"Permit me the excesses of generalisation to say that
while Nigerians like to mouth anti-corruption rhetoric, we are actually
pro-corruption. We claim to hate corruption, but when people we sympathise with
are called to account, we begin to stammer and resort to sentiments to justify
corruption, while saying: “I’m not trying to justify corruption but...” But
what? We whip up ethnic, religious, regional, legalistic or political
sentiments and ignore the substance. Indeed, we have devised many
pro-corruption responses which we try to intellectualise....
I can identify at least six pro-corruption devices which
we regularly deploy to frustrate the anti-graft war. The first is what I call “Our
Son Syndrome”. Put a Nigerian on trial for corruption and people suddenly start
grumbling about the plight of “our son”. This message, often orchestrated,
comes in form of visits by traditional rulers to key government officials as
well as stage-managed public protests and a media campaign to defend “our son”.
If someone is arrested for corruption today, rather than allow him to defend himself in court, it is the emirs and obas that will be making phone calls to the powers-that-be to get him released. And we say we hate corruption."
If someone is arrested for corruption today, rather than allow him to defend himself in court, it is the emirs and obas that will be making phone calls to the powers-that-be to get him released. And we say we hate corruption."
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