Dances With Wolves !!!

This is not about the call of the wild. Neither, is it about the predators of East Africa’s Serengeti National Wildlife project. Rather, it is about our country, Nigeria. About the metamorphosis of men into Wolves: the menacing and marauding creatures that have turned the country into the Serengeti of the West African sub-region. It is the story of the theatre of animals, territorial boundaries, the absolutism of power, madness and intrigues. It is also a story of compelling absurdity of the extreme kind. Come with me.

Long before Obasanjo declared that he was a born-again Christian and democrat, long before we were told that he was the most famous son of Egbaland, and long before Vice President Atiku revealed that Obasanjo had committed more than 127 impeachable offences, it was a public secret that Aso-Rock, the seat of the nation’s power and symbol of the presidency is not what it is claimed to be. That it is occupied by a degenerate and twisted bunch and that for the most part, Nigerians have been dancing with Wolves! There is much more. Aso-Rock is a cesspool of crime and corruption, exacerbated by the madness and arrogance of power.

In 1999, at his inauguration, Obasanjo positioned himself as a populist who was going to deal decisively with widespread corruption and the entrenched culture of ineptitude and mediocrity that was eating deep into the fabric of the country’s institutions and offices. Long before that speech, tinged with the cacophony of a car salesman and the lamentations of pastors in buses, danfos and molues plying Lagos city roads , there was no telling if he was going to be the architect-in-chief of the Odi and Zaki-Biam massacres, our own little holocaust. Long before he was pardoned, became an ex-convict and long before that, we never could have guessed that this swash- buckling ex-general had grand designs for Nigeria that eluded even the most seasoned eyes of the crystal ball gazers. Long before Obasanjo’s second coming as a reformed politician, democrat and farmer from Ota, we would never have envisioned the depths to which the country’s name, pride, psyche and status would be submerged in scandals, assassinations, more corruption, intrigues, mofas-gate and Atikutapes, shenanigans of every contraption and the darkroom dealings of psychopaths and atavistic hounds in the underground labyrinths of Nigeria’s political caves and taverns.

After 8 years of one of the most polarizing, most divisive and most destructive reins by an elected Nigerian leader, the country’s long and winding road to self renewal or recovery will be standing before an asterisk that will be bold, large and unmistakable as that of Aso-Rock. However, before this self renewal or recovery begins to unfold, we must ask ourselves some hard questions as Nigerians: where were we all these years when our dear country was put up for sale to the highest bidder? And what were we thinking all this time? But the hardest question of all is, whatever happened to our own National Assembly?

Yes, Our National Assembly. The National Assembly, where the nation’s elected representatives are supposed to congregate to deliberate on the nation’s common good. The National Assembly, the pride of our people, the legislative arm of our government and symbol of our fledging ( or crippling) democracy. Are the members of this revered institution keeping tab of the nation’s pulsating heart? Do these self-styled eminent and respected members of the House and Senate hear what the rest of us have been hearing and seeing these past 8 years? Do they listen to the local news? Do they not see the national wreckage and evidence of shame called the Ore-Benin road? Do they not visit their constituencies to see the frustrations of the people? Do they not feel the depths of despair busting at the seams in the back waters of our villages, towns and cities? Do they not worry about the manipulation of our democracy and the systematic clamp down on our collective freedoms? Are they not concerned about Obasanjo’s purported sale of the nation’s plump assets to himself, members of his family, his oversea front men, his brigade of OEW’s (Obasanjo Ego Worshipers) his retinue of experienced society women and concubines? Do they not hear the whispers, the rumors about the Obasanjo Connection also known as the Obasanjo and Andrew Young Goldmines? These eminent men and women, are they listening to the famous or infamous Atiku tapes? How about the thousands of impeachable offences the Vice President says Obasanjo is guilty of? The Vice President ought to know. Is he not the number two man in the country? Is he just blowing a spiraling thick black smoke for all to watch? To think that this spiraling black smoke is some amazing work of art is nauseating enough and the National Assembly’s collective silence or seeming indifference to these serious counter allegations against the President of Nigeria is the most disheartening and gregarious disservice to the nation by our law makers. What, if any, are the law makers afraid of?

This collective silence or seeming indifference invokes the tales of mafia operatives and their infamous pledges to be mute and feign ignorance. Perhaps, it is all woven into the theory that our law makers are all beneficiaries of Obasanjo’s sale of the country. That our National Assembly is really not a legislative branch of government at all, that it is the stealing arm of government. If our law makers are the men of principles, convictions and unbridled courage that they claim they are, their failure to take action against a president accused of that many impeachable offences until now attest to why our democracy has been in the intensive care unit for 8 years and why it may never recover despite all the fake therapies and medicines it has been forced to take these past harrowing years.

Now, would it not be wise and the prudent thing to do, for the National Assembly to allow Obasanjo sell the whole of Nigeria to the British again or the United States? Did not Gov. Sam Mbakwe of blessed memory (Imo state) advise us to let the British come rule us again? These countries are still in need of overseas territories you know. After all, how much can we be worth now that even the Niger-delta is being rapidly polluted and her people going to be eventually put away in concentration camps by the Army, Navy and Air Force! Haven’t terrorism, MEND and the militants devalued the oil fields? Well, according to the Atiku tapes, Obasanjo may have already sold the whole of Nigeria. You never know what is in the agenda of the National Assembly and Obasanjo when you are dancing with that mix of deadly Wolves.

It is my earnest hope that our National Assembly and the executive leadership of our country have not conspired to do a grave damage to our country. At the same time, I am equally troubled by the accusations raised by Atiku; accusations that in most cases seem to be substantiated by proof beyond reasonable doubt. Accusations that neither the President nor his handlers have yet to deny. All that the President’s men have been doing is to wage a war of attrition, perhaps hoping that Atiku will go away. Their strategy so far is to show Nigerians that in any fight, the offense is the best defense. For all we know, the Vice President is not a saint. However, the onus is on the President, more so than the Vice to clear his name for the sake of putting a stamp of credibility in his fight against corruption. It is not enough to brand Atiku the only devil in Aso-Rock but not explain the amazing transformation of Ota farms and the Obasanjo business conglomerate in just 8 years. It is in Obasanjo’s interest to explain the disconnect between the geometric progression of his farm and business empire and the poverty and destitution that is strewn across all of Nigeria. And why this purported feat of magical business and personal transformation has not been applied to the governance of Nigeria? For the avoidance of the nation’s doubt, Obasanjo’s credibility and standing as an international statesman will be better served if he can tell how much he was worth in 1999 and that he is not the trillionaire we all think he is now. It is important for Nigerians to know that nobody has sold them into slavery and that Atiku is just throwing around a pre-election season joke that is both costly and uncalled for.

Obasanjo’s attempt to claim a higher moral ground, that his fight with Atiku is between good and evil, between right and wrong, between the saint and the devil can be put to rest if he can defend only half of Atikus’s accusations with convincing proof. Until otherwise proven, the consensus is out that Aso-Rock and the National Assembly are all connected to the feature movie called “Abuja Vice and the Fall of Nigeria” coming to Nigerian home theatres any time soon. For now, we believe that the devil is in the details of the script of this up coming block buster movie! But our prayers for divine intervention may very well cause this tragic movie not to be. Talk about optimism.

Minnesota, USA