“Whatever is true,
whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy
of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).
Let me
start this week’s essay on a spiritual note. This is because we are a country
of religion, sometimes to its extreme, but most times in hypocrisy. We mouth
virtues with the enthusiasm of a priest or imam but act out vices with the
fanaticism of an extremist. Some of our political leaders are so shameless that
they thrive in evil but pay putrefying obeisance to God either on Fridays or on
Sundays with celestial mien and heavenly gait. Most unfortunately, these same
set of people commit various crimes with audacity, cover or even encourage
others to do so one way or the other.
That is
the case of the current minister of finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, who was recently
exposed by an online newspaper, Premium Times, as having allegedly
forged the NYSC exemption certificate with which she has been working and
holding high profile offices in  |
| *President Buhari and Kemi Adeosun |
The story
has it that Kemi Adeosun, one of Nigeria ’s
foremost ministers in the integrity-mouthed but honesty-depraved Buhari-led
administration, graduated from the University
of East London
It is not
only that Adeosun skipped the NYSC programme as required by law having
graduated at the age of 22 but it is also that she went a step further to add
salt to injury by allegedly forging the Corps’ exemption certificate. The
reported forged certificate which she parades was signed by a Director-General
of the Corps, Yusuf Bomoi, in September 2009, when facts show that the said DG
actually stepped down from the NYSC earlier in January of the same 2009 and could
not have signed a certificate eight months earlier.
In what
looks like an attempt to cover for her, the NYSC issued a terse statement that
Adeosun had applied to it for an exemption certificate. As if Nigerians are all
toddlers who lack the capacity to think, NYSC probably forgot that Adeosun is
never even qualified to apply for an exemption certificate from it in the first
place.
More
worrisome is the conspiracy of silence, the incomprehensible and reprehensible
acts of cover up by all actors involved in this scandal of monumental
proportions at the highest levels in the land. From Adeosun who should have
saved herself further embarrassment and the public storm by resigning
immediately or even long before now, to the NYSC that has maintained ignoble silence
apart from its earlier terse statement, to the president of the country, to
Prof Itse Sagay who has been professing nothing but profanities in the
ridiculous defence of the minister, Muhammadu Buhari, who has the right but
seems to lack the will to fire her for such an impetuous crime that has further
brought our nation to a state of ridicule before the international community
and exposed the Buhari administration as one of hypocrisy and sophistry
particularly as it concerns the well advertised ‘saintly’ records of integrity
of his administration.
With the
many high profile scandals which the Buhari administration has been caught in
and which the president has deliberately neglected, failed and or refused to
act upon as expected of any ‘man of integrity’, the mantra of fight against
corruption is reduced to nothing but shadow boxing where political opponents
are brutally hounded while the real criminals in the president’s party and or
government are allowed free reign and access to our common purse when they are
actually supposed to be cooling their feet in jail for their criminal acts.
From the
Babachir Lawal’s ‘grasscutter’ scandal, the Abdulrashid Maina’s pension and
recall scam, the NHIS scandal and even to the EFCC Chair’s Ibrahim
Magu’s scandal among others, President Buhari has always failed to
act when integrity calls upon him to do so. For example, he has continued to
keep Ibrahim Magu as an unconfirmed chairman of the EFCC against the advice of
the senate on the strength of damning reports of criminal breaches against him
by a sister security organization, the Department of State Services, DSS. The
Adeosun’s case is the latest in a retinue of scandalous events which the
president has glossed over.
It is
depressing to graduates who have completed their NYSC and others who are yet
but are hoping to be compulsorily enlisted in the scheme as a prerequisite for
getting employed, and painful to rational Nigerians to see a Kemi Adeosun who
is said to have deliberately circumvented the law and conspired with criminal
elements to forge a document of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as represented
by NYSC and still use that same forged document to get herself plum jobs when
sincerer Nigerians who have subjected themselves to the rigours of the scheme
just to ensure they do not run afoul of the law still roam the streets for a
job no matter how menial.
Has the
minister of finance bewitched our president with her borrowed accent? Or has
she used what she’s got to retain her job in the face of such a cheap scandal
just like the Babachir Lawals of this world must have done? Is our president
still giving to such vanities at his age? Could he still be swayed by the
display of fleeting allures from anyone? Can our president be bought over by
anyone whether in cash or in kind at his age and level? Although I so much
doubt it but the president’s continued inaction in the face of these scandals
contrary to what is expected from a man who rode to power on “There will be no
sacred cow” mantra gives room for the world to begin to postulate on several
possibilities touching on morality and virtue.
This
singular scandal further brings a dent not only to the highest office of the
land but also to other institutions of critical importance like the NYSC, the
police and other relevant security agencies who should have acted and swung
into action by further investigating the matter and bring the culprit to book
in compliance with our laws. The failure of all these people/institutions to
act in this particular instance is one of the reasons Nigerians have given
knocks to the avowed fight against corruption of the Buhari administration
saying that the fight against corruption is not only one sided but is also
being used as an instrument of witch hunt to silence the opposition and gag dissenting
voices while corrupt officials and forgers in the president’s fold receive a
pat on their backs for their criminal exploits.
The
example which the Adeosun saga is leaving to the youths is disastrous and a
further damage to the education policies of government. The impression being
created now is that our youths can freely forge certificates and circumvent our
laws as long as they have close relations and or associates in government who
can cover up for them. The wrong message that education and service to
fatherland even if only through the NYSC scheme is nothing but just a waste of
time and only for the unfortunate lot not privileged enough to be close to the
powerful is grave. Such impressions further discourage our youths from seeking
education and pursuing their legitimate ambitions within the confines of the
law, a situation that further kills the spirit of patriotism in them.
To save
the nation from this looming doom, it is strongly advised that the president
and his administration address head-on not only the Adeosun certificate saga
but also all scandals it has attempted to sweep under the carpet in order to
heal the nation of this cancerous wound called corruption but also to put the
nation back on the path of progressive nation building through the embracement
of national values and personal virtues by all citizens. This is the only way
we can effect the much vaunted change and progress our nation is in dire need
of.
Adesoun
as a person should stop doing herself any further damage by upholding the
integrity of her parental upbringing and the certificate of her alma mater, the
University of London, by doing the right thing which is to resign from her plum
job as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, return all the entitlements and
emoluments she has received not only as minister but also as former
commissioner of finance in Ogun State, and other places she had worked in
Nigeria without the required certificate, submit herself to the relevant
security agencies for prosecution, and apologise to Nigerians for having
deceived them thus far even at the highest level. This is the minimum demand of
morality and the definition of virtue. After she has done all these and
possibly convicted by the courts, the president can now grant her a
presidential pardon if he feels so strongly about her so that she can start her
life on a fresh and clean note. The sky can still be her limit.
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1805 teaches that “Four virtues play a pivotal
role and accordingly are called “cardinal”, all the others (virtues) are
grouped around them. They are prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance”. The
Buhari administration must not add forgery to it by treating Kemi Adeosun as a
saint that she is obviously not.
*Jude Ndukwe is a
commentator on public issues
(jrndukw@yahoo.co.uk)
(jrndukw@yahoo.co.uk)
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