The pharaohs and us (II)

In our efforts to draw parallels between the pharaohs of Egypt and their modern day versions on our continent, I will try to identify each of them by the most significant negative incident that happened during their rule.Let us begin from the beginning. Lord Fredrick Lugard: This is the first and most original of the […]

In our efforts to draw parallels between the pharaohs of Egypt and their modern day versions on our continent, I will try to identify each of them by the most significant negative incident that happened during their rule.
Let us begin from the beginning. Lord Fredrick Lugard: This is the first and most original of the pharaohs that ever presided over the destiny of modern Nigeria. He is, additionally, a white pharaoh. For some of us who are pro one united and indivisible Nigeria, he should be known as the Pharaoh of Amalgamation. But to those other Nigerians who are not too sure whether Nigeria as she is today is a very good idea, he should, undoubtedly, be known as the Pharaoh of the Historic Mistake.
 Abubakar Tafawa Balewa: This one is known by more charitable historians as the Pharaoh of the Golden Voice or the Humble or Selfless Pharaoh.  But to others who are less charitable, he is the Pharaoh of Violent Party Politics. You see, partisan politics during his rule was characterized by rigging and violence. Alleged rigging of the 1964 election led to violence which erupted in the Western Region and spiraled out of that region and engulfed the whole country leading, unfortunately, to the Nigerian Civil War in which over a million people perished.
General Aguyi-Ironsi: This man must be known as the Pharaoh of the Unwise Law. Historians attribute his fall and the disintegration of Nigeria in 1966 to the Unification Decree the man issued which sharply divided the country against those who wanted the unitary form of rule the law called for and the federal system that was in operation even before Independence.
General Yakubu Gowon:  I will like to identify him as the Pharaoh Who had the Fear of God but less kind historians will call him the Pharaoh of the Civil War or the Pharaoh of the First Bazaar Days. He can also be known as the Pharaoh of Reconciliation.
He was succeeded by General Murtala Mohammed: This must be Pharaoh the Typhoon but better known as the Pharaoh of the Civil Service Purge. Although he was generally acknowledged as a man who meant well for his country, his purge of the civil service of the time in order to weed out who he called indolent, corrupt and directionless civil servants, the unintended effect of this well meaning effort was that it led to the terrible decline of the civil service. And as we know, any nation that does not have a good civil service cannot develop rapidly.
He was succeeded by General Olusegun Obasanjo: He is the Pharaoh with the strength of a bull and the unforgiving memory of an elephant. In his first coming he must be known as the Pharaoh of the Unknown Soldier for it was under his first tenure that ‘unknown soldiers’ stormed Kalakuta Republic and three down the mother of Fela and from which fall she never recovered.
He was succeeded by Alhaji Shehu Shagari. I will call him Pharaoh the Meek but he is better known as Pharaoh of the Squandermania Days of Pharaoh of the First Bazaar Days. Under the rule of this meek pharaoh, Nigeria was a land flowing with milk and honey. In the times of this pharaoh’s reign his people were basking in the flow of oil wealth and he or they did not know what to do worth it. People were spending money like drunken sailors who had gone mad. Although this pharaoh was the first executive civilian president the country had with full powers and panoply, he was so meek, so weak and so tame to the point of docility that he once famously told an interviewer that ‘’I tell my people not to be corrupt but they don’t listen’’!
General Muhammadu Buhari: The Pharaoh of Law, Order and Discipline better known as the Pharaoh of Draconian Laws or the Pharaoh of Outrageous Sentences or Pharaoh Nemesis of Politicians. Under his reign, some erring politicians were given such long sentences by law courts that have not been seen in any part of the modern world.
He was succeeded by General Ibrahim Babangida. The Pharaoh of Political Footworks better known as the Pharaoh of Corruption or the Pharaoh of Subversive Generosity. Ever since the late Elder statesman Chief Anthony Enahoro used that term to describe General Babangida, I have fallen in love with that delectable phrase. His political dexterity in dribbling a whole nation for eight years is amazing because it says more about the character of the people he was ruling over than about himself. His people were greedy for illicit gain and therefore grossly susceptible to manipulation.
He was succeeded on the throne of his fathers by another pharaoh known as General Sani Abacha who reigned for eight years. He is The Taciturn Pharaoh. This pharaoh spoke very little but did much cruel things. During his reign, there were many mysterious bomb blasts and many suspected state sponsored assassinations. He can be called the Pharaoh of Assassinations or the Pharaoh of Annihilation or Pharaoh the Cruel. Many of his opponents were simply annihilated. During his rule it was extremely dangerous for any citizen to be outspoken or to appear to be independent minded. Many who refused to be cowed by numerous tales of the atrocities of his death squads paid dearly for their foolhardiness. Some were maimed some were mowed down by a hail of bullets and some were reportedly fed to reptiles kept in a zoo near his Aso Rock Villa.
General Abdulsalami Abubakar mounted the throne of his ancestors on November 8, 1998 and reigned for only nine months. I call him the Pharaoh of the Transition but lesser kinder historians call him The Pharaoh of the Squandermania Days II. For during his reign, he decimated the 7 billion dollars foreign reserves his predecessor had left in the kitty. When he left only about 3 billion dollars was left. If this pharaoh had had a long reign, he would have been more appropriately described as the Pharaoh of the Devastating Famine. Nothing would have been left in the store houses and his cities would have been left desolate.