Off the Cuff: Looters’ lists as political ambush

“All’s fair in love and war.” People in love and soldiers in wartime are not bound by the rules of fair play. The expression is frequently used when two people are contending for the love of a third.

The All Progressives Congress (PDP) in contention for the love of the Nigerian electorate appears to have employed this principle to undermine their opponents in order to achieve electoral victory.

The looters’ lists recently rolled out by the APC-led Federal Government belong to this category.

Obviously haunted by the spirit of non-performance, and fearful of the likely consequence of what critics have severally described as its colossal failure, government decided on an ambush against the major opposition in the country.

Since coming to power, the APC government and Buhari administration have made fight against corruption their major thrust. But the manner the war is being fought has since raised some moral questions and has also become a moral burden on government.

Although it blows hot openly, reports have shown that the current administration is itself a cesspool of corruption.

While it persecutes members of the opposition on allegations of corruption, its members are sitting comfy on their own looted funds.

It is a known fact that some corruption charges against certain people have been dropped simply because such individuals decided to cross carpet and now members of the APC.

Within the inner caucus of the Buhari cabinet are people who should by now be guests of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), explaining how they came about their stupendous wealth. Government has also not bothered to investigate those who sponsored the President in the 2015 election.

Rolling out names of those who have been in and out of the courts and dramatising it three years after it took over power smacks of incompetence and insincerity. Brandishing some lists of prominent opposition Nigerians and branding them corrupt when such persons have not been found guilty by any competent law court amounted to putting the horse before the cart.

Bringing out such lists a few months to another round of elections is a sign of cowardice and paranoia, and to say the least, defeatist.

What it means is that the ruling party is afraid of facing a heated campaign and an exhibition of lack of confidence that it would garner winning votes this time around.