Yes. Duplexes of corruption and putrefaction. Not a mansion. No. These are duplexes and apartments. Seven hundred and fifty-three! Yes. We know who owned that other mansion; the mansion, which he at its completion decades ago, made you wonder how beautiful paradise would be.  The owner of the mansion had long gone. He departed our world like a fire-fly; he left this world as if he never came – empty, in silence, incognito!

Yes. Upon its completion, the mansion gave a sense of splendour; of the presence of everything money could buy. From a distance, the passer-by could count chalets of different architectural designs. The roofing sheets, though now jaded and worn out, were definitely the ones only the multi-millionaire of yesterday could buy. Brethren, that mansion was built by one of the powerful men of yesterday in this region. Unlike the duplexes recently discovered in Abuja, inhabitants of the city knew that the owner of the mansion was a shrewd businessman. He was a man of the people- the rich and the poor. He was the richest man of his era. His wealth reminded those imbued with discernment of that of Uthman bn. Affan (r.a). His zeal and zest for philanthropy would remind you of Abubakar Al-Siddiq (r.a).  Not for one day did he ever occupy public office.  However, when his time to expire came, he transited to eternity the way he came-with nothing except his righteous conduct!

Today, the mansion that he built and was the Makkah of his time is now desolate and prostrate. It is now deserted and rejected. On your way from that other city and back, you could see the new “landlords” and “occupiers” of yet another mansion: termites, rodents, maggots and other crawlers. The big mansion of yesterday is now a hut of today; it is loathed even by the sons and daughters of the big man of yesterday. 

Brethren, I thought these lessons have been taught to us by life. Yes. I thought those privileged to be in charge of our commonwealth would have taken heed of these nuggets of wisdom that life imparts to us on a daily basis. But no! Look around our cities today, you would discover that there are new multi-millionaires in town. Yes! Millionaires and billionaires: men and women who are competing, on a daily basis, for the world. They are competing to build new mansions, new estates. They are stealing from the public wealth to build houses that their children would put on sale after their demise. They are busy building mansions and duplexes that would be ‘inherited’ by termites and caterpillar ants tomorrow!

Thus, when news broke early this week of the forfeiture to the federal government of seven hundred and fifty-three duplexes in Lokogama in Abuja, I experienced no surprise. I was not fazed at all by the sheer ‘madness’, not business acumen, that led a man to engage in such a humongous project. The rumour that the duplexes belonged to a former governor of the CBN equally enjoyed no moment in my world.  If anything, it showed how clueless those we often saddle with leadership in this nation could be. Plato, it was, who said that if you want to go mad, let there be a method to it. Yes. The whole idea of building and owning seven hundred and fifty-three duplexes could not have been conceived except by somebody suffering from undisclosed and undiagnosed insanity! But the impunity of setting them all up in one location, the thought that the scum and scam would never be discovered bordered on lunacy spiced with stupidity!

But for him it was a pattern. Or how else might you describe his intention to become the President of this nation even as he sat as the governor of the CBN? Or how else might you narrativize the more than one hundred sienna cars that he bought while posturing as a presidential aspirant of that political party? But again, that all these infractions took place actually made sense, particularly in a society that is constantly undergoing transvaluation of values. Brethren, that all these egregious acts of sleaze and corruption took place under the watch of somebody we thought was our own Muhammad remains one of the greatest disappointments I have experienced so far in my life! PMB eventually became a metaphor; a metaphor for human capacity overtaken by frailty. He became yet another lesson that life constantly teaches- never say that ‘somebody will do it’; nothing can be done in this world of ours but that which the Almighty grants that they be done! 

Thus, it came to pass, according to reports, that the seven hundred and fifty-three duplexes of hell, of illusion and corruption has been forfeited to the federal government.  But what is next? What is going to happen to them? What has the EFCC done in the recent past with similar properties and funds retrieved from those whose souls have been sold to Beelzebub? Are they going to ‘disappear’ like the ones before them under the watch of Mr A and B? Before dawn, nobody hears anything about them again!  Nigeria! We hail thee!