President Buhari is now playing the democrat as if we didn’t just witness his undemocratic handling of Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB and Shi’ite issues, and how he eulogized the antihuman vomit that is Sani Abacha just a few weeks back. Those unfamiliar with Abacha’s role towards truncating the actualization of June 12 can sing praises to Buhari’s cheap gimmick, but the discerning will always ask questions about this Trojan gift.
Is this gesture a gimmick to placate the politically sophisticated Yorubas now that the elections are near, with the president not fulfilling any particular promise nor solving any of the problems that got Nigerians spectacularly sending off an incumbent?
Is the President’s gesture a middle finger to former President Obasanjo, who famously declared that MKO Abiola is not the messiah and who against all pleas insisted that May 29 is Democracy Day and not June 12? Anyone with half a brain knows the answers. But there are more troubling questions.
Now that MKO is GCFR and Gani is GCON, how about IBB who caused both men so much injury and injustice -and MKO his life? So he sits in his Hilltop Mansion in Minna luxuriating on the bounties from his fantastic misrule, waiting to peacefully vacate this life so that in some future, another insult will taunt Nigerians with “I don’t care what people say about Babangida, I know he built roads and hospitals”?
Is there ever going to be a day in Nigeria when Justice will stand on its own merit as Justice without the say-so of the real owners of this country? Isn’t it double jeopardy that until the oppressors approve, the victims can’t even admit the fullness of their injuries and find closures in simple memorial gestures?
The suppression of the significance of May 30 to the Igbos comes to mind. Someday someone seeking political rehabilitation might even, supposedly in the spirit of reconciliation, gift the Igbos a Nnamdi Kanu Day! But that’s a matter for another day.
Now that we admit some wrong was done to Nigerians in general and the Abiolas in particular as concerns June 12, what happens to the murderers of Kudirat Abiola and the many others who died trying to fix that travesty while Mohammadu Buhari sat in his cozy PTF office taking others from the chief desecrator of the will of the Nigerian people? What happens to Hamza al Mustapha, a very deadly fellow notorious for his role in the suppression of June 12? What happens to those who sat in arrogance and treasonous subterfuge to subvert the will of Nigerians?
If you admit there was a theft and you identify the stolen-but-returned goods, isn’t it proper that you also ask questions about the thief? Should we instead roll out the drums and thank our stars that we are lucky enough to have our stolen goods returned to us and so ignore the thief, letting him walk off, possibly with other stolen goods on tow? Is that how the law advances societies towards progress? Isn’t that a sort of travesty of divine and human justice? Does the justice that directs societies towards reconciliation and righting of wrongs not ask for admission of sin first, then repentance, and were possible, restitution as prerequisites for its holistic manifestation of healing?
Since these steps weren’t and can’t be taken given the ulterior motives behind the gesture, does it not follow that those who truly hold the events of June 12 sacred take this coldly or even dismiss this gift (for what it truly is) because they would rather have the dead lie in peace until such a time when someone sincere enough to empty the entire cabinet of all ghosts and skeletons relating to that travesty do the needful so healing and renewal, the ultimate benefits of such gestures can come once and for all? Or we elect to play the ostrich and chant that retrogressive refrain “let bygones be bygones” so the magnanimous beneficiary can partake of the dividends of his generosity while we dance away cheering?
Are we that tactless towards the dead and sacred memories? Should we, as those unfamiliar with the events of June 12 suggest, just be grateful that Buhari has shown this magnanimity and just forget the salient issues triggered by this miscarriage of presidential power on the alter of sacred communal memory?
The true recipes for nation building transcend geographical deliberations. How a nation views its watersheds and enshrines same in its memories transcend mere symbolism. It is in such seemingly simple gestures that armies derive the warrior spirit to bleed for, and if required, die for the country; it is in such simple gestures that politicians and leaders submerge personal gains, and if required, even their survival to seek the good of their country first.
Here in Nigeria, every opportunity is wasted on the altar of political expediency. How does a country hope to advance towards true nationhood when it allows whoever cares, to hijack scared memories for personal political gains while everyone pretends he’s only doing what needs to be done (and there are no dangerous motives), and that those who ask questions of such gestures are fastidious termagants?
June 12 is now Democracy Day, congratulations to Nigerians, especially those in NADECO who fought to actualize MKO’s mandate.
I remember reading their exploits and escapades as a kid in The News, Tempo, Tell etc. They were quite irrepressible. I remember reading names like Frank Kokori, Kudirat and Hafsat Abiola, Shehu Sani, Kayode Fayemi, Wole Soyinka, Pa Alfred Rewane…
I remember reading about Chris Anyanwu and his ordeals in the hands of Policeman Zakari Biu while trapped in Abacha’s gulag. I remember reading about Bagulda Kaltho who was murdered for his irrepressible spirits. Then I also remember Hamza al Mustapha, Sergeant Rogers, and their Strike Force…
For these people and for justice, we must ask the pertinent questions and not let anyone hijack an event that cost so many lives and happiness for personal political gains. We must not forget our benefactor’s motives and we must not forget that by hijacking this gesture for his personal political gains, he belittles the memories of those who died to make June 12 real. We must know that he only opened a Pandora’s box of questions. True closure will come when we ask and find answers to these questions.
On a final note, the President by this willy stunt has shown all his hands and they have proven to be leprous and empty and very far removed from the much talked about integrity badly educated folks associate with his name.
