The Revenge Agenda
The trial of the associates of the late General Sani Abacha is intriguingly taking a new twist in the
unfolding drama. The appearance of another son of the late head of state in court on April 10, 2001, on charges of corrupt enrichment, beamed live to the
whole world on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), is an unequivocal way of telling Nigerians that government means business in its loot recovery effort
at the Abacha family.
But, it is rather sad that President Obasanjo and his attorney general are expending too much effort and even duplicating the charges in
their haste to ensure that the Abacha family alone is punished and prosecuted over the loot recovery saga. Does this government really believe that Nigerians
are so daft as to accept the view that corruption started and ended with one Abacha son and the other?
Every discernable Nigerian is in sympathy with Obasanjo for what late General Sani Abacha did to him. But they also know that the president
is acting out of an already prepared script of revenge with his relentless pursuit of the Abacha family members, otherwise, there would really be no reason
for him to charge two of Abacha's sons to court for similar offences. Indeed, it disturbs the mind to realise that most of those working closely with
President Obasanjo, all have their fat bank accounts secured in foreign lands, their children in foreign schools and their positions secured in this new
government, only the sons of the late head of state, who were never in government, are being charged for corruption.
If President Obasanjo really wants to convince Nigerians that his anti-corruption crusade is meaningful, then, it is not another Abacha's
son that should be charged. What about IBB, Augustus Aikhomu, Akhigbe, the Porbenis, Usenis, David Marks and many others who have been accused of corruptly
enriching themselves?
Many Nigerians agree that late General Sani Abacha may not have been the best ruler Nigeria has had, but with the accusations hanging on
the likes of IBB, one is compelled to state that this government has exhibited great cowardice in the continued incarceration and harassment of the children
of a dead man.
One does not have to be an Abacha apologist to understabd that President Obasanjo's government is using his anti-corruption crusade to
prosecute his listed enemies. The case of Rochas Okorocha also reveals another disturbing betrayal of the intentions of this government. In spite of the
allegations leveled against him, the government is yet to prove a single act of wrong doing or corrupt practice in his case.
President Obasanjo and his many advisers must really attune themselves to tenets of responsible governance and dispassionate judgements.
Democracy is about true and proper Justice. Where fairness and equity become absent and elusive, the consequence can only be doom for the country.
Engr. Ahmed Isa Kaltongo, Naibawa, Kano.