Wednesday, 2 September 2015

Kalu and the naked gods

Former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu
This title is aptly suggestive of an intellectual debt. It is not original. This is in view of the fact that the title has essentially been borrowed from the work of Chukwuemeka Ike, the author of “The naked gods”. In that particular novel, there was a focus on some hallowed characters – (academics), who were demystified in the plot of the book. This time round, another process of demystification is on. Courtesy of an interesting letter from Orji Uzor Kalu to the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, we are made to learn that, Obasanjo, our two-time President, is not above board after all. However, the point is that, a lot of the revelations by Kalu in that open letter, which was published in The Guardian of August 16, 2015, are not really new. They have been in the rumour mill for a long time. But for the first time perhaps, Kalu, courtesy of the platform provided by The Guardian, has decided to take Obasanjo and his many “sins” to the market place. It is not funny, knowing full well that the Ota farmer can be very combative. Therefore, I had expected some counter-currents from the “Ebora of Owu”. But no, the General has refused to pick up the gauntlet. All is quiet on the Western front-till date at least.
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For those who have not read the revelations of Kalu, I may as well give you an insight as revealed by the former Governor of Abia State.
According to Kalu, there are detailed instances of corruption against the former President and these date back to the 2005 letter which he wrote to Obasanjo. In the said letter, Kalu accused Obasanjo of handling major oil deals through his cronies, but also preventing the proper auditing of the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Kalu has contrasted this record with Obasanjo’s anti-corruption crusade which according to him is characterised by fire, brimstone and a pretentious swagger. Even then, the former governor was not done yet. He goes on to assert that, “I have repeatedly made the observations that corruption is rife among senior officials of your government, especially those at the federal level and among your friends and business associates and cronies. Around you, and in your name have coalesced a few powerful brokers of corrupt practices, who peddle your influence and extract billions of naira in the form of oil, and gas and defence contracts”. Equally damning was the revelation that the budget is manipulated by the National Assembly with the active connivance of your surrogates and a few senators, thereby carting away billions of naira through contract padding or inflation. Kalu went to detail specifics by his reference to the Abuja National Stadium, which according to him had a five-star hotel in its original design. Meanwhile, the contract, as the report goes, was awarded to a Chinese company. But the contract was re-awarded to another company at five times the original price quoted by the Chinese entity. But this time round, according to Kalu, the re-awarded contract at the new and inflated cost was without the five star hotel. As a clincher, Kalu goes on to detail how the construction of hostels and gigantic sport complex at the Bells Secondary School were allegedly financed through taxpayers’ money and a construction giant in 2000.
It is impossible to reconcile much of the foregoing with the crusading anti-corruption zeal of the former President. Moreover, I have read his memoirs and in that trilogy, ‘My Watch’, Obasanjo details of his anti-corruption profile. So, one is really left wondering what to make of Kalu’s assertions. If they are true, then this particular god, far from being dressed in purple robes, is truly naked. In order to really appreciate what is being said here; in a particular portion of his memoirs, Obasanjo details instances of his probity from his purely military days to his policy days when he held sway in the portals of power. And for good measure, he regales the reader with details of corruption which surround some of his colleagues. Therefore, and in the light of Orji Kalu’s disclosures, one is left with the conclusion that this god is indeed naked. But even then, he, Obasanjo may not be the only naked god.
There could well be other naked gods. Incidentally, the immediate former President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, appeared to have been very conscious of these other naked gods. On this note, the reader may wish to recall Jonathan’s strange request that President Muhammadu Buhari should not probe him alone. Rather, according to him, such a scrutiny must be extended to other regimes before his. Apparently, there must be other naked gods, apart from him. And Jonathan, being a former President, must be in the know; hence, his implicit baiting of Buhari.
Closely related to the immediate foregoing was another story on the Internet. The story which centred on the long-running Halliburton scandal contended that, all the former Heads of State and Generals who were probably involved in that scandal contacted President Buhari and told him to go slow on the Halliburton issue.
In view of the immediate foregoing, it is evident that many naked gods abound in the land. On a personal note, the interesting thing is that all these naked gods are all holders of that seemingly exalted national honour; Grand Commander of the Federal Republic. But in the light of the murky circumstances recounted above, GCFR, could well mean, Grand Conman of the Federal Republic.
  • Soremekun is a Professor of Political Science at the National Open University of Nigeria

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