Nigeria: The Revolution has already begun

The cry for revolution is shrill

I have suffered to my hurt and discomfort the many cries for revolution in Nigeria. Everyone seems to have an opinion about change for Nigeria; be it splitting up the country to sending the current crop of leaders to an early grave in order to clear the air for new growth.

Once again, it can be so easy to list all the problems with Nigeria, the great potential squandered by the selfish interests of those who on assumption of power are too intoxicated to walk straight, think right and act determined for the progress of the country.

The spirit of profligacy and kleptomania possesses the leaders to the point that rampant acquisition beyond needs leaves their bank accounts heavier than the treasury of the country – we have been sorely lead and badly served, indeed, something needs to give.

We are NOT like the others

There are some that wish for the clear-out that Jerry Rawlings offered Ghana with the execution of three of his predecessors, it did appear to purge Ghana of some of the poison and rottenness that was engulfing it, but Nigeria does not have a Jerry Rawlings.

The nearest example to that might have been Mohammadu Buhari in the early 80’s but in his zest to improve the country, it was slowly being turned into an Islamic police state, it prepared the way for even worse leadership that has held Nigeria hamstrung since.

One could say that the worst times in Nigeria were during the time of the military despot, Sani Abacha who by the grace of God expired in a sexual orgy which presaged the preparation of democratic rule just a year after in 1999.

Our ruler-ship is not homogenous

However, it is left for one to wonder about the ends of a revolution in Nigeria, we have not been under the cosh of or autocratic regimes like the Arabic states of North Africa where leaders have been in charge forever, chief amongst whom is Muammar al-Gadhafi of Libya. Nor have we suffered the false democracies of Uganda or Zimbabwe there has been a musical chairs of the ruling elite in Nigeria.

In some cases, they all seem to be of the same ilk, it is not like Nigeria has some popular leader of opposition in exile waiting to take the mantle of leadership when the revolution has toppled those in power.

The revolution talk is fraught with serious problems because the leadership clique is not homogenous, it is composed of competing interests regional, religious, political, economic and social.

None seem to have the wherewithal to coalesce for a common good because of egotistical megalomaniacs who only understand compromise and consensus in terms of the former being their lead and the latter being their view, none of which is negotiable.

After revolution comes anarchy

In other words, there might well be a revolution but no leader to reap the fruits of the revolution; we might well end up in anarchy with a rapidly deteriorating state of affairs as these competing interests jostle for position, opportunity, power and the do-or-die grab for the spoils.

We do need reform and change; we need a common goal for the good of Nigeria, preserving the entity and the identity that makes us proud Nigerians.

However, the good people have not stepped forward and for good reason many who might cannot bear the snake-pit of politics to sully their good intentions, plan and possibly progressive policies for Nigeria.

We are not suited for the usual revolutions

Nigeria is by no means ripe for a revolution, there are no components in place to make it the success we desire with blind optimism, we can do well to educate ourselves, participate fully in the democratic process we have, deign to hold the elected accountable and become better and coherent activists that demand positive action or expect the said leaders to resign in disgrace.

We are plagued with leaders of old who have refused to retire, whilst one cannot pray – death come swiftly and take them away, until we rise to assumed greater responsibility we would be belittled and patronised by those who through arrogance and hubris think they are the best gifts to Nigeria when they are in fact the worst things to be inflicted on our long-suffering people.

Your revolution is in RSVP

Pray, if you might, fast, if you will, but until we all take up the mantle of civic responsibility by registering to vote; selecting those we can trust and hold accountable; vote for those who have not tried to usurp the system, whose character is beyond reproach and competence is verifiably vouched for and stood to protect the voice of our collected efforts of choosing our leaders our revolution would be too far away in the future to grasp and too high an aspiration to attain.

Register | Select | Vote | Protect [1] without regrets your revolution by participating in democratic change for great change and accountability – the protection part does not end when the results are declared, it continues for the duration of the term of that elected representative and any other connected interest that should be working for the good and progress of the country.

Nigeria’s revolution is not in the template of marching the streets with civil disorder to upset the as it were status quo, our Green Revolution is in making the best of what we have now, take the democratic bull by the horns and not relenting until the will of the people is fully expressed and accepted in free, fair, credible and viable elections.

Our revolution has started already, are you in the move to change your country for the good?

Source

[1] EiE NIGERIA: Register | Select | Vote | Protect

Nigeria: Is the Senate bribing the military?

Golden parachutes all round

Sometimes, it is just not clear whether the Nigerian legislature has any clue about their purpose and the function they are to serve in Nigerian democracy.

Recently, they approved a bumper state pension [1] for former military Heads of State and their families having previously resisted [2] the granting of that emolument to them some time ago.

Now, there might be probable cause for offering a stipend to those who have ruled the country either by the will of the people or by the sheer force of guns.

Reservations on rewards

However, it is important that having ruled Nigeria there should be standards of review that allow for a scrutiny in posterity of those tenures with some basis for considering if those regimes have served Nigeria well or not. For instance, whilst General Sani Abacha did run the country down as a despot, it would atrocious to reward his descendants with largesse for his maladministration.

At a time when it has been proven [3] that he and his family plundered the country to multiples of billions of dollars stashed away in foreign banks and most notable of which is the case that his son brought to retain stolen billions in Switzerland having pain the Nigerian treasury almost in a billion dollars in restitution, this is certainly the wrong message to send to every Nigerian with or without the means to seize power.

Whilst I am not aiming to create a report card of past military regimes, it goes without saying that the politicisation of the military has not served Nigeria well and such governments have not engendered development, peace or prosperity for the country.

A contradiction in terms

It smacks of incredulity that the chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media can aver that this is no invitation for a military takeover of government and it is laughable that he offers that the Senate would resist any would-be coup plotter.

I am left flummoxed by this statement, “We are not sending any wrong message, the message we are sending actually is rather a strong message that assumption of political power by force of arms is anachronistic, undemocratic, out-modelled. It is out of fashion and I think that it is something that will even make anybody attempting it to look stupid and out of place.”

There are truths to the part about the assumption of power but contextually, the looking stupid and out of place calls for a clean mirror in front of that speaker.

Accountability confers legitimacy

There are democracies where the clout of the Senate might carry more than a warning to those who might be inclined to overthrow a representative democracy.

The sovereignty of Nigeria should and must belong to the people, but this only derives from the people not being disenfranchised when they exercise universal suffrage through free and fair elections and from their representatives being truly accountable to the people throughout their terms rather than just at times of electioneering.

It is debatable that Nigeria’s democracy is representative and accountable which infers the Senate may not have the underpinning and force of legitimacy to prevent a military takeover or become the engine for revolution or insurrection that leads to the people to deny prospective military rulers the usurpation of power.

Pensions already exist for legitimate service

Obviously, military personnel who have ended up leading the country have also risen to the top ranks of the military forces in which they have been commissioned and a pension is already accruing to them for that military role, it would be belabouring the point that many also had their hands in the till when they were in charge; there is absolutely no need for the extra pay for adding an unlawful political dimension to their military service.

If anything, this sends the wrong message to our democracy, to our people and to those who might think the military route to power could be a shortcut to ensuring a good retirement package when past ones professionally useful years.

The offer to the families simply fosters that class of louts and miscreants who as spouses and brood have shown little exemplary conduct in their hubris and hedonistic tendencies, projecting megalomania well beyond that which the principals in power ever dared to exercise.

Looks like bribery to me

In what can be seen as an abject waste of parliamentary time and priorities, if as the chairman says, “that the new law did not provide any new special benefits to all the intended beneficiaries, as they were already enjoying pension.”

If the intended beneficiaries already have a pension and there are no new special benefits, why is a law being promulgated to give the same people the same thing?

Maybe the act of the Senate is to deepen the nation’s democracy but that cannot be achieved by paying off the military and bribing a rival politicised structure of the military into ineffectiveness – what deepens democracy is accountability, responsibility, leadership and a modicum of common-sense.

I dare say, with this announcement, all those four qualities appear to be lacking in the Nigerian Senate and that is quite unfortunate.

Source

[1] » Ex-Heads of State Pension: Senate warns coup plotters::Vanguard (Nigeria)

[2] allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Senators Kick Against Remuneration for Ex-Military Rulers

[3] BBC News | AFRICA | Banks freeze more Abacha millions

Nigeria: Abba Abacha sues the Swiss for Nigerian loot

Speechless and more

I read it with a sharp intake of breath, the effrontery of it all, the shame-faced boldness of hereditary impunity that started from leaders the generation before ours, is perfected in their children and beyond belief in their offspring.

One can only wonder what drives these people, so despicable, exuding of privilege and unearned entitlement with the means to buy the hearts and souls of those who would pawn their beings for filthy lucre.

Yes, Abba Abacha, the son of the despotic and heinous Sani Abacha [1] who plundered Nigeria till she was bereft and squeezed her till her pips squeaked has taken the Swiss to court [2] to challenge the order to return ill-gotten assets to the tune of $350 million.

Brigandage to the extreme

It is conservatively assumed that Sani Abacha as Brigand-in-Chief robbed Nigeria of $2.2 billion, of which the family after his death returned about $700 million.

That was not in taxes and definitely not in restitution, they were just so blatantly open with their kleptomania the momentary tinge of guilt that extracted that return now seems to have faded away completely.

In making a claim for the return of the moneys, I would suppose Mr. Abba Abacha has hired a crack legal team that might be offering services on a no-win no-fee basis with their greed latched onto a percentage of the returns, if any.

The lies would amaze

The perjury, perfidy and falsehood that would consist the weight of evidence in this case might make the devil innocent, because one can only wonder what business activity or providence might have created this largesse of wealth for the Abacha family without any noticeable commercial entity to back the sources of the wealth.

The gall of it all is breathtakingly beyond belief, Abba Abacha has grown so accustomed to the bilking of Nigeria that he can see no wrong in having his hands on stolen moneys and is ready to defend to the utmost the right to be labeled a thief as his father so obviously was.

There was a time people would hang their heads in shame and not be seen in public for the disgrace of dishonesty, lies, treachery and distrust – now, if you have the money, you can never be wrong no matter how bad you have been.

Swiss roll him into jail

Mr. Abba Abacha has been refused a visa to Switzerland to attend the hearings, but I should expect if he does return, the Swiss should happily accommodate him in gaol on the technicality of having rescinded the suspended custodial sentence he received in November 2009.

Everyone has the right to fight for what is right, but this is wrong, it brings unnecessary opprobrium to an already battered reputation of Nigeria and Nigerians, he as a member of a criminal organisation now needs to face justice and hopefully the return of most of what allows him to strut about with outrageous arrogance.

Sources

[1] Sani Abacha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[2] BBC News - Son of Nigeria's Abacha challenges Swiss $350m order

Nigeria: General T. Y. Danjuma - a very influential Nigerian

Dished out willy-nilly

Some three weeks ago a very influential Nigerian revealed an interesting power dynamic in how the resources of Nigeria were profligately handed out without accountability or scrutiny.

This man was endowing $100 million to a foundation and revealed how he made $500 million in profit [1] from the allocation of an oil block tossed to him by the then Head of State, General Sani Abacha [2].

An oil block in the general sense is a prospect that requires surveys and analysis that might yield the possibility of oil and gas which can be exploited to its full potential for great profit.

Oil for money, gas for nought

Where there is the discovery of oil, the owner of the oil block might well have hit the jackpot, unfortunately, the dearth of imagination and professional ability has also left oil blocks abandoned if gas was discovered because the infrastructure in Nigeria has not been developed sufficiently to profit from gas exploration through to the market.

General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.) [3] was Chief of Army Staff in the 70s and the Minister of Defence between 1999 and 2003, but some 12 years ago he was influential enough to profit from the generosity of being tossed an oil block.

If he not being in government were able to get a piece of Nigeria’s resources without recourse to some due procedure by the big chief under whom power and authority is exerted for the Nigerian entire beyond any accountability, one can only wonder what those in power did and what everyone who could peddle influence could get in oil blocks and more.

A really lucky chap

The oil block that General Danjuma got was sold off on its potential for $1 billion and after paying off his dues, taxes and other matters he was left with $500 million profit that he could not find much to do with.

Many questions arise from this revelation of truth as to how Nigeria’s great fortunes and potential has been squandered off for patronage and the maintenance of power along with the quest for power by others who might want to have access to the means of doling out these resources for unspeakable amounts of wealth and amazing influence. [4]

Retired at 41

General Danjuma is 72, he had risen to the highest ranks in the army allowing him to retire at 41 – I would not suggest that he did not attain this position by merit and dint of hard work but it is rather exceptional that anyone anywhere in the world in whatever profession can retire at 41.

After retirement, he apparently did not sink into the background per se, he engaged in business activities that probably bought him some grief that he was readily able to have the sop of an oil block tossed to him by a Nigerian leader though not in our name.

It would be nice that some oil block were awarded for meritorious services to Nigeria as a whole, but no, this was all for personal enrichment at the expense of Nigerians, banditry attempting to gain respectability and even succeeding in Nigeria.

Half a billion with no sense

This oil block was award according to the time frame in 1998 and it was held on to for 10 years and sold in 2008 having not yet been exploited but having the potential persuading some other company to shell out $1 billion for it.

General Danjuma, a not so notable businessman in Africa somehow acquires liabilities totalling half a billion dollars – you wonder how he could have been under the radar for so long with no one realising he was a man of such considerable means.

Then with $500 billion in hand, this is cash in the bank, not assets as other businessmen are usually valued, he finds himself in a Midas dilemma; all this money and no sense of what to do with it – this again exemplifies the Nigerian story, so many resources, so much money, maybe so much talent but no wherewithal to do something wonderful and beneficial to the nation that supplied the means to be raped and plundered with impunity.

What oil does to Nigerian politics

Now, General Danjuma, revealed this as a microcosm of how Nigerian resources have been expended as well as the underlying psyche of why there is a quest for power by many interests that might make a grab for that power if they are not kept comfortable by sharing that largesse in a circle of the corrupt palliation of rivals and power bases.

There is no telling that this plunder continues under the stewardship of whoever is leader of the country even if it seems to be more transparent than during the military era, but a good deal of the people who claim to be leaders were once in the military, at least 3 of them have run for presidential office with one having ruled for 2 terms.

With this in the public domain, it is no wonder that there is unrest in the Niger Delta when people see the rich pickings that people with influence can take at the expense of the indigenes who suffer in squalor and penury.

It goes without saying that, if a non-player like General Danjuma could have access to an oil block and make so much money, many others would have made much more along with the usurpation that might have occurred exploiting the more viable oil blocks – the mind-boggling figures of over hundreds of billions made from oil but lost in the system cannot be far from the truth.

Prescription for good health to Nigeria too

Lest I forget, though I can no more find the source, it was General Danjuma who having fallen ill a few years ago got a prescription from his doctor to spend two weeks of recuperation in the French Riviera – now, that is a prescription I would want to swallow till I am overdosed; on the Nigerian people’s money to boot.

General Danjuma, is back in a position of great influence [5] advising the Acting President just because every Nigerian leader still has to have some influential retired general in the background to ward off other pretenders – despite this blot on General Danjuma’s seemingly questionable record, in all honesty, he is perhaps the most acceptable of all the other generals the Acting President had to choose from.

General Danjuma, was launching an endowment of $100 million to his foundation established to tackle health issues that might hopefully allow him and our comatose President to seek treatment in the country, one wonders if this is his purgatory presaging absolution.

He is left with $400 million that he could disburse to other worthy Nigerian causes and maybe persuade other looters of our resources to put something back into Nigeria or allow his children to squabble and destroy themselves fighting to be sole inheritors of the loot – such is the tragedy of power and money in Nigeria.

Sources

[1] I made $500 million from oil block -TY Danjuma

[2] Sani Abacha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[3] African Success : Biography of Yakubu Theophilus DANJUMA

[4] The Punch:: How Nigeria lost billions of naira to discretionary – Google advisory – harmful website

BBC News - Explosions hit Nigeria oil amnesty talks

FT.com / Comment - Observer: Hu and cry over Chinese oil deals – Comment in 2006 talking about the prospect of General Danjuma making $1 billion from the oil block he was gifted by General Sani Abacha.

The Nigerian tale of two oil blocks – Some additional background to how oil blocks were retained or usurped depending on who was wielding power and influence.

[5] Danjuma to Jonathan: Act now, time is short – After his appointment as chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council.

Pambazuka - Nigeria: Executive Director - T. Y. Danjuma Foundation (TYDF) – The foundation swings into action.

Apes Obey! With very little sense of veracity

The story has many more legs

When I declared that the story I wrote about in my last Apes Obey! Series probably still has legs, little did I know that it was a duo-decapod, in short, it is an octopus and a half with a possibility of growing a few more legs.

The CNN [1] must have read the whole story, seen the news interest but tried very hard to extract the information that would work with an international audience without ending up making it look like a spoof.

Much as I try to look for international and independent sources to corroborate and verify stories I read about Nigeria, in this case, the Nigerian angle of this story reads as the most incredible tale of stupidity, excess, abuse and neopatrimonialism [Refer to my last Apes Obey! blog about this].

A short history of Sam Edem

Mr. Samuel Edem was until recently the Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) [2] but was suspected and being investigated for fraudulent practices yet to be presented before a court of law. I have taken the liberty of printing to PDF [I acknowledge the source of the material from which the PDF was created to be from the NDDC website] format his corporate biography [3] from the NDDC site just in case changes in that organisation deprive us of access to this mine of information.

To go by his title, he is Ambassador Sam Edem, holds a Bachelor’s degree in French and a Masters in French Philosophy, he has at various times help two Deputy Director-General positions in the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has held a Special Duties portfolio in the Presidency.

He was also involved in restoring diplomatic relations with Canada – I did not know our relations were that soured except probably during the Sani Abacha [4] era, a task the biography says he performed excellently.

Ambassador to all and sundry

He was once ambassador to the Republics of Senegal, Rwanda and Burundi as well as the High Commissioner to the Republic of Uganda. His diplomatic brief has included liaising or working with diplomatic corps in the Kingdom of Belgium, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the European Union and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and he voluntarily retired from service in 2003 before he was called up to head the NDDC in 2005.

He is a Fellow of the National War College which has since been renamed to the National Defence College[5] and he is supposed to have been honoured with over 200 awards, having been selective about the awards his receives which include the l'Ordre du lion du Sénégal as well as being a Friend and Patron of the Yitzhak Rabin Centre [6] in Israel.

A Christian with his name written in gold

In the words of the corporate biography which appear here verbatim – “he has brought his wealth of experience from the public service to bear and undoubtedly proven to be a quintessential administrator, a strategic planner, and a conflict manager. There, his tenure has heralded tremendous improvement in the region. Indeed, his panache at work is common knowledge and has transcended the entire commission”.

This man is well travelled having been to over a hundred countries, is the son of a pastor of African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church who was also the Chairman, Nsit County Council and his mother was Deaconess of the church and a fashion designer of her time.

Ambassador Edem is a devout Christian who “with modesty, humility, diligence and discipline as his guiding principles; he has written his name in gold!”

A man of achievement, it seems

I could not write a better biography of a man in a corporate setting that reads more like sycophantic praise-singing so obsequious to the point that it could be sick-making.

That is however beside the point; it would appear that this man has an enviable biography that gives him the qualities by merit and experience to hold the brief of Chairman of the NDDC and he really had his work cut out.

But can anyone tell me after reading his biography why as a career diplomat with global experience he could not get on with his managing director that he wanted the man dead?

Recklessly burning money

Ambassador Edem engaged the services of a witch-doctor [7] who went by the name of ‘Dr.’ Perekabowei Ogah who was to ensure the death of the NDDC Managing Director, Timi Alaibe and ensure that he, Edem had a steady flow of contracts from the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio.

Ambassador Edem’s offices would have been based in Port-Harcourt and he was concerned with activities in far-away Akwa Ibom for his personal purposes.

Having agreed a contract sum of N570 million ($4.79m), N310 million ($2.60m) was first paid to ‘Dr.’ Ogah with a balance of N260 million ($2.19m), but eventually the ‘Doctor’ was paid N800 million ($6.72m) in total.

Rituals were conducted in a public cemetery and one of the more bizarre activities at the cemetery included bathing in the ashes of N270 million ($2.27m) – read that again, Ambassador Edem set fire to $2.27 million cash, gathered the ashes and had a bath in those ashes in a cemetery – even Stephen King cannot come up with a tale this twisted.

No refunds for failure

Despite this hocus-pocus activity by a devout Christian and Christianly man engaging the services of an accomplished con-man masquerading as a powerful witch doctor, Mr. Timi Alaibe the Managing Director of the NDDC did not keel over and die.

An aggrieved Ambassador Edem then sought a refund of his money and on failing to get anything back filed a complaint with the police accusing ‘Dr.’ Ogah of fraud; that is how the cat was let out of the bag and apparently, Ambassador Edem has not denied any part of the crazy, incredible and seriously amazing story.

In what I would call a first for ThisDayOnline.com a columnist has gone on to try and analyse the whole situation [7] about people employed in public service, the abuse of power, the misappropriation of public funds and the use of fetish practices to settle office squabbles.

Lord Lugard did say then, “In character and temperament, the typical African of this race-type is a happy, thriftless, excitable person; lacking in self-control, discipline, and foresight; naturally courageous, and naturally courteous and polite, full of personal vanity, with little sense of veracity, fond of music and loving weapons as an oriental loves jewellery”.

One is left with a number of questions

How does a seemingly intelligent and accomplished man get all tied up in this kind of nonsense?

Where did the man get all these sums of money considering there is no mention of his being a businessman in the biography, detail that can never be left out of a biography written in Nigeria?

Ambassador was serving a 5-year tenure representing Akwa Ibom State, if he does get removed as the Chairman of the NDDC would this position move to a candidate from the same state for the remaining 2 years of the tenure or would the candidate from Bayelsa State resume early?

With little sense of veracity

The sad tale is how the public persona of an accomplished diplomat who is considered a philanthropist, pillar of society and devout Christian is completely different from a private life of fetish and animistic rituals which defy every form of logic.

A man put in a position of great trust and responsibility, holding such high office who really is a crook, a fraud, lacking in integrity and self-serving selfish megalomaniac – a leader with very little sense of veracity – it is the most damning assessment that can be made of a distinguished career that has come to disrepute, disgrace and naught.

[1] Nigerian official accused of hiring witch doctor - CNN.com

[2] NNDC - Niger Delta Development Commission homepage

[3] The Chairman - Corporate Biography on NNDC

[4] Sani Abacha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

[5] allAfrica.com: Sourced from Daily Trust - Nigeria: Senate Renames National War College

[6] About the Centre - The Yitzhak Rabin Centre (I cannot find any record of Ambassador Edem being either a friend or patron of the centre and only the American have formed a society of Friends of the Centre.)

[7] allAfrica.com: Sourced from This Day - Nigeria: How Sam Edem Story Mirrors the Country Tragedy

Adedibu, Half of Ibadanland, the man is no more

Is it really dead?

Ten years ago, when I was informed that the despot General Sani Abacha had died, I was walking off Tottenham Court Road into Goodge Street, the street itself looking for a place to sit down because the story was unbelievable.

I also asked for the meat left behind to be slapped with the best side of a shovel just to be sure that he had really departed.

Earlier in this evening, I caught a whiff of news that Alhaji Lamidi Akanbi Ariyibi Adedibu, half of Ibadanland that the uninitiated erroneously describes as one person had kicked the bucket but I was not sure the cat had exhausted its nine lives and did not have a joker life to spare – well, it would appear he had used them all up.

The legacy of works reviled

Probably all that can be written about Alhaji Adedibu has been written that speak no good of a man so bad that the mourning of his demise unleashed thugs on the streets of Ibadan – the evil men do does live after them.

But like a beach whale, the evil he unleashed in Ibadanland shall slowly have live ebb out of it till he becomes part of the unpalatable history of Yorubaland.

Once again, there may be many who would not speak evil of the dead, they should not at the same time speak lies of this man, there was no reason to revere him apart from the perversity of the patriarchy of old age, but that is Nigeria..

He was an unconscionable menace, an executive hoodlum with the basest intents and a thorn in the sides of everything that tried to rise as progress in Yoruba politics.

Gone and well gone

At the death of Chief A. M. A. Akinloye last year, a man whose legacy includes nurturing people of Adedibu’s ilk it would appear the only notoriety they had not gained was that of immortality.

The man shall be committed to earth tomorrow, as a Muslim, on the 15^th anniversary of the June 12^th nullification of democratic results debacle; we might well begin to rid ourselves of those whose presence has haunted Nigerian for decades, who in death shall have gone forever.

However, I write this to bury Alhaji Adedibu not to praise him, but he would only be so well eulogised in lyrics of the musician (Alhaji Odolaiye Aremu) who praised him years ago – he summed up the man in words I cannot better.

The tribute

Adedibu, half of Ibadanland that the uninitiated erroneously describes as one person

Death that taunts before it strikes

Wicked man per excellence

The son of a witch who buys on credit and still demands a bargain

The man who deliberately harms and yet commiserates with his victim

The man who owes you and you dare not ask to be repaid

The heir rejects his inheritance, Adedibu appropriates it

Akanbi who demands two pence from a man with only two and a half pence

Adedibu went to the Ibadan city centre and came back with several chickens

He did not buy them (the chickens),

He did not steal them (the chickens),

And nobody gave them (the chickens) to him as gifts,

The chickens just ran into a monumental calamity!

Nigeria: Old Dishonest Generals Praise Abacha

Speaking lies of the dead

I can understand the sentiment that one should not speak ill of the dead, probably from the premise that the dead cannot defend themselves when something untoward has been said about them – in some circles it is just good manners.

However, just because one should not speak ill of the dead, it does not confer the opportunity to blatantly lie about the dead in some revisionist poise towards the past.

I am getting worried about how memorial or remembrance events in Nigeria provide a forum for partying, but the speech givers then provide a slant of history that would almost always be too far from the truth to be credible.

In March 2008, a gathering of “elder statesmen” and I use that moniker liberally because there are only a few for the memorial of the elder brother of our current President left us breathless with incredulity as the speakers chose the occasion to castigate each other.

Memorial curses on Abacha

So, this weekend, remembrance prayers were said for General Sani Abacha celebrating – if that could ever be right – 10 years of his death, which occurred marking the culmination of his rule of 5 years in 1998.

I think it is common knowledge that Abacha’s reign was probably the worst ever leader inflicted on Nigeria and basically he was a despot of the most maligned order.

As these occasions go, some ex-leaders were invited to these prayers that included General Muhammadu Buhari and General Ibrahim Babangida – rather than say their prayers and move on, they went to on suggest that General Sani Abacha never looted the national treasury.

Lies, blatant lies

General Babangida had this to say about Abacha as a “courageous, loyal and honest military head of state who stood for the unity and development of the country during his years in government; it is not true that he looted public treasury. I knew who Abacha was because I was close to him”.

Repeating himself to make the point even more clearly, he said, “Abacha was a courageous person who stood firmly in handling the affairs of the country during his regime. There is no doubt, during his administration as head of state, Abacha contributed his best to the nation’s economy which we are still enjoying”.

General Babangida must be suffering the first indications of dementia with the possibility that amnesia has set in because as the news report indicates, he had a different view of Abacha in 2000.

Unfortunately, General Buhari also suggested that the idea that Abacha looted the treasury was baseless, with which he has suddenly lost any credibility he ever had.

The man who took over from Abacha, General Abdulsalami Abubakar who first had the task of cleaning out the Abacha Aegean Stables now contends the Vision 2020 initiative draws inspiration from Abacha’s Vision 2010.

Are these all lies?

I would not propound any further theories about this apart from asking these men, about the following:

The millions returned by ministers in Abacha’s government, this happened under his watch. (BBC).

The return of $500 million by the Swiss banks all related to Abacha, his family and his associates. (Swissinfo.ch)

The press briefing in 2005 with the World Bank President, Mr. Paul Wolfowitz and the then Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on the repatriation of Abacha funds. (The World Bank)

The questions raised by President Olusegun Obasanjo where he opined that the Abacha family cannot have legitimately worked to earn $100 million of disputed funds. (Global Policy Forum)

The way London might have been implicated in the possible transfer of more than $4 billion by the Abacha regime which named 15 London banks. (BBC)

One cannot list the many other sources but these should be authoritative enough to indicate that General Sani Abacha was implicated, involved and instrumental to a number of deals that took money out of Nigeria illegally.

Exterminate this vermin, forthwith

I would suppose the three Generals would contend that General Abacha was keeping all this in trust for Nigeria in high-interest numbered Swiss accounts.

These generals must think Nigerians are fools who have no recollection of the past or of the facts.

It saddens me that we still have this ilk of people able to say things like this and get away with it and it makes me regret that we did not have a Nigerian Jerry Rawlings to rid us of atrocious military generals who have squandered every good thing about Nigeria for their own ends.

Ghana does not have an old Acheampong, Afrifa or Akuffo to revise history with dishonest intent, it is time we did not have a Shagari, Buhari, Babangida, Abubakar or Obasanjo coming out of the woodwork to mess up Nigerian history well after they had messed up Nigeria during their tenures in government, I would spare General Yakubu Gowon.

If these people cannot retire and keep quiet then it is probably time to make them forcibly depart their mortal coils, Nigeria cannot continue to countenance this sort of thing.

Yar'Adua memorial gathers the wreckers of Nigeria

The Preamble

Sometimes the simple reporting of news of an event contains a bit more than what people observe for their entertainment, so ThisDay reported this event.

One such event took place recently at a memorial lecture in honour of the late Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, the elder brother of the current President of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

I must note that there is a Nigerian parlance used to describe sibling relationships where senior is used instead of the more correct elder and junior is used instead of younger – so as the report states, Shehu was Umaru’s senior brother.

One could almost say someone was out to cause mischief by inviting certain friends of the late Shehu, Tafidan Katsina (traditional title) to that commemoration.

Because that crowd included the erstwhile President General Olusegun Obasanjo, his vice-President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih – that post is now occupied by Obasanjo.

What brings these men together is the fact that Shehu Yar’Adua was in period between 1976 and 1979 the military deputy of Obasanjo and when the seeds of political governance were being sown during the military era, Shehu Yar’Adua was the leader of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) the precursor to the currently ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Shehu Yar’Adua met an untimely death in jail having been incarcerated by the despotic Sani Abacha regime for insisting the military regime restore democratic institutions.

That gathering was to honour this man and reflect on “The challenges of Nation Building” with the guest of honour being President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.

Barbs of speech

Whoever created the programme of events was really courting mischief because first of all there was the opening prayer, a staple for any Nigerian gathering which called Anenih to the fore whose prayer included words to the effect – “Thank God for the President we have now. We pray that God will give you the courage, wisdom and political will to clear the rot you inherited from the previous administration.” - The head of the previous administration that held office for 8 years was Obasanjo.

Obasanjo then stepped forward to give a welcome address and said, “Some people stood by the late Tafida in his hour-of-need, while some chose to abandon him.”, referring to times when an Anenih clique clamoured for the despotic regime of Sami Abacha to continue amidst the suffering of Nigerians.

He went on to say, “Yar’Adua unites Nigerians even in death, because here today, there are people who, ordinarily, would not like to sit together,” and “If not for Yar’Adua, those seated here would not be here to talk of corrupting themselves or self aggrandisement.” - Signifying the relationship breakdown between all the men for which each man would have been culpable; the anti-graft agency had set its sights on some of them and none can really show transparently and honestly audited sources of their great wealth.

Then Abubakar had his turn to talk and said, “The late Tafidan Katsina would not use power to terrorise any body”, no doubt a reference to Obasanjo.

Conduct and decorum

In any polite gathering and society, one would expect that when people congregate to honour someone, especially, one who is dead at a memorial lecture, common courtesy would allow for the proceedings to concentrate on honouring the man.

One is ashamed that people who at one time held the reins of power in Great Nigeria and who should have progressed to the status of elder statesmen worthy of their calling and conducting themselves with dignity resorted to intemperate barbs, venting their enmity in public and consumed in malice, spite, rancour, pride and dissimulation.

However, this meeting clearly shows the problems that have plagued Nigeria for decades and they are not off the horizon of pulling Nigerian down into the dregs.

Partnership and loyalty

The first issue that comes to mind is the fact that too many leaders have started projects together for leading Nigeria to some Utopian goal.

Along the line, selfish and vested interests, self-preservation and an unprincipled goal of raping Nigeria and its resources rather than governing Nigeria to a place of world prosperity and power has beclouded the false ideals that brought the people together in the first place.

Loyalty only comes out of corrupting influence, patronage and nepotism, where these are absent there is no unity of purpose, because the core unity of purpose was to gain power and then abuse it.

Obasanjo as much as acknowledged the issue of loyalty, Abubakar highlighted the abuse of partnership and Anenih showed there were great divisions in that project they were all involved in.

Corruption

That is a topic that is already overworked but note the rot that Anenih indicates the government he was part of created, and Obasanjo’s acknowledgement of the malaise of corruption and the gall of people to show up as saintly politicians is no so much a revelation but the way things are.

Power tripping

The abuse of power is no better demonstrated than when some obese buffoon with unaudited sources of wealth bellows at someone else saying, “Do you know who I am?”

By inference, it indicates that the person is willing to terrorise, would employ the means of menace having an army of hoodlums who fall in line to his caprices to take the law into their hands and get away scot free.

They have abridged legal process, appropriated law enforcement and given themselves to the use of litigation to gain undue advantage with legalese that makes Nigeria a fierce jungle of big dog eat small dog, every time - the little man simply has no one to run to for justice, fairness and probity - all the avenues for redress have been clogged up by these power trippers.

These self-same rotten politicians have used every bad rule to retain power, frustrate process, disenfranchise the electorate and allocate Nigerian resources to their own selfish intents. If they fall into areas of leadership that demand the separation of powers, they undermine the other institutions that are supposed to give governance balance and hold each sector of power in check.

There could not have been a worse but also glaringly representative gathering of people who having no maturity should really be in line for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBO) beyond which they should be committed to trial for the way they have raped Nigerian and refused to let Nigeria free from their rotten grips so that the country can progress.

Respect

The lack of respect for peers, the lack of manners in formal settings, the lack of respect for authority and the lack of respect for the dead are just some of the atrocious attitudes these horrible men displayed.

To crown it all, when the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria came to address the gathering Obasanjo refused to honour the President by keeping seated.

Someone should have gone to him, pulled him up and thrown him out of the gathering. There is only one President and Commander-in-Chief in Nigeria and all powers or potentates, no matter their previous office must defer to that authority.

It simply shows how Obasanjo handled his office with levity and does not understand the judicious use of power and authority to the greater good, it beggars belief that this man was once in the army because he would not have gotten away with such insurbordination to his military superiors.

Such pride consumes the whole body polity of Nigeria, people cannot defer, they cannot give way, they have to be heard, they have to be melodramatic and they cannot arrive at consensus for the good of the many.

Each has to create their own clique, each has to rival the other for ascendancy and it is all a fight to the finish or the death in many cases.

Expressing disappointment in Obasanjo cannot begin to illustrate my disgust, but that meeting just showed how the challenge of nation building would never be achieved in the lifetimes of these kind of people – It is all a shame, it is.