By Douglas Anele
That said, Sagay’s “argument from malice” is fallacious on several grounds. To begin with, he did not say who haboured feelings of malice against Ibori.

To be candid, it is far-fetched to suggest that either of the presiding judges of the court where Ibori pleaded guilty or the prosecution and investigators of the case were malicious against the former Delta state governor. Secondly, in the past four decades the level of corruption in government, business and financial institutions has increased exponentially to the extent seriously jeopardising the well-being of Nigerians.

Every Nigerian with an active moral conscience should be happy if clever crooks in high places are severely punished for the crimes they committed against their compatriots. Consequently, is Sagay saying that the obscene lavish lifestyle of the former governor at the expense of the underprivileged class in his state and the socio-economic cost of financial rascality there between 1999 and 2007 should be treated with kid gloves?

Is he comfortable with the fact that while his family members and cronies were living in luxury with stolen public funds, the rate of poverty, unemployment, destitution and disease kept increasing in Delta State? He is even lucky: if he were a Chinese official, the Chinese government would probably have executed him and his accomplices.

Now, it is true that by pleading guilty he saved the court from the inconveniences of protracted trial. However, he also saved himself from escalating legal charges and a longer jail term. In any case, he really committed the crimes (and more) for which he was convicted, which implies that he lifted a heavy burden off his chest by accepting guilt.

Again and again, I have made the point that the major reason why corruption thrives in Nigeria, apart from a terribly flawed justice delivery system, is lack of will by government to deal with VIP thieves. In countries serious about fighting corruption, the ruling elite articulate policies that effectively check gargantuan official corruption, and devise effective implementation strategies which make it less likely that those who misappropriate public funds would escape justice.

In Nigeria where sacred cows are above the law things are upside down.

The problem is aggravated by morally bankrupt senior lawyers and judges who use legal shenanigans and vacuous technicalities to protect corrupt members of the ruling cabal. From a slightly different angle, it is ridiculous but not entirely surprising that John Fashanu, a retired footballer, should speak glowingly of Ibori’s achievements in building sports facilities in Delta state, as if that accounts adequately for the hundreds of billions of naira which accrued to the state when Ibori was in charge.

As long as corruption among the elite is treated with levity, as long as prominent Nigerians shamelessly defend corrupt members of the political class, mind-boggling corruption would remain a recurrent problem in our efforts towards a better society. But these people were not alone in the financial rape of Delta State.

Therefore, forensic investigations must be extended to his accomplices some of whom are still in positions of authority and power in the state. In my opinion, clever high-ranking thieves acquitted by the corrupt Nigerian judiciary should not celebrate yet, since what happened to the former governor might still happen to them in future, either here in Nigeria when a serious disciplined leadership emerges or abroad.

After all no condition is permanent, and the oppressor in Aso Rock or in any of the government houses today might end up in prison tomorrow. Without any patina of doubt, this public disgrace has actually drilled 13 ugly holes in the glass ceiling called rebranding project.

As I mentioned in the previous essay, the defeat of our finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, by Jim Yong Kin of the United States in the contest for the post of President of the World Bank is one of the repercussions of Nigeria’s bad image in the international arena.

Still many Nigerians, including President Goodluck Jonathan and members of the National Assembly, chose to deceive themselves by exhibiting hypocritical patriotism in highfalutin adulation of Okonjo-Iweala shortly before the actual selection process took place.

Suddenly people who had no time for merit in managing public affairs and beneficiaries of the skewed federal character system which sacrifices merit and excellence on the altar of ethnicity became champions of meritocracy!

There is no doubt that Okonjo-Iweala has impressive credentials. I also believe that gender might have played a minor role in her defeat. However, those suggesting that Kim, President Barack Obama’s nominee for the position, does not merit the job should think again and reexamine the formidable credentials of the President-elect, both academic and professional.

Obama, a very intelligent strategist, might have sensed that Kim’s diversified background and professional experience will have a telling effect on the selection team and make the Korean-American more electable than Okonjo-Iweala.

Moreover, the history of the World Bank does not favour the emergence of its President from Africa for now, a continent that contributes less than five percent to the global economy. But the most devastating blow to Okonjo-Iweala’s ambition, in my view, is Nigeria’s standing as one of the poorest and most corrupt nations on earth.

America is the dominant power in the world right now and it would have been a pride-shattering experience for Americans, particularly for President Obama, if Kim had lost to Okonjo-Iweala. At any rate, Nigerians who really thought that our finance minister stood a chance must have been living in a cloud cuckoo land. No country can impose its will on the international community unless it is strong domestically.

Nigeria is a potentially great country. Unfortunately, persistent incompetent and corrupt leadership has jeopardised her chances of making significant impact in world affairs. A country whose government cannot provide basic infrastructure, guarantee security for the citizens and fight corruption effectively will continue to lose out in the international scene. That is the simple truth; and noisy sloganeering called rebranding project, which is dead and buried anyway, cannot change it.

Concluded.