Last month was the month of our centenary as a nation and the government rolled out the drums in celebration. The celebrations have not ended mind you. In case you missed out in the revelry in Abuja some two weeks ago, do not worry, you can still get on the gravy train. For those of us who were not lucky to get an award during the February 28 ceremony where the deserving and the not deserving were honoured, we have a chance to get our own share of the cake in the three-month lottery programme, which was launched in Abuja on Monday.
The star prize is N100million, while 90 Hyundai cars will be won daily for 90 days. Talk of empowerment, I think this is one way the government thinks it can empower many Nigerians, who live under the poverty level. Other consolation prizes are tricycles, generators, smart phones, television sets and freezers. Did I hear you say how I wish everyday is our centenary? Those, who from the outset, said that the centenary is nothing but a jamboree may be right after all.
Until now, Nigeria had never celebrated the amalgamation of its northern and southern protectorates, which gave birth to its name. The amalgamation was an accident of history and we treated it as such for all of 99 years until those in power today decided to mark the 100th anniversary with pomp and ceremony. Does it mean that we will, henceforth, celebrate the amalgamation anniversary on its due date as we do that of our Independence on October 1 of every year? The centenary celebrations were nothing but a waste of scarce resources.
What is there to celebrate about a nation where the per capita income is nothing to write home about? What is there to celebrate about a nation where the gap between the rich and the poor keeps widening by the day? What is there to celebrate about a nation, which is the ninth producer of oil in the world, but cannot meet its people’s domestic need for petroleum products? What is there to celebrate about our 100th year when all the industries, which used to be our pride in the 70s and 80s are dead? Those that did not die have since relocated to smaller countries like Ghana and Togo. What is there to celebrate about a nation that does not care about its people? The people only matter to our leaders in times of elections.
The celebrations were just to make those in power feel good, no more, no less. There is no justification for it at all. We thank God for our unity; we thank Him for keeping us one. We thank Him for those that fought to keep the country together till today, especially the unsung heroes, who died in the civil war. But did they spare a thought for these people during the centenary celebrations? No, these people were not remembered. They chose to honour some of those who put us in the bind we are in today. It is good to honour a former head of state, but such honour must be earned, not given on a platter. Elsewhere, former leaders are not honoured because they once held office, they are honoured for the legacies they left behind.
This is why many find the honour given to the late Gen Sani Abacha during the Centenary Awards Ceremony rankling. Honour for the late Abacha? It is unbelievable, but it happened in Abuja on February 28 before a host of dignitaries. To show us how unserious we are as a nation, five days later the United States (US) seized a $458million Abacha loot in what was described as the “largest civil forfeiture action ever”. What an encore to the honour for a looter. More implausible is the government’s reason for honouring the late Abacha. Hear the government :
“He took over power when the nation was on the brink of the precipice. He mobilised the nation’s most prominent political class into his cabinet and succeeded in ensuring the continued unity of the nation. He also raised Nigeria’s international standing for his peace keeping military interventions in Sierra Leone and Liberia. He oversaw an increase in the foreign reserve from $494million to $9.6billion by the middle of 1997 and reduced the external debt from $36billion in 1993 to $27billion in 1997”.
What about the evils he committed. Those evils are more than the good he purportedly did for which the government honoured him. If only the late Abacha had maintained the course, he would have ended well. He ended badly because he was evil personified. There was no peace in the country in his time. Assassinations were the order of the day. Alfred Rewane, Kudirat Abiola, Suliat Adedeji, Lai Balogun, Tunde Elegbede and Omosehinwa, among others, were killed by gunmen either on the road or in their homes. The late Abacha was also instrumental to the judicial assassination of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Yet, the government found him worthy of honour.
The late Abacha honour was not deserved. And we do not need to look any further on why he did not deserve this award than the seizure of his $458million loot in the US. This loot is just a tip of the iceberg. The other day, we were told by Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that the government had recovered a $500million Abacha loot. Since the government is aware of the atrocities the late Abacha committed, the question is why did it still deem it fit to honour him? Did it take the action out of fear of being accused of unfairness? Unfair to who? To a looter? Was Abacha fair to Nigeria? The late Abacha does not deserve the award and it is not too late for the government to withdraw it and apologise to Nigerians for its error of judgement.
The prayer of many Nigerians is that the likes of Abacha shall not come this way again, not for him to be honoured by the government. The honour does not fit him. It is like putting a necklace on a pig. How will it look like? Ugly, of course. This is exactly how the garland looks on the late Abacha. Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka spoke the minds of many in his statement titled: Canonisation of terror, in which he rejected his own award because he could not share the same pedestal with the late Abacha. Soyinka said : “What the government of Goodluck Jonathan has done is to scoop up a century’s accumulated degeneracy in one pre-eminent symbol, then place it on a podium for the nation to admire, emulate and worship”.
Soyinka spoke before the US released its scathing indictment of Abacha over the $458million loot. The US Department of Justice noted: “This is the largest civil forfeiture action to recover the proceeds of foreign official corruption ever brought by the department. General Abacha was one of the most notorious kleptocrats in memory, who embezzled billions from the people of Nigeria, while millions lived in poverty”. It is sad that this is the man my country is given an award. Cry, beloved country.
