Posted by 9jabook.com on December 6, 2009 at 9:40pm
Understanding the nation’s brand of Nazism
Nazism - a term associated with the Third Reich, that conjures fear, hatred and awe especially among the Jews because of the genocide of the fuhrer . Reminiscences of the atrocities of the triad of Hitler, Goering and Gobbeles, their march on Czechoslovakia, Poland, the breach of the Belgian neutrality, their adventures in France, Russia and the Bombing of London were atrocities unparalleled in history. Perhaps the climax of the Hitlerian genocide was the final solution, which meant the extermination of the Jews.
The Nazi had their bedfellows all over the world; the Pol Pots and Suhatos of Indonesia, the Pinochets of Chile; the Eyademas of Togo, The Mobutus of Congo Democratic Republic (CDR) the Idi Amins of Uganda and the Mugabes of Zimbabwe. A sprinkling of them also reincarnated in Nigeria: the Abacha's, the Babangidas and the Obasanjo'. Nigerians generally believe that Abachas was the worst tyrant Nigeria had ever produced, but some people think otherwise. They have certain traits in common: brutality, ferociousness, narcissism and paranoia.
Sometime ago, I read an interview granted by General Jeremiah Useni, retired, popularly known as “Jerry Boy”, and what intrigued me was his refusal to make a comparison between Abacha and Obasanjo. When the interviewer asked him which government he preferred, Obasanjo's or Abacha's, he replied “there was no basis for comparison, Abacha is a Saint! “ The former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory even warned the journalist never to compare the two rulers, for he was convinced beyond doubt that Abacha is a Saint compared to the Obasanjo. Although in matters concerning abstract values, people differ in visualizing their scales of judgment and this makes it pretty difficult to conjecture from what binoculars, prism or ideological aperture the former Minister saw the duo.
Again, the argument seems to have been brought to its peak at the 11th anniversary of Abacha's death, when other tyrants like Babangida and Buhari claimed that Abacha did not steal money and therefore exonerated him of his misdeeds of the past. I know that both Christians and Muslims abhor speaking ill of the dead, but they also believe in eschatology and the virtues of truth. Therefore any argument that seeks to beatify an African leader is a serious one that must of necessity be dragged to the court of public opinion.
I therefore elected to compare and contrast the nefarious activities of Abacha and Obasanjo, who operated like the Nazi's in their desecration of democratic values, censoring the press, their penchant for destruction and primitive accumulation. The time difference of the two leaders notwithstanding, both Abacha and Obasanjo were groomed in the military tradition of Sandhurst Academy. Perhaps the thin line of distinction is that whereas Abacha held the reins of power at a time Nigeria was navigating the brink of anarchy, Obasanjo was graciously released from the gulag to be having being persuaded by IBB, a fellow Sandhurst trained tyrant, to be President. By that position OBJ became the Head of State and arrogated to himself near-omnipotent powers to head all organs of government, including the National Assembly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Peoples DemocraticParty and even emasculated the judiciary. His economic policies of privatization was unpopular as he imposed maximum hardship on the masses, with astronomically increase in petroleum products and its attendant spiraling inflation. It was like the Nazi's who conquered Ukraine and stole all their food and exported to Germany.
Both were ferocious in persecuting political opponents. The high point of Abacha's goons was the extra-judicial murders of the Ogoni nine including Ken Saro-wiwa, and the abbreviation of late Kudirat Abiola - wife of late Chief M.K.O. Abiola - the acclaimed winner of the June 12 1993 Presidential elections. Obasanjo's eight years witnessed more than seventy documented high profile politically motivated murders. On the contrary, Abacha never feigned ignorance of his timidity. He read no printed matter, did not give a damn about the international media opinions; he only depended on his marabouts and fortune tellers who conjured voodoo inspiration to prop up his tyranny as long as it lasted. Obasanjo definitely scored a shade above distinction in terms of persecuting political opponents including his Vice-President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and he prosecuted such battles like holy wars under the guise of restoring sanity to the polity. The President and his Vice tried to outdo each other in kleptomania.
On the economic front, OBJ could have been scored very high if his reform agenda succeeded in creating even some marginal impact. At no time in Nigeria's history has the price of crude oil soared to $80 per barrel. With the stupendous wealth accruing from crude oil, Obasanjo inaugurated what he called a “Reform Agenda”. First, OBJ suffocated the banking sector by weeding out the small players under the re-capitalization scheme with Prof. Soludo as the CBN Chief. He also assembled a few pro-IMF egg heads to give legitimacy to his reforms. The administration embarked on a privatization spree and sold all choice corporations to his friends and cronies. Otedola and Dangote were major beneficiaries of the President's largesse. Third, he increased the pump price of petroleum products about nine times, and each time an increase was announced, he justified it by pontificating the same argument that our refineries were producing at very low capacity. This argument is difficult to reconcile with the huge sums of money voted for Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the refineries. Fourth, OBJ's IMF team like fifth columnists plotted to obliterate the time-honoured “public good” concept of education through a policy of marketisation of institutions including the unity schools. Nigerians know the truth about the stories surrounding the African Petroleum, the PTDF imbroglio, the Pentascope saga and now the gale of scandals have radiated to the power sector, Police Equipment Fund, Aviation Intervention Fund and others yet to catch the eager gaze of the anti-graft agencies. It is because of the despicable role Chukwuma Soludo played that makes this writer believe that Soludo is not the kind of Governor Anambra State needs now. The State has a formidable assemblage of tested technocrats, with experience in statecraft.
