When the Rivers State Government recently revealed that its predecessor expended a whooping N82m to host erudite Professor Wole Soyinka to a three-hour dinner, little did it know that it was splashing a collage of literary flowers on the ongoing corruption battles in the country.

The association of the dubious expenditure with the Nobel Laureate, succeeded in sparking off a literary war. Without suspecting that the finding in Rivers government could be a clever way to showcase the ongoing investigation over the arms fund bazaar, Kongi hurried for a regal entrée with an armada of sarcasm and satire.

But as the altercation between Rivers State Government and the Soyinka continued over the rationale and credibility of the offshore birthday entertainment of the acclaim literary giant, the sound of 80 and 82 was somehow serving a higher purpose of strengthening the Dasukigate as a new destination in national entertainment. The former administration in Rivers must have taken iberties as the custodian of Book capital of the commonwealth to fete Soyinka at 80 with N82m. (Government money which was in government house was used to fund government business!).

Whether the New Year revelation is a corollary to the arms fund probe or not, is debatable. But Soyinka alluded to that possibility, not only by choosing “Those who flounder in the sewage of corruption” as the title of his essay in replying his indirect accusers, but as a connoisseur of literary brew, he also sarcastically alluded to the folly of a guest questioning the source of money for which he was being entertained: “I do however fully support the Wikeleaks call for multi-directional probes. I recommend further that he involve the services of INTERPOL to guarantee its extension to all international organisations and governments to whom I owe uncountable events of recognition – including birthday luncheons, dinners, cultural receptions and events of real, fictitious, or simply opportunistic flavoring – to which I have submitted myself.”

Kongi had cleverly avoided the issue in the huge attempt to preserve his good name. But what he seemed to gloss over was the duplicity of a government that preaches anti-corruption spending such humongous amount of tax-payers’ money to celebrate a literary citizen’s 80 years on earth. Soyinka has, both in theory and practice, never approved ostentatious display of opulence. Unless the sum of N82m covers other little expenditures like endowing a chair or award, the statement of account deserves a red ink of question mark.

However, the important point Nigerians should note in the exchange between Wike and Soyinka over the use of N82m for a three-hour bash, is the suggestion that the country is being distracted from genuine governance and development. For this, the Nobel Laureate was spot-on when he said: “The descent to this present level of abominable distractions makes one truly despair…”

The grand distraction seems to be the one taking place in the nation’s capital, Abuja; where the economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is investigating the immediate past administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. From the arrests, disclosures, confessions and inferences on the $2.1b arms scandal, one is tempted to conclude that the anti-graft agency is merely rehashing a stale manifesto of the military.

Nigerians abhor corruption. That is why the issue of corruption has always been the low-hanging fruit of virtually all military regimes, to gain immediate traction after taking over political power. President Buhari used it in 1984 and he has not forgotten how well it had worked for him. He is trying it again in 2016 with the current inquest into the $2.1b arms fund. Politicians are now divided, without seeing the underlying danger in the current distraction called anti-corruption fight. Dispassionate observers know that the best approach to fighting corruption is through institutions. When you target individuals you achieve spontaneous adulation but the enabling culture that makes corruption to fester remains. For instance, nothing is happening to the banks, police and judiciary, neither has anything been done to make government, especially at the centre less attractive.

Though the EFCC seems to be biting more than it can chew, the $2.1bn arms deal investigation would succeed in splashing sewage on some politically exposed persons, but there are serious doubts that convictions would be secured based on the Wike-Soyinka moral. For if Dasuki is guilty of misapplication of funds, records show that he did not convert the fund to his personal use. Even without justifying the misapplication of the arms fund, it is obvious that there was an approving authority. And from the look of things, that approving authority may after all be the target of the whole circumbendibus.

If that indeed is the long term objective of the EFCC frenzy, the presidency should have saved Nigerians the distraction and invite Dr. Jonathan to explain his actions while in office. By not setting that dangerous precedent, the federal government aims to name and shame the pillars of the immediate past administration and create the impression that civilians are always corrupt in public office and that only the military produces impeccable leaders.

But reading the Soyinka narrative on Wikeleaks, it becomes obvious that the much EFCC could get from the motley crowd of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains it has so far arrested, interrogated and incarcerated albeit extra legally, is to use them as prosecution witness against Colonel Sambo Dasuki!

“It was not, and remains not my business to probe into the catering and logistical implications of the hundreds of institutions and governments all over the world to whom I acknowledge an immense debt of unsolicited recognition over the years,” Soyinka had asserted. Contemporaneously, should PDP chieftains who were engaged in mobilizing support for their party and candidate to investigate the subhead, from which the funds needed for the logistics, was being sourced?

Again Soyinka was apt in his deductions that “those who are neck deep in the sewage of corruption ensure that they splatter sewage in all possible and improbable directions.” The other time a similar coinage was used was when some elements in the All Progressives Congress (APC) wanted to stain the reputation of former Lagos governor, Babatunde Fashola. He found that when you fight with those in the mud, you get dirty. Or, when you fight with a pig, you remain soiled while the pig departs happy. Beyond the search for the $2.1b, which awakens the memory to the missing N2.8b during Buhari’s tenure as Petroleum Minister, ultimately the real politicians shall emerge bruised to leave only one man intact.

And so, going forward, politicians should henceforth learn to be circumspect in the performance of their duties. No matter how good the foundation may be, military regimes are no longer fashionable. Politicians should learn from the ongoing national discussion just as voters should lessen their expectations for handouts and freebies from politicians.

Campaign funding has remained a sore point in democratic elections all over the world. The ongoing economic tribulations should inspire the lawmakers to make the electoral system less expensive. Even President Buhari knows that the access of incumbents to free income made it quite hard for him to win elections until some state governors looked in his direction. What Wikeleaks seems to advertise is the fact that when it comes to campaign funding, all politicians have sinned and come short of the glory of perfect election. They enjoy the backing of incumbents! The difference between a military and civilian politician is that while one can feign poverty and remain parsimonious, the other is usually moved by humanity to show empathy through generosity.

Apart from former Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa, only Chief Raymond Dokpesi, has been able to see the ongoing motions in anti-corruption battle in the right context of military versus civilian contest for political power.  Speaking when some youth paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja, Dokpesi said: “I must hasten to assure you that there is nothing like the much flaunted $2.1 billion arms gate; the competent courts of our land would sooner or later prove this coinage aimed at decimating the leadership and membership of our great party to be nothing but a hoax. It (arms scandal) does not exist. It’s a figment of the imagination of the present government. It’s about the persecution of Sambo Dasuki, Tony Anenih, Olisa Metuh and others. We will be made proud when we start our defence in court.”

The media mogul remarked that “the events of 1984/85, are by all stretch of comparison similar to the unfolding events of today.” And pinpointing the present distractions in the context of military/civilian struggle for political power, he added: “During the infamous tenure elongation agenda, we dared to speak up, but speak up we did. We have always been on the part of human rights, citizen participation in the democratic process, transparency and accountability…We will support any policy of government that seeks to promote the ideals of good governance. But we should also not be cowed to speak up where we disagree.”

Civilian politicians may have made a fatal political misadventure by admitting the military into power through the backdoor in the 2015 election because it is debatable whether former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso or even Sam Nda-Isaiah, would not have beaten Dr. Jonathan unless the massive votes garnered by APC were less than described. What would be the greatest undoing is if they provide the military with another opportunity to urge “Arise Compatriots”.

For this, Dokpesi’s observations that the ruling APC (was) attempting to impede the nation’s journey to political maturity through the manipulation of the federal system to serve purely partisan interests, presents a warning that commends serious contemplation.