Leadership (Abuja)
Ibrahim Modibbo
10 June 2008
column
Abuja — It is with heavy heart but total submission to the will of God that I write you this morning with acute realisation that 10 years after, the clouds hung oppressively low and a sense of insufferable gloom pervades my spirit as it is now "notoriously clear" that you are no more.
You departed this sinful world to answer the glorious call of Allah, having distinguished yourself as an accomplished soldier, a determined patriot, a charitable humanist and one of the most profound Nigerians whose tireless pursuit for excellence and justice found deep meaning and enviable expression in your principles and boundless legacies.
Against a society which often lost sight of principles, be it social, political, economic or aesthetic, you descended on the Nigerian turf like a tornado and today you are an institution and a celebrity that has become phenomenally popular with the Nigerian masses.
Sir, as we mark your 10th anniversary with prayers for a life well spent, could you believe that your house at Gidado road in Kano played host to your most powerful comrades in arms who are now democrats of conscience to commiserate with your wife and the entire members of your family?
Barely 48 hours ago, General Muhammadu Buhari, former head of state and commander-in-chief of the Nigerian armed forces led a powerful team of Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar with Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, the governor of Kano State to your tomb to offer special prayers for the repose of your soul. It was a well attended prayer session as highly influential traditional rulers, religious leaders and your loyalists like T.M. Gwarzo, Professor Munzali Jibril and of course Engineer Charles Mbakwe, a leader of the Niger-Delta contingent among the many that graced the occasion.
Sir, your ardent loyalist whose loyalty could be misconstrued for fanaticism, Alhaji Wada Nas is no more. He has since joined our ancestors and could therefore not be here. General Jeremiah T. Useni, your bossom friend since you were captains in the Nigerian army though actively particpated in the preparations for the anniversary could not attend as he was said to have travelled out of the country.
You know for sure sir, that the former President Olusegun Obasanjo will never be in Kano as even in grave he hates you with a passion. He never pretended to like you and the Abacha family bearing in mind that he harbours grudges for jailing him in Yola prison after conspiring to unsuccessfully topple your government. Your Excellency, I wonder why you jailed Obasanjo in Yola. You could have according to General T. Y. Danjuma taken him to Gashua in Yobe State, where bigger mosquitoes would have dispersed justice to a brute who now masquerade as democrat.
It is no news to you that after your demise Obasanjo ruled this country for eight solid years with iron fist and draconian laws that can only be rivalled to the exploits of Mobutu Sese Seko and Idi Amin of Uganda. He flaunted his credentials as an enthusiastic dictator with a passion for vendatta. The former president was morally reckless, socially vindictive, politically naive, administratively deficient and psychologically oppressed to continue the good work you started and it is sad to say that things have fallen apart and the centre no longer holds.
Never polite but domineering and arrogant, Obasanjo, if not for the protection of God, would have wiped out all Abachas' from the surface of the earth. While in grave, you are still that lion that scared many as the name Abacha invokes uptimum fear and instant diarrhoea to Obasanjo. I want to assure you that if you were to be alive, ten thousand Obasanjos would never come close to you with 10 feet pole but with your demise he arrested your children like chickens and inflicted mental and psychological torture on your family. For eight wasted years of governance, that was the only "tangible" achievement of Obasanjo. He told the world that you were a thief that looted the nation's treasury, but today history is on your side as you have been vindicated. The probes in the power sector and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by the National Assembly brought to fore frightening revelations that changed the face and character of your administration. You are now considered a saint that is fit for cannonisation.
sir, we remember you today as always for standing tall to be counted among few Nigerians who stirred the leadership of this country with philosophical calmness. You did it with utmost sense of responsibility that even your unrepentant critics will give you credit for taking up the gaunlet and positively responding to our generational challenges.
Ranka ya dede, could you believe that Obasanjo as president cornered almost all the resources of this country that he is now one of the most richest peole on the African continent? He now owns the multi billion naira Otta farms, Bells University, an ultra modern (digitalised) private library and many large scale farms scattered all over the country.
When General Abubakar granted him pardon from Yola prison, Obasanjo had only N20,000 in his account but today the rest is now history. Under the guise of privatisation Obasanjo sold Nigeria to a clique that comprise his immediate family, friends and cronnies at pittance. His children and fronts have become over night billionnaires as he generously granted them import and tax waivers at the expense of the Nigerian economy but to the bloating of their individual purses.
In your days sir, there was probity and financial accountability. Buhari, Babangida and Abubakar have unanimously given you a clean bill of health. They said you did not steal neither did you loot from the public till to warrant the dubious publicity which the Obasanjo government made your issue a political capital. They all agreed that you were a prudent manager of human and material resources whose era left a lasting legacy on good governance. That the allegations levelled against you was a vendatta that lacked rhyme or rhythm as they were baseless and unfounded.
Your Excellency, as I was saying, Obasanjo institutionalised corruption in Nigeria that some of our elected leaders see democracy as private liability companies. They invest in it only to convert their treasuries into personal estates. Democracy and public office has now become a do-or-die affair as elected officials openly declare feast on communal resources without fear or favour. Despite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), a terror institution set up by Obasanjo to tame and trample on the opposition, some of our leaders are still wallowing in corruption and corruptive tendencies. Though EFCC tried to stamp out corruption under its internationally acclaimed crusader AIG Nuhu Ribadu, it was and still is the consensus of opinion that Obasanjo deliberately set it up to hunt the opposition and emasculate critics of his government.
Do you know that Obasanjo dolled out over N13 billion to contractors handling the power sector in the country when almost all of them do not even know the sites. We are expecting more revelations from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) where alleged monumental looting of the oil sector will show how the president who doubled as oil minister piloted the affairs of the industry.
