Corruption

June 12 1993

/ Adeola / 6 Comments

Adeola Aderounmu

I have written about June 12 1993 or I have mentioned it in several essays before.

It is very important that we keep writing about it so that the story does not get distorted.

It’s been 18 years since Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida destroyed the hopes and dreams of a better Nigeria.

Nigeria and Nigerians lost the opportunity of being led by MKO Abiola.

It is sad because no one knows if Nigeria would have become a better place today or even one of the greatest countries on earth. We will never know what we missed or did not miss by the presidential mandate that was stolen in broad day light.

What happened on June 12 1993?

On June 12 1993, millions of Nigerians voted in the best election ever conducted in the history of Nigeria.

The elections itself had been planned along two party system. Social Democratic Party’s candidate was Chief MKO Abiola while Alhaji Bashir Tofa was the candidate of the National Republical Convention.

Nigerians voted massively in favour of Moshood Abiola.

Bashir Tofa (the opponent) was said to have sent him congratulatory messages.

As the results were announced, the prices of goods and services were falling.

There was happiness all over Nigeria. There was hope that a new dawn has come.

There was a tailor who refused to be paid for the services he had rendered. He was so overjoyed that “at last” hope has come to the people.

Bus conductor and drivers were offering free rides. You didn’t have to pay anything.

That was the spirit and mood until Nigerians received a rude shock from the military gangsters led by one notorious Ibrahim Babangida. He announced the annulment of the results of the elections without reasons.

There were many hypotheses trying to explain or justify the annulment including that Abiola was a creditor of the federal government, or that a few idiots would not like to see him be president of Nigeria.

Some people said it was because of what he did when he was in NPN that he betrayed or opposed Awolowo, a fellow Yoruba politician. He is also alleged to have sponsored military coups in Nigeria.

No form of arguments would justify the annulment of the June 12 1993 peaceful presidential elections.
The fundamental thing about June 12 was that an election held and Abiola won.

By cancelling the decisions made by Nigerians in a democratic process, treasonable felony was committed by Babangida and those around him including the late Abacha.

Babangida should be arrested and tried not only for corruption but for treason and crimes against humanity. Why is Babangida still a free man in Nigeria?

Are some people above the law in Jonny’s country?

The annulment was resisted by many true democrats, some were killed and many went into exile.

Many innocent Nigerians died in the failed struggle to actualize the annulled mandate.

Many Nigerian politicians sold their souls for porridge because they could not stand on the June 12 mandate. Political prostitution is an old business in Nigeria.

Baba Gana Kingibe was a prince of the game of political prostitution long before Atiku Abubakar.

Nigerian traditional rulers who could have pressurized the silly Babangida kept mute. They loved bribes because their prosperity is built on them.

Those whom we thought were leaders became rulers and accomplices to the crime. Obasanjo said Abiola was not the messiah. I don’t remember MKO claiming to be one.

Abiola died without realizing his dreams and without claiming the mandate he got from millions of Nigerians in the most peaceful and fairest election ever in the history of Nigeria.

The circumstances surrounding Abiola’s death remains controversial. He died in the arms of American visitors sent by Bill Clinton. He was poisoned in the presence of the American delegation. It has become one of the several conspiracy theories that he was killed by the Nigerian military government with the assistance of the Americans.

Abiola’s nephew told me how the issue of repatriation seriously pursued by Abiola became one of his likely undoing.

Those who are too young to understand the June 12 story should continue to discern what they read because lies will be told. Many things have been said against Abiola. Some of them may be true but nothing said can take away the fact that he won the election and that Babangida is a living criminal.

How the laws work in Nigeria is still a mystery. How can someone commit treason and be free?

The 2011 elections are by no means close to the peaceful and fair elections of June 12 1993.

And for those who are superstitious it appears that until something is done to make amends for the devilish errors of
June 12 1993, Nigeria may never make progress. Living conditions have become worse since then.

