24 Sep 2006 |
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A Bolekaja presidency (4) THIS week, so far, proves one major point about Nigerian life and society: the fact that there is never a scarcity of something to worry about, never a dearth of distractions or momentous events, which re-direct public attention from one issue to another; just when you think the whole nation is riveted on a particular problem in search of solutions, something else happens which extend our discomfort and the recurring disturbance in our lives. We had all been enjoying the high drama of the battle royale in Aso Villa and its succes de scandale, its protagonists and antagonists and their tales of many shades, and looking forward to another week of revelations from that Hall of Mirrors, when on Monday morning, the newspapers reported that a Nigeria Air Force (NAF) plane, Dornier 228 -212 had crashed into a mountain, 18 nautical miles from the Obudu Cattle Ranch. The aircraft had on board 12 Army Generals, three Lieutenant Colonels, and three crew members. They were heading for the Bebi airstrip in Obalinku, en route the Obudu Cattle Ranch for a retreat, to discuss the 2007 polls. Thirteen of them died, only five survived; the remains of the dead were buried yesterday at a national ceremony in Abuja. The tragedy immediately pushed the Obasanjo/Atiku fight off the front pages, as the nation mourned and lamented its fate. A similar incident had occurred in September 1992 when about 163 army officers lost their lives in a Hercules C-130 crash at Ejigbo, Lagos. Fourteen years later, almost a week to the same day and hour, the Nigerian military is again mourning. Among the dead were some of the brightest and highest ranking officers of the Nigerian Army. The tragedy is to be seen in relation to recent incidents involving Bellview (October 2005) and Sosoliso (December 2005) airlines: curiously, plane crashes are becoming a fact of our lives. Nigeria is regarded as one of the most unsafe air routes in Africa. The death of the military officers reminds all Nigerians of the danger in our skies. It has had a sobering effect on all of us, including the feuding warlords of Aso Villa. At the burial yesterday, both the President and the Vice President looked sad, most concerned, united in grief. The death of every man diminishes the rest of us. Every accident in our skies reminds us of our vulnerability. In this case, so many questions have been raised. Why would the Army chiefs all travel together in one plane? Was the aircraft in good shape? But perhaps the more telling aspect of the tragedy is to be found in its human indications. Major-General Nuhu Bamali looked forward to the naming of his first grandchild in Kano, but he never made it; Agboola was building a house in his village which he was yet to complete; at the home of Major-General B. Duniya, his last child, innocent like all young ones of his age, asked one of the visitors why his father's photo was placed outside and persons were signing the register in front of it. Equally touching are the photographs of the survivors, the men who cheated death. But even more so, is the bravery of young Detimber Chia who discovered the ill-fated aircraft, and the humanism of the people of Mbakuwa in Kwande Local Government of Benue State: they cut down trees, all through the forest to get to the scene of the tragedy. Detimber whose name means "Don't Delay" in Tiv language, climbed, for three hours, to get to the top of the mountain where the soldiers lay in pain, 13 of them, dead or dying; with a GSM phone, Detimber didn't delay, he called for help. Again, we see even in the midst of this tragedy, the importance of rural telephony. If there was no access to telephone in that jungle, or no network, perhaps there would have been no survivors at all. It is equally heart-warming to witness the heroism of ordinary people. There may be quarrelsome persons in Abuja and in high places, but there are still persons in this country who remind us of the pull of humanism, the common humanity that we share; these are not necessarily privileged people, but ordinary men and women, living in the most humble places. President Olusegun Obasanjo in a mourning mood for the second time in three years, struck the right chord, when he enjoined us to mourn this "monumental national tragedy" but not to lose hope. The least that can be said is that the cause of the crash should be investigated and the findings of that investigation should be made public. This should not end like the Sosoliso and Bellview accidents, which were investigated, without the results being released. To return to our original subject, the Dornier 228 crash, the mourning and the burial of the deceased helped to restore the dignity of the Presidency for a moment. Indeed, by Monday the President had reportedly directed his staff to stop exchanging missiles with the Vice President's team. It must have occurred to the President that the way the Atiku boys were carrying on, they were prepared and determined to drag the President into the mud and leave him thoroughly worsted. On the scale of balance, the Atiku group had gained an upper hand in the media. Weekend newspapers feasted on the disclosures by the Atiku camp, particularly those dealing with withdrawals from specific accounts, and the purchase of a Peugeot 607 for a woman-friend. The charge of corrupt practices against the Vice President was beginning to be treated as no news; as the media waited for more disclosures about the President's affairs. In retrospect, the President's directive to his media aides was sensible. The President has a responsibility to protect his Presidency. If that office