OBA Aduba:
You asked:
QUOTE
How can Nigeria be saved without creating a scene?
UNQUOTE
That is a devastating question - and a devastatingly-searing and thought-provoking piece below.
Kudos!
Bolaji Aluko
GEJ AND $50000 BRIBE SCANDAL III
The $50,000 scandal is getting more sordid everyday. The more web experts write, the more intriguing the story gets. Let us start by accepting Sahara Reports story as the gospel truth (even though I had said that the story did not pass the smell test).Let us also accept Yinka Odumakin's follow up interview. And finally let us also accept the Reverend Tunde Bakare's admission that money did indeed change hands whether he calls it a gift or bribe. If we accept these statements as facts, then what we are left with is that the President of Nigeria offered Save Nigeria Group a bribe and that SNG accepted the bribe.
It is not in doubt that SNG knew a bribe has been offered once we accept Mr. Odumakin's account of events. He reported that they would have driven off before the "gift" was offered except that their drivers were not allowed to stay in their cars. And that when the offer was made they rejected it but because they did not want to create a scene took it. There should not be any more doubt that SNG knew that a bribe has been offered after this point.
It is at this point that SNG failed Nigeria. WOEFULLY. BETRAYED NIGERIA. JOINED THE REST OF NIGERIA MISLEADERS. And worse lost the meaning of their name and their objectives and lost me.
The rest of the story is just mea culpa.
They had the tiger by the tale in their left hand and a sharp sword on their right hand and failed to kill it. The tiger would now go on and devour Nigeria. How can they still bear the name SAVE NIGERIA GROUP? How?
If they were true believers in their mission to save Nigeria and while in Aso Rock a crime was committed, before their eyes and they failed to challenge it "because they did not want to create a scene" pray how can they save Nigeria? How can Nigeria be saved without creating a scene? Let us further accept as fact that if they "misbehaved" they could be arrested for "disturbing the peace" and jailed. Gracious Lord where is Fella Ransom Kuti, where is Gani Fawehinmi, where is Wole Soyinka? These patriots saw evil, exposed them were arrested and jailed. The blood of patriots cleanses the society.
Our spineless Saviors of Nigeria betrayed the peoples trust. I was with them during the Umaru Yar' Adua's saga but not any more.
One may still forgive SNG if on arriving at their hotel in one piece they immediately called a press conference to denounce what had happened at Aso Rock. Instead they placed a quiet phone call to one of the perpetrators of the crime to give him back the envelope they had accepted, an act which completely destroyed the evidence for the prosecution. They thus became accomplices after the criminal act.
It is impossible to argue that SNG did not know what was in the envelope because they rejected it and when they got back to the hotel they counted the money and held a meeting during which they resolved to return the gift, bribe, support money or as in the old Chicago mayoral machine walking around money. Why did SNG not at that conference call in the police to report that an attempt had been made to bribe them? Are they too young, inexperienced to know or naïve? I need help here. If they were afraid of their skins at Aso Rock what reason do they have at their hotel for not bringing in the police? Would they save Nigeria only if it cost them nothing? If they rejected the money and did not want to embarrass the president why did one of them leak it to Sahara Reports? Why is Mr. Odumakin now confessing? Why is Reverend Bakare now calling it a gift?
Is he really a man of God or is he just wearing the collar?
Could it be that SNG did not know how to reject a "gift'? All that was required was for them to ask GEJ's Assistant what is that? And follow with a clenched teeth admonishment: "we do not take bribes and please do not try this with us again" and walked out. There would not be any scene created except that bribe giver would walk back sheepishly and pray that nothing else comes from this. If they wanted to rob it in one of them could have added: "I am disappointed in you."
There are other questions that arise from this criminal transaction. What was the conversation during their meeting? What did they say that made it possible for one to think that they were for sale? What signals did they give that prompted the bribing? If no such signals were given why was the rejection not that direct? Why did they need to be persuaded?
My friend Ola Kassim has acquitted SNG and I usually agree with him. But not this time. SNG has taken Nigeria for a ride, have not displayed the type of backbone Fella would have displayed, betrayed Gani and Wole, brave men, who risked their freedom so that Nigeria would have it. They saw the king naked and did not tell him.
With a name like this Nigeria will never be saved.
Benjamin Obiajulu Aduba
Boston, Massachusetts
December 1, 2010
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