Nigeria stands on extremely fragile foundations and many factors are responsible for the situation. They are to be found among the country’s living a host of those responsible for her many problems. If Nigeria searches among the dead, even some of those who rendered her empty would be found.
The depredations really gained steam with the beginning of colonial rule in the 1880s, by the time Nigeria gained independence in 1960, many held their collective breath hoping that it was time for the country to turn a new leaf. There was to be no new leaf thanks to many military coups, a civil war, more military coups and a largely dysfunctional system of governance.
Nigeria somehow survived the tumultuous ten years between 1985 and 1995 to return to democracy in 1999. The treacherous and toxic events of that period have gone on to define a large chunk of Nigeria’s democratic journey since 1999.
Last week, a key player in one of Nigeria’s most critical periods, during which the 1993 general election was annulled and the president-elect died in questionable circumstances, had it all to bare in a book. Gathering Nigeria’s most powerful power brokers serving and retired, including two former presidents and a current president, Ibrahim Babangida presented his memoir titled” A Journey in Service.” His image makers have desperately sought to present the memoir as a source of great excitement among Nigerians. But, if there was any excitement at all around the release of the book, it was to the extent that people wanted to read to know if the true circumstances of the horror they lived would be revealed.
But those that think they matter in Nigeria more than others gathered and without fail, they had some rather warm words for a man many remember only for his chilling cruelty. Maybe it is the passage of time which binds all wounds or the fact that many people are fighting different battles, but the memoir from one of Nigeria’s most ruthless dictators has fetched no more than muted reactions.
In the memoir, Babangida belatedly summoned the grace to admit that annulling the 1993 general election, which led to the death of the presumed winner, M.K. O Abiola, was a grave error. What was not clear from the admission was whether there was remorse or not. Assuming there was any hint of remorse, did it come from his heart, or was it the stirrings of a heart realising its fathomless folly so late in life?
Given how dangerous and destructive military involvement has been to Nigeria as a country and democracy, it is absolutely shocking that many of those involved in various crimes against Nigeria have not been prosecuted and may never be.
The book may be one man’s chronicle of his personal life, but given how he took power in Nigeria and went on to force himself on the country for eight years, it is a book that has wider ramifications for Nigerians.
There has never been a stronger case of a nutcase and a bad case on a bookcase, but posterity will pronounce the final judgment.
However, until Nigeria gets better, Nigerians must be wary of the phoney remorse that is propelled only by a certain reckoning with the dust that awaits even deities.
Kene Obiezu,
keneobiezu@gmail.com
