Please leave Abacha alone!
He argued to the effect that there was nothing remarkable to remember about General Abacha except repression. Although it was a passing comment, which digressed from the adulatory objective of his article, Mr. Onoja should have demonstrated some charity in his assessment of General Abacha. Nobody is disputing the right of Lamido’s media adviser to […]
He argued to the effect that there was nothing remarkable to remember about General Abacha except repression. Although it was a passing comment, which digressed from the adulatory objective of his article, Mr. Onoja should have demonstrated some charity in his assessment of General Abacha. Nobody is disputing the right of Lamido’s media adviser to glorify his boss and showcase his achievements. The attack on Abacha is, however, absolutely uncalled for. While assessing the achievements of Lamido vis-à-vis other administrations (past and present), Mr. Onoja should not take the intelligence of his readers for granted. His display of selective memory about Abacha’s record is incredible.
Fair-minded Nigerians like this writer cannot let Lamido’s media adviser to re-write and distort history for his tendentious end. Despite Abacha’s alleged repression by Onoja, the late military ruler had no problem with the ordinary Nigerians. Onoja is at liberty to praise his boss to high heavens. He doesn’t, however, have the right to vilify other leaders. As the Greek Philosopher, Socrates noted, “You don’t achieve greatness by diminishing others.” It would have been unnecessary to join issues with Onoja if he had limited his panegyric to the perceived achievements of his boss.
If, however, a critic exceeds his boundary to insult others while paying tribute to his boss, then he should expect a response in equal measure. Do the ordinary Nigerians need Onoja’s intervention to fairly assess the late General Abacha? When history is written with a mind of prejudice, as Onoja did, objectivity will automatically fly through the window. In fact, only a beetle-eyed critic could pretend that repression was the only outstanding feature of the Abacha administration. Adagbo Onoja was in Jigawa State when a teenager was railroaded before a magistrate court because he criticized the governor of the state on Facebook. Is this not repression, especially in a democracy where no powerful man is a sacred cow? One has a duty therefore, to set the record straight and nail Onoja’s distortions to the counter. General Abacha’s foreign reserve level was less than 10billion dollars but he was still able to achieve results. The impact of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), which was created by General Abacha to manage the proceeds of subsidy withdrawal for the larger benefit of Nigerians, is still being felt. The success or failure of any administration does not depend on the length of tenure or level of resources. If that is the case, Nigeria would have been a paradise under the former Obasanjo administration. His government had a foreign reserve level of 63billion dollars, the highest ever achieved by any administration. Yet national infrastructure was (and still is) in poor shape 12 years since the current democratic order came into being.
Obasanjo’s poverty alleviation programme was in reality aggravating it; it only helped to enrich few bureaucrats at the expense of the intended beneficiaries. Power generation has been declining ever since Obasanjo left office, despite his unfulfilled promise to provide 10,000 megawatts of electricity by 2007. The conditions of federal roads, public hospitals, schools and other sectors of social service took a direct hit from the low quality of poor governance. Security had deteriorated beyond imagination.
In contrast, the late General Abacha did better with lesser resources. The PTF intervention had for the first time convinced Nigerians about the advantages of petroleum subsidy withdrawal. If Nigerians can see visible impact of government investment in improving their living standards, they can easily distinguish success from failure. Under Abacha, Nigerians had access to safe and affordable drugs in public hospitals, thanks to the PTF intervention. In fact, we still have equipment in public schools and hospital bearing PTF inscriptions.
Who can also deny that the security situation was better during the Abacha administration? Was Abuja not one of the safest cities under Abacha? On the other hand, were Nigerians under Obasanjo not living on their nerves, constantly looking over their shoulders as they walked or stepped out of their homes and work places? We were virtually captives of fear. And that is the sorry legacy the Obasanjo administration foisted on his successors who themselves were overwhelmed by the burden. General Abacha had his weaknesses like any other ordinary human being. We should not, however, let perceived weakness overshadow his more significant contributions to Nigeria.
In fact, it is important to remind Adagbo Onoja of the fact that the naira achieved more favourable exchange rate during Abacha than his critics can readily admit. Inflation was under control. Until his death, General Abacha maintained fuel price per litre at N25 while Obasanjo raised it to N75. Although Obasanjo accumulated more proceeds from petroleum subsidy withdrawal, it didn’t significantly impact on Nigerians as Abacha’s PTF did. Abacha resisted foreign dictation and avoided their strangulating debts. Nobody granted him a debt relief of $18b, yet his achievements remain unrivalled and incontestable.
We should always demonstrate the courage and humility to admit the virtues in others rather than let our prejudice to run away with us. Honest ignorance is pardonable but outright and deliberate indifference to genuine achievements is not. It is impossible to erase the record of good performance. Shouldn’t the National Hospital and Gwarinpa housing projects open the eyes of Onoja and other critics to the reality of General Abacha’s positive legacies? Nobody should question the right of a media adviser to a governor to praise his boss for his own security of office. In doing that, however, a media adviser should not take the liberty to attack the record of other leaders uncharitably.
Hadejia wrote from Kano State University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Kano State. [email protected]