Arguably, the past eight years of mis-rule have brought about double digit inflation, increase in the price of petroleum products; privatization of refineries and all that could be regarded as our national heritage. At least under Abacha, the educational system was stable, the exchange rate of the naira was tolerably low and inflation was single digit. Worse than the Abacha junta, Nigeria in the past eight years can be described as a corporatized entity. Wages are not keeping pace with the spiraling inflation, graduate unemployment has worsened, our educational institutions seem to have lost their glamour and the so called reform agenda is like bitter pills forced down the throat of Nigerians. For nearly eight years Obasanjo was misguided by a class of mindless pro-IMF economic adventurers who mis-interpreted pro-poor growth as development. Economic growth was only noticed in Soludo's power point presentations, but the reality is that Obasanjo's eight years reign wrecked havoc and increased the misery index of Nigerians, as epitomized in the life expectancy rate, standard of living, access to health care facilities and other basic infrastructure including education.
Obasanjo and Abacha were both sworn enemies of the media. Abacha muzzled the press because he never read newspapers but OBJ deliberately killed the independent media, climaxed by his refusal to assent to the “Freedom of Information Bill”. Thus while Abacha attacked the physical manifestation of the media such as censoring the press, jailing practitioners, OBJ killed the soul of the press; and he who kills the soul is the real murderer of press freedom. Even the Freedom of Information Bill, which has been muzzled by the NASS may continue to suffer setbacks in the future. It is still in the morgue, and only some esoteric conjuration may bring it up for the gracious discussion of the honourable men.
One of the casualties of the Obasanjo self-perpetuation scheme was the lethal injury inflicted on the electoral system. Obasanjo superintended over the worst elections ever conducted in Nigeria since independence. Elections are supposed to be a decision-making process where people give their mandate to their representatives at all levels of government. In political theory, the principal mechanism for translating that consent into governmental authority is the conduct of free and fair elections. The 2007 elections were characterized by massive rigging and bizarre subversion of the popular will. The hullabaloo about electronic voting system and the over seventy billion naira of the taxpayers' money expended on the project demonstrated monumental waste. The NASS may not be in a hurry to review the Electoral Act because of the self-perpetuation scheme. That is the unenviable legacy Obasanjo bequeathed to the Nigerian State and the Yar'Adua administration is too slow to push through these reforms. They may never see the light of day till 2011 or even beyond.
OBJ can be described as the luckiest Nigerian, yet his years of democratic rule also witnessed more strikes, more riots, more collapsed buildings, more crashed airplanes, more politically motivated assassinations and other sundry disasters. The causes of these events are being investigated but this may continue ad infinitum. Of course the Nigerian Police lacks the capacity to investigate because of the bogey of corruption and the get-rich-quick mania.
Abacha's regime centralized corruption such that only Abacha, his friends and other lackeys of the junta enriched themselves. On the contrary OBJ set out to fight corruption by establishing ICPC and EFCC. Whereas ICPC has since inception not recorded any landmark achievements, the EFCC was used as an outfit to hunt down politicians who overtly expressed disdain for the third tenure plot. Nigeria's corruption rating by Transparency International was higher in the last 8 years. Even the World Bank reported in 2003 that 51% of corrupt activities were perpetuated at the Presidency. Now Nigeria ranks 130th among 180 countries in the corruption perception index.
•John wrote from Yenagoa
To many impartial observers, OBJ only de-centralized corruption and corporatized Nigeria under the guise of reforms. Verily, the application of double-standards has diminished the tempo of the anti-corruption crusade. This momentum may be gained with the sack of the former anti-corruption Czar. In fact, the Czar has long been replaced by Mrs. Farida Waziri, who in the imagination of most Nigerians, is attempting to re-position the outfit but the NASS poses a huge bottleneck. Obasanjo - the civil war hero, and gentleman farmer of the Operation Feed the Nation fame, wore the garb of democracy but like Abacha, he suffered from acute military hangover. A soldier by training, character and actions, an archetypal dictator, OBJ sought to push through his punitive reforms by brute force rather than appeal to the conscience of Nigerians. It would therefore be a terrible misnomer for anyone to see the past eight years of unmitigated disaster as democratic rule.
Obasanjo is a fighter and he fought very hard to humiliate his opponents. His is lucky and audacious but bereft of the basic elements followers look out for in a democratic leader. It is difficult for a leopard to change his skin, and for most Nigerians with strong analytical minds, his two tenures in power will go down as an uneventful interlude of military hangover.
I am one of those Nigerians calling for the trial of OBJ, IBB, Chief Tony Anineh, Atiku, and other Nigerian involved in high profile corruption. especially on account of the economic atrocities perpetrated against Nigerians for the past eight years. Obasanjo should also tell Nigerians the truth about the punitive expedition he sent to Odi, Okerenkoko, Odioma, and other communities that were laid waste during his inglorious tenure. Nigerians have the right to know how the former President made his stupendous wealth, using his office as President.
The trial of OBJ and his Vice-Atiku by the EFCC will complete the anti-corruption war, and many Nigerians are looking forward to the time this would happen under the Yar'Adua administration. As a student of creative philosophy I have the conviction that leaders, no matter their description, ideological orientation or world view, must account for their stewardship at some date in the future. Just as the Nazi war criminals were tried in Nuremberg and convicted, the Nigerian brand of Nazists should be tried and convicted, and only then will there be full restitution and the souls of their victims will rest in perfect peace.
Idumange John (Mnim, CBA)
Is a University Lecturer and Activist
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