Between Danjuma and Gates: Buhari is right!
Legendary Microsoft founder and Billionaire Bill Gates and retired General TY Danjuma are the latest high profile figures to criticise the manner in which the nation is being governed. Danjuma joined a growing list of retired military generals which includes Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Ibrahim Babangida. Although generally speaking it’s sound advice to ignore […]
Legendary Microsoft founder and Billionaire Bill Gates and retired General TY Danjuma are the latest high profile figures to criticise the manner in which the nation is being governed. Danjuma joined a growing list of retired military generals which includes Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Ibrahim Babangida. Although generally speaking it’s sound advice to ignore the messenger and concentrate on the message, it’s indisputable that former big-wigs of the military era have lost the moral credibility to pontificate on Nigeria’s problems. General Gowon perhaps the one military ruler who has managed to preserve some element of dignity and reputation still sullied his reputation by prosecuting a fratricidal war. General Obasanjo can never live down his disastrous, self-centred Presidency.
Full of his own self-importance and enamoured with his own assessment of himself, he had to be stopped from altering the constitution to give himself a third term. General Babangida squandered the opportunity to write his name in gold when he abandoned his political experiment and annulled the 1993 elections. The truth is that the bulk of retired Nigerian Army Generals have such an abysmal credibility deficit that the biggest contribution they can make to national development at this moment in time, is too keep their opinions to themselves.
Despite their hubris, most of them never saw a real war, but rather earned their promotions by tormenting civilians, planning coups and perpetrating genocide. In their day they gained power through brute force and murder, and now ironically they cry out when others try to copy them. Today’s killers are simply continuing the trend in Nigeria that violence is the language of power and success. Government has financially “settled” OPC, Niger Delta Avengers, and Boko Haram. Only the silent law abiding majority are left to suffer in poverty.
Danjuma in particular has every reason to fear murder and genocide because he has been implicated in both. As a young officer he was implicated in the abduction and murder of Ironsi the first military head of state. For his efforts has been rewarded with a lucrative career as an owner of Nigeria. As defence Minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo he was implicated in genocide in both Odi and Zaki Biam. No matter the level of frustration he may feel, his accusations against the military and call for people to resort to self-help can only create chaos and encourage lawlessness. They were more like the words of an irresponsible hot-blooded young man, than those of an elderly retired general.
In times of national crisis it’s important for leaders not to pour petrol on the fire, but to look for fire extinguishers and warn against anarchy. Nigeria has a long history of self-deceit, sophistry and euphemism and Government’s poorly thought out response was that Danjuma’s statement could lead to the outbreak of violence. This implies that they don’t consider the massacres committed by herdsmen as violence, it implies that being a victim doesn’t qualify as violence, but attempting self-defence does! Such is the biased thinking of yesterday’s men who are part of Nigeria’s problem cannot be part of the solution.
Bill Gates on the other hand is a man for today. He is cut from a different cloth. He isn’t a Nigerian therefore he could be forgiven for not knowing that over here when you are invited to dinner you don’t criticise the food. That aside, he has no reason to fawn over Nigerian leaders. He didn’t make his money through import duty waivers, tax breaks, government patronage, sole distributorship rights or impoverishing his people. He doesn’t need to walk the corridors of power in order to keep his business going. Gates didn’t simply accumulate wealth, he created it and nowadays concentrates on giving money away. His true compassion and concern for the welfare of the poor is legendary and puts our political leaders and rich men to shame. He has little regard for Nigerian leaders who love being seen in his presence. He told them to their faces that their template for national development is wrong and their priorities are mixed up. He said nothing new.
Nigerian socio-economic experts have been saying these things for ages and instead of paying attention, government has derides them. Instead of developing people they concentrate on developing structures through inflated contracts. Gates spoke just as the nation was entertained by the sight of Dapchi secondary school girls who couldn’t speak English despite the fact that it is the language for all approved government examinations in Nigeria! Their dilapidated school and other deprivations are hidden from view, while photographs of the children of the Nigerians ruling elites graduating from overseas schools and marrying each other in lavishly tasteless wedding ceremonies abound. This tells us that the reason Nigerians cannot live together isn’t religion or ethnicity, its simply mass poverty. If real change is not effected, and the nation goes to the polls in 2019 with things just the way things are, nothing will become better. It really won’t matter who is elected because we are not on the right road to progress.
In Canada the Minister of Health is a Doctor, the Minister for transport is a former Astronaut, the Minister for Youth is under 45 years of age, the Minister of Agriculture is a former farmer, the Minister for Justice was a Crown Prosecutor, while the Minister for Sport and Disabilities is a former para-Olympics medal winner. The current Federal Executive Council is a mishmash of all-sorts of square pegs in round holes, holding portfolios completely unrelated to their specialisations in life. How they could ever be expected to propose workable solutions to our problems defies logic. The late great Mahatma Gandhi once said that “you can’t change how people treat you or what they say about you. All you can do is change how you react to it”. At the end of the day nobody has a monopoly on wisdom and government must stop rejecting all forms of criticism and pay attention if not to the alarmist Danjuma, then certainly to the compassionate Gates.