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Babatunde Adenodi
Pharmacist
East Orange,
New Jersey
 USA

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Barring any miracle, I have come to the painful conclusion that there is no hope for our country The president is either incapable or unwilling to make any positive impact in the lives of their people. NEPA will continue the way they are. Security of life and property will continue to be a mirage. The economy will continue it downward spiral and the conditions of our people will continue to deteriorate. Unless there is a miracle!

 

 

Nigeria: How our leaders destroyed the country
 by Tunde Adenodi.
 

What started as a dream of the trio of Zik, Bello and Awo has now become a nightmare of our generation. Sometimes, I call it a “daymare” for my generation and the one that follows. It is an embarrassment to all black people of the world and a source of shame and odium for black people of the USA, particularly the President of the United States, Barack Obama. And if it means anything, I am now ashamed of Nigeria just like millions of Nigerians in Diaspora. My country of birth is not doing well under the leadership of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and there is no hope of emerging from the abyss anytime soon. Not with Yar’Adua calling the shots and certainly not when his party is campaigning to give him 4 more years of rudderless leadership.

First, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, a bombastic journalist of the West African Pilot fame of the Herbert Macauley era, gave the colonialists a taste of fiery political rhetoric that was poison to their ears. They could not stand him. By 1964, Zik had towered so high above at home and outside the borders of Nigeria that he was named Zik of Africa! But, by 1983, the great Zik had turned full circle. He would negotiate alliance with Awo until 12.00 midnight and emerge at 8.00 am the following morning to announce a new marriage with Bello. He did this so much that he was named the bride of Nigerian politics! He was for Ojukwu’s Biafra when the going was good, but turned to the Federal side when it was obvious that Gowon was having the upper hand. Thus, the great Zik of Africa, the first Governor General, the first President of Nigeria had become Zik of Biafra, a political bride of Bello, Balewa and Shagari and finally, the Owelle of Onitsha!

Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, an aristocrat of the Uthman dan fodio genre, was the pillar of the northern political class. He had no pretensions about a united Nigeria and hardly ever wanted independence at the time Zik, Awo and Enahoro were fighting tooth and nail for it. He placed more value on his role as Sadauna of Sokoto than his possible role as Prime Minister of Nigeria. He saw himself first as Sultan, and stayed back in Sokoto to keep a watchful eye on the stool occupied by Sultan Abubakar III. He delegated his protégé in the person of Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, to go to Lagos as Prime Minister while Zik was the titular President. The Sultan, was and still is, the Head of the muslims of Nigeria and he would be derelict if he took the title of Prime Minister, a title that was several notches down the ladder in an Islamic theocracy. All Nigerian political leaders who are muslims wish for an Islamic theocracy in Nigeria. He vowed to continue Dan fodio’s Islamic proselytizing push towards the south until he “dip(ped) the Quran into the Atlantic Ocean”. He was so confident of his political power that he never ever bothered to campaign for his party anywhere other than the north in any national election. So, while Balewa was the de facto political leader of Nigeria, Bello was the de jure Prime Minister of Nigeria.

As for the last of the trio, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the most hard working politician of his era. He knew what he wanted for Nigeria and worked tirelessly until he died without achieving his goal. He had the wisdom to identify the right people for the right office and would not suffer fools lightly. His efforts were frustrated by the duo of Zik and Bello until he died. But Awo was so blinded by his ambition that he could not see beyond his nose. He thought he could be president with only the support of his inner circle of supporters. He would not play second fiddle to anyone except, as he admitted before the 1983 election, only to his arch rival Nnamdi Azikiwe had he, Awo, been 10 years younger. So he formed and led political parties that had no following in places other than his Yoruba catchment area. He could hold executive meetings of his party in Yoruba but nevertheless expected to lead the whole nation of such a diverse ethnicity as president. Of course, it never happened. Not because he did not try hard enough. No. But because the forces arrayed against him were formidable. He did not appreciate the enormity of the forces against him because of his political naivety. Yes, the great Awo was politically naïve to the extent that he was shocked to see the degree of the rigging against him in 1983!

These three worked together, albeit reluctantly to gain independence, but failed miserably to make Nigeria the focus of their interests after independence. Each one of them, unlike Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru of India or George Washington of the USA and even General Suharto of Indonesia, made his tribal enclave the center of his political activities. And the Northern Peoples Congress of Bello/Balewa drove the country aground in a mere five years after independence. And before their passing, they, along with Zik and Awo, ensured that they handed over to their followers all their prejudices that have endured till this day.

