By Dele Sobowale

“To repay the civilities and little friendships of hospitality by robbing the house where you have received them, is to be the basest and meanest of thieves.” Henry Fielding, 1707-1754, in TOM JONES.

(VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 244).

Suddenly, the possibility that we might be having probes conducted is already inducing many politicians and their associates from speaking from the two sides of their mouths at once. President Buhari, APC, announces that he will probe former government, PDP, and some people call it a witch-hunt. I partly agree if the probe instituted does not start from 1999. From that era, we have $13-16 billion spent on power supply improvement which failed to occur. The newly-elected Governor Wike, PDP, of Rivers State, announced he will probe former Governor Amechi, APC, and somebody calls it witch-hunt.

The most bizarre one is from Ekiti State where Governor Fayose, PDP, said he would institute a probe concerning N4 billion allegedly embezzled by former Governor Fayemi, APC. Instead of Fayemi answering for himself, it was the APC, which will not be a party to the proceedings, which calls it a witch-hunt. The Fayemi I know is quite capable of defending himself and needs no busy-bodies to do it for him. I will be personally mortified if Fayemi’s tenure cannot withstand the severest scrutiny – if the inquiry is conducted openly and fairly.

Dr. Kayode Fayemi, former governor of Ekiti State and Ayo Fayose

That said; let me declare my support for witch-hunting if by witches we mean every single official who had made public funds to develop wings under cover of darkness cast on the people by not running transparent governments. Let’s hunt all the witches, whoever they may be and whatever their political affiliations might be. Indeed, if there is one major reason the Federal Government of Nigeria and most states of Nigeria are heavily indebted and cannot pay salaries and provide services to the people, it is because we had always allowed “witches” to devour us in more ways than we can count.

But, before that, let me make another point about the witches. Right in front of our eyes some individuals have transformed from “good guys” to “bad guys”, or “bad guys” to “good guys”, depending on the party label they now carry.  Chapter 8 of my book, PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED was devoted to the atrocities committed by a former card-carrying PDP member now in APC, who now wants to probe his predecessor. Two more examples will do.

In 2013, when Femi Fani-Kayode was blasting former President Jonathan at will, he was embraced by the APC. If he had continued that way till today, he would be a “good guy” to APC and “bad guy” to PDP. His case pending with the EFCC would have been judged in advance accordingly – witch-hunt or deserved punishment. Some would have pointed out that the offence was committed ten years ago; so why continue? Some time around 2010, a former PDP Governor had the office of the ACN in Portharcourt closed. PDP applauded, ACN called it a rape of democracy.

Today, the Governor is a “good guy” to APC. If Wike closes the APC  office now, he will be tyrant. Readers can easily see how our politicians expect us to alter our views about people depending on which party card they carry. The party card has become a powerful detergent which washes away all previous atrocities or a stain which sticks. That by itself is good reason why we must hunt all the witches. As the saying goes in America, you can’t cheat an honest man. No probe can establish that somebody stole a kobo if the books of account don’t say so.

At this point, please follow me down the history of Nigeria. Both Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe were the subjects of “witch-hunts” or probes – if you like. Zik was hammered first by the British because the NCNC, which he led, was a thorn in the flesh of the colonial masters. The Foster Sutton Inquiry, looking into the financial affairs of the Eastern Region, where Zik was Premier, indicted his government for “mismanagement” of funds in the African Continental Bank, ACB. To NCNC members, including my father, who loved Zik next to God, it was a witch-hunt. To the Action Group members, it was a fair inquiry. The WEST AFRICAN PILOT owned by Zik and the TRIBUNE owned by Awolowo were obviously covering different events from the editorials they wrote when the report was released.

Years after, Awolowo was in jail for treason because Justice Sowemimo said “my hands are tied”. (We have again heard about hands being tied recently, proving that nothing really changes in Nigeria). With Awo in jail and his political antagonists in power in the Western Region and Federal, a Coker Inquiry was instituted into the affairs of the Western Regional Government under Awolowo. Even a dunce can guess the outcome of the probe. Awo was indicted; but since he was already serving a life sentence, he could not be jailed again.  Predictably, the NPC/NNA Alliance and their media houses called it a fair and impartial probe. The TRIBUNE called it (do you need me to tell you?) – a witch-hunt; naturally.

Obviously, in Nigeria one is guilty or not, depending on the party affiliation of the person reacting to it. If beauty is universally only in the eye of the observer, then in Nigeria guilt is also in the mind of the person listening to the verdict.  So, we might as well have the “witch-hunts” of 2015 for us and posterity to argue about.

To be continued…..

NEXT WEEK: Apart from embezzlement of funds, how about lives snuffed out in political murders, since 1999, still unsolved?