By Dele Sobowale

“I am not a crook”. Richard Nixon, President of the United States, 1969-1974.

President Nixon succeeded Lyndon Johnson, who voluntarily rejected the second term bid once he found his country sharply divided, a

nd, he, the President was the centre of all the raging and violent controversies. Nixon was later consumed by a crime called the Watergate Affair.

So although he was overwhelmingly re-elected in 1972 by a wide margin, he resigned in ignominy. Nixon was later to say about the Watergate that it “was worse than a crime; it was a blunder”, according to the Observer on December 3, 1978 – approximately four years after losing the presidency.

*President Goodluck Jonathan

The recent allegations of a N155 billion fraud involving various individuals contrary to the Senate, cannot be conducted in camera because it is, according to reports, already a subject of open litigation in the US. Any attempt at cover-up, by the PDP-dominated national assembly, can only back-fire and result in unprecedented civil protest which will make the January occupation exercises look like child’s play. This is the stuff of which revolutions are made and the sooner Jonathan got more honest and wiser advisers on this one the better. The “Yes-men” will not do for this one.

As usual, I have deliberately brought in the Nixon analogy, just as Johnson was used to conduct what Plutarch, c46-120 AD, the greatest Greek Historian, called Parallel History. The uproar against Johnson’s policies first started as a whimper of “disgruntled elements” and was promptly disregarded.

Johnson’s Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, 1911-1978, left the world with the cocky observation, “the right to speak does not include the right to be taken seriously”. In the end he and Johnson were consumed by those who exercised their right to speak.

When the first stories about Watergate first surfaced, Nixon and his advisers, instead of owning up to the simple crime of breaking and entry, decided to cover up. Nixon took their advice and became the second President forced to resign in American history. The story of N155 billion oil scam, allegedly involving the President, will eventually combine elements of Johnson and Nixon – if Jonathan mishandles this one.

Whereas, I had canvassed that we should manage the President, protect him from harm and carefully escort him back to Otuoke in 2015, any false move from him could result in consequences worse than escorting him back to Otuoke.

The gathering storm of events, some totally out of the President’s control and others being foisted on him by his Ministers (Finance, Power, Petroleum, Agriculture, to name the leading candidates) will definitely ignite a thunderstorm of protest and civil unrest, which will be escalated as long as Jonathan cannot like Nixon say to Nigerians: “I am not a crook and I have no hand in the N155 billion scam”.

Anything short of that will amount to inviting certain disaster for himself. In that connection, let me advise GEJ that he should reject any National Assembly offer to conduct hearings about this Oil-Gate affair in camera. It will only heighten tension and lead to unintended but calamitous results.

The reasons are not hard to discover. The National Assembly, which former President Obasanjo allegedly labeled a gang of “rogues and armed robbers”, are among the most disreputable groups of individuals in Nigeria today; they barely rank above the Nigeria Police in the minds of Nigerians for infamy.

It would amount to asking Shina Rambo, the infamous armed robber of the 1990s and Co, to sit in camera on a case of grand larceny. Their judgments are suspect, even when they sit in public. There is probably no single member of the National Assembly since 1999 (and this is just a personal opinion) who can step forward and state categorically that: “I can account for every kobo of my earnings since being in the NASS”.

None, not even the members of opposition parties – how many individuals can in today’s world; not many. To expect justice from that bunch sitting in camera amounts to the triumph of hope over experience. It will not happen; some are involved in the crude theft as well.

When Nixon declared “I am not a crook”, he did not hide behind the majority Republicans in the Congress of the United States; he challenged everybody to prove that he was a crook. Nigerians need such an affirmative statement from their President. And, we don’t want to listen to any “echo”, that is Reuben Abati or the Minister for Justice, who spoke for him recently.

We want to listen to GEJ’s voice when that declaration is made because his honour is at stake. He must do to protect his integrity. The reason is obvious, the message and the messenger are often inseparable. Our dear Reuben, whose words we read with great delight, and stored in our hearts with care, until last year, has succumbed to the Aso Rock disease. He speaks now to ears closed to his utterances.

So he cannot be of help; not on this matter and perhaps not on any other one for that matter. The Attorney General might even be worse. His explanation regarding government’s involvement in what he called a private affair left too many questions unanswered. So, that leaves the President to take the public witness stand in his own defence. Nobody, so far has said anything worthy of our respect.

Unfortunately, the President of Nigeria starts out with a huge handicap in this regard. Two episodes should serve to make this point clear. First, the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, said some of governors they looked into their activities have since “made restitutions” – Jonathan was alleged to be one of them.

So, why should we trust him now? Second, the newly elected President of France, declared his assets within a week of his election and before swearing in. That was not only what the law demanded; it was the kind of ethical leadership expected of trustworthy leaders.

To the best of my knowledge, President Jonathan has failed to declare his assets – one full year after election, let’s say publicly. Where is the moral leadership? Still let him declare with his own mouth that “I am not involved and he will receive the benefit of doubt from me.

Oil Thieves: The biggest and the worst

“200,000 barrels of crude stolen everyday from Nigeria” – Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

Mallam Ribadu is a professional policeman and also an amateur lawyer – not an economist trained in Unijankara. Otherwise, he would have interpreted that statement in the language the ordinary person can understand. In plain language, 200,000 barrels of crude oil – even at the most conservative estimates – comes to N1.3 trillion per annum or one quarter of our annual budget.

Take it from me, probably, no single barrel is stolen without a conspiracy of BIG MEN with Abuja connections. No Dele, Haruna, Emeka or Oghene can march to the creeks and start stealing crude without being caught within twenty four hours and sacrifices to fish.