History is full of examples of leaders who grew into full blown demoniacs, exhibiting manic traits that brought pain, misery and death to countless of their people. From Europe's Adolf Hitler of mid twentieth century, whose outsized megalomania brought about the extermination of six million Jews and numerous others, to Africa's Mobutu Sese Seko of the former Zaire who, at the height of his megalomania was allegedly richer than his country. Megalomania is a mental disorder that is characterised by delusion of power, wealth and grandeur. The megalomaniac has an uncontrollable impulse to acquire more and more power, and appear bigger and bigger in the eyes of people, even if in the process he has to kill people who may be on his way.

Kleptomania on the other hand is a mental disorder of manic proportion which triggers in the sufferer a compulsive urge to grab and grab everything he finds, even if he has to steal the very life blood of others. The kleptomaniac must steal, even when the object of theft is not of any use to him. It is true that corruption has long been identified as a cancer in our society. But if our latter day experiences are anything to go by, then kleptomania will adequately define the manic condition that has afflicted Nigeria's successive torturers who in self delusion have called themselves leaders.

Over the years the Nigerian ruling class (both military and their civilian successors), have sought to acquire through the looting and pillaging of the national treasury, the wealth they need to make them the richest in the land, hoping thereby to gain legitimacy and identity. Then by self-perpetuation, self-succession and self-regeneration they recycle themselves as the champions of Nigeria's politics and governance. But from the recent accusations and counter-accusations by distinguished senators and honourable men and women of the house of assembly, about huge financial inducements that are the order of the day in the National Assembly, "kleptocracy" rather than "democracy" seems to be the fitting cognomen for our own brand of government. Having been delivered from military autocracy by divine providence, Nigeria still has to contend with pathological thieves, rogues and scavengers whose uncontrollable impulse to accumulate wealth rides in tandem with their outsized ambition to remain in power.

Where in a couple of years many of our law makers who went in as paupers, have become multi-millionaires due largely to the thieving culture that we call settlement, I am convinced that the mania in our society has reached an alarming proportion. Where illegal access to state wealth has become so brazen that stacks of Naira notes meant for bribery are sometimes competing for space with the mace at the National Assembly, I am convinced that the demoniac has indeed been let loose. Call it whatever we wish, the current system is surviving on monumental pillars of corruption. Corruption is a pandemic national perversion that the civil society must address squarely, as another round of elections are around the corner.

A few years ago someone did a reflection in which he delineated four broad levels of corruption in Nigeria as follows: petty corruption - practised by public servants who may be basically decent individuals but who are grossly underpaid, and who depend on small bribes from the public to feed their families and educate their children; episodal corruption - where honest

behaviour is the norm, and corruption is the exception, and where dishonest public servants are disciplined when detected; systemic corruption - where the socio-economic and political system depends on corruption for its own survival; and grand corruption - where higher public officials and politicians make policies and regulations, or decide on the award of large contracts and projects which are motivated not by the need of the people, but by the greed of the legislator or the awarding official. What we seem to be witnessing among the governing elite in Nigeria belongs more to the last category of grand corruption. And this is happening in a regime that started out with a clear commitment to fight the evil of corruption.

This national cancer must be fought and destroyed. But total cure for this sick nation must involve multifarious attacks on many fronts. It will involve a review of the benefits of public office in Nigeria which appear to be too tempting for even the most "born again" Christian or the most acclaimed Islamic zealot that finds his or her way into politics in Nigeria. We need a re-conception of governance and a restructuring of government in Nigeria. We need to develop in potential office holders a keen sense of the common good. We need to device new ways of instilling in the leadership of this nation the virtues of accountability, answerability and responsibility. For as presently constituted and maintained, government at all levels is too self-serving, too costly and too prone to corruption. We must entrench into the statute books, provisions for the recovery of stolen loot from offenders and their proximate beneficiaries, without time limit. Thereafter the nation must be on the watch and make it impossible for thieves and rogues to seize the nation's sovereignty. And going by our antecedents, is it out of place to request all who genuinely wish to lead the Nigerian people in the future to visit both the exorcist and the psychiatrist, just to ascertain their sanity and their freedom from the destructive demon of greed or the pathological state of kleptomania?

For those who believe in divine justice and have faith in the supremacy of the Creator, prayers do work miracles to deliver the supplicant. Recourse to prayer can become a potent instrument in our search for a cure to the nation's complex ailment. Anyone in doubt only needs to reflect upon our experience in June 1998. Prayers are recommended for leaders wishing to serve in the next dispensation. They need prayers to acquire divine wisdom and guidance in giving service to the people while escaping the mania from which the nation now lies prostrate. Our leaders need to pray to enter the nation's roll of honour after leaving office, and not to be remembered long after their time for being agents of national shame and infamy.

On my own part, I pray that the Almighty God may save our nation from corrupt chieftains, reckless looters and callous scavengers, who now camouflage as leaders of the people, along with their agents and allies at all levels. These self-proclaimed leaders of the people have for the umpteenth time plundered the commonwealth and infected the entire environment with the demon of greed and avarice. But as the election year 2003 approaches, I pray that the good Lord may save us from the hands of these punitive overlords.

As I pray for the poor, traumatised masses of Nigeria, I also pray for those who have inflicted so much misery and pain on them. I know that no one who steals or appropriates for himself or herself alone what belongs to all, can escape the supreme justice of God. I also know that no one who gives or takes bribe, and in that way compromises justice and fair-play, can escape the inevitable retribution of our God. I therefore pray that the thieves, the rogues, the looters, the mercenaries and the scavengers in our midst, whose nefarious activities have put our nation in a state of perpetual distress, will repent today of their sin, before the Lord makes his next providential visit to Nigeria.  For I know that when he comes, he shall flush out these cancerous outgrowths from our national landscape, so that uprightness may rise and flower once again in the land. I know that when he comes, he shall disinfect the land with his holy breath and discharge those evil parasites to gehena!

June 2002