By Chuks Iloegbunam
The fight
against corruption has been dominating national discourse since the inception
of the Buhari administration. The Rules of Engagement of the Nigerian Armed
Forces recently weighed in as a topic for debate. Discussions on corruption
have remained central for two reasons: Candidate Buhari indexed his presidential
campaign on it. And it is the one topic President Buhari seizes every
opportunity to declaim impassioned commitment.
*President Buhari
At the annual Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation
Lecture in Abuja
last week, he was at his sanctimonious best: “Without our collective will to
resist corrupt acts as a people, it will be difficult to win the war. Nigeria has
been brought almost to her knees by decades of corruption and mismanagement of
the public treasury. We must come to a point when we must all collectively say
‘Enough is Enough.’”
Unfortunately, the President’s anti-corruption
rhetoric, and the manner his government is prosecuting the war point to
duplicity. This is because the fight against entrenched corruption cannot
succeed unless it is systematized. But Buhari’s anti-corruption war is bereft
of system. It is selective. It is running on the wheels of media hysteria. It
is unconcerned with preventive measures. It is overloaded in censure and sanction.
It is, therefore, bound to end in tragic failure. Commentators unwilling to
acknowledge the foregoing cannot honestly claim to love the man or support his
presidency.