Where is justice and when will the truth come to light?

Governance – Ill-gotten gains: When will the truth be revealed?
The Niger of the Renaissance experienced all the atrocities and abuses. The socialists, through their exclusion and exile of certain Nigeriens, will classify the population, forming there a privileged part composed of Nigeriens who have all the rights and another part composed of second-class Nigeriens, who have only the right to be persecuted, imprisoned, excluded. For twelve years, instead of seeing the political excellence promised by the opponents in their speeches and constantly reiterated, we have only found the mediocrity and evil of the Nigerien socialists. They spend all their time doing evil, embezzling, stealing, plundering, mocking certain people. The Nigeriens are furious and have called in vain for the exposure of the various sulphur files and all the scandals that affect the management of the Niger Rose. Even Bazoum admitted on the eve of the 2016 elections that their regime had failed in the fight against corruption and organized crime in the state, breeding injustice and unrest. In fact, he recognized that there was still a lot of work to be done and admitted the failure of their party in this area. Issoufou, eager to run for re-election, has recognized this fact and promised – still in his speeches – to fight the mafia that thrives in his system, promising clean action, but rejected under the pompous title of “Maï boulala”. But it was short-lived, because as soon as he came to power he immediately forgot his promises on this issue and only cared about hunting down his opponents.

Even though he calls himself “The Lion”, he has such a weakness for his own people that he can do nothing for anyone.

Bazoum was also powerless after coming to power, even if he sacrificed some minor figures after coming to power, such as Ibou Karadjé and a serving minister, Hamadou Zada, whom the system had used to do its dirty work, because he realized that it was them that he had to sacrifice in the final analysis, to make people believe that he was suppressing crime, while at the same time he pardoned in a rather targeted way those who were close to a certain family, who had committed the worst mistakes, and those whom he wanted to protect, in order to better justify the sectarian management of the country without realizing it.

Since the military came to power, Nigeriens have been hoping that the many archives would finally settle and be dealt with justice so that the truth could come out. They rightly dreamed of a new era, especially when Kountché’s leadership could be mentioned to reassure the country of its new direction. Kountché could not recognize himself by face, because only one thing mattered to him: Niger and the Nigeriens in general. A year later, these symbolic archives remain untouchable, at least we do not hear what the military regime has done with them, for whom it should have been more to advocate the equality of Nigeriens before the law to convince him that he was not coming for a clan, let alone to protect a single person. It must be pointed out and acknowledged that Nigeriens do not understand, and they often speak of a double game of transition that is extremely difficult to conceal the complicity of certain circles of the old regime that the military wants to dismantle. Speeches are no longer convincing enough. We hear Nigeriens say that we need to act.

All Nigeriens know to what extent the entourage of Issoufou enriched themselves in an arrogant, inconsiderate way, with an irritating display of ostentation. For them, these people cannot have accumulated such wealth and go away to enjoy leisure, untouchable, because the laws of the Republic apply to everyone. Today, on social networks, we learned through certain condemnations the wealth that many players of the old regime were sitting on, especially the direct entourage of former President Issoufou, who left his side and let people accumulate, ultimately mocking Nigerians, who have nothing but contempt for them. We know the income of every Nigerien and thus cannot understand how wealthy some of our compatriots have become in the twelve years since the country’s independence. Even the fact that one is the wife of the President or the son of the President (which cannot be a profession in a normal democracy) does not justify the fate of some men and women who were attracted to the deposed power.

Where are the villas of Aissata Diori, De Mintou Kountché, Dame Ali Saibou and the wives of Ousmane, Baré, Tandja and Salou Djibo? Yet!

Should we believe that those who have become so rich – and we know how – can, in the name of equal justice for all, go away in shamefacedness, sitting on these riches that they cannot justify? Can we therefore assure the Nigeriens that all cases will be dealt with by the judicial system, now that the Nigerien judges have asked that the various files be transferred to them and, to a certain extent, quarantined? Beyond the caution that is characteristic of Kordev’s work, we have decided to cover the faces of those who have stolen our common wealth, as if someone needed to compromise himself to remain united with a camp that, however, we have never stopped denouncing. We can hear him say that the acts of bad governance also justify the coup that took place on July 26, 2023, but they are beginning to lose faith in this year’s parades, even if the celebration of the first year requires the preservation of the fanatical cohesion around the CNSP. For days, the Nigeriens have been wondering where, a year later, the revolution enacted on July 26, 2023 is, echoing the changes that are taking place in two neighboring countries, Mali and Burkina Faso, and there are reasons to worry that the Nigeriens hope that the progress of the country will be most decisive for their future. So, can we still believe in rupture when, after a year, those who stole and plundered the country are no longer worried? This serious problem torments the hearts of the people and it is completely reasonable for Nigeriens to express these concerns. They do not want to make a mistake in their support. As we have often written, there is no one else who can reassure Nigeriens except the CNSP itself. Therefore, we must give justice the opportunity to play its role, especially to regulate social tensions. No matter how much time people wait, if they do not see the changes they want, the old beast inside them will wake up and want to take justice into their own hands. Isn’t it already a big risk to allow those who have almost nothing to deprive the country of its own wealth? If the transition made things easier for the fallen princes, some of whom perhaps counted as friends, it goes without saying that for those who know what the Nigerien socialists are made of, they will never give them a gift of kindness, given the opportunity to avenge the humiliation they believe was inflicted on them on July 26, revealing to the world its ugly face and universal rejection, which is the theme that we have not stopped singing about this regime today at the level of many of its partners, who are disappointed with their “champion”, who long for history not to catch up with him, and who try to find new political virginity.

Gobandi (World Today)