Nigeria: The 'Undisgraced' Collaborator

10 June 2005
opinion

If the Gen. Sani Abacha repressive regime were a soccer team, Professor Ibrahim Gambari would be one of the "first eleven players" or at least a quarter back on the reserve bench in the government squad. Though Abacha didn't play soccer, he certainly sat on a killer squad that hunted down members of the opposition - all lovers of democracy, and ordinary Nigerians in and out of Nigeria - while his bestial reign lasted. In addition to Abacha, Professor Gambari has served almost all the dictators who scorched the piece of earth known as Nigeria.

Professor Gambari, who some people claim is an intelligent man, used his 'intelligence' to defend the draconian policies of the Abacha regime while he was Nigeria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He was one of Abacha's equivalents of the "goebel" representing the infamous dictator with vigour and a propensity that could only be found in fascist Italy of old. He was once quoted as saying, "Nigerians don't need democracy because democracy is not food. It is not their priority now." As more pressure mounted on the Abacha regime from all corners of the world, Professor Gambari became more ruthless in defending and deflecting attacks against the Abacha dictatorship.

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