By Pini Jason
MY people say abomination in the community is good business for the diviner. Every time there is an abomination the diviner demands consultation fee of a goat, a chicken, kola nuts and gin to propitiate the gods.

But we all know that the gods do not munch grilled goat meat and roasted chicken and wash them down with the gin! The diviner has reasons to smack his lips once there is crisis.

In Nigerian we have the verisimilitude of the village diviner. The worst crisis Nigeria has on its hand today is corruption. And ironically some people, especially lawyers, are making fortunes out of our misery while we groan, and they, some times hypocritically, join us in groaning about the pandemic corruption in the land!

We are really caught in a bind on the corruption issue. My reading of the situation is that we are never likely to overcome the cancer of corruption until it kills this country. And it will kill this country unless we adopt the strategy of the Chinese Cultural Revolution which was a peoples’ total war against the decadent corrupt elite.

Nigerians are either ignorant of how pervasive and deeply entrenched corruption is in our land or lack a common definition of corruption! For example, the woman who sells Indian hemp and local gin at the motor park really believes she is simply doing business; the importer who evades customs duty does not believe that he is part of the problem; the university teacher who sells handouts or extorts sex to “sort” results does not believe that he is corrupt; the seventy year old civil servant who mutilated his or her records to stay in service does not believe he or she is corrupt; the preacher who hawks fake miracles and phantom prosperity does not see his nefarious acts as corruption; the man who imports fake drugs and sub-standard goods does not believe that he is corrupt; the bombastic lawyer who dashes in and out of judges’ chambers to fix cases does not count that as corruption; the judge who gives crazy injunctions does not see himself as corrupt! Corruption is not only calibrated in billions!

Naive Nigerians

Nigerians naively believe that all it takes to win the corruption war is for President Jonathan to declare his assets publicly. I get the point about leadership by example, but let each of us purge ourselves of corruption and we will make progress. Let every Nigerian, no matter what he or she does, publicly declare his or her assets and how he or she acquired them! Unless we are all on the same page on this, we will continue to pretend that corruption is confined to Aso Villa or Government Houses.

We will continue to hypocritically point fingers and rail at others while ignoring our own complicity. It is even so sad that today nobody loses face about anything odious. Just do it, and do it in a grand scale; you can get all the Senior Advocates of Nigeria lining up at your door to “defend” you (meaning to ensure you never spend a night in jail!). You can afford aso ebi-clad and ululating women, banner-carrying youths and drummers to herald you at the court. And once your posse of SANs get you bail, you can bet your last stolen Naira that the case is over and the matter will eventually slip out of our minds, and you continue to be celebrated by society.

I was incensed when Nigerians, including lawyers, began to rubbish Nigerian judiciary after a London court sentenced James Ibori on multiple counts of stealing Delta State blind. By the way, there are still Nigerians, including lawyers, who believe that Ibori was a victim of politics! Ibori was an ex-convict when he contested the Governorship of Delta state. The lawyers who fixed his Abuja conviction case knew it.

But Ibori’s billions messed up the case in his favour! Lawyers were said to have made a fortune out of Ibori’s cases! Those who criticised the judiciary after the London court jailed him forgot the role of Nigerian lawyers in getting him free from the courts in Nigeria; they forgot the number of SANs that fell over themselves to “handle” Ibori’s case! They also forgot the role of Ibori’s London lawyer in getting the conviction, in contrast to the Nigerian lawyers. By the way, what is the position of Nigerian lawyers on the anti-corruption war?

Indecent haste and jostling

Much as I want to puke because of the indecent haste with which prominent and vocal lawyers jostle for high profile corruption cases, I concede that it is their professional calling to defend an accused. But would Gani Fawehinmi have followed such cases like moth after light?

The assumption is that a lawyer is first and foremost an officer in the temple of justice and his primary role is to assist the court to administer justice. But is it what our lawyers do, especially in matters of corruption which has become a deadly disease in Nigeria? Or are they just playing the village diviner?

In London, Ibori’s lawyer played the role a true judicial officer. He advised him not to waste the time of the court and the resources of Her Majesty’s government in prosecuting a case that could last for six months.

Ibori, knowing that he was not dealing with a Nigerian lawyer, therefore, pleaded guilty to the charges and got a lighter sentence of ten years!

In Nigeria, unfortunately, you find some of the lawyers who shout loudest against corruption quickly turn round to corner high profile corruption cases, not to act as judicial officers but ostensibly to play on our intelligence with technicalities, compromise the judges, obfuscate, confuse and make nonsense of the case.

You are always warned not to say anything, for whatever you say may be used as evidence against you. Rep. Farouk admitted accepting money which Otedola insists was bribe.

Somebody somewhere is withholding the exhibit in order to obstruct justice. My prediction is that at the end of the day, this case will become another Ibori case. Rep. Farouk Lawan will walk away free and the nation may need to apologise to him!