■Author: Ezekwereogu John
■ Twitter: @Umuchiukwu_writ
■ 10, Oct 2018
I am an introvert. I consciously keep away from crowds and gatherings to the extent that even here on Facebook, I tend to shrink from commenting on the posts of friends whose posts are teeming with comments. I also shrink from joining social groups in real life. Any social group I joined in the past, it is either that it was necessary that I joined it, or that I was compelled to join it. Again, I have weird ideologies and principles which many people won't fancy. So staying away from the crowd is a way of focusing and sticking to my convictions.
This is the first of the two remaining instances I said I will write on why it is ridiculous to expect to have good leaders in Nigeria. Again, this is not to blow my trumpet; instead, it is to show that the decadence in our society is real and that as a person you can choose to be free from the stains. Yes, shunning corruption is not something that is implausible.
Some years ago, I was compelled to join this social group. The group was about to embark on a project to solicit for funds from some rich men and to use the funds to improve the learning conditions in secondary schools in a given area. On the day we met to discuss how to appeal for the funds, as we deliberated on the plan and spoke about the amount we expected to get, I noticed the unusual excitement. Without being told, I knew what it was about. Someone even said it, how some of the funds would grace our pockets. I had to speak.
Without mincing words, I made it clear that if I must be part of the project, every kobo we get must be used for what we told our benefactors that they are meant for, otherwise I would quit the group there and then. Suddenly, there was quiet, accompanied by an air of disappointment.
Many bodies in Nigeria that go about soliciting for money in the name of assisting the less privileged, do similar things. Even orphanages and motherless babies homes! Some of them are so mean that they plough only a fraction of the money they get from people into what they are supposedly collecting the money for. Go to some motherless babies' home, and see the conditions. Sometimes, the problem is not that donations don't come, it is that those who run the homes are greedy. Thieves!
People like this also condemn government officials for embezzling public fund. But tell me, people so possessed by greed to the point that they are bereft of empathy for innocent and helpless babies, will they have empathy for the public if they are entrusted with public funds?
I repeat: our society cannot be corrupt and we expect our leaders not to be corrupt. That is absurd. It is the effort the society makes to say "No" to the corruption that issues in our leaders. When the entire nation is not making serious effort to be free from corruption, it affects our leaders. (Concluded)
Published By Udeagha Obasi
For Umuchiukwu Writers
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