Should we respect public treasury looters?

There are situations that present conflicting views and task our judgment as a people with a peculiar culture. Sometimes these happenings are not recent occurrences but could still be fresh on our memories like they happened yesterday. I am talking about looting the treasury of this nation and the way we should regard these affected individuals.

Looting of the treasury, abuse of office, misallocation of public resources, fraud and outright theft of state funds or installations are crimes that should only be punished as soon as possible. This doesn’t seem to be a possibility in the present day Nigeria. This is because the nation as presently constituted still has a lot of in built flaws that prevent this group of men and women from being tried in the courts like common criminals they are.

It will be funny to note that while the masses were crying and suffering in abject poverty, living on less than a dollar a day, these leaders were busy amassing frightening wealth and worse still are stashing them far away from where it would have provided companies and hence jobs for the teeming unemployed graduates. The public infrastructure was either too poorly maintained or totally nonexistent. Roads were so poorly constructed and maintained that you could be surprised if you learn that humans drive cars on these deathtraps. And to make it doubly tragic is the constant harassment from the government officials who drive in long convoys and insist that the poor masses in rickety buses should leave the roads to give them a pass as many times as they want to pass these roads.

This is very saddening when you remember that it is still these corrupt government officials that failed to build these roads. Yet they chase you out of the road; remember also that the hold ups will not be there in the first place if the roads were passable. Starting to count their litany of offences will be like writing another book entirely. Besides, this is out of our topic of discussion for now. What should occupy our attention is how we should treat these people after all these days.

Let me quickly remind us here that these men should still be considered innocent until the courts say otherwise. This is a fact; the law is very slow in catching up with these looters. The masses are watching helplessly as these men still go about in gleaming jeeps and still build mansions in all parts of the world. They still walk around as if nothing will happen to them anymore.

So, what has this got to do with respect for elders as we were trained to do since childhood? The African young person is taught from birth to always be obedient and respectful to adults. This same respect is what we grow up with and it accompanies us until old age. It will not be out of place to see us Africans smiling at strangers and greeting them with a cheerful countenance. In some cultures in Nigeria, you are expected to use two hands while greeting anybody that is your elder. Some cultures almost kneel down to greet adults. But the one that takes the Oscar is the culture in Nigeria where you lie down and prostrate on your belly to as a sign of respect to your elders.

Such deeply imbibed culture of respect is what I am trying to describe as making it difficult for us to speak out against identified crooks. Most of these past leaders are older citizens and as such culture demands that we still accord them respect, but in the face of what they are being accused of doing? In conclusion, we should learn to condemn the actions of these past leaders wherever and whenever possible, so as to serve as a deterrent to future leaders. Actions should also be taken to bring these people to book as their continued freedom is sending the wrong message to the younger generation.