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 Daily Independent Online.
* Wednesday, August 11, 2004.
IBB & 2007: Beyond Kongi’s
apology card
By Cornelius Segun Ojo
Let me first use this medium
to congratulate and welcome our dear Kongi, Professor Wole Soyinka, to
the septuagenarian club (70 years), with a wish for more of those long
grey hairs.
Ordinarily, I shouldn't join
the media hype on the eligibility or otherwise of General Ibrahim
Babangida's candidacy in the 2007 elections. My position has been that,
the man does not deserve the media attention he currently enjoys. One
should have left alone those hirelings to continue their usual trade.
Two things, however, spurred
me into action this time. First, was the bombshell thrown by Professor
Wole Soyinka, where he was widely quoted by the media that, perhaps, IBB
can contest in 2007 if he can "apologise" for his eight years of misrule. When I
first read the reports, I said probably Prof. was misquoted or it was reporters' interpretation
of his speech. But further efforts revealed that Prof. actually gave IBB,
the apology condition for 2007 race. Then I said to myself that eedi
mbo (tragedy looms). Although, I would have still taken on Prof: on
this gaffe, but the admonition by Dr. Tai Solarin's widow-Sheila,
quickened my resolve to take action. Sheila had, at a memorial lecture
for late Solarin, charged patriotic Nigerians to "say
something" and "do something" when "something is
going wrong".
Though, I stand to be
challenged by Professor Soyinka, but I make bold to say that, Prof. owes
some of us his admirers, and indeed Nigerians an unreserved apology for
insulting our collective psyche. It could have come from another person,
but certainly, not from a person of Prof. Soyinka's standing who is
widely known as a humanist and a principled and dogged social crusader.
The implication of Prof's apology license is that, perhaps, if Abacha
resurrects tomorrow and can say 'sorry Nigerians', he can rule us again.
Nothing can be more tragic than this.
Already, mischief-makers and
IBB apologists have started jubilating that Pro� Soyinka has added tonic
to their hitherto tall ambition. They reason that since Prof. is a Yoruba
man [the area they see as tough], and a respected Nigerian, once their
Minna patron comes out to say sorry, Nigerians will as usual, temper
justice with mercy. They are even contemplating that they will make their
man say the 'unwilling sorry' on the Yoruba soil. What more, Prof. has allowed
his name to now be a point of reference in this very insulting game. And
with the mentioning of Prof's name by the Federal Government in the N600
million image-laundering job, I put it to Prof. that he is already being
co-opted into dirty jobs here and there.
When I read IBB's birthday
epistle to Prof. in the media, with his usual cosmetic phrases, praising
Prof. to the high heaven, something occurred to me that the man was up to
a gimmick. And as if swallowing the contaminated aroma of the message,
Prof. came out shortly after to give IBB a reprieve in his quest to rule
Nigeria again or according to his yesmen, to write the wrongs of the
past. Though the whole thing is laughable, it is an indication that the
nation is suffering from a chronic disease. Those researchers, who
proclaimed Nigerians the happiest people in the world, might be right
anyway. It is only in Nigeria that we celebrate evil openly and allow the
same tragedy to befall us many times over. It is like Christians, rooting
for Judas Iscariot to come and lead them. It is such a sorry situation.
However, before Prof. is
neck-deep in these dangerous games, let me remind him that, the evil
people do not have anything to offer the good ones other than to stain
their reputation or ruin them outright. For the sake of explanation, or
better still, that we learn wisdom from failures of others, I wish to
call Prof.'s attention to the fact that it was this dilution of
principles that ended Chief Bola Ige's fulfilling life on a tragic note.
I still remember and I will continue to say it, that I was one of those
who queried Chief Ige in Ibadan, in 1999, on why he wanted to serve in a
PDP, and by extension, an OBJ government? Chief Ige lectured us and
concluded by saying that he was going to serve to help make the
government of his "bosom friend" succeeded. The rest of what
happened to Chief Ige is now history as the "bosom friend" has
since forgotten him. So, if Prof. has suddenly forgotten that episode, he
may go ahead to satisfy his inalienable right to do whatever he deems
right. But let him be reminded of Chief Awolowo's assertion that
"principles are not negotiable". However, for those who want to
jettison their principles, I put it to them that eleru ni yoo gbe zibi to
ti wnwo (everyone would carry his burden).
On the side of IBB, the man
might be capitalising on the very apathy nature of majority of Nigerians
to the issue of governance. The reason for this, which many say is caused
by the poverty level, is not tenable. Even those who are not poor and
learned, care less about who rules them, so, the problem is
incomprehensible.
I have listened to IBB
campaigners and they have not disappointed me. While they are quick to
fault IBB opponents, claiming that they don't talk about good things he
did while in power, they always fail either to mention anything tangible
and enduring done by his regime.
While it is on record that IBB
introduced many policies, which if implemented could have uplifted the
economy, his diabolical and graft mien always ended the policies on a
tragic note, inflicting more pains on the people. When SAP was introduced
with its attendant pains, the gains that could have accrued to the
economy ended in private pockets. Many foreign loans obtained were never
utilised but siphoned. It was during IBB regime that hard drug trade
became more pronounced, to which the nation earned a bad image that is
yet to be redeemed till today. It was Babangida regime that introduced
another dimension in state terrorism with the bombing of Dele Giwa in
1996. Since then, deaths of such nature have been on the increase. The
media will not forget in a hurry, series of closures of media houses,
harassment and detention of journalists without trial.
Kickback and settlement
syndromes were introduced and became official ways of doing government
business. The $12 billion Gulf War oil windfall is yet to be accounted
for. Infact, corruption, to which Nigeria became synonymous, with a
second position in the world, was the making of his regime. As at the
time he left in 1993, the economy was in comatose while the nation itself
was on the verge of collapse.
The last of his many sins
against the nation, was the senseless annulment of June 12 elections won
by business mogul, MKO Abiola. That annulment brought catastrophe of
monumental proportion to the people, with Abiola and many other Nigerians
ended being murdered by the state. Even, the OPUTAL PANEL, which offered
him opportunity to show genuine remorse and apologise to the nation, was
not respected. He would rather prefer to engage in legal acrobatics to
cover his sordid past, apparently forgetting that there will always be a
day of reckoning.
My admonition to Nigerians
regarding the second-coming of OBJ and his 5 years of showmanship is to
constantly remember that 'a leopard cannot change its spot'. It is high
time we consigned these gluttonous military generals to the dustbin of
history. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and of course, what
we get from government will continue to depend on who we put in government.
If we enthrone evil again in 2007, then I will be in agreement with Naiwu
Osahon who wrote long ago that Nigeria is "a nation in
custody".
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