is pulled down, he would lose so much. Still, the weekend newspapers offered more interesting details about the feud. Umar Pariya, the Vice President's Special Assistant complained about being trailed by "men in dark suits and dark sunglasses inside an unmarked Peugeot station wagon. Dr. Usman Bugaje, a close ally of the Vice President also disclosed that security agents were planning to raid his house. Garba Shehu, the Vice President's Media Consultant issued a statement in which he told Nigerians: "We are once again back to the dark days of the Abacha regime of random killings and intimidation of the perceived opponents of the government". The Atiku group continued the offensive on Sunday, with Atiku telling Nigerians that his boss is "not morally fit to remain in office". Garba Shehu who signed the statement alleged that some money was transferred into a woman friend's account in NATWEST Bank in London. He also called for a probe of the President's handling of the oil ministry in the last seven-and-a-half years. There was even a hint about more revelations in that direction. The Atiku group was really going to raise the ante. If the President's team was willing to respect the 'ceasefire' that had been ordered; the Atiku group was determined to fight on. So, by Monday, Garba Shehu offered more damaging explanations about the Petroleum Technology Development Fund. In the meantime, Obasanjo's aides continued to insist that the Vice President should resign. The Chairman of the EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu attending a World Bank Seminar in Singapore, also sought to absolve the EFCC of any bias in the raging dispute. Of Atiku, he said: "He is from my village, my town. If I am after him, for whose benefit?..." Quite a kinsman, isn't he? The same day, the full-text of US Congressman William Jefferson's letter to President Obasanjo which reportedly triggered the investigations which implicated the Vice President, as well as President Obasanjo's reply appeared as advertorials in The Daily Trust newspaper. They were signed by a Lagos-based group named "Conscience of the Nation". "Is Atiku really being witch-hunted?", the group asked. Then we are told: "Nigerians should not be deceived" By Wednesday, however, the matter had taken a turn for the worse, with reports that men of the State Security Service stormed Atiku's campaign office and arrested Garba Shehu, the over-articulate media consultant to the Vice President who has been giving the President a hell of a time. The SSS claiming that it is acting independently, and not in the President's interest, disclosed that it had to arrest Shehu because he had been conducting himself in a manner that poses a threat to national security. Garba Shehu, former editor of The Triumph, former President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, and former Special Assistant (Media) to the Vice President before he was sent out of Aso Villa by Presidential Order, is according to reports, having a hard time with the SSS. He has not been charged to court. His homes in Abuja and Kano have been turned upside down, his family has been subjected to psychological torture, his personal effects have been seized. In discharging its "statutory responsibility", the SSS is hounding the Vice President's spokesperson. Is this a good move by the SSS? I don't think so. The deployment of the machinery of state to offer one side in the Obasanjo-Atiku feud an unfair advantage amounts to an abuse of power and office. It is an act of cowardice and desperation. The SSS should be talking to Atiku, not Garba Shehu. The poor fellow is only a messenger. The SSS would have to convince the public that it is indeed acting fairly in this matter. If Garba Shehu has broken any laws of the land, he should be charged to court. In the eyes of the public, he is undergoing the present trial because of his unrelenting attack on the President, and his loyalty to the Vice President. In the Atiku-Obasanjo feud, Shehu has been exercising his right to free speech; he has been providing information that promotes the public interest. What is criminal about matters of public interest, please? It is the conduct of the SSS that poses a threat to internal security, not Garba Shehu's disclosures about how Nigerians are governed. His arrest, an important development in the crisis has not in any way doused the fire coming from the Atiku camp. His place has been taken immediately by Dr. Adeolu Akande, another Atiku boy, who is using the Shehu arrest to deepen the propaganda war and gain more media advantage for his boss. He says for example that the SSS is accusing Shehu of "bribing journalists" to favour the Vice President in the raging war. This can only further hurt the Presidency. Why drag journalists into the fight? Abubakar Umar who has now spoken, says it is the government's anti-corruption campaign that is on trial. With the burial of the victims of the Dornier 228 plane crash over, the battle will certainly continue. Will the SSS arrest more of the Atiku boys and leave the Vice President without his foot-soldiers? And what will Atiku do? We are entering the season of Ramadan, will the gladiators sheathe their swords in the spirit of the season? This is truly an interesting moment in our lives. The Obasanjo-Atiku conflict is bound to change all permutations about the likely location of power in 2007. Queries have been raised on both sides that would still have to be investigated. If the present government does not do so, a future government will. It is what that tomorrow brings that the combatants should fear, not present victories or defeat.
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