A former Governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, has accused the military of causing all the problems Nigeria is presently grappling with.
He made this known in an interview with Sunday Sun to commemorate his 80th birthday.
Ezeife said:
Some time ago, the World Bank said parts of Nigeria were growing faster than the rest of the world. Awo brought free education to the West; Ahmadu Bello tried to push the North up. It was not just the groundnut pyramid, Azikiwe, in the East. Every part of Nigeria was growing at its own pace and any man and woman, those who are intelligent, who are in public service had vested interest in what is done with the property of Eastern Region, Western Region. You are interested in how government spends money because it’s your money. In those days, it is your tax. Whatever contribution you make to the treasury, that’s what the state is using. We didn’t have oil. Therefore, we were interested in how those who are spending it use it. When the oil came, the size of corruption changed. If it were not for military, we would have been far better than where we are today because God planned it that way. Nigerians are great people, but the military messed up God’s plan.
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He stressed that the military destroyed the country by elevating corruption and destroying the structures put in place by the nation’s founding fathers.
Ezeife said:
We have always been in corruption practice. You remember during the coup, Nzeogwu said 10 percenters. That was infant level of corruption and you could survive. But eventually, the military ruled Nigeria and ruined Nigeria; it became monumental corruption and they pervaded every aspect of society. If you were a lecturer in the university, for a girl to score well, she would have to be under you. For a man to score well, he would have to be loyal. If you go to church, you will find corruption. Go to mosque, you will find corruption. Go to police, you will find corruption. Go to army, you will find corruption. Everywhere is pervaded by corruption. But it couldn’t have been so massive and effective in destroying Nigeria if it were not for the destruction of the structure of Nigeria.
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