“The ultimate lesson of the Holocaust is that if people are prepared to go along with that, there is nothing they cannot be made to do.” Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
That header is a mirror, and Nigeria does not like what it sees.
It captures a quiet rage many citizens feel: the moment when crime stopped being a scandal and became a qualification. When asset forfeitures, revoked licenses, and foreign indictments are not disqualifiers, but talking points whispered as “experience” and “connections.”
This is the moral hollowing the header describes. A nation cannot preach “rule of law” while elevating people whose pasts trampled that same law. It creates cognitive dissonance. We tell students to be honest, then watch governors with fraud whispers get scepter and security. We tell civil servants to declare assets, while leaders with “unexplained wealth” abroad sit in Aso Rock.
The proverbs used hit hard because they are true. “A thief cannot hold the key to the community granary.” “The fly that refuses advice follows the corpse.” These are not poetry. They are warnings. When we normalize rot, the rot normalizes us. Young people learn the lesson, integrity doesn’t win elections, money does. Getting caught is the only sin.
The “Hushpuppi to Senator” hypothetical is devastating because it feels plausible. Not because Nigerians love criminals, but because the system has taught us that redemption in politics requires no repentance, only relevance and cash.
Governance cannot survive on stolen water. You cannot ask a hungry populace to sacrifice while those steering the ship have histories of surrendering fortunes to foreign investigators. That is not leadership. That is insult.
We are on the operating table while the viruses hold the scalpel. Reforms from compromised hands will always protect the hand first.
The silence is not consent. It is pressure building. “Many days for the thief, one day for the owner.” Karma, history, and the ballot are patient auditors.
Until we make character non-negotiable again, we are not electing leaders. We are franchising impunity.
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bcradle@ymail.com
