Babs Ajayi from Canada
The anniversary of the June 12, 1993 democratic struggle embodied by the dogged determination, sacrifice and vision of the late business mogul Bashorun Moshood Kasimowo Olawale Abiola is here again. A semblance of democracy has been won but nothing more has changed. Bashorun Abiola stood up to the monsters in uniform, and along with millions of Nigerians they faced an on-coming trailer that has no breaks and cared little about the masses. The civil society joined him and even people who disagreed with him on specific issues fought on the side of democracy and change, and they insisted that the winner of the June 12, 1993 election must be sworn in and be allowed to assume his mandate. The mandate of MKO Abiola was denied him by callous illiterates in military uniform along with their hangers-on and sidekicks.
For several years this group of cretins engaged in one rigmarole after another, brought out armoured tanks, guns and mortars and killed defenceless Nigerians on the streets of Lagos, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Ile- Ife, Benin, Kaduna, Enugu and several other towns and communities. But the Nigerian people, students, unions, newspapers, news magazines, groups of professionals and human rights bodies stood their ground. Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti will be remembered for his leadership, dedication, boldness and integrity in the struggle to actualize the June 12 mandate. He led a very effective and determined group of human rights campaigners, and his groups and many other bodies became a thorn too strong for the mad men in uniform to deal with. Chief Ovie Kokori and Omowale Carrington, the then United States ambassador to Nigeria gave their all, and stood for justice and democratic change. As always in the vanguard of opinion shapers and fighters, Kongi was once again taken away from his literary work and other tasks to demand that those who set the rules, wrote a constitution and conducted an election that turned out to be the fairest and most free elections in the annals of Nigerian history have a duty to honour the mandate of the winner. It did not matter to him who the victor was; it was the principle behind it all.
For years and for about a decade the nation and its people suffered hardships, petroleum scarcity, adulterated petrol and kerosene, closed schools and universities, locked shops and markets, deserted streets and roads, hunger and poverty, the migration of our brothers and sisters from the East back to their region, interim and not-so interim governments, brigandage and thuggery from men in uniform, and the step aside choice of the evil genius and the lowlife who was right at the centre of the crises. Hardship defined the lives of the majority of our people in those heady days but everyone held on to hope as represented by the mandate of Bashorun Abiola and the men of integrity who stood with him, particularly the Afenifere, NADECO, PRONACO, NUPENG, university teachers, Nigerians students, Tell, Tempo, The News, The Guardian, The Punch and several other progressive newsmagazines and newspapers.
The struggle pushed Nigeria to the brink of extinction and set students back several years in their studies. Many lost their lives to the bullets of Sani Abacha's soldiers who shot to kill and set up posts on roads and bridges. Newspapers and newsmagazines had their offices either sealed off, burnt down, and their magazines and papers taken away by state agents who constantly harassed and arrested vendors and newspaper distributors. All the laws of the land went to dogs, the evil genius and the evil maniac who took over from the interim lowlifes ran the nation like their fiefdoms. When losers take control, they wrought revenge on the rest of the people as if we were responsible for their failures; in most cases it is envy and jealousy that help to bring the worst out of people who failed. Long before June 1993, the people of Nigeria have come to know no peace of mind, no reprieve for social and economic hardship as the evil genius and his sidekicks took one wrong turn after another and made no effort to use the crude oil funds to create jobs and improve hospitals, schools and social services.
There were little to hope for from the moment the evil one took control in 1985 up and until he stepped aside in shame and by force, opening the way for an even more vicious character who acted far less than human in his dealings with people. Instability and social insecurity became a way of life and was far more steady and consistent as food shortage and inflation hinder everyone, which was at a time that there were official and parallel rates for foreign currencies. The crooks in power and their supported exploited the foreign exchange process in place while the masses pay dearly for the greed of a few opportunists. But that was before democracy or something like that was returned to the nation. That was before Olusegun Obasanjo was elected president with so much promises and so much hope that he will bring his prison experience to bear on the nation. It was hoped that the hardship and the unmerited favour and grace Olusegun Obasanjo enjoyed while in prison will truly translate into something meaningful and change him to a better person and leader.
That was not to be as the Olusegun Obasanjo who ruled for eight years and who attempted and schemed to change the Nigerian constitution and extort a third term from Nigerians, was a far worse leader than the cretin who annulled MKO Abiola,s mandate. The plight of Nigerians got worse under him; schools including the Federal Government Colleges and universities were poorly funded and continued in their decay throughout the Obasanjo years of the locust. It was eight years that yielded no dividend for the masses even as Bell University was set up and Bell College flourished. His Veepee also built schools and universities and ran businesses that took contracts from the federal government. Every step of the way the two men robbed Peter to pay Paul. They were greedy and selfish, they cared little about the people and their plights, and they helped themselves and refused to help the masses. One was a retired soldier and the other a retired customs officer, a member of the paramilitary parasites that boded no good for the masses of our people.
The greatest disservice Olusegun Obasanjo did to our people, however, was his imposition of his friend's brother on the nation as commander-in-chief. Obasanjo helped to spread lies about some achievements of Umaru Yar'ardua in the media, portraying him as one hugely successful governor who will replicate his successes at the national level. When the news items were appearing in Nigerian newspapers, a very analytical, highly critical and observant friend drew my attention to the news reports and articles. The reports painted the picture of a new and committed leader, a successful and focused man who is very committed to development and social service.
Today what we have on ground is a man who is after his own agenda and his own wants. He comes first and his government has been much like his predecessors - my need, my want, and my desire before any other. Poverty is forever on the rise and unemployment has assumed an alarming level in the nation. Our youths have nowhere to turn and they are victims of a failed state and a hopeless democratic set-up that is built to fail and arranged to ensure that looting is central to the agenda of the state at all levels. The regression we witness today and have been seeing in the last ten years are not the gains we expect, but they are the way the likes of Obasanjo, Bode George, Atiku Abubakar, Yar'Ardua, and the legion of retired generals who run the National Assembly and spread their influence around the states wanted it. Everyone who was a governor, minister, senator, board chairman or member, commissioner in the Obasanjo and Yar'Ardua era lives in a home that is worth in the hundreds of millions of naira. The same can be said of their bank accounts. When one of Obasanjo's ex-ministers was exposed by the EFCC a few months back and accused of stealing hundreds of millions of naira not many expressed surprise, except that the guy was more known for being Obasanjo's dog before he was made a minister. For such a guy, a lot of people insisted stealing runs in his family and looting is a way of life for them.
Sixteen years since the June 12 struggle took centre stage in the lives of our nation and people there is absolutely nothing to show for it. Our schools and universities are no better and the nation is downhill and in serious trouble of falling apart. Hunger and poverty daily afflict our people and school leavers have very little hope of getting a job. A sick man is not likely to find the drugs he needs and the equipment necessary to examine and determine the cause of his ill health and plan recovery are not available.
The social situation of our nation is desperate and the land is the backyard of looters and thieves in state and federal positions. We remember the struggle and dedication of MKO Abiola and the June 12 struggle and hope that one day an aberration of the likes of J.J. Rawlings will come to clean the filthy stable Nigeria has become.
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