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So General Sani Abacha, the one who ruled Nigerians with violent anger and
intense dislike, did not loot the treasury after all. So General Sani Abacha,
the one who held Nigerians in contempt, did serve
Nigeria well. So General Sani
Abacha, whom Transparency International labelled as the fourth corrupt leader
in the world, was not corrupt after all. This simply means that Nigerians have
been telling lies about the late General whom they often described as a thief;
even a murderer and a rogue.
Three former military Heads of State – Generals
Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar – described the
allegations of looting against the late General Sani Abacha as baseless. According
to newspaper reports, Babangida, whose reign helped legalise bribery and
corruption, said that Abacha was courageous, loyal and honest leader. “I was
close to him so I knew who Abacha was. His regime has brought positive changes
to the country which everyone should emulate”.
In his own eulogy, Abubakar who lumped together all
the political parties without clear ideology, praised the late General for
initiating the vision 2010, saying “the recent economic mission of the present
administration termed as vision 2020 was replica of General Abacha’s vision
2010 initiative”. Probing past administration, in Abubakar’s view, will not
yield anything positive to the nation and should be discouraged. Buhari, who
served under Abacha as Chairman of the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), also
described allegations of looting against Abacha as lacking basis. “Ten years
without the late Abacha, the said allegations remain silent because there are
no facts,” said Buhari. In 1983, the General backdated an existing law to
execute two drug pushers.
First, it is because of prankish minds like these
three Generals that inspired my article, “Making
Corruption Nigeria’s Traditional Value” in which the main theme centred on
the fact that corruption is no longer a big deal in
Nigeria. The three former Heads of
State still believe Abacha did not loot the treasury despite the fact that
millions of dollars were found in his accounts scattered all over the world.
How much then should be recovered to convince these Generals that Abacha was a
big thief? Oh, there’s honour among thieves (apology to General Chief
Evangelist Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo).
Last
month, the Swiss government said it has returned all monies stolen by Abacha to
Nigeria.
“Giving a breakdown of the monies returned, the Charge d'Affairs of the Embassy
of Switzerland, Mr. Fabio Baiardi, at a recent press conference in Abuja, said
that a first instalment of $290 million was transferred on September 1, 2005; a
second instalment of $168 million on December 19, 2005 and $40 million was
transferred at the end of January
2006”
(Guardian Newspaper 2008-06-09).
If Abacha was not a thief as insinuated by the
former Generals, then Abacha’s family should sue all those who have been
fuelling the rumour that Abacha was a big time thief. Maryam Abacha who has
continued to defend her husband should not relent on her efforts until she
finds justice for her lovely hubby. Madam should especially single out that Owu
man who in 2002 lied against the family by saying that it was a "hard
decision for him to enter a compromise deal with the Abacha family to refund
over $1 billion or 80 per cent of their liquid asset in exchange for freedom
from litigation". Hum, did Abacha family enter a compromise deal with
Obasanjo or not?
Thus
if Abacha did not loot the national treasury, then Obasanjo, Babangida, David
Mark and the rest are also innocent. And this, I suspect, may be the theme of
the Generals’ rambling. Watch out. Perhaps the three Generals had chosen the
tenth anniversary lecture in memory of the late Head of State to remind the
nation that probe will never curb corruption in the land where it is generally
accepted. Perhaps they were trying to remind us that corruption or not, the
nation is doomed. Perhaps they were trying to tell the nation the fact already
known: that corrupt elements will always be at the helm of affairs in
Nigeria.
I
am sure that if dark-goggle Abacha had lived, he would be walking the
Nigeria Street with
the pride of a locust like the rest of them. No one would be able to establish a case of
corruption against him as observed by Buhari. Now I understand Madam Abacha’s
need to defend her husband that he was not corrupt. She might be saying, if my
husband was corrupt, why is it that most of his ministers have not been
prosecuted. She might argue further that, since most of those who served under
her dear husband are still ruling this country today, then it is unfair to
single him out for corruption.
Nigerians
should continue to read between their rulers’ lips. By eulogising Abacha, the three “wise” Generals
are indirectly writing their own eulogy. Smart Generals indeed! They are
re-writing our history, and boldly telling us that we are naïve, stupid and
forgetful. They are saying that in a country like
Nigeria,
everyone should aspire to be like Sani Abacha who ruled
Nigeria “well”.
They are saying that Nigerians are morons for not recognising Abacha’s indelible
contributions to the development of
Nigeria. They are saying that it
was their citizens’ right to hijack the government and ruled with absolute
authority. They are saying that………
I
am afraid that Buhari, Babangida and Abubakar are deliberately drumming the
drum of ethnic jingoism by publicly declaring that Sani Abacha served
Nigeria well. I
could see a mischievous gleam in their mouth as all they did was give us a load
of gobbledygook. They are technically slapping the people in the face by
implying that Abacha did not loot the public treasury. They are systematically
making Abacha the symbol of our collective intelligence. They are saying
clearly that it’s unfair to call Abacha a thief in an era when thieves roam the
corridor of power with impunity – in
Nigeria. But they have only succeeded
in digging their own grave.
What
do these incorrigible Generals want to achieve by calling us fools? They might
be using Abacha to exonerate themselves from similar accusation. They might be
using him to further hogwash Obasanjo’s eight-year war on corruption. It might
be their own ways of calling Obasanjo a hypocrite. There are just many
interpretations to their combative and unsmooth speech. But, why are they
defending Abacha ten years after his death? Why did they wait so long? Obasanjo
must be ashamed of himself for setting the possible pace in which these Generals
exploited to portray Abacha as a good leader. Although Obasanjo is one of them,
it shouldn’t be a yardstick to champion Abacha’s cause, or defend him with
brazen arrogance like they had done.
Am
I taken aback that Buhari, Babangida and Abubakar chose to defend their comrade
in crime in such a sickeningly sugary tone? No, because they are definitely the
same "feathers of the same bird" that must flock together. The
audacity of these three northern Generals to dance naked at the market has
confirmed that
Nigeria
is being ruled by a Mafia Gang who would continue to destabilise our minds for
the next twenty years. Before his death, Alhaji Wada Nas, Abacha adviser and
apologist, predicted that the military would continue to rule us for two more
decades. Now it might be longer than he had predicted.
These
insensitive Generals are definitely living in the past if they think they could
successfully use esprit de corps to wangle and weaken our minds further. Even
if these Generals were drunk at the time they made the speech, they should have
since become sober, tendered their sincere apology to Nigerians. If it was meant
to be a joke, then it was a joke carried too far. I am certain of one thing
though. If
Nigeria
had a Jerry Rawlings, the three Generals and their ilk would not be here
abusing the system to insult us further. Allah kuku dey!
Copyright
2008
mysmallvoice@yahoo.com
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Authors 
Posted by Robot| 11.06.2008 11:44