Good Boy of the Northerners

The EFCC promised to investigate a majority of the governors upon expiration of their tenure.  Though viewed as a blanket threat, some of the governors are concerned.  They know the effect of the brunt of the EFCC.  For instance, Retired Air Vice Marshall Nurudeen Yussuf was a very powerful man under IBB.  As the Air Force leader he was brutal and controlling.  He embezzled millions of dollars and channeled allocated funds for major developments to his personal accounts.  He was feared.  He had fleet of cars, jeeps, vans and series of new vehicles that were untouched.  He acquired several thousand acres of land in Agbado, Dalemo, Ayobo and others areas in Lagos State.  He built rental shops well over 700 of them.  He had 12 wives and many concubines.  Though two of his wives died he replaced them with more concubines.  The EFCC got on him.  First they interviewed IBB privately regarding massive embezzlements under his regime as it related to the Air Force.  IBB sent the EFCC to Yussuf who was in charge of most of the projects.  The EFCC quizzed Yussuf vigorously the first time around and released him.  After a short investigation, the EFCC returned to pick up Yussuf and the pressure and intensity and potential pending disgrace led him to poison himself.  As of the last investigative information I received during my trip to Lagos, his children were aggressively disposing off his items.  In other words, the governors understand how intense the EFCC could get.  Lucky knows he has very little support from the South-South or South East and he is perhaps positioning himself as a good boy of the northerners hoping they will protect him after his tenure. 

Parochial Leadership/Poor Paternalistic Management

Lucky replaces his support political team at will.  His commissioners are so scared of him that they barely could recommend any improvement or development without triple-verifying their decision with the governor or his powerful political clappers/cartel.  This may seem normal but Lucky’s reasons for the intense monitoring of his team are often driven by the greed for control of all state finances.  He does not empower, and most indigenes of the state resort to armed robbery and prostitution.  Over 50% of the prostitutes in Italy are from Edo State.  The primary drivers of human smuggling are young men and women from Edo State.  Does this make Lucky proud?  Is this what he calls leadership and accomplishment in his State?  Rather than focus on the dying needs of the State, he showcases his executive mansion in Abuja that has a full fledge game fields, Olympic size pool and all what not.  Are these his list of impressive achievements? Rather than fix the roads and snuff out the growing number of armed robbers, he travels around the world celebrating his ample opportunities for easy wealth.  He views the citizens of Edo State as fools for having allowed him to get away with this much hypocrisy and looting.  Some new college graduates in Edo State with very little convictions are now armed robbers out of non-volitional intents.  At least a group that was arrested based on newspaper reports proved this.  Lucky has turned willing, corruption-field bank managers of easy virtues to millionaires for helping him launder money illegally.  This group of individuals ought to be probed.  A few of these corrupt persons are now buying properties in the United States and are bold enough to call upon Nigerians that have aggressively campaigned against corruption to help them process their illegal purchases.  How insulting. 

My visit to Edo State was an eyesore.  I couldn’t believe what I saw.  The decay grows by the day.  The roads are filthy, and non-drivable. The once beautiful city is in ruins.  People are frustrated and lifeless in nature.  Fear is resonant in the eyes of many.  Everyone disappears from the street before dark for fear of armed robbers.  Most homes have gates that are ten feet high and reflective of prisons for protection from robbers.  Yet, in the circle of these hardships and complaints about neglects, the citizens are joyful and friendly.  I remember the Edo State of the late seventies and early eighties.  I remember the Edo State I visited numerous times over the past 20 years.  The worst I have seen of the State is now.  It is sad and painful that it is no longer a place for those seeking a future in life.  It has become a business location for seekers of option-less teenage children with dreams to live in sections of developed nations but end up on the streets of Holland, Italy, Germany and Spain with ruined lives and drained futures.  May the leadership or nor thereof provided by Lucky Igbinedion rest in his domain.