VITUPERATION FROM HARARE

Diplomatic relationship between Nigeria and Zimbabwe  was strained few days ago when President Robert Mugabe said Nigeria was a very corrupt country.He said this when talking to the press during activities marking his 90th birthday in Harare.

As usual Abuja has requested the Zimbabwean envoy to Nigeria to provide clarification on the matter.The response from Harare might further determine relationship between both countries which  had hitherto been cordial.I have been wondering what had pushed the nonagenarian to make such wild statement.I want to ask Mugabe what type of corruption was he was referring to? If it is colossal election fraud to perpetuate self in power, Zimbabwe is ahead of Nigeria. If you think in terms of embezzlement and accountability in government Zimbabwe is ahead of Nigeria.Mugabe's hold has been on the jugular of Zimbabwe since independence.He has been milking the nation since only God knows.

Mugabe has prevented entrenchment of democratic principles in Zimbabwe.He had been the maximum ruler of his country for about 5 decades until few years ago when he organized a kangaroo election.He lost to the opposition but nullified the election and did another election with him as only candidate.Of course he won.It was after  pressures from international communities that he formed unity government with Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition.The opposition leader had threatened countless times to quit following atrocities of Mugabe.Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

At a point in the history of Zimbabwe the the national currency was as good a tissue paper.Zimbabweans rejected the Zimbabwean dollars and embraced the US Dollars and the currency of other neighbouring countries such as Botswana. The country once had a single unit of Z$1bn in the treasury.It was that bad for the country economically. Perhaps the economic growth and recovery of the country in the last 2 years was the confident Mugabe needed for his latest outburst on Nigeria.There has been shift in policies to encourage production and export in Zimbabwe.Farmers have huge government support and access to finance have been made easy.There is real economic growth going on in Zimbabwe.

Another reason why an ally like Zimbabwe has become a foe could be seeing Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa now.The all over the world ,this is what is trending on social and international media.I think some countries are not just comfortable.Curiously there are Nigerians that are not moved by the rebased GDP that pushed the  Gross Domestic Product of Nigeria to $510bn. I just hope some Nigerians will not be deported for our daring to rebase our GDP.

In my honest opinion, we need to do a lot to cut all the hydra heads of corruption in Nigeria.Part of the reason we must fight with all we have is this insult from Harare.Too many wine consumption, might not be responsible for this vituperation of a world acclaim dictator. It may be a deep seated hatred for a country making strides when all indices are down.Many will feel angered too if you have made recoveries and it did not command media attention. Another angle to this is that our foreign policy is always defective.we have been supporting Zimbabwe despite all the misrule of Mugabe.We hardly give negative report on the country even when the western world were against Harare.

We should not lose too much sleep over the statement of Mugabe for he is not strange to controversies.I think he hates having people ahead of him.He said in December after the death of Dr. Nelson Mandela that South Africa would have been better by far now if Mandela had stayed put like him in power till eternity.He said South Africa has lost all the benefits of its struggles during apartheid and the fault belong to Mandela.He wanted to downplay Mandel's globally acclaimed achievements.

In closing, how I wish we can have committed leader for once in this country. How I wish we can give Mugabe a full reply in the next 3 years on how much we have reduced corruption and bring government close to the people.How I wish the colossal fortune of this great country will be evenly distributed for the advancement of our people. Zimbabwe do have bragging right for now but honestly it wont take us a year to surpass her if we have selfless people in power. For now, I want to leave the old man alone to enjoy his birthday but I hope he will not be richer that Mobutu Seseko when he is no more occupying government office in Harare.