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“The
future will have no pity for those men
who possessing the exceptional privilege
of being able to speak words of truth to
their oppressors, have taken refuge in
an attitude of passivity, of mute
indifference, and sometimes of cold
complicity” so said Frantz Fanon. Edmund
Burke in support of Fanon said “The only
thing necessary for the triumph of evil
is for good men to do nothing” We have
integrity when what people see is the
same as who we say we are. It is a
matter of common of common sense that
the values we hold and remain true to
are intertwined with the well-being of
ourselves as both individuals and as
communities. I pray that most of our
ancestors will not turn in their graves
for our iniquities and curse our nation
with venom. According to proverbial
saying, “When you are down, the only way
out is up” Nigeria will never down
again. Nigerians will never their eat
their vomits despite ravaging poverty.
The recent
declaration of the former military
leader, General Babangida at the Eagle
Square in Abuja of his intention to
contest the 2011 Presidency should not
be seen as a surprise to all Nigerians.
I think, we should no longer be
surprised to what a man can do. Man is
the only animal that eats when he is not
hungry and the only creature that drinks
when he is not thirsty. Babangida first
attempt after stepping aside was on the
8th of November, 2006, when
he picked a nomination from the Peoples
Democratic Party Headquarters in Abuja.
He was later shown the way out. Firstly,
as a citizen of Nigeria who has not been
found guilty of any criminal offence by
the court of the land, he is eligible to
contest in any national election. He is
definitely exercising his political
right. Even, late General Sanni Abacha
would have done the same thing by now
had it not been “a coup from heaven”
that took his life. The whole world is
watching the recycling of our past
leaders and administrators with disgust.
Secondly,
we should not be surprised about his
declaration as we are living in one of
the most corrupted nations of the world.
The corruption that has robbbed Nigeria
children of a better future. The
corruption which he himself
institutionalised-“the kick-backs and
“ten-percentages”. Is IBB exposing
himself to ridicule or he wants people
following him to have their own share?
Do you think that this can happen in a
developed and civilized world? His
families and kins-men must have called
him to order and asked him what does he
want in the office again ! He was there
for eight years and he had no solutions
to any of all the problems that brought
this country into crisis in his
declaration speech; “Today, the reality
of our present circumstances is that our
country is in a crisis. We cry over the
economy; and we agonise our state of our
educational system as well as organized
crime. Our infrastructure has collapsed
and we continue to live with epileptic
supply of electricity. We bicker over
the never-ending issue of subsidy”.
Twenty-five years ago, General Babangida
in the last four lines of October 1,
1985 independence speech .He said; “I
assure you that this administration is
determined to face the challenges
squarely. The time for action is NOW .
We count on your understanding,
cooperation and support. Let us all work
together for brighter future under the
banner of ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION SOCIAL
JUSTICE AND SELF-RELIANCE”. By the time
he stepped aside on August 27, 1993, the
Africa’s leading oil producer, one of
the potentially richest nations in the
world, the land of food basket was in
ruin, crumbling on its knees and at the
brink of disintegration. Who is now
fooling who? According to the one of
greatest American statesman, Abraham
Lincoln; “You can fool some of the
people some of the time; you can fool
all the people some of the time, but you
cannot fool all the people all the
time”.
Moreover, we
should not be surprised that this is
happening in a country where over 70
percent of Nigerians live below poverty
level. Poverty is the condition of being
poor, need, indigence and lack of means
of substance. This is as a result of
lack of consistency and effective
implementations of government policies
to the letter. The traces of poverty
is seen everywhere, even it manifests on
our so called rich men. Poverty leads to
corruption, disruption of the family
relations and social life, causes rising
crime rate such as the new trend
kidnappings, sophisticated
armed-robbery, advance fee fraud (419)
internet scams among other vices. In
this situation, people are very
desperate to survive by all means. You
can see what happened in Minna just less
than twenty four hours after IBB
declared to contest for Presidency in
Abuja, that hundred of youths, including
women mobilised to attend the Abuja
declaration stormed the Government House
in Minna to register their grievances
over non-payment of promised allowances
(five thousand naira each) for attending
the event. This is a kind of dirty money
and stage-managed politics that and they
want to bring back to Nigeria.
Meanwhile, as
a result of the plague of crisis over
the last five decades, most of Nigerians
have turned to be suffering from
selective amnesia. Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu
rightly put it in his book “Because I am
Involved” as “…we conveniently forget
certain unpleasant facts about our
journey through life as a polity”.
Selective amnesia happens when a person
can recall only small parts of events
that took pace in a defined period of
time. The IBB-years (1985 and 1993)
trapped Nigeria into ruinous military
reign, stinking corruption , deepening
poverty, economic decline and ethnic
rivalry. We cannot estimate many
innocent life lost and properties
destroyed aftermath of June 12 election
annulment demonstrations. Let take a
clue from immortal words of George
Santayara; “Those who cannot remember
the past are condemned to repeat it”.
The strength
of a nation lies in discipline. IBB
betrayed the Nigeria Oath of allegiance,
the army core values, and the entire
people for his over ambition. Discipline
is one of the most important core values
of the Army. It is “to maintain the
highest standard so that others can rely
on you”. IBB has committed iniquities
with the greatest opportunity he had to
rule the most populous black nation in
the world for eight good years. What
does he forgotten in the office that he
wants to go back and pick ? Either his
Campaign Co-ordinator, who is now
soiling his name and reputation that
took him many years to build or his son,
Muhammed Babangida, a leader in this
generation of young polo players would
have gotten more votes than him if at
all he is able to scale through PDP
primaries. How could somebody who failed
to turn the country round for better in
eight years (with military power) will
now turn the country round in four
years?. He refused to exercise the will
of Nigerians by annulling the most
adjudged free and fair election, in
which he would have made history for
himself even if late MKO Abiola will be
overthrown by Abacha in few days as done
to the Interim government. Obasanjo
handed power to an elected President and
had another opportunity to rule the
country again. As Yoruba adage says
“The king whose reign is characterised
by peace, history will record it. Also
the king whose tenure is fraught with
chaos (poverty), history will not fail
to record it”. Tell IBB and his cronies
that their game is up. If IBB wants to
help the masses, he should first embark
on building public libraries to all
States capital. After all, 42 billion
naira was wasted on his endless
transition programme. They should give
other people a chance. This is 2010 and
not 1985. Nigeria has a pool of men who
are blessed with leadership qualities
and who can stand the acid test of
honour and integrity. I believe that
very soon a true servant of people and a
genuine lover of humanity will emerge as
our President. God bless the good people
of Nigeria.
Written by,
Adewale T Akande
Author and Road
Safety Traffic Consultant.
Alicante, Spain. Tel;
0034-600877296
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