Dasukigate and a vote for a Truth commission

THE book of  John 1: 45 -47  where Jesus called Philip and  Nathaniel ia a fascination as Nigerians continue  to ponder over the massive looting  of  the nation’s common heritage by politically exposed

persons.  The Economic and Financial Crimes  Commission’s Investigations into the Office of the National Security Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed a can of worms beyond the $2.1 billion that one office alone misappropriated.

Nigerians are still wondering how other offices such as the Oil and Gas industry, the Nigerian Ports Authority, the Federal Island Revenue Service would have been operated during the  16 years reign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Many Nigerians and friends of Nigeria believe that the problem of the country is corruption and they are all dead right! If corruption is brought down by 60 percent, then Nigeria would be a better place.

Today, much of the nation’s fortunes are in the hands of very few people who are politically exposed or their cronies. People who have amassed stupendous  wealth  from our common patrimony for their personal enrichment. I am tempted to begin to find a leeway out of the current war on graft from the scriptures and of course, as it is often said,  the scriptures can never lie. According to John 1: 45-47, Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote— Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”…

It is important to understand why my going scriptural in this treatise.  This tendency  is nothing new; it went on in first century Israel as well. People would be judged based on whether they grew up in Judea, Samaria, or Galilee (cf. Acts 2:7), whether in more urbanized areas or more rural areas. And, then as now, the more remote and less urban the location, the more likely people were to look down on those who came from there.

So it is with Nazareth in Galilee. Galilee itself was seen as remote, away from the epicenter of Judaism in Jerusalem, not known for erudition or much civilization. Within Galilee itself, Nazareth barely registers, receiving no mention from Jewish sources before the third century of our era. This insignificance led some skeptics to doubt whether Nazareth existed at all in the first century CE, but archaeological evidence does indicate the place was inhabited. It is now believed that Nazareth was a village of no more than 500 in the days when Jesus grew up there. Nazareth is about 16 miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee; it is not near the Mediterranean Sea and would not be on a lot of travel routes. It is evident why Nazareth would easily be despised in the eyes of others: it is in the backwoods or out in the sticks, a small village. In the eyes of more educated and urban Jews, the Nazarenes would have been judged as ignorant at best and perhaps as simple-minded sinners at worst.

As a member of the All Progressives Congress, I have always kicked the ass of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because of their childish and alarmist form of opposition. But for the very first time, like it was in Galilee and Judea,  I see sense in the position canvassed by the PDP. Recently,  The leadership of the party reiterated its support for an honest, holistic and total war against corruption and  demanded the trial and prosecution of all those involved, including those who may have returned ‘loots’ to the government. The party called for the establishment of a National Truth Commission to receive loot from all those who emptied the nation’s treasury. It  also said they  are completely against any one-sided public trial and mob conviction of accused persons without following the age-long and worldwide legal process wherein all accused persons are presumed innocent until the contrary is lawfully proved and I completely agree with them. In my considered opinion, something good has, for once come out from the PDP.

I fully subscribe to the call for the setting up of a National Truth Commission as a more holistic way to tackle the mind-boggling corruption that has destroyed Nigeria and its image for a couple of reasons.

The National Truth Commission if constituted  would set a timeline and a deadline for all those who looted the nation’s treasury to return all what they looted, which from all estimations, run into hundreds of billions of dollars, amount enough to repair the country within the next ten years. All those who will respond within the timeline would be pardoned  and advised to go and sin no more.

At the expiration of the deadline, which will be about three months period, and may be a grace period of two weeks, all those who refuse to return their loot should then  be traced, tracked and made to face the full weight of the law irrespective of whatever office they occupy in the land, irrespective of their status,  and irrespective of their political or ethnic leaning. They should be made on final conviction, perhaps at the supreme court to forfeit all their loot and proceeds of their criminal actions and be given the maximum jail sentence to deter future political leaders from corruption.

A  a non-partisan approach must be adopted  to deal with corruption in the land. It is an imperative for President  Buhari to constitute the National truth commission to be made up of Nigerians of impeccable character to take on this important national task.

Depending solely on our cumbersome legal processes and criminal justice system will not be sufficient to tackle the problem of corruption in the land.

The suggestion of a national truth commission provides a veritable alternative to our long, and arduous criminal justice system.

Finally, the EFCC, ICCP and other anti-graft institutions need to be strengthened urgently to ensure more credible investigations and prosecution of suspects who would not want to take advantage of the truth commission to return their loot for national development.

Dan Owegie  is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Edo State.

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