People, Corruption And Morality
AMBASSADOR EZEWELE ABIONANOJIE CYRIL
To create a positive change of situation, we need to invent it as a people rather than waiting for it to change itself or on the other hand, waiting for external people or terrestrial forces that only exist in the imagination to change it for us.
The fact is that, he who waits for others to do for him what he could do for himself, his society or his family always ends up becoming a servant to those who do them. As we all know, corruption is a common enemy that is militating against our progress as a country in all spheres of life. According to Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for the good men to do nothing”. While Bernand Shaw asserts, “If you can’t get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you did best teach it to dance”. Therefore, there is a dire and urgent need begging for the commitment and sacrifice from the good non-conformist individuals to war against the above stated common enemy that had kept us in the bench of failure as a nation, and in extension, as a continent.
We must be pro people and call a spade by its name, a spade. A thief should be referred to as a thief. It is unfortunate that in Nigeria today, people have a way of celebrating bigger thieves who stole public funds and condemn little thieves who stole goat, phones, clothes, pepper, etc. The former are given chieftaincy titles while the latter are treated with despise. The former are joyfully accepted in the society as illustrious sons and daughters while the latter are scornfully rejected. The former is a crime against the present and the future while the latter is a crime against the affected individuals. The former is the reason for the latter to fester and it had driven many able Nigerians to face the threat of death as they desperately cross the Mediterranean Sea on an inflated balloon known as Zodiac in search of green pasture. The former who is responsible for the retrogression of our society and to a very high degree responsible for the actions of the latter deserves a higher penalty and torture than the latter.
It is lamentable to see that many people in our society today no longer see corruption as a heinous crime against humanity, but as a moral norm, embracing a negative syndrome of those who sit in public offices own the treasures therein, forgetting the fact that people who manage public offices are being paid for their services. These same people in their desperate act to secure or maintain public offices will spend enormously, bribing, groveling and manipulating their way to either remain or secure public offices.
It has become a norm that money must be shared to secure peoples consent in elections for public offices. NOTE: Most of the politicians who give money to the public to purchase their conscience and consent in order to secure public offices will never possess good intention for such a public. Their cardinal objective as they secured public office is to loot public treasures in order to compensate for their invested money. And by the reason of the way they secured their mandate, they will owe no obligation to serve for public interest. Rather, they will only dance to the rhythms of their godfathers and that of their cohorts that assisted them in getting to such public positions. We have to play a strong role in educating the public against selling their votes for money for it is counted as the selling of their tomorrow for a morsel of bread today. It is either we do all we can to stop this monstrous crime of selling our future and that of our generations for as cheap as a morsel of bread or we will remain in the dungeon of lack and want. If our society refused to label the giving and the acceptance of bribe to buy and cast a vote a heinous crime and also spell out huge penalties for such acts of impunity, we must educate the people against such acts for they are selling their tomorrow in disguise.
Freedom is not voluntarily given to the oppressed by the oppressors unless the oppressed is ready to strike a blow for it. The oppressors can never stop riding the back of the oppressed as far as the oppressed back remains bent in paying obeisance to the ill gotten wealth of the oppressors.
It is a show of shame to see the blind lead the blind and a greater show of shame to see the blind leading those who can see as we have these days in Nigeria. It is an absolute show of shame to see the so called educated Nigerians partaking and celebrating acts of corruption, serving as role models to thieves embezzling public funds instead of building good legacy for their posterity. Education is to do right. It is to be humble. It is to have good judgment. It is to be equipped with adequate knowledge to light up the path of others for them to discover the little oil needed for their lamps. The society should be able to look at educated leaders and know the next positive steps to take in life. For it is fully a show of shame. It is a show of shame to see know-nothings in public helms of affairs teaching and encouraging division in the name of tribalism, ethnicity, nepotism and that of foreign political tools called religions. No truth can be truer than the truth, irrespective of your tribe or belief system, we all came to Nigeria from the same source but arrived at different periods; the mighty Nubians, the inventors of civilization and the descendants of Nimrod. Until this infallible and undeniable truth of oneness is engraved in our hearts, the suspicious beliefs that engender divisions among us will keep distracting us from focusing in matters that affect us all. What affects the Igbo tribe should be of great concern to the Fulani tribe. What aches the Esan tribe should trouble the people of Yoruba tribe. What affects the Attakar tribe should give sleepless night to the Afizere tribe etc. To crown it all, what affects a Nigerian should magnet the altruistic concerns of all Nigerians. This concern of all for all Nigerians is the golden route to becoming a developed nation, where we shall creatively focus on national interest without regards to tribal, religious nor political differences.
As I have traveled round the world, from the soil of Africa to that of Europe and also to that of Asia and America, I can tell of the negative image the bad conducts of our short-sighted leaders had brought on us before the international community. The ordinary citizens of a successful nation are more regarded than the successful citizens of a poor nation. Therefore, the pursuit of our national interest is better and wiser than the pursuit of our selfish interest.
Be future oriented! Stop eating your seeds alongside with your fruits.
Ambassador Ezewele is the author of the book The Enemy Called Corruption and writes from Lagos.
Email: abidosy@yahoo.fr
