| Criticism as tonic or threat |
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| Written by Levi Obijiofor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday, 06 June 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Criticism as tonic or threat CRITICISMS come in various forms and serve various purposes. Some are soft and others are hard-nosed. Some criticisms are packaged as comedy while others are direct and serious. Some criticisms are constructive. Others are mostly prescriptive. Yet other forms of criticisms are designed not to alter the attitude or programs of their intended targets but to destroy them. Some people attend to criticisms the way they would reach out to sparkling soft drinks to quench their thirst. Other people treat criticisms as toxic material that should be sealed and dumped in a toxic waste bin. In the past 47 years since the country attained political independence, Nigerian political and military leaders have treated criticisms as pollutants that should never be allowed to contaminate the minds of the public. Some of the national leaders adopted their own unique style of dealing with criticisms and their authors. Consider military dictators and their belief that they have the divine right to rule. In that context, military leaders are in general intolerant of criticisms. They perceive criticisms as confrontational devices designed to threaten or question their authority. In societies that are ruled by authoritarian leaders, there is an unwritten rule that critics must be prepared to bear the consequences of their temerity. Dictators -- civilian or military -- have a particularly nasty way of dealing with critics, often referred to as social irritants. Their preferred way of dealing with critics is to eliminate them outright or to remove the channel through which criticisms are transported to the public domain. That is why newspapers or broadcast media that host columns which are used by critics to attack military or civilian dictators are often shut temporarily or permanently, depending on the mood of the leaders. When Ibrahim Babangida arrived the national stage in 1985, he was heralded in the streets and in the media as the man who rescued Nigerians from the strict authoritarian and iron rule of Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon. But that assessment proved to be too hasty and indeed a major mistake. There are two rules of thumb: Never judge a dictator on the basis of his first pronouncements in the first few days of his government. Second, never celebrate the arrival of a dictator because of his melodramatic reasons for forcibly taking over power. Within a few months, Babangida turned out to be a shooting star - bright and dazzling one moment, dark and diabolical the next. As Babangida rolled out various versions of his so-called political transition program (each of which he ditched with equal delight), criticisms began to mount against his manipulation of his own political programs. But Babangida, the "smile-today, frown-tomorrow" crafty operator, soon became highly intolerant of media criticisms. As soon as he settled comfortably into power, he went after the journalists and media organisations that helped to create a mystique around him. One of the sad features of Babangida's authoritarian regime was the indiscriminate closure of media organisations, particularly print media houses which were perceived as confrontational. It must never be forgotten that it was during Babangida's dictatorship that Nigerian journalists began to rehearse the underground brand of journalism practice known at the time as "guerrilla journalism". As Babangida's government terrorised, harassed and threatened journalists, the journalists devised unusual ways to protect themselves, to remain in business and to continue to uphold their professional values. By the time Babangida unilaterally terminated the 1993 presidential election results, many Nigerians were already disgusted with the man's style of government and the unthinkable tricks he played on the nation. While Babangida effectively scuttled Moshood Abiola's political career by unofficially declaring Abiola a persona non grata, Babangida was unable (with all his guile) to control the storm of criticisms and opposition to his government. Babangida's response to criticisms was to shut his ears and eyes, as well as the sources of those criticisms. In spite of the high-handed strategies he adopted to suppress his adversaries, public criticisms prevailed and the dictator was forced to leave office through the backdoor, against the din of boos and jeers. To date, Babangida has refused to accept criticisms of his government's failures, including the national and international repercussions of the maniacal cancellation of the presidential election result of 1993. If Babangida was intolerant of criticisms, the man he installed - Sani Abacha - was even more brutal in the methods he used to quell public and private dissent to his shady style of government. Journalists who thought the departure of Babangida would herald greater freedom got their political calculations wrong. They found out sooner than they expected that Abacha was a maximum dictator, a rigid loner who was accountable to no one but himself. Abacha was extremely sensitive to press criticisms. It was during the dark days of Abacha's regime that "guerrilla journalism" reached its peak in Nigeria. Journalists who wrote critical reports about Abacha and his regime were hunted openly and secretly. Some journalists were even marked for elimination. Some unlucky journalists were framed and sentenced to jail for alleged involvement in a phantom coup against Abacha, a coup that was never proven or established beyond doubt. Days after the inauguration of his government, Abacha released a wacky ideology that suggested to the nation how he planned to rule. Abacha's problems with his critics began to ossify the moment he started to conspire with his courtiers to transform himself from a military dictator to an elected democrat. Typical of political office seekers in Nigeria, political associations that passed off as parties scrambled to nominate Abacha as their sole presidential candidate. In no time, Abacha had become the beautiful bride of Nigerian politics. But, as he persisted in his plots, fate intervened and took Abacha away in 1998. Olusegun Obasanjo was one leader who was unique in several ways. Prior to his election in 1999, he had a reputation as a temperamental soldier who suffered from mood swings on a regular basis. Obasanjo was known for unashamedly attacking journalists with gutter language and for exchanging insults with just about any member of the public who dared to criticise him in public. Long before he became a democratic president, Obasanjo had adopted the Mosaic Law (an eye for an eye) as his official motto, a philosophy that informed his stubborn style of leadership. The more Obasanjo was scrutinised and criticised for uninspiring performance in the second term of his presidency, the more he snubbed his critics and stuck to his own ways of doing things. Nothing would move the man, not even public opposition to his sinister plot to change the constitution in order to launch himself into an illegal third term. Despite public criticisms of the plot, Obasanjo continued his secret pet project, even when that evil project cost him high profile friends at home and overseas. During his presidency, Obasanjo drew public criticisms for many of his flaws, including his blatant refusal to respect court judgments. Obasanjo's brusque style of public administration presented journalists with easy material for adverse commentary. He was insulted and abused. Newspaper cartoonists in particular turned Obasanjo into a scarecrow. If Obasanjo was hurt, he didn't always show it; he had his own ways of extracting revenge. In public and in private, he never hesitated before "spraying" journalists with his acerbic tongue. Obasanjo certainly did not subscribe to the philosophy which advocates calmness in the face of all provocations. Even after he left the presidency, Obasanjo's criticisms of the Nigerian press did not subside. He once announced -- to his own detriment and to the embarrassment of a perplexed nation -- that he did not read Nigerian newspapers. By the time Obasanjo left office in May 2007, public criticisms coupled with embarrassing revelations of the man's private peccadilloes, had combined to reduce the man from his towering reputation as an "eminent person" to one of the most infamous and scandal-prone leaders in Nigeria's recent history. Next week, the spotlight shifts to Shehu Shagari and Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, including present and former public office holders such as Maurice Iwu, Humphrey Nwosu and Patricia Etteh, to list just a few.
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Posted by Robot| 06.06.2008 00:31