(a) In 1970, Gen. Gowon had won the war. He was riding crest of a wave. He released a 9-point programme preceding his hand-over of power in 1976. Item 3 on that programme was "eradication" of corruption.
(b) In 1974, Gowon said 1976 was no longer feasible as handover date. Murtala Mohammed, who succeeded Gowon as Senior Prefect in Barewa College, overthrew him in 1975 (July) & went on a spree of purging everywhere including the courts. Taslim Elias CJN & another Sup Crt judge were fired. In his place, Murtala appointed Sir Darnley Alexander. A naturalised Nigerian, Sir Darnley loved a bit of a beverage & was a happy man! Nigerians were excited. We were an ecstatic country!
(c) Murtala was tragically killed in Feb 1976, Obasanjo took over & by 1979 the view was settled that Murtala's purge had worsened corruption not solved it.
(d) when Obasanjo handed over in 1979, Shehu Shagari launched "Ethical Revolution" to attack corruption. Corruption, it turned out, was worse not healed.
(e) by 1983, Buhari had overthrown Shagari because... You guessed it: Corruption got worse under Shagari.
(f) 19 months later, IBB overthrew Buhari accusing him of corrupting & abusing his powers. He initiated review of security agencies & enacted in 1986 the National Security Agencies Act, creating, among others, SSS. We are now fighting over its powers.
(g) By the time IBB stepped aside in 1993, Ike Okonto wrote memorably that he had "corrupted democracy & democratized corruption."
(h) Gen Abacha took over promising to hand over power but hung on & wanted to use corruption to make himself civilian President.
(i) By the time we returned to democracy in 1999, President Obasanjo told us it would "not be business as usual." 3 years later, he was using Justice Egbo-Egbo to sack governors at night. Another years later, he was plying the NASS with billions in cash to change the constitution & give him a third term.
I could go on. But what is my point? Without a sense of history, Nigerians are always suckered by the next strong man promising to fight corruption in even more "inventive" ways.
This is only meant as a peek into history. Good luck guys & have a delightful week everyone!
Prof. Chidi Odinkalu.
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