Dreaming a Different Nigeria

By

Dr. Wunmi Akintide

WUMIONE@aol.com

Dreaming a different Nigeria by Okey Ndibe is, in so many ways, my rational for writing my last article titled "Nigeria in big trouble if Obasanjo's "modus operandi" becomes the gold standard for governance of our country" which was widely publicized in this Forum and Gamji dot com.

I want to seize this opportunity to congratulate this gentleman named Okey Ndibe for a very factual and thoughtful article about a very polarizing President who thinks that ruling a country is a one man affair. What matters to him is not the collective interest of the whole nation, but the insular interest of himself and his cronies who regularly shout "Hossanah" and even do it better that than the Celestial Church of God adherents who end their Sunday services and major prayers with seven chants of "Hossanah".

I can understand the celestial Church of God saying that in praise of the the Holy Trinity of God the father , God the Son and God the Holy Spirit Nigerians have all come to embrace in our Christian Faith in much the same way like the Muslims among us never get tired of chanting "Allahu Akbar" What I don't get or understand is how and why the praise singers of Obasanjo should be so blind and silly not to realise that this President is creating a very bad precedent in our country's leadership that even his former boss, the great Murtala Mohammed would not have approved.

If Murtala had thought he was totally above men he would not have done some of what he did when he was Head of State for 200 days into eternity. At one point in his short tenure, he would leave his house at Ikoyi early in the morning, get out of his car to start directing traffic at major intersections in the crawling city of Lagos. One of the first things he did as Head of Government was to return back to Government some of the row of houses he had built in Kano from sources he had believed were corrupt or illegitimate. He did yet one thing that would surprise every Nigerian reading this piece. Murtala  belonged to a different kettle of fish from Obasanjo. You can take that from me. 

Nigerian would recall that both Murtala Mohammed  and the late MKO had made millions of dollars from telephone contracts awarded to MKO Company by Murtala when he was Federal Commissioner of Communications and as Head of the Signals Corps in the then Nigerian Army. His popular name in that regime was Minister "Seun Re" in the Yakubu Gowon Government. Why? Because he had led the coup that brought Yakubu Gowon to power as a compromise choice because Yakubu was a Christian by faith and because he comes from a minority group in the North.

The poor man was out of the country for some military training in England when the coup took place. He had only came back at the right time when Nigerians and the coup plotters themselves were looking for a abridge and a leader that the North and the South could accept, because Nigeria was on the brink of breaking up at that point in time. Yakubu Gowon just arrived right on time as the man who could best govern the country and save us from the hot-blooded coup plotters which included Murtala himself and our current President among others. It was as if Yakubu Gowon was scared of Murtala thru much of their time together until the same Murtala led the group that flushed him out in 1975 when Yakubu was away in Uganda attending an OAU meeting. He went from there into exile in England for years, my readers would recall. 

Murtala knew it and Yakubu Gowon knew it that he was Head of State by right only. The real Head of State by deed was Colonel Murtala "Seun Re" Mohammed who was placed in charge of the Ministry of Communications and who single-handedly awarded telephone contracts worth millions of  dollars to MKO without anybody raising a finger. He did it in much the same way like Obasanjo has appointed himself as the sole Minister of Petroleum for eight years giving oil blocks  to anybody he likes.

The so much talked about friendship between Murtala and MKO had its etiology in those juicy contracts that made MKO a filthy rich multi millionaire and made him the all powerful Chairman of ITT in Africa because the Americans who held the lion share in the multi national company knew that MKO can be trusted to deliver the bacon, as long as his bosom friend remains the Minister of Communications and later on as the Head of State, the "fons et origo" of power in our country. That was the deal.

I am recalling this story because Murtala knew he was not a Saint and he made atonement before he died. I recall him putting a phone call as Head of State to one Adewole the technical Head of the Telephone Department in Communications apologizing to him first for getting him retired by force for having the guts to criticize his handling of the telephone contract while he was Minister of Communications. He offered to recall the man back from retirement. When that man refused that offer , he offered to have the Federal Government pay back to him all his retirement benefits and all losses he might have incurred as a result of his summary dismissal from the service by Murtala The total amount ran to several millions which were instantly paid to him on the authority of Murtala Mohammed as Head of State. The gentleman from Ondo town who may still be alive had used that money to build his house in Ikoyi. Let my readers feel free to check the veracity of this story. When I told you I knew Murtala in ways that few Nigerians knew him, I was not just running my mouth.

Murtala as a devout Muslim had repeated what Martin Luther King used to preach about,  that you hate the sin but love the sinner. He had repented and he did not play God like Obasanjo is doing today when he sees himself as the only sane and clean leader who can successfully rule our country. It is either himself or his handpicked cronies like the Adedibus of this world, the Annenihs and Andy Uba and perhaps Ya'Ardua who would go into office as the crowned successor to the Obasanjo caliphate in Nigeria.

As Okey Ndibe has rightly pointed out in his beautiful write-up, Nigerians must not accept that. Obasanjo and his handpicked candidates  do not deserve to return to power. We need leaders who are not going to look on Obasanjo's stewardship as the gold standard on how to rule our country. I concur with Mr. Okey Ndibe and I thank God that we still have Nigerians like him speaking for the great majority of us. Let Nigerians choose their own leaders in a free and fair election. If they do, Obasanjo and most of his cronies will be "Bako daya" in the next series of elections in our country.

Dr. Wunmi Akintide.