Waziri & psychiatrics test for politicians

That Nigerian breed of politicians is special in every respect is reaffirmed by the belief that those aspiring to how political offices deserve to pass through some form of psychiatric evaluation before they should be allowed to step into such offices. Someone, who has had a long period of research and investigation on politicians, Farida Waziri, a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, (EFCC), believes that many of them are psychiatric patients. Waziri did not say anything different from what many Nigerians already knows about the ruling class, but the only thing added is her courage to call for their proper investigation by a psychiatric personnel. She said the wasteful lifestyle of the nation’s politicians and their mindless attitude to the poor masses qualified them to be in an asylum for some time. The former EFCC boss said some of the politicians had stolen so much that they no longer quantify their wealth. Some owned houses on every continent of the world because they did not know what to do with the stolen money.
Waziri said: “I sit down sometimes and wonder what corrupt Nigerians are thinking of. Somebody gets a big position and thinks he needs a big house in the United States and then jets out to buy a mansion. He comes back and then wants a house in Europe. He jets out to the UK to buy one and then thinks of the UAE, he jets out to Dubai and buys one and he is not satisfied.
“He then jets out to South Africa to buy one. I went to Pretoria and I was taken to a street which was vacated by De Boers, the white farmers who had left South Africa and I was shown houses owned by Nigerians. They looked like cathedrals to me.
“They looked like haunted houses and when these Nigerians travel to South Africa, they can’t stay there so they lodge in hotels. So, what is the aim? What goes on in their minds? And that is why I said that before the government employs anyone to positions of authority, let them be medically examined. They need psychiatric test.” Very sad indeed.

Magician Judge!
Last week, the Federal Government alleged that a Justice of the Supreme Court spent N500million between January and October 2016, despite his total annual legitimate earnings, including his allowances being N24million. The Judge is currently facing some allegations over corruption. The prosecution alleged that from the N500million, the Supreme Court Justice transferred dollars equivalent of N313million to a building contractor within the period of nine months; between January and September2016 to “develop several landed properties” for him. It was also said that earlier in 2015, the defendant, within a period of one month made various cash payments totalling $180, 000 to the building contractor. It also alleged that during the raid on the defendants Abuja house by the operatives of the Department of State Services in October 7, 2016, total sums of N38, 358million, &319, 596 and £25, 915 were found in his possession. Well the judge has not yet stated his own side of the story, how he came about the huge sums of cash allegedly traced to him. But pray, is it possible that he may have made some instant hit in one of these fly-by-night money making machines in the mode of MMM scheme? Is it not possible that he made the stupendous wealth out of careful investment or he made the money when stocks were hot, and decided to lie low before spending the windfall? Is it not possible that he has a family business besides his official job that someone else is managing for him, where these monies are coming from? It may not be proceeds of graft, but the man at the centre of it all should be able to provide the right answer. My only concern is that the prosecution said the respondent has not yet given any satisfactory explanation for the huge sums of money allegedly found in his possession. But come to think of it, this craze for acquisition of landed properties and building of mansions by public office holders who are over 60, 70 years, what manner of vanity! How many more active years do they have to enjoy all the vanities? I am just wondering.
Animalistic!!!
Not one, not two, but three soldiers, two policemen, a prison official and some other uniformed men are under scrutiny over their animalistic behaviours. They are said to have converted some girls and vulnerable women at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states into sex mates. They would brazenly go into the camps in uniform in the guise that they have the interest of the displaced people at heart and lure these girls and women into unholy acts. They may be having their way by just buying some loaves of bread, which is a scarce commodity in the camp, and they could also drop some few naira notes for their victims to buy water; but they are still under investigation and the true positions of the things are not yet determined. A case in particular was mentioned. In the IDP camp in Maiduguri, Borno State, a serving senior non-commissioned officer was said to have assaulted a 10-year-old girl. Come to think of it, how could these men do these type of things? Or is it because they see many girls and women in the camp and felt that they are for picks? These women and girls did not just elect to shift their abode to the IDPs camp, they were pushed by circumstances beyond their control to take that hard choice, and now they are falling prey to those who should protect them. If this kind of assault is still happening in the camp, what is the difference between the camp and the Boko Haram den where over one hundred of the Chibok girls are still being held? Here is pleading with soldiers, policemen and all other uniformed people whose daily duties revolve around the IDPs camps, to please see it as a missionary work, and serve with integrity.
Why militarise the South East?
The South East geo-political zone is not known to be violent. What we hear from time to time is the peaceful protest by some pro-Biafra groups, who are essentially seeking the inclusion of the Igbo in the scheme of things in the country. But over the years, security operatives have turned the area into a battleground, always claiming that the pro-Biafra agitators are now violent and bear arms. The situation appears to have gone out of hand since the inception of the current administration. The allegation is that government is determined to clamp down on the Pro-Biafra proponents by every means possible. But many intellectuals from the zone have counselled the government at the centre to be more accommodating by giving the Igbo nation its due. They argue that it is the seemingly policy of exclusion of Ndigbo by the current administration that may have irked the people the more, forcing them to scream the more to the high heavens. The recent inauguration by the Nigerian military of Operation Python Dance has been viewed as government’s further move to terrorise the zone. But SKETCHES believes that the Federal Government has the solution to all these unnecessary agitations. What is lacking is just the political will to do the needful.

El-Rufai and Shiite conundrum
It is becoming very frightening the dimension the impasse between government and the members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (Shiite) is taking. It is said that caution must always be applied when trying to kill a fly perching on an open sore or a tse-tse-fly on the scrotum of a man with elephantiasis. But it appears that both the Federal Government and the El-Rufai administration in Kaduna State are not conscious of that aphorism. For several months now, members of the movement and government have been at daggers drawn. The leader of the group, Sheik Ibraheem ZakZaky, has been in incarceration gong to one year now, but there is freedom of worship, though within the ambit of the law. Government and the Shiite must as a matter of urgency have a serious dialogue to draw a line, and to spell out certain things so that each party will know its boundaries. President Muhammadu Buhari must also as a matter of urgency act on the advice given to him by the Borno Elders Forum, warning him that delay may be dangerous. The elders, who are witnesses to similar scenario in Borno State that gave rise to the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, noted that it all started the way Shiite crisis is going. They advised based on their own experience. Why waste time when we can begin to seek the black sheep now that it is daytime for doing so at night may prove futile.

 

Zebulon Agomuo