THE MONOTONY OF FOLLY

With so much going on in Naijasphere these days, it is little wonder why more important happenings are beginning to fade off or at least lessening in the intensities with which they started. We are running a great risk of reducing the war against corruption to a mere slogan. The organ of State may be grinding on, sotto-voce, but the voice of the people is being stifled by the endless postponements of judicial pronouncements on currently the most important fraud cases of all: CCB vs Saraki. It is without doubt that the whole world community is watching, rightly, with keen interest how this pans out. For Buhari and his government of change to earn and maintain credibility, and relevance, this case must be brought to a logical conclusion in a timely manner. This is not to say that the good works being done by the various election tribunals all over the country pale into insignificance, but the arrowhead of the fight against corruption and impunity remains the case against Saraki. The significance of this case cannot possibly be overestimated. Saraki, as the number three citizen of the country with a catalogue of dubious and corrupt practices going back decades, needs to be made a lasting example of. Nigerians have to show the world that the regime of corruption and impunity is well and truly buried, and that kakistocracy is now alien to us. Buhari, as the fugleman of this current dispensation, has to show even greater resolve and determination in this holy war against the ills of our society; he has to resist all attempts to attenuate the drive to instill the much-needed sanity and accountability in our polity. Now, I am not a legal expert and I don't pretend to be one, but the case against Saraki, even to a layman like me, appears to be solid and incontrovertible. Which is why he is resorting to exploiting legal loopholes, as per their wont, to wriggle his way out of the mess he created for himself. The louche, despicable and insanely corrupt Alpha Belgore is his wrecking ball-in-chief and as a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, has a truckload of dodgy judges in his pocket. Their opprobrious attempts to turn this case into a charade and donnybrook must be forcefully repelled.
Buhari must, at all costs, not succumb to the gathering dark cloud of career thieves who are resolute in their struggle to destroy the overwhelming case against Saraki. The quiddities of this case must held aloft and collectively utilized as a flag in the faces of those who have destroyed our commonwealth, and remain determined to continue. Nigerians will not settle for anything less than seeing the wheels of justice in perpetual motion. The call for the overhauling of the justice system cannot be made loud enough; venal judges must be shown the egress and/or tried for their corrupt practices. Without just and upright judges, the justice system remains lame and the fight against corruption would be unwinnable. Reforming the justice system is, therefore, at the heart of this drive against the ills of contemporary Nigerian society. The destroyers in our midst must be dragged kicking and screaming into the present and be forced to be part of the zeitgeist. Being the poltergeists that they are, the time for their exorcisement is RIGHT NOW.
It is trite to say that Nigerians need a fresh start and a new beginning. We cannot afford the garbage of the past to be part of our baggage on this new journey of national revival. If Buhari and his government fail, Nigeria sinks. It's as simple as that. Anyone that thinks this is scaremongering should have his/her head examined. Can we really carry on like this? The ineluctable fate of carrying on like this is nothing but doom. Think of the sorry state of our education system. Think of the dolorous state of our hospitals. Think of the nonexistence of accountability in our political, and public, lives. Think of the parlous state of our infrastructure and social fabric. Think of those who have never had to break sweat in their lives who control and squander the resources of our country. Think of the 179 million other Nigerians who have to bear, and contend with, the pain of insufficiency, hunger, unemployment, ill-health, avoidable bereavements and hopelessness every day of their lives. Is it that hard to think of all of those? Above all, think of the future of the young and the unborn generation. Apathy is just as bad as, if not worse than, complicity. We need to rise up together against these forces of oppression and depression, or we fall together for failing in our responsibilities to ourselves and the future of our children and country.
This is why it is eminently important that CCB vs Saraki must be brought to a swift and logical conclusion. If we fail to break the monotony of our folly, the only way is down. Buhari must not relent and neither must he succumb.