Red Carpet for Unrepentant Rapists

By Hakeem Babalola

Playing a joke has now become a political expression in an attempt to sway the voters. Writers, crawlers, politicians, comedians also use practical joke to evoke the spirit of truth. Of course joking is not bad in its effectual healing. It’s funny and laughable, for example, to hear the joke about the giraffe with a sore throat. But to hear that some educated Nigerians are yearning for the return of the military has gone beyond a joke. Such thought is to me wholly repugnant.

Funny, isn’t it? The most repulsive among these rapists has responded in kind by trying to play upon our intelligence – again. He has eventually admitted committing rape, but that he had to do it not because he wanted to ravish rather it was an urge he could not resist. Then he pleaded with the jury to tamper justice with mercy. He promised the members of the jury that, upon release he would compensate those he alleged to have raped. He knelt and bowed his head in supplication with declaration: “I shall become a born again and marry my victims.” Beware of him, for such sombre formulation is nothing but a rhetoric masking vicious exploitation.      

Now if Nigeria were Ghana and Obasanjo were to be Jerry Rawlings, the likes of Gowon, Obasanjo, Buhari, Babangida, Abacha, Dogonyaro, Bali, Diya, Abdusalam and their ilk would be lined up and executed like armed robbers. But Nigerians are matured enough to have let emotion overwhelmed their intellectual perception. Armed robbery is different from armed military. Although both seem to be ruthless in their consumption of their victims, the latter still command respect – even from the town highbrowed.

Sadly, euphoria has ghosted certain quarters where the residents are now offering some tongue-in-cheek advice about begging the boys to play their finest tune – martial music – again.  It is enough assault seeing martial singers roaming the street with the pride of a locust how much more hearing them sing Nigeria blues. A certain martial singer is now flashing his deceitful gap tooth by spraying his bullets of foot soldiers to create a brand new kind of song. 

And some yeye commentators are being cajoled to dance along like zombie. It is difficult for me to know why those Nigerians who sit comfortably in America or Britain would like to move us back by calling for any military dictator to rule us – again. Even a stark illiterate wo/man knows there should be no room for a Buhari or any other goons – never again.

Cracking jokes may also be a weapon for acceptance.  One Ayuba once ranted and raved about June 12, 1993 election saying “the main actor of the controversy, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida is set to release a “bombshell” on brains behind the annulment. Very soon, and I mean very soon, IBB will come out to name the Southerners, especially the Yorubas who insisted the election should be annulled”.

Two years after, his boss has not dimmed it fit to mention a person to that effect.  Ayuba's ranting was a singularly brilliant and cunning manoeuvre on his part.  All I can tell Ayuba and other camarilla jostling to rule us again is that Nigerians now know they achieved their original dominance by stealth. We now know they are men of diabolical cunning. We now know they have been taking us for a long ride – to nowhere in particular.

What Nigerian juntas have done to their motherland was nothing but egocentrically display of youthful exuberance culminated in childish game. They are like babies concerned only with how warm or cold they are and when they will next be fed. Theirs are not only selfishness; it is rapacity of highest order. And their belligerent attitude toward the country they had sworn to protect will never be forgotten.   

These groups of conspirators have yet to come up with genuine policy other than lies upon lies since Independence Day. Or was it not their promise – whenever they usurped power – to revive the economy? What is the state of the economy today? Now they want to exploit the sweat of the progressives; they want to benefit from the institution they have childishly messed up. Hum…Before his death in 2005, Minister for Special Duties under Sani, Alhaji Wada Nas, predicted that the military would rule us for another twenty years. It means 19 more years! I hope Wada Nas was also cracking jokes when he said that.

Upon their personal traits that had made them unpopular, the coup plotters are still much around disguising under democratic dispensation. That is why they need errand boys (royal fathers, journalists, writers, soldiers, professors etc) to distort history. That is why a Babangida would play with words saying, "I didn't annul June 12, 1993 election, I only cancelled it" (Sun Online Sept. 22). I imply as a possibility to take these cabals, especially Ibrahim as comedians who have lost the aura of making the audience laugh. Perhaps Nigeria needs to introduce ostracism, the institution that one Cleistheness is said to have introduced in Athens , whereby the city for a temporary period expelled those of its citizens whose superiority was such that there was a danger of it exposing the city to a divine vengeance in the form of tyranny.

Lack of formidable opposition is one reason why the juntas still get red carpet from the toady who creep along the ground for the leftover meatloaf. Gone were the days of opposition in Nigeria when men and women discussed – at least. Today coarse unprincipled men and women have turned the nation into extreme emotional disturbance where the strong pummel the weak. Nigeria must be missing people like Aminu Kano, Obafemi Awolowo, Waziri Ibrahim, Nnamdi Azikwe, and others. Although they made silly mistake by allowing the military boys to have taken over the administration of Nigeria , the political scene did not generate into comics arena or killing fields as we are witnessing now.

Today’s “opposition” does not know what the word entails. They do the talk but not the action. The same thing could be said of the intellectuals in the country. They have been using their intellect to confuse us instead of enlighten us. In one breath they would say: rise up and fight for your right. Tomorrow they would say: fighting against motherland is aberration. Let them make up their mind.

Let the opposition live up to their name. They should embark on programmes design to mobilise the entire nation, especially the uneducated ones. Nigeria needs the opposition to help inspire its citizens on how to choose a beneficial candidate. They should adopt grass root techniques that would eventually bring awareness to the poverty-stricken masses who barely understand their voting rights. Apart from the opposition, eminent Nigerians should take it upon themselves in order to free the citizens from apparent slavery.

Nigerians should come out in full force to prevent military this, military that from taking the baton from Obasanjo, the same khaki boy who deliberately handed over power to the “least” qualified candidate in 1979. I suggest this method simply because the juntas will never surrender its wealth and power willingly. It is up to the opposition to amass whatever in their disposal against these coup plotters who are extremely resistant to positive change. Anything sort of this would be like rolling a red carpet for the most callous and unrepentant rapists. 

Robot  Villager

# 1 ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 25.09.2006 14:12

Abraxas  Villager

# 2 Hi, folks! I am confident that within the next decade, or earlier, when the likes of Generals Gowon, Obasanjo, Buhari, Babangida, and Abdulsalami Abubakar would be between their mid-70s and mid-80s, that is if they would still be alive by then, it should be possible for Nigerians to take a cue from the experiences of their friends in Latin America, especially from Chile, and bring all former Nigerian military dictators and their civilian collaborators to justice, and if need be, teach one or two of them some lessons in life, in the same way that Chileans did to General Augosto Pinochet, whose impunity, insensitivity, and megalomania knew no bounds some 20 years ago. I trust my Nigerian friends: they will always ultimately have their last laugh on their present day indigenous colonial masters. I trust Nigerians Muchas gracias. Posted by Abraxas| 25.09.2006 15:58