By Dr. Bisi Olawunmi
The Diaspora Nigerians should, for now, stop inviting political leaders and high office holders to their events as these indirectly pander to their vanity. It amounts to their celebrating their oppressors. Besides, they should also monitor the lifestyles of children of political office holders and top civil servants, many of whom lead extravagant lives while the masses of Nigerians abroad sweat at two or three jobs to make ends meet. Such children should be embarrassed as children of thieves. Graduation ceremonies in universities abroad of children of looters have become occasions to flaunt their vanity, with some parents leading large retinues of guests to such events.
Nigerians in the Diaspora should see the recent attack on Senator Ike Ekweremadu in Nuremberg, Germany by his fellow Igbo indigenes in that country in the positive light of a new dimension to the nation’s battle against corruption and bad governance.
Although instigated by a secessionist group, it must be understood by the Diaspora Nigerians that secessionist tendencies are often triggered by bad governance and mind-boggling corruption which have held the masses of the people down in servitude and forced many of them in the Diaspora to flee home and remain literally stranded in foreign lands.
Nigerians abroad, and particularly the various ethnic groups who know their people better, should take on their perceived corrupt fellow indigenes holding public offices, including top civil servants, some of whom are even more corrupt than politicians, when they visit to flaunt their ill-gotten wealth.
The Ekweremadu treatment should signal an awakening in the Diaspora Nigerians of their power to positively contribute to turning around the fortunes of their homeland, wrecked by brazen looters, rather than their perennial lamentations of being forced abroad because of the worsening economic and security situations in Nigeria.
While the anti-corruption agencies have exposed grand corruption of some among the thieving political elite, but sometimes hamstrung by a compromised judicial system, the Diaspora Nigerians can complement these efforts by targeting the luxury property of the looters in the countries of their residences, through pickets and publicity of such proceeds of corruption. In some Western countries, lien can be placed on such property, if it can be proved that they are proceeds of corruption.
The Diaspora Nigerians should, for now, stop inviting political leaders and high office holders to their events as these indirectly pander to their vanity. It amounts to their celebrating their oppressors. Besides, they should also monitor the lifestyles of children of political office holders and top civil servants, many of whom lead extravagant lives while the masses of Nigerians abroad sweat at two or three jobs to make ends meet. Such children should be embarrassed as children of thieves. Graduation ceremonies in universities abroad of children of looters have become occasions to flaunt their vanity, with some parents leading large retinues of guests to such events.
Such persons, especially if under investigation or indictment by any anti-graft agency in Nigeria, should get the “Ekweremadu treatment”, without the beating. Pickets and placard carrying civil protests will do as a shaming and embarrassment strategy. Nigerians living abroad should note the near universal condemnation of the “Ekweremadu treatment” by the self-serving Nigerian establishment elite and their surrogate groups at home. This exposes the reality of a clique of the corrupt that feels affronted when taken to task on their record of service. President Muhammadu Buhari and the anti corruption agencies have repeatedly stressed that the war against corruption and bad governance is a battle for all. The Diaspora Nigerians should accept this challenge and become a formidable force for Nigeria’s renaissance.
They are making immense sacrifices with the billions of dollars they send home annually, but need to make additional sacrifices in the battle for good governance in Nigeria. Nigerians at home are making their contributions in the struggle, but limited by existential constraints and a security agents that often act as anti-people. This is where the Diaspora Nigerians can come to the rescue. There is a saying in Yoruba that ‘Dada o le ja, sugbon o ni aburo to lagbara’ (Dada may be weak, but he has a strong younger brother who can fight the battle).
Nigerians living overseas should be the strong younger ones to come to the rescue of weakened Nigerian masses to say enough is enough in the brazen corruption and bad governance which have hobbled Nigeria.
Dr. Bisi Olawunmi is a former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria
