“…I understand the African man’s mind. This is why I still remain in the struggle, and I will not relent… I know I am a great man, I know I have big sense, I can play music, but I know my country is a stupid country. So I must be political…”
---------------------Fela, University of Lagos, 1981
Music has tremendous and awesome power. It can move an entire nation as the Chief Priest did with his protest songs against a government that never wanted to get things done, notably when he unleashed "Zombie" on the anniversary of the Second World Black Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC 77). Of course, the legendary performer and activist, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, did not intend to be "political" when he began his musical career dating back to the Koola Lobitos years. His protest music commenced when a collapsed nation-state emerged, regardless of the enormous resources which could have—no, should have—made that entrapment one of the most resourced and humanely capitalized nations in the world if a profound leadership had been in place for a concretely structured democratic fabric.
I am not going to delve into how a fabricated state, all of a sudden, popped up, just like that. We all know the story, so save your breath. I am weary of pointing out. I am focusing on the Fourth Republic and how it has made life meaningful for its citizens. Has life gotten any better? Is there an economic stability as we speak? Do we have a transparent and accountable democracy with a noted three chambers of government respecting the rule of law? Are the criminally-minded corrupt politicians being prosecuted to the limit of the law, or are they being left off the hook because they can afford to be let go? Is the current democratic dispensation intact and viable as supposedly should be? The answer to the above questions, without a doubt, is an "absolutely not!"
Before the sound off, the vow of "no sacred cows" and all that blah, blah, blah, Sani Abacha was said to have been the worst dictator ever to rule that entrapment, and that his regime was worst of its kind compared to other dictators and civil era presidents when it comes to economic instability, anarchy and bribery and corruption.
Now let’s see how it adds up. Abacha, a military junta usurped power and destroyed all aspects of civil liberties enacting draconian decrees and setting up death squads disguised as watchdogs to monitor opponents of his regime—most especially a desperately craved Moshood Abiola restoration to the "people’s mandate" on the verdict of "June 12" led by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and his National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) colleagues—the despot thought was a hindrance to any progressive platforms he may have for the country. After all, many juntas have come and gone, and practically did the same thing he did, some with pass marks. And why should he be an exception? I agree on the part of NADECO’s activism, even though it was like preaching from the pulpit.
Also, the military junta, during the nation’s turmoil and trial period, caught on crossroads, targeted the press and had made journalism a living hell. The nuts and bolts of an effective and accommodating free press is the community bulletin board, the daily newspaper, the weekly, the biweekly and monthly journals, the news magazine, the staff writers, the columnists, the editors and editorial board who maybe or maybe not, doctors every report, and for sure, the publisher who provides us the opportunity to read what is fake and what is real; and sometimes what could have been a payoff to seal a lip in order to avoid cases of human rights violation like the case of Mamman Vatsa whose trumped up charges were all a doing of Ibrahim Babangida, who, up to date, destroyed the nation in its entirety and yet no charges could be leveled against him. Not even the characters and culprits in the cold blooded murder of Dele Giwa could be traced and followed. And no one has questioned Babangida’s ideologies of the end justifies the means and why he hasn’t been dragged by all means to pay for his atrocious and bastardized regime which did send the country back 50-fold in all aspects of life. That beats me. Whatever happened to the vow of "no sacred cows"?
I am going to avoid Abacha's responsibility for the deaths of thousands of people on one particular ground: He was a military junta and let’s assume, no, let’s say he killed thousands as claimed by an unreliable tally. Olusegun Obasanjo did the same when he was a junta. So, too, are other military juntas who killed their rivalries and dumped them in mass graves. Based on that, I should be justified for leaving out Abacha on all the brutal killings and things like that which does not mean Abacha shouldn’t be held responsible—posthumously—for his atrocities including his role in ethnic cleansing.
But the Fourth Republic came through a tiring, exhaustive options, political gimmicks and military tactics, pressuring the military to back off as the public interest in military machineries waned. Babangida’s regime was a saturating point for further military establishments in a country that has been unstable since its "birth" with military coups succeeding one another except at intervals where rigged elections ushers in a concocted civilian administration.
The Fourth Republic was welcome after a drilling Abacha iron rule which either had his opponents locked up or flee the country. One thing to be borne in mind "is," Abacha was no different to other military juntas, Obasanjo himself included. Abacha stayed in power just like his predecessors who kept power until they were no longer relevant, which normally brings about a topple of the old regime—in some cases bloodier, while in some cases, palace, by nature of its planning which ultimately boiled down to "army arrangement" ever since the beginning of coups and transitions in Nigeria.
