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.
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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… [Read Full Text]
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… [Read Full Text]