My grandma was from the Balogun compound in Offa, Kwara state. Balogun is the head of warriors and has the primary responsibility of defending his community against external aggression. I discovered the urge to war-war when I was barely nine years old… far, far away from Offa in Kumasi, Ghana, where I was born. But even then, if I were at home, no one would have recruited a minor into Balogun’s army. As the gene began to stir up in me, I found expression in going to fight in the bush… against bushmeat. In fact, that the genesis of my hunting escapades.
Many years ago, after obtaining my diploma in journalism and armed with three years of cognate experience, I sought to join the Nigerian Navy. I was invited for an interview at the Naval Base, Apapa, Lagos, following my response to an advertisement. My invitation letter was signed by Augustus Aikhomu who later became the chief of naval staff.
There were about a dozen of us called for the interview to serve in the Navy public relations corps. Two of my colleagues I still remember in the team were Temple Benson and Femi Pearce.
Still an active footballer, I arrived at the Base looking fit and well-equipped for the physical aspect of the exercise which entailed waking up as early as 5 am. The physical fitness assessment took the first five days of the weeklong programme.
Most of my colleagues were beer and cigarette buffs. While they huffed and puffed running round the field, the fitness assessor marveled at how I was always ready to do the extra laps. He got so interested in me and was already looking forward to having me in the naval fold. But I disappointed him in the end. The idea of waking up as early as 5 am did not go down well with me. I loved my sleep. So, by the time we were due to face the panel of interviewers for the face-me-I-face-you session, yours truly had lost interest in the exercise. I was only patient enough to collect my transport allowance and glad to kiss the Base goodbye! That was how sleep crushed my naval ambition.
The thought that I could sleepwalk on the deck of a ship, land in the ocean and end up in the belly of a shark was scary enough to justify my rethink about hugging the naval life.
Earlier, I made an effort to join the public relations corps of the Nigeria Police Force. I cannot remember what also crushed that dream. Could the bad image some police personnel have carved for the system over the years have been responsible for my reluctance to become one of them?
The Balogun blood in me always gets me interested in anything that has to do with war. Small wonder I rose to become a head hunter in my childhood days. However, one thing I missed was that I was too young to bear arms when fighting bushmeat war… not even a shakabula (not to be confused with a South African bird).
My consolation is that as a journalist, I have been fighting wars with my pen, words as the bullets and my brain as the armoury. I like the war currently being waged by the Buhari administration against corruption. When Buhari gave an indication during his 2011 presidential campaign that he would not probe anyone if elected, I got so mad that if both of us had met at that time, the anger in my eyes would have burnt his kaftan! In 2010 or thereabouts, I did a two-part piece entitled “A lost anti-corruption war is a lost future” in my column in the LEADERSHIP.
I had warned that if Nigeria did not brace up and kill corruption, the monster would wipe off the country. I am glad that he changed his mind by 2015.
I was convinced that the only gladiator that could battle the monster is Buhari. He started the war very slowly. The anti-corruption czar started with some politicians. Then the ex-service chiefs that cornered the funds meant to fight the Boko Haram militants, thus prolonging the terror… the longer the war, the merrier for them! He rattled them and caused them to shed the loots. And as if the war was losing steam, he descended on the nation’s sacred cows… the judges.
I have always smelt a rat in the temple of justice where judges and lawyers conduct bazaars and dispense justice to the highest bidders but I did not know the magnitude was that frightening until the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) carried out series of nationwide sting raids on the abodes of some of the judges in the unholy hours of the night a few weeks ago.
With the Tsunami entering the judiciary, there seems to be no sacred cows anymore. Hitherto, judges saw themselves as being above the law because they have the law under their wigs.
Some senior judges have been indicted, suspended and even forced to retire from the bench, carting away all their entitlements. But the latest war on the temple is something else. Corruption is the reason why cases against high profile folks like ex-governors are stalled. It is the reason why special courts to try corruption cases have also been unpopular among successive CJNs.
Now that the battle has reached the judiciary, I expect Buhari to look closer around him… those in his government. Many watchers are smelling a rat in his open and kitchen cabinets. Lots of rots are usually found inside the cabinets. By the time he is done with the in-house cleansing, I am afraid he may not find many of them suitable to run the government with him. But the war must be fought to its logical conclusion. Once you annihilate corruption, the invidious crime that impoverishes the masses, development will fall into place and the good old days will sneeze back to life.
