CORRUPTION IS MUCH MORE THAN STEALING

When the furore about the president’s comment on stealing and corruption hit the upper decibels in the media, I was rather mildly amused by all the fuss. I marvelled at how some commentators twisted and imputed screwy meaning to an otherwise simple statement made in plain English.

If you browsed through the pages of most Nigerian dailies and that of popular social media platforms, you would agree that the President, not for the first time, was unfairly dragged to, and nailed to the cross, at the Golgotha of adverse public opinion. I read one such damning commentary by a certain civil rights lawyer on the pages of The Punch’s website. The lawyer asserted that President Jonathan’s “differentiation of the acts [of stealing and corruption] was clear evidence that the President’s government was corrupt.” He further opined: “Defence of stealing as different from corruption is indicative of the fact that President Jonathan is morally bankrupt. What the president has said is an admission of guilt and that his government is corrupt. It is a distinction without substance. It is calling one object two different names.”  

Of course, if you haven’t watched the broadcast of the Presidential Media Chat in which the President purportedly made the public “defence of stealing,” but read only the above commentary, your outrage would be excused. But what exactly did the President say?

On the Presidential Media Chat broadcast live on 5 May 2014, President Jonathan said, “Over 70% of what is called corruption [cases] even by the EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies, is not corruption, but common stealing.” He further clarified this position in the most recent episode of the Media Chat. He said he only quoted a statement made by a former Chief Justice of the Federation (Justice Dahiru Musdapher) during a meeting he held with stakeholders on how to fight corruption. Apparently, this view is not the exclusive preserve of the honourable Chief Justice. Ekpo Nta, the Chairman of the ICPC, have the same views. He was quoted by The Punch as saying, “Stealing is erroneously reported as corruption. We must go back to what we are taught at school to show that there are educated people in Nigeria. We must address issues as we were taught in school to do.”  

I am going to be fair to the President and take his statement at face value. Having said that, the ensuing debate on whether stealing is the same, or not the same, as corruption begs the questions: what is corruption? What is stealing? Are they one and the same?

Corruption is difficult to define. There is no one single universal definition that captures its multifaceted manifestations. In a broad sense, it entails the breaking away from, or departure from, morality, ethics and civic virtues. But let us look at two definitions from two key authorities: The World Bank and the provisions of Nigeria’s anti-corruption law.

The World Bank defines Corruption as: The abuse of public office for private gains. Public office is abused for private gain when an official accepts, solicits or extorts a bribe. It is also abused when private agents actively offer bribes to circumvent public policies and processes for competitive advantage and profit. Public office can also be abused for personal benefit even if no bribery occurs through patronage and nepotism, the theft of state assets or the diversion of state revenue.

The Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 simply define corruption as, “bribe, fraud and other related offences.” It makes the following offences punishable under the Act:

1. Acceptance of gratification by a [public] official either directly or through an agentCorrupt offers to Public Officers
2. Corrupt demand by persons
3. Fraudulent acquisition of property
4. Fraudulent receipt of property; where the fraudulent receipt is related to postal matter, chattel, money or valuable security
5. Deliberate frustration of investigation by the commission (ICPC)
6. Making false statements or returns
7. Gratification by and through agents
8. Offer and acceptance of gratification to and by a public officer as an inducement or reward
9. Offence of using office or position to gratify or confer unfair advantage on oneself, relation or associate
10. Bribery in relation to auction transactions
11. Inflating the price of goods or services above the prevailing market price or professional standards
12. Award of contract without budgetary provision, approval and cash backing
13. The transfer of services on another project
14. Failure to report bribery transactions
15. Dealing with, using, holding, receiving or concealing gratification
16. Making of statements, which are false or intended to mislead
17. Making false petitions

Section 382 of the Criminal Code gives a clear definition of what a thief is in the eyes of the law. It states that a thief is, “a person who fraudulently takes…or fraudulently converts to his own use or to the use of any other person anything capable of being stolen”

What can we infer from the foregoing definitions? Is stealing the same as corruption?

