Ben Nwabueze, a professor of constitutional law and statesman,has taken another look at Nigeria and concluded, yet again – like most commenters, alive, or dead, like literary giant Chinua Achebe – that the biggest problem with the country is not corruption but bad leadership.
Ben NwabuezeNwabueze said, for instance, the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo was a reign of impunity which made an already bad situation worse.
He told TheNiche in an exclusive interview in Lagos that although corruption is a cog in the wheel of Nigeria’s progress, it is not the biggest problem.
“There are problems more fundamental than corruption,” he said. “Corruption is man-made, it is made by us and so it is not fundamental. There are problems that are inherent in the structure of the country.
“Take the North-South divide. People do not sit back to reflect on the enormity, sheer enormity of the North-South divide. It is one of the greatest problems we have.’’
He cited what is happening at the ongoing national conference where “mere voting is polarised along North-South, with the Sultan of Sokoto leading a team to President Goodluck Jonathan to complain about the composition.’’
According to Nwabueze, the North-South dichotomy was not created by the people,it is part of the problems inherent in the structure of the country. “Corruption is made by you and I and others, so it cannot be the biggest problem because there are other issues more fundamental than corruption. We will fight corruption, all right, as far as corruption is concerned.’’
He maintained that Obasanjo’s administration of “impunity” elevated corruption to a height that only a revolution can bring it down.
Not only corruption but other problems abound everyday, he said, “and each passing day that I critically look at Nigeria, it seems to be confirmed in my belief that indeed a revolution is needed to solve this problem.
“It may be violent, it may be non-violent, but there has to be a revolution, perhaps non-violent, to change things.
“The rottenness is so much; morality no longer counts, truth no longer has a place in this country, and now we have something else creeping in, impunity, overtaking almost everything else.
“Impunity is also man-made. Corruption is what it is because of impunity.”
In his view, lawlessness became what it is today because of Obasanjo, who “gave impunity the frightening enormity that it acquired. Study his regime. All through the eight years impunity reigned supreme.
“He wakes up one morning and sacks the vice president, how can a president sack the vice president?”
Nwabueze lamented that the Constitution has been stripped of its sacredness because of impunity.
“It is incredible when you read the story of the regime of Obasanjo for eight years and you wonder whether all this happened in a country of enlightened, civilised individuals. But it did happen.
“I have taken time to chronicle some of the atrocities in two books, the rule of law under Obasanjo; how he desecrated and subverted the rule of law, how he desecrated and subverted the federal system.
“It is incredible what Obasanjo did. He has a few good sides, no doubt. He is a man of courage who can say, yes this is what I want.”