Those who want to apply unethical measures in private or public affairs, especially during contests, always quote the phrase: "In war, all is fair." In so doing, they feel justified in their atrocities against humanity. The truth, however, is that all cannot be fair in war. There are still standard and universal rules that are adhered to in war, no matter those involved and where the guns are booming.

To be sure, during wars, soldiers are forbidden from killing civilians. This explains why such an action as throwing bombs or striking civilian targets, like markets, worship centres and civilian neighbourhoods, among others, are forbidden. Those who breach these ethical rules are always seen as having committed war crimes. With this written or unwritten order of things, as they concern war, anybody who goes out of his way to attack civilians or civilian targets could not be said to have been fair, no matter the circumstances. This, therefore, is the contradiction in the belief or theory that all is fair in war.

Having watched the trend of opposition in Nigeria, I have come to the conclusion that some people who fight government, at whatever level, especially politicians who think that they are better alternatives, are students of the man who propounded that theory that all is fair in war. The opposition in the country has made a mark in using anything at its disposal against those on a government they dislike. To diminish their targets, the opposition uses blackmail, intimidation, falsehood and propaganda. Funnily, the opposition assaults the sensibilities of the populace most times with some ridiculous statistics. For the opposition, in this part of the world, the rule appears to be: Give a dog a bad name in order to hang it.

Last year, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told a bewildered nation that 12 governors had been established to have stashed away about $13 billion in foreign accounts. What that meant was that each governor could have stolen approximately $1 billion in the last six years. Using today’s exchange rate (N140 to one dollar), the EFCC wanted us to believe that the governors had stolen trillions of naira. But how possible could this have been? This question becomes pertinent because in the last six years, the amount of money the Federal Government, states and local governments shared are in trillions, perhaps not too far, plus or minus, from that figure. Such faux pas always come about when desperation and indiscretion come into play in trying to discredit people.

This type of exaggeration appears to be replicated in Enugu today. On Tuesday, I could not help but pity Festus Adedayo, Chief Press Secretary to Enugu State Governor, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, who took pains, in an advertorial published in Vanguard Newspapers, to explain that his boss could not have misappropriated N52 billion out of "N57.1billion" he had so far received from the Federation Account and still runs the state smoothly, picking his bills and embarking on such big and capital-intensive projects. He also explained that his boss had no link with some businesses the opposition listed as his investment.

My sympathy for Festus was predicated on the fact that in a country where fiction is presented as a fact, the onus is on him and the government he works for to convince the world that the opposition in the state is just using propaganda to whip up sentiment. However, the people in Enugu State government are lucky that the Federal Ministry of Finance has been publishing disbursements to states in the last couple of years. An analysis of allocations to Enugu State, based on what the Federal Ministry of Finance published, showed that the state got a total net statutory allocation of N58, 077, 464, 338.32 between 1999 and 2005.

A breakdown shows that the gross statutory allocation was N69, 933, 920, 695. 24, while total deductions within the period were N9, 807, 733, 803. 45. A further breakdown shows that the following gross statutory allocations were made: 1999: N4, 649, 110, 017.98; 2000: N9, 174, 278, 402.97; 2001: N7, 035, 573, 558.56; 2002; N8, 755, 052, 579.96; 2003: N10, 964, 055, 265.46; 2004: N14, 841, 256, 641.16; and 2005: N14, 514, 594, 229.15.

If Enugu State has received a total net allocation of N58 billion in six years and eight months, which places it as the about 33rd, out of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on the allocation chart, one wonders how N52 billion could have been misappropriated. If you deduct N58 billion from the purportedly embezzled N52 billion, what it means is that Enugu government used N6 billion to run its affairs in near seven years. If this is the case, then it is the latest wonder of the world.

Even the meanest propagandist would attest that the Enugu opposition has, in the bid to discredit the government, exaggerated things. There is possibly no way N52 million could be missing from the coffers of the Enugu State and the state government would service the state’s bureaucracy, by way of paying workers’ salaries and finance the construction of a 162-building permanent site of the state’s university, a teaching hospital of international standard, housing estates, road tunnel, ultra-modern judicial headquarters, dual-carriage ways, road construction and rehabilitation, rural electrification and building of cottage hospitals.

Some would argue that the state would have generated some internal revenue. Agreed, but what could be the worth of such revenue to raise the state’s finances to such an extent that those in government could have removed N52 billion? For one, we know that apart from Lagos and perhaps, Kano as well as the Federal Capital Territory, no other state in the federation generates jumbo internal revenue. Where then could Enugu have got extra money, especially when there is no record that the government took a loan from any where?

The Enugu example shows show how shallow the opposition could be. And that goes for all the oppositions in the country, from Lagos to Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom to Benue, Sokoto to Borno. Instead of using impeachable facts to prove their cases, members of the opposition use exaggerated statistics that not only fly in the face but also would not stand the test of time. It is this practice that has made it possible for the opposition not to make an impact in the country. In other developed democracies, the fear of the opposition is the beginning of wisdom for any government.

This is so because when the opposition speaks on anything, it is with fact and the people take it seriously. But here, opposition is not based on principle or ideology. Here, members of the opposition are people who lost out in government and want to settle score with those perceived to have caused their exit. Here, members of the opposition are jobbers, contractors and people suffering from sour-grape. And they always sheath their swords and talk from the other side of their mouths when they are "settled" with government appointments or contracts.

For me, kudos should be given to the Enugu State government for its actions so far in this fund misappropriation saga. It is worthy of commendation that at a time other states run around like a rabbit whose life is in danger when operatives of the EFCC beam searchlight at them, the Enugu State government offered to cooperate with the fraud buster by opening its books for scrutiny. It is commendable that Governor Nnamani even offered to wave his immunity and meet operatives of the EFCC to explain the state’s financial transactions, if the commission is in doubt that there is no skeleton in his cupboard. This deserves applauds, coming at a time other states are using legal action and the constitution to block EFCC scrutiny. This is even moreso when it is obvious that the EFCC has no constitutionally right to examine the financial books of any government as this falls under the purview of the state’s legislature.