The shame is not the fact that the president lied, the shame is the fact that the president chose to believe his own lies.
Nigeria's president Jonathan abused the truth two days ago when he claimed Transparency International had commended his administration for fighting corruption. In his usual delusional state, the president claimed his administration was the best thing to happen to the fight against corruption in Nigeria when in fact, corruption has been transformed from an illegal endemic to a menace that goes with a presidential seal.
The president said "In its latest report, Transparency International (TI) noted that Nigeria is the second most improved country in the effort to curb corruption" but this has been proven to be a blatant lie by Transparency International itself who said "Transparency International does not have a recent rating or report that places Nigeria as the second most improved country in the fight against corruption," the global agency said in an email to Nigerian news site Premium Times who had sought clarification from the group after the president's bold claims. The shame is not the fact that the president lied, the shame is the fact that the president chose to believe his own lies.
It amounts to a pig accepting a prize as "the cleanest animal" in the Animal kingdom. I am sure even the pig would have to ask the presenter of the award if the word "cleanest" had been altered to mean dirtiest. What with the pig still the dirtiest animal around. Mr. President was quick to ascribe success to his fight against corruption because of some efforts with fertilizer. Seriously this is hilarious and indeed makes the president look like an expensively dressed jester. The President has refused to declare his assets and when he finally saw a need to do something close to that, he declared same but did so secretly. The paradox should not be lost on you. The president was so desperate to keep the information concerning his assets secret he invented a new reality; the ability to make a secret declaration. Talk about transformation in absurd terms, not absurd for a presidency more regarded for its consistency with absurdity. According to Premium Times and indeed as widely reported "In August 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan secretly ordered the payment of $155 million to Malabu oil, a firm owned by an ex-convict and former petroleum minister, Dan Etete. Not only was the payment done without the knowledge of the Finance Minister, as revealed by PREMIUM TIMES, Malabu transferred the money into dubious accounts including that owned by a man with links to Mr. Jonathan.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed to investigate the Malabu scandal." But of course like the many cases of corruption in this administration, not only are the culprits walking as free men, they are indeed regular visitors to Aso Rock. The fuel subsidy scam that has since been proven to be a monumental heist in the history of corruption in Nigeria has been pushed to the sidelines as no major person fingered in the reports has been prosecuted let alone convicted. The minister of petroleum under whose watch the scam happened is not only still in office, she remains as powerful as ever, even able to draft the Petroleum Industry Bill independently through her personal lawyers.
There are cases around Security and Exchange Commission scam, Police pensions scam, and to date, no single high profile prosecution has been recorded let alone a major conviction. If a president in the position of Dr. Jonathan gets handed the report he quoted in his speech, he would have rejected same just to at least show there was a drop of honour in his name.
To underline his distance from honour, the president indeed claimed what never was. If this is the same man that says he is currently transforming Nigeria, the word "deluded" will never fit a better head.
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