My problem with the whole transitional thing is that, When Ernest Shonekan became part of a coalition government which brought about dissolution of the Third Republic during a nation’s critical era and in an election that was presumably clearly won which ultimately should have been upheld if the juntas in question had kept up to their words of a smooth transition at the time of the electoral process, what business had Shonekan at Aso Rock running a civil administration in a purported coalition government? Shouldn’t there have been a rerun election since the "June 12" drama was claimed by Babangida to be marred by irregularities? Why was Shonekan not ignored in an open display of civil disobedience? And why were the government offices he regulated, overseeing its civil activities not permanently shut down to send him packing with chants of a government that must not be accepted?
No amount of activism can change the course of human history if it is not carried out within the surroundings where the said problem emanates. If these "activists" had stayed put, fought Abacha diplomatically coupled with civil disobedience demanding immediate change, never minding the ominous consequences which comes along as a price tag for change, Nigeria, today, probably, would have been a better place with a better understanding that democracy and freedom is not really free but costly, and that there is a price to pay for it. It has been the case anywhere democracy is practiced on the face of this planet. India, the Balkans, United States from Jim Crowe to the civil rights era, and of course, Apartheid South Africa, will attest to this fact on the struggle for self-reliance, independence and majority rule.
The Egbas were good at running their mouth until Abacha figured everything out taking charge completely of the affairs of state abrogating every ordinance or constitution detrimental to military set ups, which did put the nation into a life support for another long haul of uncertainties that would set the country back many more years in its quest for a sound democracy. But the problem is when Abacha took charge, none of the chief commanding activists stayed put to challenge Abacha on why he should seize power that belongs to the people. The activists had gone in hiding carrying out their demonstrations from dark corners while their followers became victims of Abacha’s draconian laws.
However, as it also happened, the Egbas who became "victims" of Abacha’s iron rule couldn’t fight. They fled on the concept of Nigeria would one day change as long as "they keep fighting from the outside." Abacha died under mysterious circumstances while Abiola who had been the subject matter of the entire crisis since "June 12" 1993, would die about a month later following Abacha’s death.
A time for change and a new beginning seems to have left the country with no other option but an emergency rule which would perhaps pave way for general elections. That was just the case as two deaths of the nation’s most controversial men linger with questions. A shaky and nervous Abdulsalam Abuabakar who had just been appointed head-of-state by the armed forces ruling body did well handing over in less than a year he was on transit to another rigged election which gave birth to the Fourth Republic with every aspect of the society seemingly anew.
The Fourth Republic looked like the last straw ending military coups with second time around of Obasanjo, though as a civilian but still with military mentality on how to govern in a public square. He had vowed in his inauguration "there will be no sacred cows," meaning no stone will be left unturned in his administration regarding bribery and corruption, and that he was God sent to save a nation from the bastions of empire and anarchy in its time of need. He had set up the Human Rights Commission chaired by Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, to study, investigate, and recommend what would be appropriate for those who may have abused human rights during the nations troubled times. That commission was rubbished and nothing came out of it. The last time we heard of it, it was no longer important and Obasanjo had moved on beyond the ridicule he created to sort out the country the way his cronies—no, his onetime enemies—had recommended.
Among them, Femi Fani Kayode, who became his intellectual blood bank aligning him with Egbe Omo Oduduwa, descendants of Oduduwa, in a square off with his makers, the Hausa-Fulanis who put him in power supposedly as a puppet which brought in a lot of drama, doing things to appease his enclave rather than keeping up to a deal he had struck with his Northern ruling elite compatriots. Here is a man who came close to death under Abacha’s gulag, gotten lucky and taken up another mantle of leadership only to do the worst in the nation’s history in terms of good governance.
The pros of erstwhile Obasanjo’s administration argued that "it takes time" for a country to get back on its feet judging from how messy the juntas left it. But they are not saying that anymore now that President Umaru Yar’Adua has decided to listen to his people and disregard Obasanjo’s skeletons, the reasons why the former president handpicked Yar’Adua so he would have his back covered. Everything has just begun to come out. Obasanjo was a monster taking the nation to another level of chaos. Yes, he was a monster using that opportunity installed upon him to fight his nemesis including the ones that disagreed with him rather than a call to national duty. He had turned Aso Rock into a field of power tussle.
Starting with "Igbos can go to hell" when confronted with questions on why he hate Igbo people, the arrogant and abrasive intolerant president did not waste time insulting reporters when confronted in another unrelated incident on why he had not leveled any charges yet against Babangida. He had written a book with no substance. He had disguised himself as a born again Christian and full time comedian while stealing from the coffers of the government. He had likened himself to Puritans but yet his code of conduct is zero and stinks. He was not perturbed when hoodlums and Northern Islamic Jihadists were burning down Churches where Southerners worshipped. Obasanjo in his own word said "I dey kampe," when the Sultanate states nihilists burned down all that Igbos worked for. He had awarded bogus contracts on the power sector with nothing to show for it. He had run the oil-rich ministry single-handedly with selected cronies who ran errands and got paid. He had taken advantage of women of easy virtue and used his influence to commit all kinds of moral outrage. The resources of the state had become his personal tool using it to his discretion without due consultation of the legislature and the demolition of Odi being his first point of military invasion. And Obasanjo’s blood-lust was just beginning.