I once chanced upon a discussion between a friend and a mutual acquaintance. The acquaintance was lamenting about how a couple of security guards working for his engineering firm had, over a period of eight months, connived with the company’s storekeeper to steal and sell the firm’s armoured cables worth more than N2.6Million. As I listened to his lamentations, I recalled another discussion I had with another friend a year earlier. Some staff of his ministry had complained to him about how their Project Manager had ‘cornered’ all the means of profiting from a World Bank assisted rural development project. They alleged that he had, overnight, transformed from a lanky Assistant Director into a bloated multimillionaire with properties in choice locations in the state capital and a palatial country home in his village. It is said that he, in connivance with the top echelon of the ministry, demands a hefty commission on every contract awarded to construction companies et al by the protect management team.

Which between these two scenarios qualifies as a case of corruption? Should the management of my friend’s engineering firm drag its security guards and storekeeper to the ICPC or the EFCC? If a neighbourhood rascal steals a loaf of bread from a corner shop or a cashier at a large super market pockets some of the cash from the day’s sales, are they in the same league with the Project Manager above or the top government officials who misappropriated funds from the Police Pension Fund?  

If you ask me, I will say no. Corruption is much more than stealing. It encompasses offences committed by public servants or other persons against the state. Clearly, not all cases of stealing would qualify as corruption according to the ICPC Act. By the same token, stealing government assets and diversion of state revenue are corrupt practices. In that sense, Mr President, Justice Musdapher and Ekpo Nta are right to say, “…[most of] what is called corruption…is not corruption, but common stealing.” 

THE CROSS, THE CRESCENT, THE PEACE

Our recent past has been marred by outbreaks of violent ethno-religious conflicts. Such sectarian crisis has cost the lives of thousands of young people in northern and central Nigeria. They’ve been dispatched to their early graves with unrealized potentials.  Wherever religious bigotry bares its bloodthirsty fangs, communities are set on orgies of blood and barbarism rivalled only by the savagery of demonized jackals tearing at carrion. The people of Bauchi, Jos, Kaduna, Kafanchan, Kano, Maiduguri, Tafawa Balewa, Zankwo, Zaria etc—victims and aggressors alike—still bear mental and emotional scars. They live in societies divided and traumatized; economies crippled, and development stalled. 

But Nigeria wasn’t always like this.

   

As a child, in the eighties, I grew up in Kaduna in a neighbourhood where Muslims and Christians lived as one happy extended family. We were such good neighbours; you’d hardly notice any religious differences. Christmas and Sallah were eloquent testimonies of the bliss of good neighbourliness. We shared food with neighbours and joined in the celebration. As a child, I always looked forward to Sallah as much I did Christmas. My best friends in both primary and secondary school were Muslims. Today, my circle of close friends has only a solitary Muslim.

   

Nigeria is a heterogeneous society. We are comprised of people of different faiths, ethnicity, and creed.  Without doubt, Christianity and Islam are the largest faiths in Nigeria. We are reputed to be the most religious people in the world. We are zealous for our faith. Everyone holds tenaciously to his claim of the truth and would not shift an inch. Yet, we’re one of the least transparent, one of the most corrupt, disorderly and intolerant nations in the world.

    

Forced by providence to live in the same nation, our entrenched religious dogmatism and extremism has smeared our recent past with blood and tears. Even in death, we’re divided along religious lines: we bury our dead in segregated cemeteries. More than ever before, our society is divided along ethnic and religious lines. Just take a look at the map of the voting pattern in the last presidential elections.

How did we, as a nation, get to this stage? Why have we turned our diversity into a curse rather than a blessing?

    

Both Islam and Christianity are missionary faiths with a relentless drive to proselytize. The zeal to convert has often placed them on a collision course in many parts of the world, including Nigeria. Very often, conservative and extreme elements want to force their version of the truth and their way of life on other people (especially if they are in the majority), or take exception to the world view of people of other faiths.

