Re: Celebrating survival not service or sacrifice
The very title of Dr. Eugene Enahoro’s piece which features on the Daily Trust Newspaper of 23rd August 2016 begs for a number of questions and answers as well. His piece in an attempt to twaddle former President Babangida by choosing to distort facts and scenarios on what he might be ignorant of or had […]
The very title of Dr. Eugene Enahoro’s piece which features on the Daily Trust Newspaper of 23rd August 2016 begs for a number of questions and answers as well. His piece in an attempt to twaddle former President Babangida by choosing to distort facts and scenarios on what he might be ignorant of or had a short memory to recall.
His piece posits IBB as a ‘failure’ and ‘architect’ of Nigerian woes which is an extraordinarily and I think it’s unhelpfully binary approach in an attempt to twist the truth. Mr. Enahoro conjures the titled of his piece “Celebrating survival not service or sacrifice”. It is not even as provocative and ultimately illuminating as the famous reference by Sherlock Holmes, in Conan Doyle’s ‘The Silver Blaze’, to the dog that ‘did nothing in the night-time. But I chose simply not to dismiss his piece which though is an erroneous exercise in philosophy, academic or teleology, but try to put more facts and scenarios before Mr. Enahoro, his like minds, and readers.
Dr. Enahoro was right that is not good we speak ill of the death. But that does not also warrant us to scorn people even on a matter that affect their private life. Of recent, some media outfit quoted former President Jonathan that he wasn’t aware nor give approval for some certain actions that took place in his administration. That extraordinary remark is enough reason why a former leader can’t be called upon to account or defend every event that took place in his administration. Since 1960 to date, no leader either in or out of office has been scrutinized or friendly to the print and electronic media like former President Babangida. What we witnessed in Nigeria from 1999-2015 has quadruple every type of illegalities, corruption, killings, and mal-administration that happen in the history of our country in the 8 years of Babangida’s administration.
Mr. Enahoro’s piece is nothing but hypocritical, callous, baseless and hatred to the person and integrity of former President Babangida. In his attempt to cast a bad intuition of Babangida and picking on those that congratulated him on his birthday at the pages of National Dailies, Mr. Enahoro saw nothing wrong of the recent full page advert on National Dailies by the Delta State Government congratulating Chief James Ibori who escape corrupt trial in Nigeria and end up serving jail term for corruption in United Kingdom on his birthday. Does Mr. Eugene need to be reminded that those who place advert to congratulated Babangida on his birthday did so for their respect for him? Did he need to be reminded that General Obasanjo and IBB has come a long way for past 5 decades and General Abdulsalam Abubakar who regarded IBB not as Military colleague or a former Head of State, but as a brother not to congratulate him on his birthday? He further stated that those executed for the military coup during Babangida administration were not opportune to mark their 75th Birthday is laughable. Military as an institution has its rule regarding coup and all those that are part of the system knew of the implication. General Babangida himself has said it time without number that he had participated in coups and was prepared to face the consequence had it been it didn’t succeed.
The accusation of a demise of generation of officers during the 1990 military air mishap is also laughable. What proof does Dr. Eugene have that Babangida administration is behind it? Haven’t we had other air mishaps that consume lives of Senior Military officers during President Obasanjo’s tenure? Haven’t we had uncountable plane crashes in the Country where several lives were lost including the late Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido and that of Layola Christ College Students? Are those who lost their lives in those air crashes not human beings or didn’t the crash happens under the watch of a sitting President? How many people have been murdered in Nigeria since IBB left office? Mr. Enahoro must have forgotten so soon that a Chief Law officer of Nigeria, Chief Bola Ige was murdered under the watch of a sitting president. What of thousands of innocent lives that were killed by the members of Boko Haram under the watchful eye of a sitting President that were not alive to celebrate their birthday? Or are their lives are not worthy enough to be called for investigation or explanations by the sitting President that superintended the affairs of the country then? But because of his two-faced posture against IBB, he only remembers Chief Dele Giwa and the C130 Ejigbo crash that consumes the lives of the Army officers that were not alive to celebrate their 75 birthdays.
If IBB institutionalized corruption as he claimed, we have had administrations after him that glorified and crowned corruption as a basic obligation in our daily lives. In fact, former President Jonathan openly told Nigerians that stealing is not corruption and yet Dr. Enahoro wants to convince readers that someone institutionalizes corruption. I begged to differ with Mr. Eugene that IBB institutionalizes corruption in Nigeria. Virtually of the leaders that emerged in Nigeria through coup-deta’t accused the regimes and administration they toppled as been corrupt. In 1976, late General Murtala Mohammed did a mass putsch in civil service and military which no any government has carried out up to date, that mass purge of civil servants and a military is an enough justification that corruption has been in existing long ago before the coming of Babangida to power.
Mr. Eugene after ridiculing Babangida on his piece concluded that he remains one of the leaders that put more structures and institutions in the country. One wonders on which yardstick is he telling us that IBB did not sacrifice his life for Nigeria? Is there any sacrifice that is more dramatic than the sacrifice of one sent to the war front? Should someone who fought for the unity of the country with a permanent scar on his body not be celebrated for service and sacrifices, but survival? Someone who confronted coup plotters physically and unarmed that led to the abortive coup of 1976 not worthy enough to be celebrated as the mark of service and sacrifices? Someone who has been a Military Instructor and trained those that end up been a Chief of Army Staff, Ministers, Civilian Governors, Senators, Military Governors and a Senate President didn’t do a service to his country? I wonder the citizen of the country Mr. Enahoro will be today had it been the session that led to the civil war was successful.
For past 23years that Babangida left office, writers like Mr. Enahoro have continued to blame IBB for the inability of the country to move forward. Is he trying to educate us that even daylight empowering of cabals that looted our country of Billions of Dollars through SURE-P, Oil Subsidy scam and unfounded import waivers under the watch of a sitting President was also the fault of former President Babangida? Loath or hate him, Babangida has given his best to the country; no media choke, half-truths, acerbic and scurrilous attack by the likes of Mr. Eugene Enahoro will ever erase the unmatched records IBB has set since living office. Former President Babangida did not only deserve celebrating survival but deserves celebrating service and sacrifices.
Yahaya wrote this piece from Jagbele Quarters, Muye, Niger State.