Wednesday 24 September 2014

The Private Jet Conversation: Nigeria in Ruins


As they sat in the private jet, he called out to the Israeli at the back to be certain that he hasn't dozed off again. “Josef, are you okay?” ‘Yes I am’, Josef responded with some kind of sigh in his voice. He had a gut feeling that something is wrong somewhere. He had been brought into the deal just to make the South African government think it is legitimate but he could sense mischief in the air.


“As a matter of fact, I am not okay”, Josef voiced out after two minutes of loud silence. “Are you sure all ends have been tidied?” His Nigerian counterpart replied with abandoned care free attitude, “Yes it has. Oga Jona has enough friends in the South African Government, they have been asked to look the other way” was the response. “As a matter of fact, Mr. Josef, we have taken $10.5 million to Sudan to buy arms, $5 million to Kenya and $3 million to Uganda just to purchase arms too. This monies are easily siphoned through private jets because we can’t trust our military enough to carry out arms deal on behalf of the nation”.

“What if we are caught? What if the SA government official on our side absconds and sells us out? What if the press gets hold of the information that we have $9.3 million on board of a Pastor’s private jet? What if the President denies that we were sent to purchase arms on their behalf?” Mr. Josef needed more assurance than what his interlocutor was giving.

“Mr. Josef you worry too much. Just relax, sip your Champagne and don’t worry, we have always done this for the government of Nigeria. There’s no need to fret”

Summary:

This is a fictional story of what could have transpired between the players on that private jet and I am maniacally bewildered (thanks to my good grammar friend, Mr. Patrick Obahiagbon) that a country like Nigeria, my own dear country, can bring itself to such disrepute among the comity of African nations and the world at large. It is no longer news that a private jet run by Eagles Airline, a company owned and managed by one of Nigerian Pastors apologetic to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan.

In saner climes, heads would have rolled. The full information would have been disseminated and social analyst made to dissect what they can of it. But that is not the case here in the jungle called Nigeria. The duplicated post of publicity in the Federal Government don’t even know how to spin this and the likes of Doyin Okupe, Reuben Abati, Reno Omokri are still scratching their heads looking for what to say to pacify these smelly debacle in front of us all.

It is a shame of monumental proportion that a country like Nigeria, with her huge Army and Armed Forces trading in arms deal similar to that of Kone’s renegade militants and as such inimical to the country’s image.

I am even appalled by the loud silence of the presidency. The way and manner they are keeping mute as if that will wish away the mess they have created. The South African Government deserves an answer. Nigerian people deserve to know why their government relieved the Army of their primary responsibilities and dropped it in the hands of a ‘bloody’ civilian(s). The world wants to know if the Nigerian government and people can be seen as seriously fighting terrorism or simply aiding it with shady deals and unexplained transactions.

Is this $9.3 million part of the $20 billion dollars Sanusi Lamido said was missing from the CBN? Who is the CBN staff sending cash to the dreaded sect Boko Haram? Why did Jonathan visit Synagogue in less than 7 days after the collapsed building and have not visited Chibok for more 150 days that our daughters and sisters been abducted?

All these trappings show how weak, inefficacious and/or his persistent belied attributes that have defined our President’s tenure. Hidden agendas, unspoken lies, odoriferous dealings and bespoke corruption have risen in gargantuan propensity in Jonathanian dispensation and one can’t see any genuine change coming anytime soon.  The onus is on the citizens therefore to decide if this is the man that will ‘rule’ them for the next 4 years or not. The PDP caucus has rubber stamped him as their sole candidate for the 2015 elections; it is left for us to decide his fate in the coming elections.


I am sick of Nigerian politics; but I can’t be sick for the sake of the Nigerian soul. This lies must stop. 

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