ME, BUHARI? If you criticise President Jonathan -on anything- you are a supporter of General Buhari and the APC. If you say something unpalatable about Buhari, you must be a Jonathan or PDP lover. This simplistic mold is so deceptive as to be ridiculous. Its been demonstrably proven on my wall that President Jonathans uninspiring, amoebic leadership style should be disgusting, but this does not neccesarily translate into a love for Mr. Buhari and the style of leadership his supporters go selling will be enthroned in the event of his being elected. Jonathan I know to be a certified non-leader. He does not speak the language of leaders. He has shown time and again that he has no bussiness with inspiring leadership and is not willing to transact any such business soon. His case is settled as we are currently living out his vapid leadership style with no improvement in sight. I wouldnt say I was around when General Buhari held sway as dictator but then I need not be around to have a decerning clarity on what he has coming for Nigerians. I remember the retroactive decree that took away Bathlomew Ogidengbe and co. I remember Tai Solarin. I read about those portfolios and the shuting down of the air, land and water spaces. I still have baby memories of a sticker of WAI stucked to the ancient filing cabinet in my parents bedroom. I own a papa-dash-me copy of the Nigeria at 25 anniversary copy of Newswatch magazine. Inside that invaluable edition are execellent essays and news reports from the likes of Dan Agbese, Adebayo Williams, Ray Ekpu, Dele Giwa.... There I read of Makogwo Okoye, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Adokiye Amaesimeka, JP Clark....IBB, Murtala Mohamed, Yakubu Gowon, Shagari, Ironsi....Buhari..... Theres something about leadership -especially at national cadres- that negates that hasty relegation of memory and antecedents into the trashcan of time and to the accompaniment of that vaccously loaded chant, Let By Gones Be By Gones without first checking for acceptance of guilt, making of penance and where possible initiation of restitution. I remember sitting with my Oldman to watch OBJ take the oath of office back in 99 and still have my Dads excited words echoing in my head. Yes, this is the kind of man Nigeria needs now. Hes a former soldier, he understands soldiers and he has been to prison so should understands what it means to be so elevated. And at such a critical time as this. Now my Papi isnt one to openly comment on politics but hearing the new president declare that he will Step on toes and if possible cut some of them really got him excited.. I would have proudly have signed up had Nigeria called for recruits to go fight aliens on Mars on that day. A few years later molted the tragedy that woud have been! Who does not know what wreck General Obasanjo wrought upon us all! My Oldman fell for the same quickie disregard for antecednts as some Nigerians are doing today -that failure to interrogate the past and seek redress -where that is required- before proceeding to chant sactimonous chorals of forgivness, letting the past sleep so a new dawn can germinate. If my Oldman has used the template Obasanjo left in the late 70s he probably would have thought twice about the sly mans innaugural boast that day. The leopard we hear does not change its spots overnight. General Buhari cuts the picture of a sternman who will not allow mediocrity, ineptitude and the pervading permissive air of anyhowness into his premises not to talk of aloting them bed spaces as Mr. Jonathan seem bent on doing. To some (filled and running over with exasperation at Mr. Jonathan) this is all Nigeria needs, this is all it takes to choose which side to pitch tent with. But isnt this too elementary a decisive premise on how to elect a leader for such a country heavily pregant with problems as Nigeria? Should we ignore a critical look at the template Buhari left us in 1985 (if not all his military career) and go singing behind him like the children of Hamelin behind the Pied piper? Should we for fear that such interrogations might translate into easy gains for Mr. Jonathan and the consequent pepertuation of the prurient status quo and proceed to play the ostrich and plow on with our support? Can there be such a time for instance in the distant future when the current anti-Jonathans will crave amnesia and wave off all these ineptitude being unleashed on us all by Mr. Jonathan and argue on his behalf against another candidate using the same arguments they currently invoke against him? Once upon a time in 99 I saw Wole Soyinka, Gani Fawehinmi, Zakari Biu, Chris Anyanwu, Hamza al-Mustapha and Victor Malu on TV at the Oputa Panel. I heard Soyinka explain his involvement with the Pyrates as two baby lawyers hit him to and fro with questions; I saw Gani holding a large, framed picture and weeping like a baby; I remember Justice Oputa and Father Hassan Kukar proclaim instant deletion of sacrilegious perfidies by ordering a profane hug between Chris Anyanwu