You Be Thief! I No Be Thief, By Goke Butika
"Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil"-----Thomas Paine
Can it be true that the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Professor Wale Oladipo was begging Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to find a way of shielding him from criminal trial as a result of his readiness to return his share of loot from DASUKIGATE?
No, I can't believe that a Professor Oladipo could beg the President he once described as an illiterate for mercy! So, guilty conscience could make a man with fleet of degrees kiss the canvass of those who have no "certificate"? Life has phases and a careful analysis of the phases could be interesting.
Even f I chose to play doubting thomas' character, the PDP scribe has confessed to have shared from the Dasuki's bazaar, and he has thrown his hands up in surrender with a promise to pay N75 million he collected for doing nothing back. It may appear like a script of nollywood, but the entire drama of death and absurdities is real.
Was I surprised when I read the story of self confession of Professor Ladipo? No, but I was provoked to think aloud on how we have found ourselves in that magnitude of impunity, and I must say without apology that history would never be kind to the former President Goodluck Jonathan for superintending the most wickedly corrupt administration which saw to the death of thousands of Nigerians before he was pushed out.
I was at a meeting at the instance of Governor Rauf Aregbesola in 2013, when the picture of this impunity was in its negative copy, and the man lamented that Nigeria was in state of war; insisting that Nigeria was bleeding so badly, and that the bubble would soon burst, and everybody irrespective of position or status would be in trouble. Honestly speaking, none of us at the meeting except the governor understood the magnitude of the looting spree.
While the state of anomie painted by Aregbesola began to manifest, Boko Haram that was at a formation stage began to kill in hundreds, bombed churches, and ambushed traders. Remember, it was Ali Modu Sheriff, the current National Chairman of the PDP that was in power as the governor of Borno state when the terrorist network called boko haram was formed, and I recalled that he once responded to a reporter's question on the criticism over his lifestyle, that majority of the voters in Borno are not literate. So, they would not read the arguments of his critics. And when the then NSA before Dasuki dropped the bombshell that PDP's politics amplified boko haram activities, he was fired and got killed in a chopper crash. The rest is history.
Then, Colonel Sambo Dasuki came on board, and being a man from the North, and a Prince in the Sultanate, the assumption was that he would deploy his religious and regional connections to gather information about the festering sore in the North East, and tame the terrorism, but we were wrong because under his watch boko haram began to open caliphate and gaining territories. Thence, there was need to launch a full war, and it became the business of the military. Oh, you want to say that Jonathan was not a man with military background? Well, he was the Commander in Chief, and he must have presided over security meetings; he must have been made to approve funds for technologies and weapons to fight the war. However, the latest confessions from Metuh and Ladipo and co have shown that instead of prosecuting war as citizens were made to understand then, Dasuki was prosecuting electioneering campaign.
Ha! The hearts of men are full of wickedness, as it was written in one of the religious books. Scores of boys in government school were slaughtered before dawn in 2014 in Buni Yadi, Yobe State; 257 young and promising girls of Chibok school were kidnapped in Borno state, several villages and town were sacked in Adamawa state; scores of traders from Oyo state killed in Maduguri; scores were killed in bomb blast at United Nations House in Abuja and so on. But, instead of prosecuting war, Dasuki was prosecuting electioneering campaign.
I do not intend to appeal to emotion, but even if Ladipo and others who shared the blood money return their loot, can we ever return the lives lost? How come none of the PDP chiefs and their accomplices who shared the blood money lost the tinge of humanity in them? So, Shekau was not just boasting, he knew for sure that there would never be fund to buy weapons to fight his satanic sect, as long as Jonathan was in power; he knew that money voted for military equipment would continued to be shared as long as Dasuki remained NSA. What a country!
Bafarawa, former governor of Sokoto state got two billion naira for spiritual purpose, Raymond Dokepsi of AIT/Ray power media group got over two billion from Dasuki, Metuh got over 400 million, Fanikayode, the Jonathan campaign spokesman got N850 million, Prof. Ladipo got N75 million, and the roll call continues, at the detriment of the innocent lost souls and at the expense of a nation.
Because of Ladipo and his Comrades in crime, 219 innocent girls are passing through harrowing experience in the hands of terrorists yet to be found as you are reading this piece. Today, the dragnet of anti-graft agencies are sharpened for fight against the wicked looters, but they could not afford to lose their comfort; so they want to return their loot, but the question that is yet to be answered is, are they going to return the lost souls of the innocent ones whose crime was that they come from or reside in the North East? Are they going to return the souls of the students slain in their schools, whose crime was that they answered the clarion call of a nation for a "total person"? Are they going to return the livelihoods of the millions who had become refuges in their country?
Honestly speaking, Nigeria needs a complete purge with iron hand that can only be deployed by President Muhammadu Buhari, but it is a pity, the so called advocates of "rule of Law" who are sharing from the shared loots cannot understand that what comes around goes around. Anyway, the looters are returning their loots, and that presents some semblance of hope. But?
