By Nuruddeen Dahiru Kama
I was too young to give a personal accounts of Buhari and IBB’s military regime but from General Babangida’s administration to date, I have never witnessed an organised country with discipline, pride and patriotism like the military government under General Abacha.
From 1993 to 1998, Nigerians were more creative and productive because there was no free lunch to hang on. With economic, social and even diplomatic sanctions on Nigeria, our economy was stable, our Naira was strong and had more value, the pump price at fuel up stations was 11 Naira for 5 years while it was sold for 12.50 at the black market. Our military are not only feared globally but scared internally and that’s why no uprising last more than 24 hours in Nigeria under him hence a cliché that says “if insurgency lasted more than 24 hours, the government has a hand in it”.
Interestingly, you dare not be arrested by the police under Abacha because bail despite being a constitutional right, your rights seized to function as soon as you are in the premises of the police and that’s why civil disputes are mostly settled at home which promotes tolerance and community policing and a raise in the number of vigilante. Other para military Organizations such as WAI Brigade and MAN O War were used to bring sanity and discipline in our schools and even on the streets while monthly sanitation exercise were not only in full force but mandatorily observed across the nation which eventually improved our hygiene and reduced the rates of communicable or contiguous disease.
In those days, Exam Malpractice is treated as a criminal offence and an average secondary school certificate holder seems more knowledgeable than the graduates we currently have around, no thanks to the normalization of Exam Malpractice by successive Governments through their agents such as principals and Exam officers of “ghost centres” and the proliferation of more private schools for profit with no values.
Under Abacha, Nigerian contingent in fields and track events in the international stage recorded successes that has never been recorded in the history of sports in Nigeria as our Golden Eaglets, Flying Eagles and Super Eagles made us proud in Olympics, AFCON and even World Cup. It was an Era where the Head of State or the Minister of sports are not interested in who becomes the coach of Super Eagles but the welfare of coaches and athletes..
It was also on records that our education system were better off under Abacha, so does our health institutions as PTF still remained the best intervention agency that has ever been created in Nigeria.
In terms of critical infrastructures, this is one area General Abacha seems to have so much interest especially when it comes to quality. Structures such as Maryam Abacha Hospital for women and children and now National Hospital continued to remained as a lasting legacy of Abacha despite the facts that Obasanjo tried his possible best to erase the name of Abacha from the lips of Nigerians by renaming Abacha Barracks to Mogadishu Cantonment a name that has zero impacts on Nigerians as well as many monumental Structures such as the Maryam Abacha Hospital.
However, it becomes a norm for all the underperformed successive leaders after Abacha to create an impression that the late General was a tyrant, an evil and a looter by successive administrations even when Nigerians are more creative, productive, secure and hopeful under his administration than all his successors.
Buhari who was a beneficiary and a major player in Abacha’s administration had a chance to correct injustices meted on Abacha and his family but chose to look the other way as well. In facts, he idolized and accorded Abacha’s critics and tormentors than other prominent Nigerians that stood for Abacha but as fate will have it, his 8 years seems more disastrous than the 5 years of Abacha in terms of security, economy, social cohesion and transparency index.
In addition to this, most of the tantrums being thrown against Abacha are mostly but not limited to human rights abuse and Self aggrandaizement but there has never a time Nigerians witnessed the highest form of human rights abused than under “Democratically elected” Government of Obasanjo where even our finest legislator had to loose his life from the teargas being sprayed to send Senator Okadigbo off the streets while marching peacefully against a rigged election. Bola Ige’s murder is also something that is yet to be resolved till date after putting his life at stake for democracy, not to mention innocent Nigerians that lost their lives in Odi and Zaki Biam and several other prisoners of conscience that lost their lives in and after detention.
On corruption, Obasanjo was quick at tagging Nigeria’s wealth abroad as “Abacha loots”, but Sadly the same loot was looted by successive Governments despite the facts that there is no records to prove that the funds were looted and not the Gaddafi’s way of saving for “rainy days” as the couriers of the funds who are part of the government confessed in principles but look the other way when Abacha’s name is being dragged to the mud.
We also know from records that most of those calling Abacha as a thief could have sold Nigeria if they were slammed with sanctions and run out of clues to keep the country afloat.
Lastly, I’m of the opinions that Nigerian leaders can still make their points, write their books, present their speeches, run their Governments or private business and still have their ways without channeling all their failures, problems or shift their blames on a dead man because he is not alive to defend himself.
Nuruddeen Kama writes from Pella, Nigeria.