    

In Nigeria, the roots of religious intolerance cannot be too far from the collapse of the political economy of the violence-prone areas of the country in the mid-eighties and the contentious structure of the government.  Running a centralist form of government, in spite of professing to be a Federation, provides the fuel for intolerance. In a mono economy where the federating states depend largely on monthly federal revenue allocations to run their bloated bureaucracy, and finance scant capital projects, there’s bound to be a scramble for scarce resources. Contending interest groups are bound to jostle for power and privilege, shamelessly whip up religious sentiments to position themselves to gain a strong hand to negotiate access to and control of resources.

   

The losers in this jostle are often ethnic and religious minorities. That may be why the cry of marginalization so loudly precedes outbreaks of violent religious conflicts. 

    

Ironically, both Christianity and Islam teach tolerance and love for neighbours. Christianity personifies love: God is love; Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Islam means peace. It preaches justice for all. But many have chosen some passages in their scriptures to ignite divisive ethnicity and religious intolerance. Some Christians quote, “thou shall not be unevenly yoked with unbelievers,” to rationalize their bigoted positions. Some Islamists quote scripture to the effect that they are implored not to befriend unbelievers, but wage war (jihad) against them. These, and other, verses taken out of context, drummed into the ears of depraved adherents, courses hate and exacerbate religious intolerance. 

    

If we must live together as a nation, we must not only tolerate each other, we must accommodate one another. We must understand our differences and accept them. We must understand our faith, that of others and accept that we all have the right to freedom of religion, opinion and association as enshrined in the constitution and taught by our religions.  

    

As young people, our focus should be on our common aspirations: to live happy, prosperous lives; to live in peace and security and have opportunities to reach our full potentials.  Instead of focusing on our religious differences, we should focus on our common humanity and our common problems: poverty; low quality education, lack of access to quality healthcare, mass unemployment, environmental degradation, corruption etc. Indeed, there are fewer cases of religious bigotry in the upper rungs of society: they share a common interest: the accumulation and control of capital.

    

As young people, Nigeria belongs to us. It has great potentials for true greatness. A great nation is ours to profit. To gain that profit, we must depart from the way of thinking of the past. We must innovate to create wealth through entrepreneurship, diligence in our jobs, and aspire for excellence in whatever we do. The aggregate increase in the wealth of the nation, as a consequence of this, will improve the economy. This may not completely eliminate religious intolerance, but the premise is: get the economy (with equitable growth) up; get bigotry down.

    

When we answer the question of religious intolerance, a Nigeria that is the largest economy in Africa and one of the top 20 economies in the world, awaits us in the future. This future is attainable. It is here.

Ode To The Naivety Of Youth- A Poem

Maturity transforms a colourful vista into a stark black and white.

Away goes innocence, tolerance to bullshit, and then cynicism sets in:

All else are guilty until proven otherwise. Ahh! The wow days of innocence!

The ignorance, cockiness, failure, pain of love lost, stab of friends who betray;

Forever replaced by squeaky circumspect, ruthless pragmatism, dour realism.

Innocence is as a bumbling river, tumbling down the mountains of youth,

Maturity: the brackish waters of a delta trudging towards the sea.

Innocence causes young males to be quick to make war, blind to the guile of the grave,

Maturity clad men’s hearts, feet, in lead slowing them from making love and peace.

David Maisamari, May 2014

Pastor Adeboye’s Son & Wife Discuss The Decision To Wait To Have Sex After Marriage

RCCG General Overseer, Pastor Adeboye's son, Leke Adeboye and his wife Titilope in a recent interview talk about their marriage, and why they chose to wait after their wedding night to have sex amongst other things. Here is an excerpt of the interview culled from http://news.naij.com/ 

READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/64183.html

The decision to wait to have sex after marriage

Titi: We thought to ourselves, "What’s the rush for anyway?" We used to remind each other that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. Also, we were determined as well. We had gone on many dates but in places where other people were, in order to minimize temptations.

