|
The tragedy that is IBB By It is always so laughable to hear some of the worst species of human beings that this nation has had the misfortune to suffer under, like the former arch-military dictator, IBB, mount a civil podium obviously constructed on a sad admixture of mischief and ignorance and possibly a bit of the perceived short-memory of the people, talking loud trash and emitting arrant nonsense, thereby adding more salt to the injury they have already inflicted on us.
IBB has been blabbing lately. This man clearly has no iota of shame in him hence he could still want to be heard by opening his mouth on issues he ought to be hiding from. I know we are now in a form of democracy where the freedom to speak is somehow guaranteed but that, ironically, was one of the many essential rights he denied us for several years. Now he is barking so loudly at every turn, hoping to teach us our rights (apologies to Fela). By the way, since he left office in tears, has he been able to secure admission into any high school to improve on his obviously poor education like some of his junta colleagues did? He must know that unlike as in the decadent military regimes, some level of formal educational attainment, clearly beyond the maradonnic street wisdom or some evil ingenuity, is now a major requirement under the civil constitution for would-be public office holders.
Seriously, who again is Babangida when men and women of integrity are talking? Has this nation become so drained of people of goodwill that the press, ostensibly for crumbs from the pocket of this master “settler”, should recklessly be making ‘politicians’ out of murderous military dictators? If the soldier-man, IBB, has forgotten who really he is when we discuss democracy and the rule of law in Nigeria, we the victims of his illegitimate and brutal dictatorship have not forgotten and cannot possibly forget all that he did, and this nation should promptly tell him about his pedigree if he now feigns ignorance of it.
We know who Babaginda is. We know what he has done and we also know what he can do again if we allow him. Remember he only “stepped aside” into the gutter of history. He is the evil genius. One of the unpardonable evils he inflicted on Nigeria was the reckless annulment of the June 12 1993 elections, which, till date, is acknowledged as the freest, fairest and nationally accepted election in Nigeria. If IBB was not cursed, he would not have annulled that election and Abacha would not have got the chance to perfect the reckless looting which he started; messed up our idea of public morality and debilitated the national spirit. Neither would an Abdudasalami led the nation nor Chief MKO Abiola of blessed memory, died in jail. And of course, the present notion of rotational presidency and that of zoning would not have found spaces in our political lexicon if IBB had done his job minimally well. Of course, but for his unmitigated failure, none of the national calamities debilitating us today would have occurred or persisted this long. Is that the one to talk about decency and probity to Nigeria?
Should IBB really be pontificating on the malaise of the country when he is the biggest mess in the land? It is obvious that the man is suffering from a deep-rooted illusion about his accursed mission in Nigeria. His much loved tomorrow has since become his today and all we can see are massive failures and tell tales signs of opportunities wasted.
With some hungry jesters flocking around his ill-gotten money, he is not likely to know that millions of Nigerians are daily cursing the day that he assumed the rulership of the country by force of arms. The near failure of the Nigerian state today was occasioned and further accelerated by the policy muddle and congenital incompetence saturated with the insincerity of IBB. And history will surely dump him into the national latrine of betrayal, no matter his apparent delusion nowadays.
I know many cronies benefited from the monster and they are still very much around to hero-worship him. But truly decent people should not be seen with him. That the Obasanjo regime has chosen or has been compromised enough, as not to have the stomach to probe the man should not be a license for them to mock us. If Abacha, because of death, is refunding so much looted monies, we can only guess what IBB ought to be coughing out if the law did not respect some people. Yet, they are asking for “proofs” and the culprit number one is now feeling cool, choking in his ill-gotten wealth.
How can the same man who by the force of the gun seized power and misruled the nation so badly now want to be heard as a messiah of sort? How can a renegade soldier who tagged himself “president” even without the vote of his wife now want to be heard as a democrat? How can the same man who banned, unbanned and rebanned Nigerians from participatory politics now suddenly be interested in the same game he so loved to desecrate and dishonour? For example, by calling himself “president” he was actually desecrating the high honour and responsibilities of that office. I agree that among robbers they also have “presidents” but the men of the underworld do not celebrate their aberration, as IBB would like to do about his.
We didn’t need Major Gideon Orka to tell us how evilly profane IBB was or still is. Again, if Nigeria is not a totally depraved society, how could such a character, who actually should be languishing in jail or should have been given the Rawling’s treatment long ago, once again be given the chance to be polluting the national political space by trying to lecture us on those things we watched him so irresponsibly bastardised?
We hear that the man is warming up for civil politics in 2007 and has since been running his mount like a broke pipe. If he is not stupid, how could he have made the statement recently debited to him to the effect that “I donít like the idea of rotationî. Who cares if he likes the idea of rotation? Whether he likes it or not, it is on record that it was as a result of his failure in office that this nation was forced to opt for rotation”. The nation knows that it is not the best but has to adopt it just to pull herself from the miry clay that IBB dumped it. After all, Abiola was not elected rotationally, yet, IBB satanically destroyed the mandate that was freely given to him by Nigerians just for his selfish lust for illegitimate power and, of course, the chance to loot the nation silly. How can a soldier who made it to the top through treachery, coups, and patently treasonable schemes now want to lecture us on the values of merit?
For someone who destroyed the political careers of many politicians, the economic fortunes of millions of citizens, it would be a rewarding payday to have him on the block. That would indeed, be the day. The ghost of MKO Abiola is going to trail him all through the way and the innocent blood of those countless soldiers he wantonly murdered in the name of “coups attempts” would make his trail a lot more slippery. So we await IBB.
After two terms of President Obasanjo, the logical thing is for power to go to another zone outside of the Southwest. That is a form of political equity in the light of the past experiences of Nigeria of which the IBB era stands out as the cause celebre. Let rotation formula stay for now while IBB should spare us the ugly memories of his wasteful misrule. After Obasanjo, no politician turned military dictator should be allowed to mess up Nigeria again. Never.
November 2003 |