The Unmaking of a Hero

The Unmaking of a Hero?

With the recent developments at the Oputa panel, it is tempting to conclude that the nation may have been under the Jefrey Archer spell in the last three years. For the benefit of the non-literary audience, Archer is a creative novelist now in trouble in Britain for allegedly concocting a reality to help him win a libel case. The U.K tabloid, Daily Star, had reported that the author of 'Cain and Abel' and 'To Cut a Long Story Short' slept with a prostitute. Archer had challenged the report and with the proof of an alibi won a £500,000 libel against the newspaper in 1987. But fresh evidence - very overwhelming indeed- last week exposed the writer as a liar.

Just as the British public could be said to have lived the Archer fable for fourteen years, realities reported by the media would seem to have hypnotised the people to see General Abdulsalami Abubakar in the light of nobility in the last three years. Here was a general who announced a political time-table and kept to it. Here was a liberator who set Abachas captives free. By the singular act of May 29, 1999, this general with trademark dimpled smile was supposed to have broken the nobility records set by General Olusegun Obasanjo for voluntarily surrendering power to Shagari in 1979. He was supposed to be the newest entrant of Nigerias hall of fame. Street would be named after him in Abuja after May 29, 1999. Rare national honour would be bestowed on him later. Lecture would be held in his honour in faraway Chicago, United States early this year. A book (Abdulsalami: The Hero of Our Time) would be launched in his celebration last May where the likes of Solomon Lar handed political scientists and writers the somewhat curious mandate to further celebrate the Abubakar enigma as a soldier who proved to the world that he is a man of honour. Remember this man shares the same birth-place with the June 12 Chief Villain. This mystification process would seem to have come to a symbolic climax with the decision of the general himself to do something unusual as soon as he exited power: he started growing a white beard, conferring on himself this eerie mystique of a puritan from antiquity.

But sadly, this persona is being eroded fast today with jaw-dropping allegations made against the general, suggesting that he was actually a common wolf who chose to conduct himself on the national stage in a sheep's apparel. They say the general has not said all he knew about the death of MKO Abiola in custody on July 7, 1998. They say the general mindlessly helped himself to the nations till, especially in the twilight of his reign. Spurious contracts were hurriedly awarded and money paid up-front in circumstances that were equally shadowy. General Sabo was most vivid in his own analysis of the man behind the hood: General Abubakar manifested high propensity for money and grumbled any time he did not get his wish.

Agreed, those who make these allegations have their own selfish motives. For the avoidance of doubt, this writer will hardly ever wish to be counted as one of those who would clap each time Al-Mustapha chooses to run his mouth (to borrow the phrase of a retired general) at the Oputa panel. On the contrary, I still believe he should be seen as a drowning man desperately in search of companies down the valley. A blinded Samson before the Phillistines, determined to pull the pillars of the hall down with the malicious intent of wasting the nobles who came to make jest of him. And given the way General Sabo was booted out of DMI, it should be expected that he would never be a fan of Abubakars.

But that is not to say that everything the failed witches brought before the public purgatory say should be dismissed simply because the mouths that uttered such are bloodied. This is why this writer thinks those who advise General Abubakar to keep silence in the face of these grave allegations are not helping him. To leave his defence to the design of the faceless friends of Abubakar who take out advert slot to trade insults with Al-Mustapha and co (as they did last week) is the most grotesque option to adopt. The issues being raised are far too ethically sophisticated for the application of such agbero tactics. Everything is wrong in a situation whereby a hero refuses to subject himself to public test. Regardless of all its imperfections, the Oputa panel has become the proverbial village square. As they say, it is he who is afraid that hides his masquerade from the village square. It is the peoples arena. To continue to refuse to appear there only suggests contempt.

If Abubakar is addressed as a hero today, his credentials no doubt originate substantially from the public perception that he was a man who did no evil. That he had no blood stains on his hands. So, in the tradition of nobility, the only honorable option for the general is to come out to the public arena and disprove all these grave allegations with facts and figures. The trial of Abubakar today should also be seen as the trial of all those who accompanied him to Chicago for the Abubakar Lecture. That crowd includes Afenifere leaders like Chief Abraham Adesanya. Reports had it that the general actually paid a huge sum of money in dollars for the lecture. Some pro-democracy activists had stormed the venue of the event to express disappointment that people like Adesanya allowed themselves to be purchased to give credibility to occasion. Part of the grouse expressed was that it was unbecoming of a supposed Awoist and a frontline supporter of Abiola (who died in Abubakars arms) to be part of the Chicago show. For, symbolically, the event was more or less a celebration of the icon of the same military in whose custody Abiola died. But in justifying his participation then, Adesanya had described the general as a honorable officer who merited all the celebration.

With the insinuations now at the Oputa panel that Abubakar was part of the conspiracy that consumed Abiola, I am sure the likes of Adesanya would be biting their fingers in the anonymity of their bedrooms now. I was, therefore, not surprised when few days ago Adesanya joined the chorus asking Abubakar to come to the public arena. Until Abubakar takes up this challenge, it is doubtful if the Adesanyas will ever have the courage to look the Yoruba people in the eyes again in future.

It will be a delusion if the general anticipates that the matters will go away like that. Allowing hired mouths to do the talking for him will be futile indeed. Continued silence will only commence the process of his own demystification. And in case the general is yet unaware, the process has since begun. I hate to imagine the fulfillment of Al-Mustaphas prophecy last December that: By the time I finish my story, those of you who think you have eyes will realise that you have been blind all along and those who think they had ears will realise that they have been deaf all this while. I hate to think the nation has actually been acting out the Jefrey Archer fable in the last three years.