and Police Commisioner Biu; I remember al-Mustapha garbed in a leather caftan taunting his former victims with sadistic smiles and coy replies to queries of his involment in death and tortue and his you-can-go-to-hell swagger of a state-sanctioned murderer sure in his ways -and this to the scandalous cheers of a demented gallery of Lagosians and the tarcit encouragement of Justice Oputa and his crew. My kiddy mind was shaken. But my greatest shock on that day came when Victor Malu declared that he wore the Abacha badge with pride and if Abacha were to return to life he will gleefully serve him again! I was a kid but I was pertrified at that pronouncement. Can any sane human actually say this of General Abacha -that personification of evil? It dawned on me years later that Victor Malu only gave voice to what al-Mustapha and Biu were delivering in sly doses and what Oputa and Kuka sanctioned with that scandalous hug and other usurpations of the divine gesture of pronouncing sin-laden men guiltless. Now, can I today wave of these imprints from my mind and pitch tent with any of these men if they were to run for any public office? Can i boldly tell myself that their sins -if at all I still see them as sins- are far lighter than any human they might be running against because my exasperation is full and running over? But then another thing stood out shamelessly from that laughable pastiche of the South Africa model headed by the true worthy Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It was the famous snub from Generals IBB, Abdulsalami and Mohammadu Buhari who shunned that panel with unhidden expression of their supremacy over Nigeria and Nigerians. It was a strong statement from the respected and influential generals. At that point in Nigerias politics and hustle to survive as a new democracy emerging from a brutal dictatorship appearing on that panel would have been a gesture towards national healing and if possible reconciliation. Appearing on that panel at that point was a call to national duty, a call to patriotism. But this was not so for General Buhari who today claims he loves Nigerians more than himself. He and his fellow generals damned us all! Perhaps who knows maybe if they had appeared the whole thing wouldnt have degenerated into the ludicrous charade it became as their heavy presence would have lent seriousness and credibility to it. What were their excuses or grouses against it if not thinking themselves gods, Nigeria their footstool and Nigerians their toilet sheets! Why did Wole Soyinka, a confessed non-lover of OBJ not only appear but also in explanation of his roles with the Seadogs explain that Dr. Olaokun, his son belongs to the Zero Meridi branch of the PC? Why did Gani appear in all seriousness weeping and wailing? What informed these Generals dismissal of that panel save a blattant disregard for Nigerians? These men -against all claims today- have no respect for Nigeria, Nigerians nor democracy. How does one then now reconcile their quest for leadership in a democratic setting? Even if one were to join the Buharists flashing the amnesia card there still remains that strain of instinct for survival that imprints on every breathing being those memories of what to avoid having been repeatedly hurt by such. This instinct draws one back. Unwillingly. Strongly. That an IBB or a Buhari will seek to lead a democratic Nigeria is put uninsultingly, insulting. If such men were to even entertain such luxirous thoughts does it not follow that they must first accept responsibility for a stained past, seek forgiveness, do penance and where feasible make gestures towards restitution? And to think that some of these men do not even accept their sins in the first place!!! How much insult can one stomach and still be counted among civilized humanity entitled to all the diginity in that claim? To those so bitter at the present conditions as to want anything other than Jonathan one can listen to -with arms folded across the breast and face sculpted to convey feigned sympathy; for those ignorant of the antecedents of these men one can just say, Go take a crash course before settling into a camp that will ferry us more woes by a single ballot. Then for those whom everything written above about these men na old story because they dont only KNOW but even KNOW more and yet pursue their support of these men -just for its sake, I invite to convince me -and many unbelievers like me- why you insist on dragging us all from frying pan to fire. Who knows, we might come with petrol or even do away with our clumsy fire extinguishers and fire-proof coats. NB: Sorry for the tag. Ignore if troubling (I do same too). Or just Untag. Ya theres that cute, messainic button. I mean no disrespect. I only want to be sure where my vote will go. And since I know where yours going, who knows mine might tag along and help your hustle. Our hustle.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 01:57:04 +0000
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