By Owei Lakemfa
It will be fallacious to say the military taught Nigerians how to steal. In truth, stealing maybe as old as humanity itself. In fact, stealing is so old that it features in the Ten Commandments God reportedly gave humanity: ‘Thou Shall Not Steal’.
However, while the politicians who stole before military rule commenced in Nigeria, were petty thieves, the Generals raised the standard to actual ‘state capture’. While the former, given the consequences, were afraid to be caught, the latter actually lived in the treasury, conscious that, even if caught, there might be no adverse consequences. In any case, esprit de corps obliges Generals to look out for each other. So, despite all the accusations of looting against the Babangida regime, including the Gulf War windfall, nobody dared or has dared to probe it.