So when asked between Abacha and Obasanjo, who should be considered the worst of the two, and who was blood thirstier, the answer should be Obasanjo based on the fact he was democratically elected and was employed by the people to whom he must always answer to. Abacha was a dictator and that’s another thing altogether when one recollects what the despot did to the press during his iron rule which left most journalists in the country running for their lives, hiding and writing under fake handles. Cloak and dagger had surfaced in the country and secret agents and espionage were out there for subjects on Abacha’s watch list.
That era was the biggest blow to press freedom, not even the Islamic states infringed the press the way Abacha did. The mass movement of Nigerian journalists was quite disturbing when most of the major newspapers were shut down while hunting down writers, reporters and editors who had made stories Abacha concluded were damaging to his regime and becoming obvious Abacha’s regime lost its commitment to journalism, unlike previous regimes, even though, there were some atrocities, for instance, the closure of Newbreed in Obasanjo’s regime, the unjustified incarceration of Guardian’s Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor for not disclosing their source of investigative report and declining to cooperate with authorities in Muhammad Buhari’s regime and the brutal assassination of Newswatch founding member, Dele Giwa, in Babangida’s regime.
Meanwhile press censorship would continue in Obasanjo’s administration, which occurred in several occasions. A reporter from the Daily Independent was slammed because he would not reveal the source of his information gathering which Obasanjo’s Gestapo considered embarrassing to the president.
Somehow, the Fourth Republic has been full of drama, and it’s quite interesting. We have seen a nation of about 130,000,000 people that has huge amount of oil reserves, producing about 2.5 million barrels per day, and yet more than half of the population is wallowing in abject poverty with the basic things of life still far fetched in general. A nation that also has natural gas reserves and yet the infrastructures all over are in a deplorable state as crisis and insurgency continues apace intensified by rising tribal and ethnic brutalities.
We are seeing a nation where its politicians have stacked away billions of dollars in foreign based accounts and yet the country is riddled with all kinds of diseases where standard hospitals and medical equipments are lacking. We are seeing a nation where an ordinary local government chairman can boast of mansions and fleet of exotic cars all across the nation on the goodwill of public funds and yet the public schools and recreational centers in these communities have vanished. We are seeing a nation where it is now normal, especially in the Igbo-related states, to applaud the lewd heartiness of the women and the materially rich in slum, morally and socially poor lives of its people in general, and sadly only those who follow local politics closely in the jungle could understand what exactly I’m talking about.
We are seeing our graduates relocating elsewhere around the globe on the grounds of the "push factor," the economic hardship and social problems that has compelled them to leave in search for better living conditions, and we have a nation that produces about 2.5 million barrels per day of crude oil which is quite staggering if sharing should be done on headcount. We are seeing a situation whereby cities are flooded with human tragedy, swelling by the day as if an epidemic had clawed its way from the jungle into the cities. We are seeing our rural areas no longer the agrarian utopia it used to be but now taken over by skyscrapers on dusty alleys with no street numbering. It is a tragedy that we are seeing all these things in an era where infrastructures, adequate social programs, well-equipped schools, universal standard hospitals, normalcy and stability should have been the order. And all these socio-economic problems resulted from a tacky Fourth Republic spearheaded by Obasanjo and we still wonder why.
Talking about political journalism, I’m not sure if the liberal Lagos-Ibadan axis press and the nation’s capital style of yellow journalism is taking note of the trial balloons which helps the lame duck government boost its ego when it’s about to test the press and public opinion. But with the kind of journalism I’ve seen with a vulnerable Nigerian press, except a very few, it is honky tonk and a jungle out there. We still have a long way to go.
The saga continues!
The following is a response Mike Egi sent to my email regarding the above article and I have decided to post it underneath the body of the piece.
Good Job Ambrose. You are not only good at musical issues, you are up there also with the rest when it comes to politics. My only advice to you is never confine your political writings only to Igbo issues, because whatever is good for all Nigerians should also be good for the Igbos. I was shocked when most peopple applauded Obasanjo when he invaded Odi claiming the oil there was for all Nigerians. Those who supported him then were angry when he also sent troops to Zaki Biam in Benue State to kill many innocent people. We must not wait for the tyrant to get to us before we protest unjust tratment to any Nigerian. We must learn to be our brothers keepers.
Mike Egi
Note: Mike Egi is the compiler and producer of Flashback Series.
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