Opinion: Nigeria and the many ‘corruption-gates’

The suffix gate which is used to denote a noun or name to suggest the existence of a far-reaching scandal, particularly in politics and government derives from the Watergate scandal of the United States of America in the early 1970s, which resulted in the resignation of the president of the United States, President Richard Nixon.

The scandal was named after the Watergate complex in Washington D.C; the complex itself was named after the Watergate area.

The suffix has however established its roots and has become unavoidably usable in the political lexicon of Nigeria, due to the high rate and prevalence of corruption in the country. Hence th eneed for many ‘Gates’ in the political grapevines of Nigeria. One would think that due to the original meaning of the suffix, every corruption scandal /case should be treated with utmost distinctiveness and transparency and a far-reaching width.

In a rather contrasting note, opposite has been the case with the “NIGERIANGATES”, has the last as not been heard of any of the prominent ‘Gates”, most of them have either been abandoned due to the lack/unavailability of enough evidences to prosecute the culprits involved, or others been ‘covered-up’ in order to avoid criminal charges or major repercussions for the individuals supposedly involved.

Nigeria has grown to become the most frequent user of the suffix ‘Gate” due to the prevalence of corrupt scandal in the country.

Corruption “Gate” cases that have spanned the period of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, ranging from the much published deal between Hon. Farouk Lawan of the 7th House of Representatives and billionaire business ma, Femi Otedola, in 2013, generally termed, ‘FaroukGate’, to the $9.3arm Gate, Police pension fund fraud Gate, the immigration recruitment fraud named the “Abba Morro Gate”, the popular EkitiGate in 2014, StellaOduah BMW scandal in 2014 termed the “OduahGate”, Stephen Oronsaye Gate involving the 123bnaira fraud, the fuel subsidy Gate, Diezani Gate, and of course the biggest Gate of our time so far and the most wide reaching one involving the former National Security Adviser, SamboDasuki, popularly termed the ‘DasukiGate’.

Considering the vast arrays of ‘corruption Gates’ scandals in Nigeria, one would instantly think that the rate of corruption would have considerably decreased. Rather, the tentacles of corruption seems to be spreading more than ever. A reasonable and complete completion of any of the “Gate” scandals would send strong signal to the World and to all other corrupt individuals in the country.

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Akintayo Joshua writes from Ibadan and can be reached via @d_special_josh

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