Where you tempted?

Titi: Yes of course! This man that I really loved, with his sweet charming self, eyes that are just beautiful. Sometimes I just thank GOD we were not alone hehehe (that’s all I’m saying!) hahaha.

Honestly, practical measures – Don’t be alone for too long, speak on the phone, text, go on dates in public places, watch that movie in the cinema instead of his or your bedroom (you know what I mean.. lol). Don’t tempt the devil to tempt you.

Amen to that! So, what would you say to young people who say waiting before marriage is 'old-school' or achievable in this day and age?

Well I would say that it’s a wrong perspective. We sometimes let emotions run wild. Ok, let me paint a picture – If a cute mad person, male or female, as in really crazy fellow with knives and all says – "Darling I love you, I want to have sex with you", will you run or stay? I bet you will be disgusted, embarrassed and run too. That’s how we should feel about sin. We need to be different as children of God, shine the light, in obedience to God.. What made Joseph in the bible stand out was because he was different - he refused to defile himself with his Master's wife (You can read about this in Gen 39:1-23). It's not just even in the area of sexual sin alone, but also in everything else. Having that spirit of excellence like Daniel and the 3 Hebrew boys. For me, I'm thinking "If I do this, will Jesus commend my actions, thoughts or words?" (Philippians 4:8). Please, don't be pressured into doing what is wrong. 

Sometimes, it’s not an easy price to pay. But I can tell you that the benefits are immeasurable.

And for anyone waiting for that perfect partner, Jesus is never too late... Please don't sell yourself short - It is better to enjoy a lifetime of bliss than just one wedding day and the rest is hell!

Being married has its ups and downs but God has been there for us through it all.... I can testify!

Click Here To Read The Rest Of The Interview

Pastor Commits Suicide After Allegedly Killing Brother and Running Over Nephew in Car By Morgan Lee

Vishnu Lutchmansingh

A Trinidadian pastor has committed suicide after allegedly shooting and killing his brother and running over his nephew twice.

Vishnu Lutchmansingh, 54, a wealthy Pentecostal pastor, was in court on Monday on charges of fraud before he and his brother Krishan, began arguing. In the midst of the fight, Lutchmansingh reported pulled out a pistol and shot his brother dead.

After fleeing the scene, Lutchmansingh ran his car through a barricade blocking the entrance to his property, where he shot his nephew's vehicle several times before running over his nephew, Timothy Janitan, with his car. According to the Trinidad Express, "Lutchmansingh then put the car into reverse gear and drove over his nephew again."

After attacking Janitan, Lutchmansingh reportedly set his house on fire and shot himself dead. Janitan survived his uncle's aggression and was taken to the hospital.

 The Nissan Wingroad that was found in a drain near to where police discovered the charred human remains believed to be that of Vishnu Lutchmansingh in a burnt house at Savary Rd, Chin Chin, Las Lomas, after he murdered his brother Kishan Lutchmansingh.

CHARRED REMAINS: Undertakers from Clark and Battoo Funeral Home, remove the remains, believed to be that of Vishnu Lutchmansingh from the ashes of his Savary Road, Chin Chin, Las Lomas. home after he had murdered his brother Kishan Lutchmansingh, yesterday.

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Cleric Arrested Over False Prophesy

Lagos State based prophet, Alphonsus Ezie, has been remanded in prison over the alleged defrauding of his church members by means of the false prophecy.

The 56-year-old cleric of the Celestial Church of Christ, Igando District, told the congregation that he saw many of them traveling abroad. Thus, he urged people to get international passports and visas not to miss the great journey.

Several months later the victims lamented that the prophet lied so that they obtained travel documents from the prophet's friend, Kayode Samuel, which they did.

When the prophecy didn't come true, they reported the case to the police and Ezie was arrested. The arraigned prophet confirmed the incident, putting blame on his friend Samuel. However, both men pleaded not guilty to the crime.

Be careful people, “For…false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:24 NIV).

