By Mogaji Wole Arisekola
I was in Ibadan a few days ago with my friends, and anywhere we had opportunities to sit down, we discussed the current situation in our country.
My friend turned brother, Kunle Rasheed, had informed me a day earlier of his presence in Ibadan. Specifically, he was at the house of his friend, Otunba Rotimi Ajanaku. I told him that I would definitely come and enjoy my evening with them. Our host prepared a delicious meal for us.
We ate, we dined together, and it was a night to remember.
Otunba Ajanaku is a versatile politician. His house is full of people; he makes himself available, and his door is always open to people.
I confirmed what our common friends had been saying about him.
I sipped a cup of palm wine, and behold, my brain reverberated like a car preparing to go to Anambra.
We started the night by asking ourselves honest questions.
We want an honest President, but we pay for dishonest results for our children.
We want judges who cannot be bought, but we telephone influential friends to help us bury cases.
We want competent leaders, but when a vacancy opens, our first question is: “Is he one of us?”
My dear Nigerians, how will the country change when the behaviour destroying it remains acceptable inside our own homes?
Government House did not fall from heaven. The people inside it came from our streets, schools, churches, mosques and family compounds.
Before someone became a minister collecting kickbacks, somebody knew him as a classmate, neighbour or brother.
Corruption does not begin when a man enters government. Sometimes, government simply gives it a bigger budget.
Yes, President Tinubu must answer for his administration. Governors, lawmakers and public officials must answer for their decisions. Citizens’ wrongdoing does not excuse leadership failure.
But holding leaders accountable cannot become an excuse to exempt ourselves.
We have a comforting vocabulary for wrongdoing.
A bribe becomes “appreciation.” Extortion becomes “something for the boys.” Favouritism becomes “helping our people.”
But changing the name does not remove the victim.
Consider what we call a “miracle centre.”
Your child is struggling academically. Instead of arranging extra lessons and identifying the problem, you find somebody who promises a guaranteed result.
You pay. Somebody supplies answers or arranges an impersonator. The result arrives, and the family celebrates.
“My child made distinctions!”
But what did your child actually learn?
That Daddy can buy what hard work has not earned. That Mummy approves of cheating when the reward is attractive. That honesty is something we preach to other people’s children.
You bought a certificate and sold a lesson: the process does not matter if you can afford the result.
Tomorrow, when that child offers money to escape responsibility, why are you surprised?
You introduced the method. You only disagree with the occasion.
An honest failure can be corrected through learning. A stolen distinction hides the weakness and rewards the deception.
When a qualified applicant loses a job because someone bought the position, a family loses an opportunity.
When an official demands money before moving a pensioner’s file, an elderly person pays for that delay.
When a contractor cuts corners, the danger does not remain inside his bank account. It follows people onto roads, into buildings and through hospital doors.
The money enters one person’s pocket. The consequences enter another person’s home.
Hummm, our discussion was getting deeper, and we were all collecting our “breakfast” of “no one is perfect.”
We don’t see anything bad in any government that is favouring us.
It is a country where too many people have learned to excuse wrongdoing until they become its victims.
Watch how quickly our outrage changes when the accused person belongs to our tribe, religion or political party.
Kunle Rasheed talked about the article he wrote about Obi and how Obidients came after him.
I told him that there are two things you must learn about the Igbo if you want to be their friend.
First, you must allow them to lead and dominate you. Second, you must agree to whatever they want.
If you can agree to the two, you will never fight with your Igbo friends.
The Yoruba and Hausa are the fairest and most accommodating tribes in Nigeria.
The last general election will show you what I’m trying to tell you.
No candidate won 98% in their region except Peter Obi in the East.
Even Atiku, who married their daughters, scored less than three per cent.
The same Peter Obi won in Lagos and some other states outside the eastern region.
I told them that Obidients stopped criticising the Lagos election just because Peter Obi was declared the winner, but any other state they lost was rigged, according to their warped minds.
But in one of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s books, he wrote, and I quote: “Chief Awolowo was not a perfect politician, like any other politician, but his people, the Yoruba, criticised him to the point of near perfection.”
A sensible politician knows that life without criticism is not worth living.
And President Tinubu is of that opinion as well.
He is the President today; he must allow people to criticise him.
We were all shouting yesterday: “Arrest all looters!”
But today, we have changed our tune: “Why are they targeting our son?”
What happened to the principle?
A stolen hospital budget will not treat your mother because the thief speaks your language. A neglected road will not spare your vehicle because you voted for the government responsible.
Your tribesman’s stolen wealth is not your inheritance. His failure in office can still become your suffering.
We must stop confusing access to powerful people with access to good governance.
Not every Nigerian is corrupt. Honest people struggle daily to earn a living without surrendering their principles. They deserve institutions that protect them and leaders who reward integrity.
But they also deserve neighbours who stop laughing at them for being honest.
Reject the fraudulent examination result. Refuse to sell your vote. Stop demanding payment to do the job you already receive a salary to perform.
Ask questions in your residents’ association, your school’s PTA and your professional body. Demand accounts from the people managing collective money.
And stop teaching children that the only shame is getting caught.
Criticise Tinubu. Demand results. Hold every government accountable.
Then bring that same standard home.
The Nigeria you condemn in public must not be the Nigeria you finance in private.
Mogaji Wole Arisekola writes from Ibadan.