When Obasanjo was imposed on Nigerians in 1999 politicians thought they have made amends for June 12 1993. That was an error of judgment. Obasanjo was anti-June 12, so it doesn’t count in the superstitious world. In fact it may have added salt to the injury.

Since 1999 the standard of living has dropped and gotten worse. More people have become poorer and lives have been lost in several conflicts.

I do know that the Nigerian government also stupidly adopted May 29 as democracy day in Nigeria.

Sometimes I wondered how Nigerians allow the useless government to impose things that are evil on them.

It would have been better, to honour those who gave their lives for democracy that June 12 be made the national democracy day.

Or we just don’t have any democracy day and still honour these unsung heroes on October 1st every year.
Rather what we do is to decorate accomplished political looters and thieves with national honours.

It appears to me that for as long as we continue to deny the truth about the significance of June 12 and its role in the establishment of our struggling democratic process that we may not make any real progress in this country.

During the presidential debate in 1993 Abiola spoke to Nigerians and answered their questions on what his plans are and how he will help Nigeria to become great.

June 12 came with a manifesto and programs of hope. That is why it is sad that we didn’t experience the reign of Abiola.

A mandate similar to what Abiola got in 1993 and the hopes and confidence that came with it are necessary ingredients for growth and development of Nigeria.

I don’t think anybody can rule Nigeria successfully without a mandate similar to that which Abiola obtained in 1993.
It cut across religion, regions and tribes. It was a universal mandate, made in Nigeria.

It will also be impossible for anyone to lead Nigeria and make meaningful progress without a manifesto of hope and programs that are well planned and thought through.

The positive impacts of Abiola’s victory lasted a few hours; they are part of the most memorable hours of my life. For the first time in my life, then in 1993, I saw hope on the faces of Nigerians. As a country we saw light at the end of the tunnel but the light faded away, very quickly.

In 2011 we remain in the tunnel.

Related post:
https://aderinola.wordpress.com/2007/06/05/june-12-1993-just-like-yesterday

Dimeji Bankole: Why Nigerian Politicians Will Always Steal

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

ONE of my earliest articles in a Nigerian print media was published in the Nigerian Guardian of September 11 2001. It was titled Why Politicians Steal.

Nigerian politicians and public officials steal because they are all birds of the same feather, from the presidency to the last man in the local government. Their reason for joining politics was never to serve. The main reason is because they see politics as the shortest cut to wealth. It remains so because only a countable size of them have been punished and mildly too by the law enforcement agents and the short arm of the Nigerian law.

Dimeji Bankole (photo Nigerian Tribune June 6 2011)

Nigeria is a very abnormal country in terms of the game of politics. No Nigerian author or critic can argue that corruption does not exist in other countries of the world. Instead what we have noted is that whereas glaring corruption is condemned in other places it is encouraged and rewarded in Nigeria.

It is also a power game in Nigeria. It depends so much not on any institution or department but on the individuals who have seized power either by rigged /manipulated ballots or violence through guns/uniform.

Dimeji Bankole for example could dare to steal so much as he has done because he may have someone like Ibrahim Babangida or David Mark or even Mrs. Patience Jonathan as his role models. No one can rule out the possibility of Bankole’s arrogance being hinged on the fallibility of Mrs. Waziri who has also been charged with corruption at different times. It’s as if all Nigerian government officials are thieves, but to different degrees.

Here was a young man to which much was given. He rubbed his family’s name in mud like there is no tomorrow. Yet he was given all the time he needed to resist arrest by the Nigerian Police and men of the SSS. His eventual arrest may have been catalyzed by the forthcoming visit of Dr. Jonathan to the US. Jonathan cannot leave Nigeria on a suspicion of aiding one of their own.

Going by his likely mentors, Dimeji could have thought this way: why would anyone worry about how much I steal if Babangida and his co-travellers are still living in Nigeria without giving account of the money that Nigeria made during the gulf war?