Butika is an intercontinental journalist.
"Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil"-----Thomas Paine
Can it be true that the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Professor Wale Oladipo was begging Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to find a way of shielding him from criminal trial as a result of his readiness to return his share of loot from DASUKIGATE?
No, I can't believe that a Professor Oladipo could beg the President he once described as an illiterate for mercy! So, guilty conscience could make a man with fleet of degrees kiss the canvass of those who have no "certificate"? Life has phases and a careful analysis of the phases could be interesting.
Even f I chose to play doubting thomas' character, the PDP scribe has confessed to have shared from the Dasuki's bazaar, and he has thrown his hands up in surrender with a promise to pay N75 million he collected for doing nothing back. It may appear like a script of nollywood, but the entire drama of death and absurdities is real.
Was I surprised when I read the story of self confession of Professor Ladipo? No, but I was provoked to think aloud on how we have found ourselves in that magnitude of impunity, and I must say without apology that history would never be kind to the former President Goodluck Jonathan for superintending the most wickedly corrupt administration which saw to the death of thousands of Nigerians before he was pushed out.
I was at a meeting at the instance of Governor Rauf Aregbesola in 2013, when the picture of this impunity was in its negative copy, and the man lamented that Nigeria was in state of war; insisting that Nigeria was bleeding so badly, and that the bubble would soon burst, and everybody irrespective of position or status would be in trouble. Honestly speaking, none of us at the meeting except the governor understood the magnitude of the looting spree.
While the state of anomie painted by Aregbesola began to manifest, Boko Haram that was at a formation stage began to kill in hundreds, bombed churches, and ambushed traders. Remember, it was Ali Modu Sheriff, the current National Chairman of the PDP that was in power as the governor of Borno state when the terrorist network called boko haram was formed, and I recalled that he once responded to a reporter's question on the criticism over his lifestyle, that majority of the voters in Borno are not literate. So, they would not read the arguments of his critics. And when the then NSA before Dasuki dropped the bombshell that PDP's politics amplified boko haram activities, he was fired and got killed in a chopper crash. The rest is history.
Then, Colonel Sambo Dasuki came on board, and being a man from the North, and a Prince in the Sultanate, the assumption was that he would deploy his religious and regional connections to gather information about the festering sore in the North East, and tame the terrorism, but we were wrong because under his watch boko haram began to open caliphate and gaining territories. Thence, there was need to launch a full war, and it became the business of the military. Oh, you want to say that Jonathan was not a man with military background? Well, he was the Commander in Chief, and he must have presided over security meetings; he must have been made to approve funds for technologies and weapons to fight the war. However, the latest confessions from Metuh and Ladipo and co have shown that instead of prosecuting war as citizens were made to understand then, Dasuki was prosecuting electioneering campaign.
Ha! The hearts of men are full of wickedness, as it was written in one of the religious books. Scores of boys in government school were slaughtered before dawn in 2014 in Buni Yadi, Yobe State; 257 young and promising girls of Chibok school were kidnapped in Borno state, several villages and town were sacked in Adamawa state; scores of traders from Oyo state killed in Maduguri; scores were killed in bomb blast at United Nations House in Abuja and so on. But, instead of prosecuting war, Dasuki was prosecuting electioneering campaign.
I do not intend to appeal to emotion, but even if Ladipo and others who shared the blood money return their loot, can we ever return the lives lost? How come none of the PDP chiefs and their accomplices who shared the blood money lost the tinge of humanity in them? So, Shekau was not just boasting, he knew for sure that there would never be fund to buy weapons to fight his satanic sect, as long as Jonathan was in power; he knew that money voted for military equipment would continued to be shared as long as Dasuki remained NSA. What a country!
Bafarawa, former governor of Sokoto state got two billion naira for spiritual purpose, Raymond Dokepsi of AIT/Ray power media group got over two billion from Dasuki, Metuh got over 400 million, Fanikayode, the Jonathan campaign spokesman got N850 million, Prof. Ladipo got N75 million, and the roll call continues, at the detriment of the innocent lost souls and at the expense of a nation.
Because of Ladipo and his Comrades in crime, 219 innocent girls are passing through harrowing experience in the hands of terrorists yet to be found as you are reading this piece. Today, the dragnet of anti-graft agencies are sharpened for fight against the wicked looters, but they could not afford to lose their comfort; so they want to return their loot, but the question that is yet to be answered is, are they going to return the lost souls of the innocent ones whose crime was that they come from or reside in the North East? Are they going to return the souls of the students slain in their schools, whose crime was that they answered the clarion call of a nation for a "total person"? Are they going to return the livelihoods of the millions who had become refuges in their country?
Honestly speaking, Nigeria needs a complete purge with iron hand that can only be deployed by President Muhammadu Buhari, but it is a pity, the so called advocates of "rule of Law" who are sharing from the shared loots cannot understand that what comes around goes around. Anyway, the looters are returning their loots, and that presents some semblance of hope. But?
Butika is an intercontinental journalist.
