By Francis Sadhere
As Nigeria gets set to celebrate its 55th independence anniversary celebration on October 1, a legal practitioner and humans rights activist, Barr. Robinson Ariyo has blamed Nigeria’s woes on its Civil Servants, saying that they are the most corrupt set of people in the country.
Barr. Ariyo who spoke to our correspondent yesterday in Warri, Delta State, said the civil servants in the country were the ones who teach politicians how to steal money, noting that the act of stealing money in government is a technical procedure that must be learnt.
He said most politicians who are in the system were taught and encouraged to steal by the people they met in their offices, adding that though politicians are encouraged to steal by the civil servants, they are not exonerated for stealing public funds.
He said: “If you must know, the most corrupt set of people in this country are the civil servants. They are the ones that facilitate all the frauds. They teach the politicians how to be fraudulent, corrupt and how to steal public funds. The stealing of public funds involves some procedures which people have to be trained on. I have heard of situations where a politician comes to the office and suggestion and oral concept papers of how to steal money where given to him. They teach the people how to do it, but that does not exonerate them because they are they ones who do the stealing.”
Barr. Ariyo however, also blamed Nigerian citizens for the turbulent road the country has passed through since independence, stressing that “we are all responsible for the situation we found our selves in today in the country.”
“The road has been very turbulent since independence and we are all responsible for it. Lawyers, civil servants, politicians, journalist, police and everybody is responsible. Look at the Saraki saga for instance; you can see the role some lawyers played. I would not want to mention names, but it was not too pretty. Why, because somebody goes to court and says that I am going to produce my client, and he goes behind to file an appeal in the court of appeal. All these inconsistencies are not good for the profession because the profession is a noble profession. It is meant for disciple in the temple of justice,” Barr. Ariyo added.
He also blamed Nigerian journalists for contributing to the backwardness the country through their based reports.
“Basically, what I am saying is that we have all contributed to where we are today. The journalists are not left out. Some journalists for the sake of funds make certain publications they are not supposed to make. You can imagine what the president of NAN did recently. And to thimk that they are called the fourth estate of the realm and the watchdog of the society,” he said.
While saying that the road has been very rough and the product Nigeria is made of today is a very dirty product which all have all contributed to, Barr. Ariyo pointed out that to save the situation, everybody has to be involved in correcting it.
“However, we are all happy that Buhari is there, but he is a human being and he is not perfect. Bill Clinton once said something during his travails and trails in his second tenure bid. He said if perfection was a standard then nobody will be the President of America. What this means is that, you are saying this and saying that, but I have tried to live my life well. But if you are talking of perfection, then nobody is qualified to be the President of the United States.
“Buhari alone cannot do it all. I think that for a very long time, we have not got a good head, but that is not enough. Yes, it is necessary condition but it is not sufficient condition to be able to reposition Nigeria in the direction we need to go.
“There is one vital element that is not yet there, which is the followership. And by the followership, I mean those politicians who will be around him (Buhari) and the party leaders. I am not casting aspersion on anybody. I have included lawyers because I am also a lawyer. Everybody has to do his own bid to ensure that we succeed. Otherwise allowing Buhari to do it alone will make him to be frustrated and mad. A mad man is a man who dances a different rhythm from those of the villagers. Right now Buhari appears to be dancing a different rhythm and in other for him not to become mad, some of us have to join him in the rhythm to equilibrate him.”
