Fantastic Corruption Made Manifest

 

David Cameron. Source:wikipedia.com

David Cameron, while serving as the Prime Minister of Britain, was once caught gossiping to Queen Elizabeth of England, telling her about two nations that are “fantastically corrupt.” These nations, according to Cameron, were Nigeria and Afghanistan.

The topic, as at now, is that of Afghanistan falling back to the Talaban that was ousted from power in Afghanistan in 2001, following 9/11.

Afghans may feel differently, but one may say that the most unfortunate nationals on the surface of the planet are them; all other events in the history of the country are dwarfed by the story of an unending battle between lines of democratic governments and holy Islamic warriors, the Mujahedeens. So, constant was the battle for power between these two civilizations that one could say that ordinary Afghans have never really enjoyed modern life for any reasonable length of time, as there has hardly been enough room for the nation to blossom fully under a democratic government.   

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been supporting a socialist regime in that nation, a regime the Mujahedeens rightly referred to as a “puppet government.” The Mujahedeen fought that government fiercely, sabotaging whatever groundwork the Soviet Union built to support the regime. But when the Soviet Union collapsed in the late-nineties, the Mujahedeens under the name of the Talaban, once again, took over the rule of the nation. They run that nation until Osama Bin Ladin, hunted for 9/11, got them into trouble in 2001.

Twenty years on, the resilient Talaban returns to power, less than a week after the withdrawal of US troops by President Joe Biden. It happened so easily that I was left asking one question: how come a national army with all its resources was so “easily” crushed by Islamic fighters whose resources is nowhere close to government’s? Glued to the television by series of breaking news from Afghanistan as the Talaban inched closer and closer to Kabul, I found the answer: corruption.

Any corruption that so totally drains the military of its capacity is definitely the most fantastic. As it is now clear, the Afghan military would not have been able to stand an invading neighbour, should any be interested invading Afghanistan.  David Cameron is finally vindicated.

Cameron is also vindicated on Nigeria. On the security front, a lot of similarities can be drawn between Afghanistan and Nigeria. When Boko Haram (inspired by the Talaban) started, it was a group of unarmed boys. Within the early years of Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, while Boko Haram was taking over local governments, they were virtually unmatched by the Nigerian military. There were stories of Nigerian military men pulling their uniforms, throwing away their guns and varnishing into civilian populations to avoid getting captured by Boko Haram. It was the reason why the insurgents were able to capture large portions of Borno, Yobe and a few areas of Adamawa States.

Nigerian foot soldiers, many of whom were killed in their thousands, explained that the weapons of the insurgents were more sophisticated, that their allowances were stolen by senior officials. The involvement of senior military officers was just half of the story; a larger portion of the money voted for insecurity was actually been used by the Jonathan Administration to buy the voting conscience of voters, as the 2015 Election neared.

Despite the betrayal of giving away the lives and possessions of ordinary people, Jonathan still lost the election to Mohammadu Buhari. The probe of cabinet members of the Jonathan administration, showed how Sambo Dasuki, the Chief Security Adviser to Goodluck Jonathan, shared the security budget to influential politicians across the country. Their instruction was: use it to buy victory for the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in 2015.

The politicians never even used the money for the purpose Jonathan intended. Even if they had, the issue of the destruction in the northeast was grave, with everyone crying across the country. In the face of that, money was a frivolity. There would have been no point in taking money you would not live to spend. So, like Ashraf Ghani, Jonathan fell, running away to Etu-Eke in Bayelsa State.

It is still sad that corruption in the face of insecurity is still around. I do not want to believe that it is genetic, but Cameron must have scanned through the character of the Nigerian nation. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHLytIFGNddajPEnt2Ry_Xg