The war commander must remain resilient and courageous even at the edge of doom because in him lies the strength of the entire army. As soon as the protagonist (known in local parlance as the actor) dies, the movie must grind to a halt.

Our President made a point at the 54th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society when he opined that corruption is all-pervasive as it spreads across the public and private sectors as well as individuals and communities.

He accused society of celebrating corruption and corrupt persons. According to him: “If a young man who just started a job and within six months or a year comes up with a car of N7 million to N15 million and you clap for him, then you are rewarding corruption.”

He spoke further: “So for us as a nation to bring corruption down in Nigeria, it is not just blaming government and blaming police, but individuals must frown at people who have what they are not supposed to have; who live in houses they are not supposed to live in; who drive cars they are not supposed to drive; and who wear suits more expensive than they can afford.”

We agree essentially with the President that society has its due share of the fault in encouraging corruption. At the point of arrival, national honours and various chieftaincy titles await the Nigerian who has made it.

His address is immediately available to those who hawk those bogus degrees from universities without walls and churches do not even care to find out the sources of the wealth before admitting the successful one to the front pew and sometimes, to the highest point at the altar. Some people make a good living out of sniffing around for the nouveau riche. They are paid handsome commission for every client introduced.

Jonathan started well but missed the point mid-way. He has an eye on the merchants of corruption but maintains: “I wouldn’t want to mention names so that I will not be attacked.” This stance is most unpresidential. Cowardice is not the stuff of which leaders are made. We are reminded of the early warning: “If you can’t stand the smoke, you should get out of the kitchen.” No one ever solves a problem by running away from it.

Corruption must be properly situated. The President may try but there is no way he can convince anyone that the offence of clapping for a thief can ever be higher than that of the actual thievery.

Jonathan’s frustration in the fight against corruption is pathetic. We can understand the frustration of a man who presides over the affairs of a country whose former boss once invited President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania to come and have a feel of his wealth. After moving round the man’s estate, Nyerere surmised: “All this cannot be for one man in one life time.” And the Nigerians in this category are many.

Whichever way one looks at it, the issue at hand is ostentation, which resides permanently at the official level. It begins at the top and permeates through the entire system. Who will not be disillusioned to hear that Nigeria has the largest Presidential Air Fleet, PAF, of 10 aircraft for which it spends around N9.08 billion annually in running cost when most of the wealthy countries of the world have a PAF of not more than two aircraft? Even in England, only the Queen and the Prime Minister are entitled to British Airways chartered flights for long distance trips. Ghana, Algeria and many European countries maintain only one aircraft in their PAF.

We know it must be extremely hot at the top. But as advised by Joseph Campbell (1904-1987): “We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” After a leader sermonises all day on the need for probity in the fight against corruption, it becomes the more frustrating for him to return home to a wife who has an unquenchable appetite for wealth accumulation.  The issue here is that no matter how deafening the applause gets, the point of corruption still resides with the corrupt official, not with the applauding public.

Applauds are not necessarily always bad. They sometimes come with good deeds. Our President cannot deny acknowledging the applauds that greeted the church he single-handedly caused to be donated to the Otuoke community, even where the conflict of interest situation generated by that donation still lingers on.

In any case, it is naive to expect that corrupt practices would come to an end the moment we stopped clapping for corrupt people. Any attempt to trivialise the crime of corruption by equating it with the moral action of clapping for the corrupt merely begs the question and admits of chasing the shadow while the substance eludes us.

By talking glibly about corruption, Jonathan only succeeds in insulting our collective sensibilities. He lacks all it takes to win the fight. Elsewhere, the war is raging. Associated Press has just made a single entry that captures the total essence of this discussion (Sunday, September 22, 2013): A Chinese leader, Bo Xilia, has been sentenced to life in prison for corruption, after confiscating all his personal assets.

The judgement was neither based on what the Yoruba call “pele omo mi” nor on “Do as I say not as I do”, the Nigerian style. Instead of this hide and seek game, shouldn’t Nigerians really give up on this fight and let the spoilt world spoil?

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Read this article in the Vanguard Newspapers

 Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.