But their roles in the destruction of Nigeria pale into nothing compared with the roles of Gowon, Shagari, Buhari, and particularly the duo of Babangida and Abacha. And in the twilight period of his presidency, General Obasanjo deliberately decided to destroy all he had ever worked for in nurturing democratic structures since his voluntary hand-over in 1979. He did more, much more than Babangida, to lay the foundation of electoral fraud that will endure for generations to come. And the worst part of Obasanjo was that he did not have to do it. PDP could have won the Federal elections anyway, no matter how small the margin.

General Gowon was so awash with petro-dollars that he declared money was not Nigeria’s problem but how to spend it. He declared the Udoji awards that paid out arrears of up to one year to workers who turned out in thousands to spend and continue to spend until Japanese electronics, cars and motor cycle manufacturers could not meet with the level of demand from Nigeria. Imported cement caked at the wharf in Lagos. And Nigeria spent millions of dollars in paying demurrage to rickety ships that choked the wharf. He even hosted the FESTAC jamboree! This was after almost 3 years of civil war between Nigeria and break away Biafra which common sense could have prevented. And what Ironsi did and was toppled for became the directive principles of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Did they not accuse Ironsi of turning the country into a unitary government? What manner of federation do we have now? Don’t the constituent states go cap in hand to the federal government to beg for funds?

Shagari took over from Obasanjo as president in 1979 who left in the kitty a surplus of 13 billion dollars. In four years, Shagari turned the surplus into a deficit of 33 billion dollars. He had one of his cronies as the Czar of rice importation and he drove the economy down to the point that no letters of credit were honored by the international banking community. For the first time, sugar, rice, salt, detergent or milk became so scarce that Nigerians had to line up for them. With this as his record, he rigged the 1983 elections and claimed a landslide victory and caused the military wing of the then NPN to take over from him. Shagari in the mould of Balewa, was only interested in being a senator. But he found himself occupying a seat that he knew nothing about. And he surrounded himself with the likes of Akinjide and Akinloye whose only reason for being in public service was the naked power that they could demonstrate and the perquisites that come with power. Service to the people was incidental, not a necessity.

Buhari would have become one of the great Nigerian leaders had he shown respect for the rule of law, not naked power. Why would a leader close down a newspaper house for writing something that embarrassed government but was substantially true thus throwing into unemployment market thousands of his fellow Nigerians? Why would he throw into jail 79 year-old Ajasin even after he had been exculpated by tribunals set up by him? Why would Buhari allow 63 suite cases of the Emir of Gwandu even when he jailed Fela for traveling abroad with his hard-earned 5,000 dollars. Why would a Nigerian leader arrest drug couriers and then enact a law retroactively that had them shot? Why would a Nigerian leader sack in one fell swoop all university lecturers and ask them to vacate their residences immediately? What manner of a leader would say to one-half of his people that their religion was nothing and muslims must vote only for muslims? And when he became Abacha’s Chairman of Petroleum Task Force, he sited 83 per cent of all projects he authorized in the north and only 17 per cent in the south. Most importantly, he banned all political activities and stifled press freedom.

So, it was welcome relief that Babangida overthrew him. He threw open Buhari’s NSO dungeons only to fill them up with his SSS captives. He systematically destroyed all major institutions in the country including the army that groomed him. He dismantled the Armed Forces Ruling Council at will and filled it up with his cronies. His word became the law of the land. He dragged the country into the OIC and retired Ebitu Ukiwe for daring to complain. Babangida became the embodiment of all that was wrong with Nigeria. He commenced the nation’s longest and most expensive transition. He banned certain group of politicians from the transition. Then he lifted the ban and banned them again. He told Abiola and Tofa to go ahead with their campaigns. He told Nigerians to vote. Then he stopped it. Then the court allowed the election to proceed as planned. Then he had Justice Ikpeme’s Abuja court convene at midnight to put a final stop to the counting of votes but not before the pattern of results already released showed clearly that Abiola had won the election.

Babangida did something else. He saw that Charles Taylor was set to capture Monrovia when he sent Nigerian troops to stop him and protect his fellow dictator, Samuel Doe. He thus prolonged the suffering of an entire nation of Liberia for another 2 years before Charles Taylor became Liberia’s president. He was like the proverbial house owner whose roof is on fire but rushes out to a neighbor’s house to put out a fire. This was General Ibrahim Babangida. He set the nation back politically by decades and set us back economically by just as much. He set the stage for an Abacha to step in when he was shoved aside by a whirlwind of protests. His followers did not fair better. Chief Francis Arthur Nzeribe led a group of cheer leaders who urged for 4 more years of Babangida. His Association for Better Nigeria vowed to stop Abiola’s victory and lounged into various litigations that made IBB’s deception and rape of democracy covered legally.

