Morenike Taire
10 July 2008
column
Lagos — Police boss Nuhu Ribadu's EFCC was a much-regarded institution.
It's principal talked tough, acted tougher still and though he was criticized at some point or the other for being selective and 'bulldog' of the government of the day, Nigeria displayed an emotive and unanimous support for Ribadu when, upon his redeployment, he rose up in quite a fearsome rage.
But Ribadu did have his faults, and they cannot be looked away from because his shortcomings were at the expense of our future as a nation.
Had Ribadu ever quite finished his investigation of our almighty generals, they might not have had the nerve, not to talk of the freedom, to begin to put in a word for one of their own, though dearly departed.
For a place so weighed down by poverty, we cannot afford to have people throwing ill-gotten wealth in people's faces, but people are used to that.
More so, for a place so weighed down by corruption we cannot afford to have people beating their chests about their integrity while the spoils of their dishonesty are in your face. Not anymore. The Moaning Hitman Humphrey Nwosu is a sad man, and it is understandable.
His hands were used to do and undo history, and yet he was confiscated and disposed as soon as the purpose had been achieved.
Unlike the average one time member of the Nigerian political class, the professor was never allowed another day in the sun. Not even half a day.
It is not clear exactly how he was compensated for being the major hit man for Ibrahim Babangida and his yet to be affirmed collaborators, but it is clear that 15 years down the line, it has brought no satisfaction and has made him no closer to having some relevance to the future affairs of the nation.
The man did have his significance as he has tried so hard to prove in the last eighteen months or so. The trend of having an academic at the helm of affairs of the nation's elections appeared to have been set by his appointment as well as his subsequent design of a nearly fool proof electoral process, one which Obasanjo's economic team would have proudly adjudged to be "home grown", had it had to do with economic policy. Some observers think it was the last great triumph of a much-enriched military ruling class over a much-impoverished academic class.
It would appear, as posterity would show, that it is much easier to use a member of the academic class, particularly if he is male, as a stooge and a figurehead than any other member of the Nigerian society. It is unclear why this is so, but it would make a good subject for some sociological research. Nwosu proved that it can be done.
He proved, also, that intelligence can be employed primarily for one or two purposes: for good or for bad.
Having apologized for his ignoble role in the deception of Nigerians and the robbing of them of their democratic rights after the June 12, 1993 elections, we really should feel some sympathy for Humphrey Nwosu.
Surely, he deserves as much. Poor Humphrey Nwosu, but apart from the sympathy, one really wonders what else the infamous man wants from the Nigerian public. We and an Energy evolution.
Not even as close by as a couple of years ago when international oil prices hit record high after record high, had anyone even imagined the figures for which crude is selling in world markets today.
Today's prices are the stuff of dreams-or nightmares, depending really on what side of the divide you have found yourself.
The globalization of resources, for instance, raises new questions. Is someone who migrated from an oil producing country to a non-oil producing one, for instance, to be glad or disturbed?
The price of oil, along with its consequences and causes, is one of the most important issues on earth today, and as the upcoming presidential elections in the United States is considered one of the most important issues in the world at this moment, the success or failure of its contestants will depend, in no small way, on what they say about the political economics of oil.
The Republican candidate for the same elections, for instance, has been in Western Europe this year to promote his oil politics.
He is popular, for instance, for having made a continual point of how his country has been buying oil from people who can decidedly be said to be enemies of the State. What it means is that alternative energy will be strong on the agenda of the world's most important and influential president, if it is to be a Republican one this time.
Inviting militants of the Niger Delta to man oil facilities was not a bad idea for the short run, if a tad diversionary. Better still would be the engagement of the youngsters (we are told that term can not be applied to them all) in a useful debate on the role of their area as oil becomes less relevant.
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