Of
Nigeria’s many faces to the world, the one that evokes an immediate sense of alert
and distrust across global borders is its perceived citizens’ disdain for
legality. The presentation of Nigerian passport at any border even within the
ECOWAS sub-region raises red alert. Host countries expect the worst from the
Nigerian community. That is what we have been reduced to!
The
world tends to live and see each other through simplified representation.
Nigeria and Nigerians have been stereotyped. The stereotyping of the Nigerian
as someone that readily breaks laws and norms inside and outside his own
country is an albatross that millions of travelling and the Nigerian diaspora
have to carry. The transgressions of a few miscreants have placed an extra
burden on the others to prove that they are law-abiding citizens. Stereotyping
is like permanent ink on a garment. The Nigerian fabric is stained with
criminality in the eyes of the world.
Can
anyone blame the world for this representation of the Nigerian? Nigeria is the
world headquarters of internet-based crimes; it ranks high as a drug-courier and
human trafficking country and does not get unmentioned in the list of nations
with extreme levels of fraud. In the world of crime, those that represent
Nigeria actively compete with those that represent themselves. Corruption,
theft of the commonwealth, electoral fraud and mindless immorality have become
tools of governance. It appears that despite its rabid religiosity, the
country, as represented by its leaders has lost its moral compass. There are
simply no limits to moral and legal transgressions. The crime cabal, probably
less than a million individuals and representing less than one percent of our
population has put the rest of us on the world’s red-alert list. They have
corrupted and are decimating our existential values. They are the reason for
the Nigerian stereotyping in the eyes of the world.
The
government lamely waves a faded flag of anti-corruption. The rhetoric does not
match the actions. The immediate past president in one of his discourses
proudly told the world that stealing our commonwealth is not corruption. It is
simply a case of a goat grazing where it is tethered. The goat has finally
denuded the national pasture. All our money is gone into private pockets and
our outrage reduced to mere beer-parlour discussions.
If we
thought we could redeem our image and change the stereotype stamped on us by
the world going by the results of our last elections, we are wrong. Events in
the past few weeks in the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives have
shown that the moral fabric of our nation is being shredded by a few of
supposed law-makers and by extension moral guides of our society. The process
of destruction of our values started under the previous administration. It was
during this regime that five law-makers in a state out-voted 16 law-makers. Democracy
as a practice of numbers was reinvented. Violent gangster-like minority held
the majority to hostage. And nothing happened!
The
moral decadence among the political class reached its peak during the recent
election of the senate president when deceit became the adopted tool by the
senators for a simple process. How can the number three citizen of over 180
million people be elected through a process that is very similar to those
described under Article 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code? Obtainment by false
pretence! This is no politics. It is moral indecency. A despicable act. In our
traditional societies, it is called an abomination. This is akin to putting our
National stamp on the stereotype that the world has ascribed to the Nigerian as
he who has no qualms about breaking any moral or legal code inside and outside
his country.
Mr.
Bukola Saraki may have gone beyond the limits of morally acceptable behavior as
a person of Yoruba extraction. While he may be seeing himself only within the
confines of the Senate chambers, riding on his high horse among his co-senators
and exulting in his treachery, millions of other nationalities around the world
are feeling vindicated in their conviction that the Nigerian is an irredeemable
fraud. How will the world look at this senate president when he travels out?
What will other world senate presidents think of him if he gets to meet them?
If the ultimate goal of Mr. Saraki is the presidency of the Federal Republic,
then he has really bungled his chance forever. Nigeria has never elected and
will never elect anyone with a moral burden to the presidency.
It is
not clear what options are open to Mr. Saraki now, but he has the moral
responsibility to undo this quagmire he has thrown Nigeria into. Maybe he
should simply pass a law to scrap the expensive senate like Senegal did. By
going that way, Mr. Saraki may still make the presidency someday.
Abimbola
Lagunju
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