The Dynamics in Kleptomania

Also published in DAILY TRUST

The rampancy of the systematic looting of public resources by the increasingly remorseless Nigerian rulers in collaboration with their political and business associates, who together constitute the country’s thieving elite, underscores their suffering from theft addiction.  However, their peculiar case is perhaps beyond any conventional explanation and treatment particularly when viewed against the background of their purported claim to religiosity, being presumably (though largely self-acclaimed) practicing Muslims and Christians.

After all, apparently shocked by the phenomenal rate of thievery cases amongst this elite and the massive amounts of money plundered, and notwithstanding whether she had moral right to condemn theft or not, the former EFCC Chairman, Mrs Farida Waziri suggested psychiatric tests for any Nigerian aspiring for a public office in order to ascertain his mental soundness, because according to her massive looting of treasury is a symptom of mental illness.

Addressing this phenomenon within a wider perspective will reveal the inherent irony between Nigerians’ much touted religiosity, which some years back earned them the reputation of the most religious people in the world, on one hand and their huge notoriety in corruption on the other.

Incidentally, though I explained this irony last year in this column under the title of “Nigerians’ Ironic Religiosity” (Daily Trust, Friday, 02 September 2011), my explanation focused largely on the actual circumstances and socio-cultural dynamics that informed the classification of Nigerians as the most religious people in the world; a position they perhaps still maintain according to the yardsticks adopted in that survey.

Going by the same yardsticks, Nigerian ruling elite and their political and business associates can conveniently fit into the category of very religious elite if not also the most religious elite in the world; an irony, which is particularly baffling considering how they nonetheless engage in primitive plundering of public fund with impunity.

Considering their apparently unremorseful addiction of theft and the massive amounts of money they loot, one wonders if they really believe that one day they shall be made to account for each penny they misappropriate, as their respective religions maintain.

As a matter of fact, one wonders if they actually believe in the Day of Judgment in the first place.  This is particularly relevant in view of how people’s lives turn completely miserable right under their (i.e. elite) watch as a result of their crimes; the worst of which is theft of course.

Granted, we as human beings commit sins, yet it is our realization of the gravity and the implications of our sins as well as our subconscious sense of remorse that determine the extent of our conviction of the eternal consequences of what we commit, and indeed determine our likelihood to refrain from it and repent.

In as much as such unrepentant attitude is quite condemnable regardless of the religious inclinations of the people involved, I am particularly stunned by the attitudes of Muslims amongst these thieving elite. This is because their Christian counterparts, and based on their (though already fundamentally altered) Christian doctrine, they believe that Jesus (PBUH) had redeemed whoever believes that he is a son of God, from whatever sin he commits, which effectively means that, Christians would not account for their earthly actions, inactions, beliefs and motives in the hereafter. And this by implication means that, as long as one is a Christian he will get away with whatever he commits in this world.

What therefore remains mysterious is the similar attitude of unremorseful addiction of theft by their Muslim counterparts. This is because as opposed to all other religions, Islam holds every able and mentally sound adult responsible of all his commissions, omissions, beliefs and even motives, and in the hereafter he shall be made to account for all his earthly deeds, which eventually determine his ultimate fate between Heaven and Hell.

Moreover, Islam maintains unambiguous jurisprudential yardsticks to determine the legal and moral statuses of any commission, omission and even belief and motive on the basis of the concepts of Halal i.e. allowed and Haram i.e. disallowed. As it also maintains an elaborate concept of reward and punishment according to which a record of every individual is accurately calculated and kept for his own reference in the accounting process in the hereafter. And all these principles are clearly mentioned in the noble Qur’an and Sunnah.

In view of the foregoing if one can understand (not justify) the reason behind such bizarre addiction to theft by the Christians amongst Nigeria’s thieving elite, it is quite difficult to understand the reason behind the same attitude by their Muslim counterparts, who claim to believe in the above mentioned principles.

This is because the amount of recklessness, shameless greed and sheer audacity that characterize their addiction of theft put a big question mark on their claim to belief in all that Islam maintains particularly as regards subjecting every individual in the hereafter to a thorough account for all what he does in this world.

Anyway, assuming that they actually believe in all these, it seems they are subconsciously driven by some delusions that either make them underestimate the consequences of their crimes or even make them feel that there is a possibility for them to dodge the consequences altogether for that matter.

Perhaps one of the most probable delusions they hold in this regard is that, they can simply remedy the situation by laundering their loots through the construction of mosques, going to Hajj and Umra, sponsoring other people to perform it and engaging in other charitable works, in what could be described as spiritual money laundering. After all, as the Ramadan approaches many of them are probably currently busy preparing for Umra trips to be financed with such loots.

They might also be motivated by the phenomenal prevalence of thievery cases from the bottom to the top all over the country, hence assume that the situation is too saturated that some arrangements would somehow be made to enable them to dodge the consequences of their acts in the hereafter.