Daily Independent Online.
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Friday, June 11, 2004.
Am I immune?
By Bob MajiriOghene
General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) was described as one
of the most draconian of Nigeria’s military leaders before we were
saddled with the real McCoy himself - Sanni Abacha. Buhari became
‘draconian’ because, like count Draculon of yore, he was mostly
associated with blood. It was he who sentenced drug pushers to death, doled
unreasonable prison sentences and promulgated the obnoxious Decree No. 4 that
provided public officers with a firewall against scrutiny from the press and
from members of the public. The indirect result of this Decree within the
domain of governance was a haute couture and
a camel-like superciliousness: with its arrogant nose in the air, the
camel ambles on, indifferent and stiff as a rod. This is the metaphor with
which I can describe the mien of the personalities who strut our political
landscape. With sirens wailing a woeful cacophony and making incursions into
our sensibilities, these stiff camels have become our bane.
The icon and touchstone of political etiquette known
to man today, Nelson Mandela, upon relinquishing power in South Africa
described himself shyly (some have said he was wry) as an ‘old retired
pensioner’. But we know better. We know that Nelson Mandela is the one
textbook that Nigerian leaders should study concerning the fine art of
political humility despite the slime and dirt associated with the playhouse of
politics. In retirement, Mandela lives in a village in South Africa, revered as
the madiba. He
has certainly earned his place in our hearts with all other legendary figures
like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jnr and Abraham Lincoln.
Emperor Babangida repealed Buhari’s obnoxious Decree and made
every effort to court the press with his sabre-toothed grin. It was said that
Buhari was not smiling, so Babangida seized every opportunity to show us his
teeth. He maradonically introduced a public debate on a loan he had already taken while our
parents and Tony Momoh spent productive hours just talking. Today, the dark
cloud of $2.8billion Gulf War oil windfall hangs like a dark cloud over his
head and the head of his children and grandchildren. He sometimes carries
himself like the camel we met in paragraph one of this essay. Babangida and
many other former military rulers have also refused to subject themselves to a
public scrutiny even after the so-called immunity that helped them steal so
much money is no longer there. This is why I am sure that most of the political
personalities here today have taken a cue from this military and will never
submit themselves to a scrutiny as expected within the confines of good
democratic governance.
The many incidents concerning the immunity of
political personalities is one incident that has made me regret to ever stand
in that rain to observe what has been dubiously referred to as my ‘civic
duty’. We stood in that semi blitz with the realisation that those we
trusted with the responsibility of managing our affairs had abandoned us. We
stood there, resolute that they would never again take us for a ride. But they
did take us for a ride though that is hardly the matter now. They have ridden
roughshod over us on their own terms and have established an immunity that the
military left as a legacy.
One reason I can adduce for the immunity that the
political class has arrogated to itself is that it has internalized the idea
that rulership by whatever means has nothing to do with the concept of
servitude. If you are governor or a president or a legislator here, you are the
oga, the lord and master, who have won all and must embezzle all.
Contrastively, the public office holder in the civilized world is someone whose
service to the public in a private capacity may have impacted positively on the
public. Members of the public usually woo these people to be their
representatives and when they do serve, they are the poorer for it. They
comport themselves in the service of a community which is highly critical yet
holds them in high esteem.
One question that I think that public office holders
should answer while still ‘serving’ is this: will this office that
I hold ever pass away or come to an end? If the answer to this question is in
the affirmative, this means that all of the huff and the puff that we see
paraded by today’s high and mighty is a display of ignorance on the
ephemeral nature of power. I know
a certain lady who occupied a very sensitive position when I was an
undergraduate in the university. The first thing you see hung above her seat of
power, as if it is a sword of Damocles, is the inscription: EVEN THIS SHALL
PASS AWAY. This woman understood the sorts of trick that this seat could play
on anyone who gradually or suddenly found themselves at the peak of power. The
power politicians wield now really does not belong them but to me, to you and
to every other Nigerian who lives in Nigeria or abroad. Politicians, public
office holders are our servants and it is time we realise they are there at our
pleasure instead of the other way round.
At this point, I would like to suggest that certain
things about this country of ours would still remain stagnant unless the people
who have ruled this country strip off their immune garb and come tell us how
they ruled. I believe that their revelations and their comportment may provide
a compass to those who are there today navigating in a manner that is
reminiscent of the military.