Then the interim contraption of Ernest Shonekan established by Babangida with General Abacha breathing down the throat of Interim leader. Shonekan was Head of State but did not know what to do with the enormous power at his disposal. Intelligence reports told him that he must keep a watchful eye on General Abacha. He called Abacha and asked childishly “Are you planning a coup? No sir!”, Abacha answered with a salute. Less than a week later, General Sani Abacha took over as Head of State. He unleashed a reign of terror on the populace especially those that had the nerve to protest against his government. He led the onslaught personally on Ikorodu Road in Lagos while Soyinka was leading the protest in Agege. Soyinka was forced to Set forth at Dawn on motor cycle across the Idi-Iroko border in order to save his own life from Abacha.

Abacha, it was, who nailed Nigeria’s coffin which Babangida had prepared. He did not have the finesse of Babangida nor the buffoonery of Obasanjo. He made it clear that his was like biblical king whose father chastised his people with whip but chose to out do his father by chastising his people with scorpions. “waitin dees Yorobas want sef? We give dem Shonekan, e no do. Waitin dem want?” Abacha was overheard moaning to his aides. He dished out oil exploitation rights to those who conformed. He invited Saro Wiwa to his office and offered to give Saro Wiwa anything he wanted if he could give up agitating for the Ogoni. Saro Wiwa paid with his life for refusing the offer. He began his murderous rampage using a Rogers and some others who murdered Kudirat Abiola in broad day light on a busy Ikeja road. He ordered the killing of the Itshekiri Awoist Chief Rewane and the Afenifere leader Abraham Adesanya. He even had Ibru of The Guardian) shot and ordered the bombing of his governor in Lagos Brigadier Marwa in order to blame his murder on NADECO. Abacha ordered a transition to civilian government and had all the five political parties nominate him as the sole presidential candidate. Remember Ige’s description of the five parties as the five fingers of a leprous hand? What would have happened had Abacha not died?

Abacha died and so did Abiola, the winner of the June 12 1992 federal elections which IBB had wickedly annulled. And so died the hopes and aspirations of many Nigerians. By the time Abubakar came on board, it was clear that something had to give. Nigerians got fed up with their leaders and yearned for a new beginning. Babangida, cowed by Abacha’s perfidy, found his voice again. He was the points man appointed to convince Obasanjo to assume the presidency after Abubakar. So the man who aborted democracy in 1992 was the one who was to broker a democracy headed by one of them in 1998. He was made to sign an undertaking that he would hand back power at the end of his first term in office. With Abubakar at the helm, IBB was back in power! He called the shots for his neighbor in Minna and protégé on the army. IBB was ruling by proxy! So, Abiola, whom IBB had vowed to block from becoming Nigeria’s president even for one day, died mysteriously in Abubakar’s detention.

General Obasanjo started well and would have ended well had he not become swollen headed as he planned to perpetuate himself in office beyond the 2 terms allowed by the constitution. Once he made up his mind that he would not leave office when he should, he threw away all sense of decency and lavished all the good will he had acquired over many years. And by the time he knew he had to leave, it was too late to plan a proper transition.

He conducted a sham election that brought a colorless and unknown governor of Katsina- Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to become Nigeria’s president. He took over an economy that had bottomed down. Obasanjo had paid all the debt and all that was required was a slow rise from economic abyss if the momentum of Obasanjo‘s economic blue print was followed and political stability was allowed to fester. But this is not to be so. Partly because of Obasanjo’s conduct of the elections and partly because of Yar’Adua’s political inertia. At this point, the surplus handed over by Obasanjo has now been frittered away and an external debt of 3.6 billion dollars has now been accumulated by Yar’Adua in only 2 years.

Despite EFCC Chairman Ribadu’s efforts at fighting corruption, Nigeria emerged as third from the bottom out of 41 countries on the corruption rubric. He made tremendous strides in fighting corruption which many world leaders appreciated and Nigerians were proud of. But Ribadu had stepped on powerful toes and has been humiliated out of office and out of the country. It is now a free rain for governors, ministers and members of the House and Senate to continue their rampage. Waziri, the new EFCC leader would not bat an eye lid. The coast is clear. Let the looting continue!

Barring any miracle, I have come to the painful conclusion that there is no hope for our country The president is either incapable or unwilling to make any positive impact in the lives of their people. NEPA will continue the way they are. Security of life and property will continue to be a mirage. The economy will continue it downward spiral and the conditions of our people will continue to deteriorate. Unless there is a miracle!
 

 

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