IBB and Burden of History
By
Each time I read about General Ibrahim and his numerous ploys and political acrobatics, I feel really sorry for the general. Like Macbeth,
he did murder sleep in an unscrupulous hunger for power. And now he can sleep no more. Inspite of his stupendous wealth and influence, it’s glaring that
the man is not happy. Deep down in his soul, he is troubled. Deep down inside he knows he made the greatest blunder of his life.
Deep down in his troubled soul, he knows that he is responsible for the excruciating level of poverty in this land today and the increased level of ethnic
hatred. He is too intelligent not to know. The man knows quite al right. He knows what his eight-year transition hoax cost the country. He knows what the
annulment of June 12 cost the country. He knows that we know most of the atrocities he committed while in office. Like a foreigner once remarked, there
are no secrets in Nigeria. IBB knows this.
He knows that like the Maradona that he was, he got carried away and dribbled himself into self destruction. I was one of those who believed perhaps with
undue optimism that IBB was too smart to want to remain in office. But how wrong I was! The man was too power drunk to see the hand writing on the wall
and at the end of the day he had no choice but to leave. Then he said he was “stepping aside”, as though the office was his birthright. Since then he
has not been able to come to terms with being out of office. He never saw himself as a servant of the people of this country. This is why seven years out
of office, IBB has never really seen the need to apologise to Nigerians for the aftermath of the annulment. Today, he lives in a surrealistic world of
self worth, carrying an illusionary larger than life image.
He obviously has little or no respect for the people of this country. He once told journalists that he has always been in control, even after stepping
aside. True or false, IBB had become so used to power that he has refused to come down to earth and face the reality of his shameful retirement.
Surrounded by a retinue of sycophants and praise singers, he remains in a fool’s paradise saying everything but the truth. When he recently granted an
interview to Newswatch, it was clear that the man had nothing to say. Page after page, I searched for substance but there was none. He refused to answer
any question. He merely clouded the issues raised. In recent times, it has become obvious that IBB wants to keep in view, be relevant, and prominent. Yet
he doesn’t want to face the truth. He described himself as a "born again democrat". Yet he refused to go through confession and atonement,
processes essential to being born again. He is not fooling anybody.
The harder he tries, the clearer it becomes that the guy is unreal. He has refused to be true to himself. He believes chronicles are not being fair to
him. So he has taken it upon himself to re-write history - an effort which in Ola Rotimi’s works, is like shaking the huge Iroko tree to make tiny dew
drops fall. He had failed even before he started. No effort on his part and that of his apologists can change the facts of history. His inhumes annulment
led to the death of MKO Abiola and several others. It led to the reign of Abacha and all the evil that regime represents. Each time IBB speaks on his
tenure, he says the most annoying things. He must think Nigerians are morons. We are a very forgiving people. This is why IBB lives freely in this country
today inspite of his criminal record. So far, Babangida has refused to explain why he annulled that election. He has refused to apologise to the nation
for the hardship we have had to endure as a result. Yet he has refused to keep shut and leave us alone. He says Nigerians should be more accommodating and
understanding. What else does he want? After impoverishing a nation so endowed and pauperising the populace, he has retired into opulence. Yet he asks for
understanding? He does not think he owes this nation an apology. Yet it is obvious from his actions that his attempts to rewrite history is only a means
to an end. He wants to get back there.
As smart as he is, he has a sad history of missed opportunities. If he had gracefully handed over in 1993, despite his previous postponements, he still
would have earned an enviable place in history. As it turned out, what he could not do in eight years, Abdulsalami Abubakar did in 11 months, which is a
proof that IBB was never sincere in the first place. He has had several opportunities to apologise on June 12 and ask for forgiveness. But he did not.
Rather, he rambled, thinking we are idiots who would believe whatever we are told.
If IBB apologises today, I do not think it will have any impact. Because nobody will see any sincerity in the apology. To add to the injury, he engineered
a symposium in Jos where he declared that his regime re-engineered the nation. He refused to directly address June 12 - the biggest dent on his tenure.
Rather, he went into philosophical obscurantism. At the end of the day, he said nothing, and only succeeded in confusing himself the more.
Reading his speech, I could not but conclude that these are the rantings of a troubled soul. Hear him: “On the whole, we witnessed the most complex and
the most dramatic moments of the century that has just ended. Situations and events kept unfolding throughout that period with unyielding and breath
taking rapidity, changing everything and everybody everywhere in a manner never before experienced, in a manner so thorough and so comprehensive."
Is this not a load of garbage? They say "fish seller, how much is your fish?”. Fish seller says “I went to River Niger, passed through River
Benue, Swam through River Ogun and River Oshun before I got the fish!” The question Nigerians have been asking IBB since 1993 is simple: Why did you
annul the June 12 election? For reasons best known to him, he has refused to answer that question. More annoyingly, he has refused to keep shut. He keeps
assaulting us with semantic acrobatics.
To make matters worse, IBB is actually thinking of a comeback. Asked about his political ambitions, he says: if God ordains one for something, nobody can
stop it.” It was this statement that convinced me that this man is not living in the real world.
He either thinks he is above the Nigerian people or he does not realise how much hatred his name invokes. Each night I drive through the unfit highways of
Lagos, or see people living in shanties, my heart sends curses to those who brought us here, prominent among whom is IBB. Each time I think of NITEL, NEPA,
Water, Jobs and what we could have achieved as a nation over the past 20 years, I curse the leaders responsible, chief amongst whom is IBB. Given our
resources, a visionary leader can transform this country in 5 years. If a leader decided that all he wants to achieve is to make NEPA work, can anyone
imagine what impact this will have on the economy, on jobs, on security and social services? And a serious leader does not need 8 years to make NEPA work.
Yet IBB is beating his chest for having re-engineered the nation.