I am sure you remember Edozie Madu, a close ally of Daniel Kanu who championed Youth Earnestly Ask For Abacha (YEAA). He is now the chairman of the congress for Democratic Change and has taken his time to describe you in a glowing tribute. He said "Abacha was a prudent leader who ensured economic stability in the country. During his time, the value of the naira was N80 to a dollar and for five years it remained very stable."
Madu who called for your immortalisation due to the good work you did has however compared your achievements to that of Churchill who is today seen as a highly reverred leader of his country.
Nigerians remember you with nostalgia as your beautiful economic blue print under vision 2010 still remains unbeaten. Your exploits in Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) under the chairmanship of General Buhari is a virtue that became a front burner on indices of development in Nigeria. Though National Agency for Food, Drugs, Administration and Control (NAFDAC) was not very prominent then, we however had access to cheaper and safer drugs of standard, procurred by PTF. As it is now many hospitals in Nigeria still use PTF supplied equipment and even its bedsheets.
Sir, you renovated our hospitals, gave befitting face-lift to our institutions of higher learning as teachers salaries were improved, bus services provided and hostel accommodation were constructed. Our roads were reconstructed or at best given a facelight by PTF, but sadly, it is now a different story. Obasanjo came and scrapped PTF because of Buhari and made road construction a conduit pipe for stealing our peoples money. The government was said to have deployed N350 billion to the then minister of Works, Chief Tony Anenih to repair and reconstruct our roads but nothing came out of it except stories. It became a subject of debate as Anenih claimed that he only got N20 billion while the ministry said it dispensed N126 billion.
During your tenure there was uninterrupted power supply as Nigeria reached the highest point in its hisory with 8000 megawatts of electricity but today we are in trouble as Nigeria operates below 800 megawatts with billions of its hard earned resources going down the drain. No wonder Idris Abdulkarim, a famous musician from Kano made a hot selling album; "Nigeria jaga-jaga and everything scatter-scatter."
Your Excellency, do you know that even the leadership of the police who are supposed to arrest and prosecute thieves are now stealing peoples money? Tafa Balogun, then a senior police officer became its inspector general only to corner over N17 billion of police funds, with a chunk of it now recovered by the EFCC.
You had a water-tight security network in Abuja under Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, your Chief Security Officer. Then, there were no robberies and the city was a source of pride to Nigerians in particular and Africans at large.
Sir, it is also a generally acceptable fact that you lived a good life as a successful family man and a caring father. You never collected anything from your children not to talk of snatching their wives. You instilled family values based on the fear of god and preached to them that one day every one must be accountable if not here, then hereafter. That is why your belove wife Maryam who is missing you on daily basis has no problem taking good care of Mohammed and the rest of his siblings.
Sir, Nigeria is now a democratic country. Democracy as practised in other countries of the world is different from our own here. Votes no longer matter and the electorate are in despair as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has captured Nigeria as booty of war. For now, PDP is planning to convert Nigeria into a one party state as its current national chairman Prince Vincent Ogbulafor who was a one time guber-candidate of ANPP in Abia State is proud to tell the world that the party (PDP) will rule Nigeria till eternity.
Despite the international oil price which has gone beyond 130 dollars per barrel this morning, it is sad to tell you that nothing is coming to Nigerians as dividends of democracy. Umaru Musa Yar'Adua whom Obasanjo personally selected to rule this country is at the cross roads because he was not prepared for the tough job. One year after assuming leadership of this country, Yar'Adua is yet to construct one single road, provide power, employment opportunities nor move the country foward. Do you know that people now refer to him as "Baba go slow"? One whole year, Yar'Adua is still at the drawing board trying to put up a blue print and Nigerians are suffering from poverty of not only food but that of leadership.
Sir, the opposition in Nigeria is being consumed gradually by the ruling party. It is said to tell you that the main opposition party, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) is now a shadow of itself due to infiltration of its leadership by PDP agents and moles. You must remember that old lawyer Edwin Ume Ezeoke who was the speaker of the House of Representatives under Shagari. He is now the chairman of ANPP and has now converted every political discussion to naira and kobo. Senator Saidu Umar Kumo, that grade II teachers college failure from Gombe is now the national secretry of ANPP. The two main officers of the opposition have now abandoned their presidential candidate, General Buhari with a resolve to go cup in hand begging for crumbs from Yar'Adua under a dubious concept of Government of National Unity. The situation is as depressing as it is nauseating.
Sir, while trying to pause here due to circumstance beyond my control, I want to assure you of my warnest assurances with a resolve to continue giving you up date next year, by the special grace of God on any further development in Nigeria.
May God continue to bless you, Your Excellency
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One really wonders what is there to thank God about an evil, lousy and brutal man like Abacha was. Surely children of Nigeria should rather pray that such evil men do not visit them again in this world!
What is there to be proud of in a Head of State who was full of vile and immorality...that had no atom of decency, compassion and orderliness in his dictionary? What is there to praise in a man who subjected even his own Muslim brothers in abject poverty and underdevelopment. Please for sanity sake, try to keep your adoration and memo inside your closet for Nigerian children are still weeping because of the atrocities your man visited on them!
I wonder how much Abacha gave you when he was alive. People like you show the world that Nigeria is doomed for a long time. No body mentioned in your article is worthy of any praise. How can Buhari give someone a clean bill of health when his hands are as dirty as all the other leaders u mentioned. The sad thing is from your use of grammer you have had some education but are surely lacking integrity that should form the foundation of any good education.
The only positive from this is that people like you are followers and will always have to rely on your sucking up skills to survive. Cockroaches are more imaginative and more deserving.