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Protesting Youth Burn Two Churches In Katsina

Burnt St Theresa church Funtua

According to Premium Times two churches were burnt on Monday afternoon at Tudun Wada, Funtua Local Government Area on Katsina State by rampaging youths, witnesses have said.

The unrest started when some students at one Ideal School, a private secondary school in the community, reported to the youths outside the school that a teacher was teaching an SS2 class lessons that were ‘blasphemous’ in Islam.

According to a witness, who simply identified himself as “Alhaji Surajo,” the angry youth took to the streets of Funtua, vandalising property and ended up attacking two churches.

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Fashola Thinks Jonathan Spends More Time In Church Than He Does Trying To Solve Nigeria's Problems

Democratic competition in Nigeria has become very robust with the merger of the largest opposition parties to form the APC. Perhaps for the first time since the advent of the Fourth Republic, we have a vibrant opposition that doesn't shy away from engaging the government on cogent national issues.

However, perhaps intoxicated by the euphoria of the approaching electioneering activities leading to the next general elections, some politicians on both sides of the political divide have made rather ‘unstatemanly’ religious slurs against their political rivals.

Not too long ago, Chief Olisa Metuh, PDP’s National Secretary, accused the APC of sponsoring the Boko Haram, labeling it as an Islamist party whose political ideology is akin to that of the Janjaweed.

Recently, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, was reported to have accused President Jonathan of spending more time inside the church than in leading the country. 

Governor Fashola made this remark while speaking at the sixth Bola Tinubu Colloquium in Lagos, tagged ‘The Summit of the Common Man’. He was also quoted as saying, “You must pay critical attention to the people [who voted for you]. I know that we have employed somebody for the top job in this country but when we asked him about his qualifications and experience, he said he had no shoes. You must decide whether you want someone who spends most of his time in church or mosque, or the man who is ready to spend his time on the job.” 

As we approach the next general elections in 2015, politicians must endeavour to discard the religious card when they spar with each other. Dividing the country along religious lines will not bode well for anyone.

Fulani Militia: Why They Strike (Revised Version)

It has been a bloody three months for Nigeria. While the Boko Haram insurgency continues to claim lives in the North East, a greater menace ravages the countryside in Central Nigeria. Hundreds of villagers have perished in the hands of suspected Fulani militiamen in Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa and Kaduna States.

Armed marauders, armed to the teeth, storm villages in the dead of the night, slaughter everything that breathes, cart away valuables, livestock, and then set the villages ablaze. These gruesome attacks have been repeated in many communities on the Plateau, Nasarawa, in southern Kaduna and lately in Benue State.

Each time this macabre tale is told, blame for the wanton destruction of live and property is placed on the Fulani. Most times, the Fulani domicile in and around the affected communities deny involvement in the atrocities, often heaping the blame on the now fabled “unknown gunmen”.

The situation is so bemuddling. It raises serious questions that need urgent answers. Who are these armed marauders? Where are they from? Why do they attack defenceless villages in Central Nigeria? Are they an organized armed militia comprising of disgruntled Fulani herdsmen as widely speculated?

In a bid to make sense of the terrible situation, some theories have been spun, even though one or two seem to veer towards the realm of conspiracy theories.

One such theory is that which postulates that the Fulani uprising in the Middle Belt of Nigeria is a latter-day jihad aimed at exterminating the Christian peoples of the area, conquer their land and turn it into pastureland for cattle grazing. This theory however falls flat when you consider the fact that there have been reported cases of Fulani militias pillaging villages in Zamfara State and Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State (both Muslim dominated areas) that predate the recent attacks in Benue State and Southern Kaduna. Just a few weeks ago, parts of Kastina State (a Muslim dominated state) was also attacked by suspected Fulani militiamen.

Another theory has it that the current spade of Fulani attacks has its origins in the conflicts that regularly breaks out between herdsmen and farmers in the north for which Fulanis regularly lost both lives and cattle. Some contend that the violent attacks on farming communities are merely reprisal attacks or even acts of self defence.  

