Slumped Elder Statesmen: Elders, Corruption and Politics

Slumped Elder Statesmen: Elders, Corruption and Politics

When the list of delegates selected for the national Confab emerged every reasonable Nigerian was distraught by the choice of such elder statesmen who have all had their time in business, politics and government. Most wondered what they could come up with in three months that they have not been able to do in fifty-four years of Nigeria's existence. These were men who stood by out of cowardice and watched the military derail an entire generation of Nigerians. They stood by and watched and nurtured corruption into the hydra headed monster that it is today. Corruption can only be likened to a cancer that has eaten deep into the tissues and fabrics of our country and can only be destroyed by removing the tissues.In Nigeria Corruption has tainted every facet of our daily existence.The system is structured in such a way that it breeds corruption. It draws in the pupils in primary school by making exam malpractice a norm and this as simple as it seems erodes the conscience and gradually pulls the individual into the heart of corruption where public property are usurped for personal gains.The child grows from primary to secondary through to tertiary schools of corruption and gains employment in the ministries of corrupt practices.It is a system that has been structured to ensure that every Nigerian remains corrupt.

Back to the delegates at the Confab in Abuja. These old men who are already neck deep in corruption are not the best representatives of the visions and aspirations of the Nigerian people. Their strength is gone as evidenced by the number of hospitalization among them. The federal government is now forced to  pay hospital bills for these man who are plagued more byt their High blood pressure, Arthritis, heart conditions, Viagra efficacy,bowel disease, kidney conditions than any problem facing Nigeria. You cannot expect any significant transformation to come from a gathering of these men.

The Youths would have been the best bet here. Youths who may just be ankle deep in corruption and many clean ones would take audacious steps to have a better Nigeria they would be proud of. A lot of things the old men would fear to touch they would boldly discuss.It is on this grounds that I began to doubt the sincerity of Jonathan in calling for the National conference. I wonder whether it was a distraction he brought up at a time when the polity was heated against him to diffuse the pressure on him and it worked or if it was a political weapon in his hands to negotiate his second term.