In the Catholic Church there is a classification of sins into mortal sins and minor sins, forgivable sins and unforgivable sins. In the past few weeks it has been found that an account in a Nigerian commercial bank contain over $15 Million and when EFCC went ahead to restrict the account, the owner readily cried out. Patience Jonathan the immediate past first lady of Nigeria claimed ownership. She has explained that the money was donated to her by friends who were contributing to pay her healthcare bills. Since she was not a political office holder and the office of the first lady never got such an amount of money as allocation, it becomes difficult to properly analyse the whole situation. Many politicians in Nigeria and in deed many leaders in academics and healthcare regularly engage in acts that may not be illegal but they are not ethical. The issue of conflict of interest is no longer regarded as a factor in decision making, therefore a politician can ask contractors or appointees to come and donate for one project or the other. Looking back wards, Aisha Buhari has already lunched two books after which Kogi indegenes accused Governor Bello of donating over 70 million Naira for a beauty manual. Towards the end of Obasanjo's tenure also he stood up and raised enough money to build a huge Library and a University. While preparing for 2015 presidential election, PDP and Jonathan raised so much money that they could not announce it for fear of backlash. There was a backlash still because they were voted out. The Panama papers also revealed that Mrs Saraki is also a Millionaire from such donations.The conclusion is that the standard has been lowered in Nigeria. Conflict of interest is no longer an issue. There is need to walk back the moral decadence in Nigeria but I don't think Buhari can do much. Perhaps if he agrees to exchange position with the Pastor of Redeem Prof Osibanjo and becomes the vice president, Nigeria may start taking these issues serious.
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