known to sell their mothers for a mess of pottage while husbands have deserted their wives to answer the call of Dm. Corruption.
While the few unpolluted people looked on helplessly, the scourge ate deep into the fabric of decency in our society, leaving some of us pondering what the future beholds. But then, let me sound philosophical like my born-again friend in Ososa, God waded in. Buhari miraculously took over from President Goodluck Jonathan.
PMB, as he is fondly called by friends and foes, has, in any case, resuscitated and rekindled the hope of many, that it may still be possible to have some decency and have the support of the state in fighting the scourge called corruption. The process may not yet be perfect, and the enemies of the movement started by PMB will fight the battle he has unleashed on them. But then no one expects an easy victory. The war has just begun, and those who wish the country well should pray for good health for President Muhammed Buhari that gave the movement life. Nigeria will survive against all the odds, and the enemies of its development shall eventually be defeated by the agents of progress for the sake of the future of generations yet unborn, the real owners of the Nigeria of tomorrow.
The new movement shall fight for that future which invariably is the soul of the nation. PMB should be praised by lovers of Nigeria for starting this great awareness that may yet save our country. The courage to launch the war is unprecedented.
Despite all identified loopholes, PMB has opened the eyes of Nigerian masses to the thieving of their collective heritage by a tiny segment of the elite. The unmasking and discovery of several hidden stolen billions is a new dimension in the struggle to rid the nation of the institutionalized graft. PMB has put his mandate on the line for the sake of future generations.
I must say that none of our reservations about this war against corruption can justify suspending it. We can work to refine and refocus the procedures, but in the final analysis, PMB deserves our support to wrest the nation from the claws of the thieving cabal.
*Prof Adesugba,an investment and trade specialist ,writes from Abuja
