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Dare Put Obasanjo, Babangida And Abubakar On Trial By Farouk Martins Aresa
There has to be a pact cast in blood and stone between an outgoing Nigerian head of State and the incoming one: Thou shall not probe me. Also, a gentleman/military agreement to leave ex- head of state untouched, no matter what. Obasanjo stuck to it and never probed Abubakar or Babangida. That must be what Aliu is following. So who has the guts of Abacha to jail a former head of state or any aristocrats?
The fact that each of these sacred cows has been challenged and documents produced to back up their claims say a great deal about how fierce and fearless many Nigerians are. But they do not get enough credits. Some of them have lost their lives in the process and others have watched while the spills of their sweat and blood have faded on their written claims. As a quiz, can we even remember their names, as the Northern general who made allegations against Abubakar or the foreign country that claimed nobody has requested Babangida’s money?
Some of us are not naïve enough to think that Yar‘Adua can take on all these generals without the risk of destabilizing his government. Obasanjo took on Abacha because he was dead and had retired the military politicians with the support of Danjuma. Who is any “bloody” civilian, or Yar’Adua going to count on to probe all these heavy weights? If Tinubu, a “bloody” civilian is still running the streets as Yoruba Ambassador, Yar’Adua can not be the one to purge Nigeria with his “go slow due process”. How we miss Ribadu in action. Where is the fear factor these days? We need visible, high power deterrents.
Many of us want creation of EFCC in every corner all over Nigeria to catch the rogues amongst us, no matter what. The problem we are having now is that the Big thieves are catching the Small thieves. Since we want thieves caught, who dare defend any type of thief? That will be double standard. A thief is a thief. If we encourage petty thieves, they will graduate into vagabonds. Since our children are watching, they will repeat what we do. So it will be a mistake to argue for Adenike Grange’s innocence just because Bola Tinubu is still on the loose based on some deal. Monkey see, monkey do.
At the same time, we are deeply troubled by the glorification of the big old thieves either in uniform or agabda. They have become sacred cows un-probed by one government after another. Those of us who support Obasanjo’s war on corruption were patiently waiting for his day of reckoning since every dog has its day. Abubakar was still taking contracts from past Obasanjo’s government in spite of the fact that he almost depleted our reserve in the name of election before he left. If we are still interested in getting Abacha’s loot, how far in time and space was his regime to that of Babangida? That the Senate cleared Iyabo Obasanjo is not new. How soon we forget, the previous Senate had pardoned Okadigbo & co.
Nna, what do we do? As long as some of us still entertain the idea that we can steal and go scot free, we will. If we don’t, our families assume that we do and we are being stingy. So we get it from both sides for not stealing! Some of us may have been told at some point that “education you have, money you have not”. Unfortunately, they still think education is the only way to stupendous wealth not the way to enlightenments.
However, not all our heads of state are now in stupendous wealth that they do not know what to do with it. Of all our generals, Buhari is still relatively a poor man. His problem was that he was surrounded by aristocrats who sought big contracts and got away with impunity while he was in power but could not do much about it since he came from the same royal house. He is much preferred and respected in Nigeria as Mr. Clean?
Poor Shagari in person and humility, he was overthrown because of excesses in his time. If he only had heeded the call and warning of Awolowo on the financial melt down predicted. No God fearing person would call Shagari a thief, knowing what we know now but he was overthrown nonetheless. The irony was that while he was under house arrest, his Vice, Ekwueme was put in prison. A self made man, who will call Ekwueme a thief?
We also had governors who we still praise and fondly remember their time in office and wished they had moved on to greater office including that of the president judging by the way they ruled their states. Sam Mbakwe, Lateef Jakande and Balarabe Musa easily come to mind. We only have to think about how they end up. Who can call them thieves?
If we compare and contrast our leaders with looted wealth and our leaders who end up as relatively poor, a picture start to emerge: Money borrowed, stolen or not is power! It simply means that we have not learned how to respect those who worked hard for their money and those who steal money. That is why it is easier to gain political positions no matter where in the world when you have good money. In Nigeria, any money would do.
The result of this equation is that we can not let people who steal us blind to continue to have influence and power in our polity. They have become god-fathers who pick and choose those who run for office and fear that if they loose grip, they may become insolvent in poor houses like those who do not loot. These old thieves are so privileged; they still remind us by exuding extravagant ceremonies for their children.
Therefore we need to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the financial affairs of Obasanjo, Babangida and Abubakar. Some caution first: we do not want an Archibald Cox that US President Nixon did fire easily as in Watergate or Ken Starr who probed into the description of President Clinton private part in Lewinskygate. In Nigeria, we want:
Special Prosecutor: Declare all your asserts
General: Including gifts from friends, well wishers and relatives?
Special Prosecutor: Declare all your life income and source of gifts during your reign.
General: Here they are. (Hiding most)
Special Prosecutor: You are allowed 50 percent of the salary you have ever made as gift. No head of state must live above his means as an example for Nigerians to follow. Its Operation declare your assert or forfeit the Surplus.
If anyone thinks that can happen in Nigeria without a revolutionary reorientation, I have a used car to sell you.
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