The grazing reserve encroachment theory states that the conflict raging between Fulani herdsmen and farming communities in the north is as a result of the absence of grazing reserves for herdsmen to rear their cattle. The theory states that whatever grazing reserve there was has been taken over by farmers all over the country, leaving herdsmen without pastureland for grazing. It is the pressure to find pasture for their cattle that often pitches herdsmen against farmers along the Sudan Savannah region of Nigeria.  

Then there is the Boko Haram intervention theory. Its proponents contend that the gunmen engaged in the mindless killing of villagers in Central Nigeria are not Fulanis herdsmen but Boko Haram mujahedeen. They argue that one of the stated objectives of the Boko Haram insurgents is to protect and avenge Muslims anywhere in Nigeria; as such they have been intervening on behalf of the Fulani whenever the latter come off the worse for it after bloody land disputes with non Muslim farming villages. But then, this theory does not account for the attacks on Muslim communities in Kastina, Birnin Gwari and Zamfara.

Perhaps the most plausible explanation for the Fulani uprising is the climate change theory. It postulates that due to climate change and the attendant desertification and loss of pastureland in the Sahel, herdsmen (from Niger, Mali, Senegal, Chad, and Burkina Faso) who have lost cattle to drought and have gotten access to the small arms awash in the region (due to the Libyan crisis and Tuareg insurgency in Mali and other Sahelian states) migrated southwards to the lush grasslands of North and Central Nigeria.

This band of mostly cattle-less herdsmen are thought to have aggregated into a formidable militia, gun-for-hire mercenaries, that are often called upon by their indigenous Fulani kinsmen to fight on their side whenever they have a dispute with sedentary farmers. This militia are also said to collaborate with some rouge elements within the indigenous Fulani communities to rustle cattle from villagers.

To lend credence to this theory, some have cited the account of villagers in Southern Kaduna who reported that they saw busloads of Fulani militiamen arriving at a Fulani homestead on the eve of the bloody attacks on villages in the area.   

A lot of the members of this militia are also believed to have organized themselves into gangs specializing in cattle rustling and armed banditry in the North West of the country especially in areas around Birnin Gwari (Kaduna State) and communities in Zamfara State.

But, why Nigeria? Why didn’t the Sahel Fulanis migrate to greener pastures in other countries in the West African sub region? It could be due to two reasons: First, Nigeria has a larger population of Fulanis making it easier for their Northern kinsmen to blend into their communities without much suspicion. Second, our borders are more porous and our security more lax than that of other countries in the region. 

Whatever the true cause of the crisis in Central Nigeria, the carnage currently going on in that region must stop. The government has a constitutional duty to protect the lives and property of all Nigerians. It therefore must make stopping the massacres in the north a priority. We must also identify the true causes of this crisis and provide lasting solutions to restore peace and security in Nigeria’s food basket.  

Pastor Docked Over Alleged N1.5m Fraud

The police on Tuesday in Lagos charged a 59-year-old pastor, Simeon Israel, accused of obtaining N1.5 million under the pretext of spiritually helping a woman to solve her marital problems.

Israel, a resident of Igando area of Lagos, appeared at an Ikeja Magistrates’Court on a three-count charge of conspiracy, fraud and stealing.

The prosecutor, ASP Eranus Nnamonu, said that the accused, and others still at large, conspired and committed the offences at 10.15 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2013 along Igando Road, Lagos.

According to him, Israel presented himself as a pastor being led spiritually to solve marital problems. He said that the accused fraudulently obtained N1.5 million from Alhaja Titilayo Aliyu, under the guise of solving her marital issues. Nnamonu noted that the offences contravened Sections 285, 312 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, Section 312 prescribes 15 years imprisonment for offenders on conviction.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to all the counts of the charge. The Magistrate, Mrs Abimbola Komolafe, granted the accused bail in the sum of N500, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

“One of the sureties must be a blood relation of the accused,” she said. Komolafe adjourned the case till May 15 for trial.