By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu
It was an outlandish showcasing of knavery by the ruling class of Nigeria when former Military President General Ibrahim Babangida launched his autobiography entitled, A Journey in Service.
There was the dimension that the disgraced dictator was also building a presidential library.
From all accounts available to me, as much as 16 billion Naira was raised on the spot in a matter of less than a handful of hours.
One of the self-confessed Babangida-made billionaires of Nigeria wrote a cheque of 500 million Naira.
The much-ballyhooed richest man in Africa pledged 8 billion Naira, stressing that he would be paying two billion Naira every year – and that even if the construction of the library goes into extra time, he would bring additional quid for its completion.
Millions of starving Nigerians may be dying per second, per second across the country but it is incumbent on the government-supported billionaires to be getting richer by nanoseconds!
The Nigerian state is built on a tissue of lies in which everything is fixed such that military rule and civil democracy happen to be Siamese twins joined at the stomach of eating.
Democracy can best be described as coup at the polls, and the fixed winner can as ever manufacture billionaires who must perforce support all his adventures in knavery.
As they say, the godfather never sleeps, and Babangida happens to be that godfather whose chain of command extends to incumbent currency.
Bootlickers and ill-assorted toadies are indeed a sight to behold, from lickspittle politicians to ass-licking private sector marauders.
The erstwhile hot-headed activists have swallowed their tongues and have since lost their power of speech amid the national despoliation.
Shamelessness happens to be the vilest disease of the power-mongers in their republic of lies and utter mendacity.
Nigeria has been captured by internationally exposed compulsive criminals, and any wannabe is at liberty to join the pathetic groove.
It’s a lying bazaar as characters from dubious backgrounds end up ruling Nigeria.
Things are made to never add up properly in Nigeria, from way back in time when the British forged the 1914 amalgamation so that the gaunt promising youth as per the Northern Protectorate got married to the Southern lady of means.
Now that the dubious intentions of Britain on Nigeria have been comprehensively entrenched by the black inheritors their paid agents are up with the argument that time is nigh to stop blaming the colonial masters.
Its all so cool, for example, to keep repeating the contours of the very first census figures that were doctored by the colonial powers to favour the chosen ones.
The popular votes of the independence elections of December 12, 1959 show that Dr Nnamdi Azikiwes NCNC-NEPU coalition scored 2,594,577 votes to place first with Chief Obafemi Awolowos Action Group (AG) coming second with a total of 1,992,364 votes while Sir Ahmadu Bellos Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC) came last with a total vote count of 1,992,179 votes.
According to Nnamdi Azikiwe in his book, Ideology for Nigeria: Capitalism, Socialism or Welfarism, The colonial regime had so adroitly manipulated the electoral constituencies that the most unpopular party (NPC) won the most seats (142); the most popular coalition parties (NCNC-NEPU) won the second highest number of seats (90); whilst the second most popular party (Action Group) won the least number of seats (73). The remaining number of seven seats were shared by independents.
It was in the bid to stop the rigging rigmarole of Nigerias post-independence elections that Prof Humphry Nwosu used his Option A4 formula to deliver Chief MKO Abiola as the winner in the June 12, 1993 presidential election that Babangida calamitously annulled.
Like Rip Van Winkle who woke up after a long sleep, Babangida has at last woken up to admit that Abiola actually won the election, but its General Sani Abacha whos now safely dead that annulled it.
The regular courtiers of Nigerian power of course gathered as ever in Abuja to croon and grovel for the lying General.
It did not start today because Nigerians had to bear witness to perfidy in certain quarters when the election was annulled in 1993.
In his book, Nigerias Soldiers of Fortune: The Abacha and Obasanjo Years, Max Siollun wrote thusly: Following a meeting between Babangida and traditional rulers on July 2, 1993, the foremost Yoruba traditional ruler, the Ooni of Ife, Okunade Sijuwade, had threatened that Yorubas would secede if Abiola was not declared president. Less than one month after Abacha seized power in November 1993, the same Oba Sijuwade, who had threatened to pull his people out of Nigeria, led 18 of the Yoruba Obas to Dodan Barracks on a courtesy visit to Abacha and commended him for pre-empting and forestalling the imminent state of war and disintegration in Nigeria. The Oba of Lagos, Adeyinka Oyekan, also wrote a letter to Abacha telling him: It is by the grace of Allah that as a crowning of all your achievements, you should become head of state and commander-in-chief.
Babangida revelled in the praises all over again at his Abuja book launch.
A tear for Abiola!
There is the other revelation by Babangida in his book, to wit, the January 15, 1966 coup was not after all an Igbo coup for which he is getting rapturous ovation in the eastern heartland.
This is neither here nor there, coming from the Janus-faced Babangida, but I would rather go with Raila Odinga of Kenya who confessed his embarrassment for Nigeria when he was told on high that an Igbo must not rule the country!
Lets keep deceiving ourselves with lies into preternatural backwardness!
Uzoatu is the author of God of Poetry.
