Nigeria's Lying Generals

It is true that in Africa you do not talk ill of the dead but that does not give you a license to insult the living. How can Babangida (abi se na Babaginda, I no sabi bo), Buhari and Abdulsalami say that Abacha never stole any money from Nigeria’s treasuries? To start with, I love it when the words, ‘steal’ or ‘stole’ are used when describing what these rulers have done. I hate words like ‘embezzle’ and ‘misappropriation’. Barawo na barawo, ole, onyoshi.

Anyway, it’s been ten years so maybe I should refresh your memory. Methuselahs like me have the impression that everybody was around and have a vivid impression of what happened ten years ago.

I think it was June 8 (or was is it June 6?) ten years ago that Nigerians broke into spontaneous celebration. I arrived work late on that fateful and I was already thinking of what fabu to give my boss but when I got to work I met everyone crowded around the television set, watching CNN in the newsroom(I was working with a Newspaper company then). My boss, the editor, looked up as I entered the newsroom and said to me, ‘congratulations, Abacha is dead.’ For those of you who don’t remember who Abacha was that should sum it up for you.

Now on the event of the tenth year anniversary of his death, three of his closest friends are saying he didn’t steal any money. Ibrahim Babangida, actually described him as, ‘courageous, loyal and honest…’ Honest?!! Abacha, honest? Babangida is notorious for double speaking. In an Interview with Newswatch in July 2000, Babangida was quoted to have said Abacha’s death brought relative stability to the country. He also said during the same July 2000 interview that the revelation of Abacha’s loot surprised him. In that interview, Babangida also blamed Nigerians for allowing Abacha to turn himself into a dictator. That was only eight years ago.

On Buhari’s part, he said, ten years after, allegations against Abacha remain unproven. Excuse me Mr. General sir, if you haven’t been shuttling from one courtroom to another in furtherance of your selfish bid to become President for the last six years and had been paying attention to current news you would have known that the Swiss authorities have returned some of the money Abacha stole.

As for Abdusalami, how can he talk ill of Abacha? He was the most fortunate beneficiary of Abacha’s death. He even praised Abacha for Vision 2010. Why did he not continue with the vision when he succeeded him?

The connection between the four generals is obvious, Abacha was the person who announced Buhari’s coup on 31st December 1983, Babangida took over from Buhari and Abacha was a key player in Babangida’s government. Then Abacha took over from Babangida, when Abacha died Abdusalami succeeded him. End of story.

On the other hand, maybe Akinjide, who was disparaging Chief Obafemi Awolowo recently, should borrow a leaf from those three Generals.