by Idowu Ajanaku

This may not be too surprising for a country where its number one citizen does not equate stealing with corruption! But while the public angst against Obaniokoro is not yet about attempting to milk the national till dry…

Viewed from both the moral and constitutional standpoints, the recent clearance of Musiliu Obanikoro, the former Minister of State for Defence for another ministerial appointment by the Senate, amidst protests from All Progressives Congress lawmakers connotes the depth of depravity and desperation by the current President Jonathan-led administration.

One that a public affairs analyst has aptly described as ‘jackboot democracy.’ And interestingly, another has compared it to ‘democracy of the jungle,’ where though animals of various species may cohabit but the might is right and the law of the wild subsists. Perhaps, only that would shed more light on a sordid political aberration that has a minority number of senators mouth ‘ayes’ after a majority had staged a walkout in protest.

The way and manner the Senate President, David Mark, ruled against an objection raised by Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi who pointed out the reversal of a previous court ruling in the face of a pending case on the controversial Ekitigate, it was obvious the PDP lawmakers were acting out a script by the presidency.

They wanted Obanikoro to be given a leeway more by crook than by hook. Even the counsel offered by Senator Ganiyu Solomon that the issue be deferred until the gray areas had been ironed out was jettisoned by Mark, apparently to foist his preference and of course that of his party on the Red Chamber. This is a most unfortunate dimension to politics in Nigeria, more so in an election period. The worrisome aspect of the political melodrama paints the ruling PDP as a party only too willing to ram its dictatorial tendencies down the already aching throat of long-suffering Nigerians.

For, if Obanikoro, representing Lagos State had been accused of influencing the voting process in Ekiti state that swung it in favour of his party, what guarantee is there that President Jonathan is not out to use him for another sinister hatchet job during the forthcoming elections? Couldn’t another PDP stalwart have been nominated from the same state? Why did Mark not allow senators from the same state have their say and perhaps their way during the scandalous screening before Obanikoro’s bow of shame? Beyond the desperation of the PDP to win the March 28 and April 11, 2015 elections, Nigerians should be more concerned because of the culture of impunity which has pervaded our political landscape for years and worsened since the assumption of office of President Jonathan in 2010.

One would recall, with a sense of collective shame, how the erstwhile head of the Pension Board accused of having embezzled billions in naira of pensioners’ hard-earned terminal benefits was hurriedly granted a court waiver to pay a paltry sum and go home a free man! That was until Nigerians felt outraged and stated so.

It has been a similar sad commentary on our description of the simple word ‘corruption’ that one Stella Oduah, then as the Aviation Minister accused of over invoicing of the purchase of two cars, was allowed to stay put in office for months until public outcry was loud and compelling enough to reach Mr. President in Aso Rock. So far, the allegation against the jet-setting current Minster of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Alison- Madueke, for allegedly squandering billions of our common resources globe-trotting has suffered a drowning effect.

This may not be too surprising for a country where its number one citizen does not equate stealing with corruption! But while the public angst against Obaniokoro is not yet about attempting to milk the national till dry, his speedy clearance by the Senate for a ministerial appointment, while the Ekitigate electoral scam is still in court smacks of the twin evils of corruption and impunity. These two, we must admit, have collectively undermined the strengthening and sustenance of democratic institutions in Nigeria since the PDP’s stranglehold on the nation’s political jugular vein for some 16 years.

Anyone, no matter how highly placed, who cannot understand those terms may have to consult his dictionary, if he has any. Not too surprisingly, the Lagos State chapter of the APC has described the confirmation of Musiliu Obanikoro as a minister by the Nigerian Senate, despite damaging implications in a rigging scandal in Ekiti, as ‘a show of shame.’

The concern of the opposition party is that this recent event further drags the image of Nigeria and the Senate in the mud. In a related statement in Lagos, which was signed by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Joe Igbokwe, the party emphasised that the confirmation of Obanikoro “showed the sinister intent of the Senate leadership and the PDP to institute deep-rooted corruption and illegality in Nigeria so long as their nefarious interests were met.”

Furthermore, APC said: “It is obvious that the PDP presidency that nominated Obanikoro and the PDP members of the Senate that forced through decency and protests of Nigerians to approve his nomination are hell-bent on corrupting both the laws and institutions of the Nigerian State by that howling act of rewarding criminality. “The country is once again, assailed by the lawless inclination of the PDP as a party that thrives in such criminality as election rigging and which uses same to reward perpetrators who should be jailed for high crime which the Ekitigate scandal amounts to.

What the Senate and its PDP members forced through in confirming Obanikoro is the audacious reign of illegality and impunity and Nigerians have a golden chance to throw the PDP to the dustbin of history on March 28.” What also baffles close watchers of the country’s polity is the refusal on the part of President Jonathan to set up a committee to investigate the weighty allegations against Obanikoro.

Though the man in the eye of the storm in a recent media interview stated that he, rather than the APC, has challenged part of a conspiracy to rig Ekiti election using federal might. In all of the unfolding political soap opera, it is morally reprehensible that a ministerial nominee is forced on the country under shady circumstances. The import of this is that Nigerians who are interested in free, fair and credible elections, the mass media, independent election observers, as well as the human rights community must be on eternal vigilance.

We all must stand up and say a vehement ‘no!’ to fascism, despotism and all forms of dictatorial tendencies garbed in gowns of democracy. The military era is long over. The essence of democracy is that the wishes of the majority rather than that of a favoured few should prevail. Anything short of that would lead to chaos.

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– Idowu Ajanaku writes from Lagos
Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.