There were two interesting memorials in Nigeria last week. It was the 15th anniversary of the annulment of the June 12th 1993 general elections, which were widely believed to have been won by the late business mogul, Chief Moshood Abiola. For ‘winning’ claiming the overwhelming mandate given to him by Nigerians North and South, Christian, Muslim and people of all faiths and cultures in Africa’s most populous country, he was first hounded into exile and then on his return, he was imprisoned by the sadist dictator, General Sani Abacha. Abiola’s fate in life and death were tied together. June 8 was the 10th anniversary of the death of the dictator. Abiola died ‘mysteriously’ exactly one month after Abacha gave up the ghost.

The peoples of the country are still as bitter about the experiences and memories of 15 and 10 years ago as contested as the events were. The forces in the battle for democratic change have hardened, divided in their ranks but persistent in the struggle; and they still look at June 12 as a rallying point for the promise of peaceful change in the country and they continue to use the anniversary for clarion calls to soldiers. The experience of democratisation since 1999 has not yielded much democratic gain for the masses of the country. Politics remain the exclusive preserve of people with dubious (at best) democratic credentials, and mostly no real intent to building democracy in the country. Monetics is the rule of the game but still Nigerians are hopeful that one day they will overcome this experience of democracy without democrats. Many people have changed sides since those halcyon days but there are enough Nigerians keeping the flag of democratic struggles flying against all odds. These are times of despair, but though Nigerians are used to disappointment in successive leaders, they somehow retain an incredible optimism that insists ‘tomorrow go better’.

As the democrats valorise June 12, the forces of reaction are also busy remembering Abacha and in the process, rewriting the history of that misrule. Former military dictators Ibrahim Badmasi Babangida, Muhammad Buhari, whom he had overthrown, and Abdusalam Abubakar who had taken over after Abacha’s death, all headed for Abacha’s villas in Kano to commiserate with his widow. They all remembered Abacha as a leader who served his country well. IBB even claimed that knowing Abacha as he did, there was no way he could be guilty of misusing public funds. As exonerations go, I am not sure anyone will trust IBB’s testimony on public probity. He has amassed stupendous wealth without any obvious source of income other than previous privileged access to the public treasury. His testimony can only be seen as the plea of Ali Baba on behalf of his forty fellow thieves.

It seemed strange that Buhari, who has reputation for discipline and anti-corruption, could be part of this troika of latter day Abacha disciples. But it is not at all odd. I have never really taken the myth of the anti-corruption crusade by Buhari too seriously. He is an autocrat with democratic pretensions whose appeal to Nigerian middle classes is based on their love for fascism. Unfortunately for them, Buhari is without a broad national movement behind him and he would remain on the scene only as a permanent establishment protest candidate.

Things like PTF, which are credited to Buhari under Abacha, were institutions created to distribute national resources and fund projects without any accountability. That’s why he created fabulously wealthy people among a cabal of businessmen, management consultants and an assortment of favoured acolytes who benefited from inflated contracts that were issued by his sole administration parastatals. It’s claimed that he did not have any personal gain from these projects, but it is also true that some of the forces sponsoring him included those who had benefited from his largesse and wanted a return back to the ‘good old days’ of PTF. They may have delivered on many projects but their success was more a function of the collapse of normal administrative and public works procedure. It cannot be a model of good governance in a modern state. It was based on the failure of governance. Buhari has every reason to celebrate Abacha because he ceded part of the public treasury to him which he used to launder his image as a clean person amidst the extreme incompetence of the Abacha stagnation.

AbduSalam is generally regarded as ‘karamin alhaki’ (i.e. small fry) in the beastly hall of infamy of Nigerian Generals. He has even gained an international reputation as an authority on peace and security, conflict resolution and election monitoring, despite the fact that neither him nor the country can claim any expertise. Of course Nigerians know better about this ‘Mr Nice Guy’ image which is only a result of his being in the company of bigger wolves, especially compared to his fellow Minna compatriot.

So why did all three generals make a show of remembering Abacha? I think their complicity in the annulment of June 12 meant that they needed to dampen the pro-June 12 celebrations and remembrances. Even Obasanjo would have joined them had it not been for their personal and political differences - he would have approved of this joint dancing on the grave of democracy. He was part of the conspiracy against democracy and a major beneficiary of that betrayal of the people’s mandate. And to add insult to injury, 15 years later Nigerian Generals have shown neither remorse nor regret. Instead of hanging their heads in shame, they continue to flaunt their arrogance and contempt for the people through the collaboration of sections of the media who report their nonsense uncritically. To crown it all, Abacha’s widow even claims she has forgotten Obasanjo. That is not my business. She needs to apologise to Nigerians first and seek their forgiveness.

The Generals too should know that the ‘one be one day’ nemesis will catch up with them as long as they remain at the scene of their crimes. They need to look at Korea and South America, where decades after Generals left office they were brought back to justice as society became more stable and democracy took firmer root. Even in Nigeria this will happen and the true heroes and heroines of our democratic struggle will claim their rightful place in our halls of fame which are currently polluted by criminals, hirelings and lick-spittles of dictatorship. Aluta Continua. The hope that June 12 represented can never be extinguished no matter how hard the reactionaries try.

“Forward ever, backward never”…..Kwame Nkrumah (1909 - 1972)

………………DON’T AGONISE! ORGANISE!!………………………………

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 11:09 am and is filed under Thursday Postcard. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.