He may also have thought of the several things he got away with while serving as the big-mouthed speaker of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Where should we start? The N2.3b he misappropriated or the N9b that tore the house apart resulting in a free for all fight exactly a year ago? He is even alleged to have kept allowances of some house members to himself.

How many cases of corruption and stolen funds by other thieves could have been reference points for Dimeji?
Was he possibly thinking of how Ribadu provided a shield for Mrs. Jonathan and her famous money laundering cases? Was he thinking of how Generals Obansanjo and Abdulsalam were never even interrogated for the Power Funds up to the tune of N16b?

What about the Atikus, the Anenihs and the whole loads and lots of them who have looted Nigeria over the years?
Was Dimeji thinking about the billions of dollars that have been awarded to monarchs to fix the Benin-Ore road without any progress or prosecution?

Was Dimeji thinking about Dora and how she got away with the NTA corruption saga? What about the money wasted on rebranding? We need to dig deeper perhaps? What was on the mind of the well-educated young man who decided to become Nigeria’s biggest thief?

He may be thinking about Bode George. Bode got 2 years and can now enjoy his loot forever more. Dimeji may be thinking of getting 6 months like Tafa Balogun or even a plea bargain like Igbinedion.

In 2010 Dr. Jonathan wasted over N20b on celebrating 50 years of failure. Most of the funds were never accounted for. Was Dimeji hoping that his N10b loan was a chicken change considering the prodigal spending of Dr. Jonathan that has depleted the external reserves and plunge Nigeria into debt?

The young man is now talking. He said they shared the money. A bunch of thieves who called themselves legislators, who are already the highest paid politicians in the world, having the guts to add N10b on their already over bloated sums while more than 100m Nigerians live desperately on less than 1 dollar a day.

In an outburst of anger one of my facebook friends quickly recommended death sentences for all corrupt Nigerian politicians. It was an outburst emanating from a frustrated Nigerian student who sees a bleak future ahead of him as men and women entrusted with our national wealth continue to siphon billions of dollars into their private accounts and wasteful expenditures.

The arrest of Dimeji Bankole is a good effort but I can’t give it up for EFCC yet. Let him be taken before the prosecutors as soon as possible so that he can be proven guilty or innocent before the law. I am not satisfied with the arrest of Dimeji without corresponding hunts for all the living barawos in Nigeria.

I don’t like an EFCC built on individual ego. I want to see an institution that could, if necessary, try its own boss and bring him or her down for acts related to corruption. For example if Ribadu or Waziri are both guilty of acts of corruption then they have no business pretending to be serving Nigeria.

Why was Dimeji arrested when there are thousands of thieves and looters walking free in Nigeria? What about the governors who have lost their immunities? Are thieves and looters free because they are friends of the Jonathans?
Are looters free because they stole in the 1980s or 1990s?

Nigerian politicians will continue to steal and loot because the fight against corruption is too limited and selective. They will also continue to steal because they have not been severely punished. Dimeji for example, if found guilty, should be looking ahead to 20 years imprisonment or more but in Nigeria he may even be unlucky to get 2 years. Usually they get plea bargaining or 6months.

Worse still they keep a substantial part of the money, huge enough to launch another political campaign or a new political party in the future.

My tolerance to looting is zero. My opinion on immunity clause is that it has no role to play in a society where democracy, probity and accountability will thrive. Dimeji should have been removed since the N2.3b saga if there was no immunity clause. In a sane society, he and his co-thieves would not have survived the N9b saga that tore the House apart in June 2010.

He would not have had the possibility to loot further.

Nigerian politicians will continue to steal, loot and bribe their ways ahead because even members of the society think that these are normal things. Politicians have families and friends who see government jobs as an opportunity to loot the national cake. It’s an aberration but we see it in good light and accept it as the way to go.

Politics must be made what it is-a way to serve mankind. In Nigeria it is a way to get rich with the huge salary and excessive inexplicable take-home remunerations plus all the loop holes that make it possible to inflate, manipulate and forge contracts across all tiers of governance.

What I wrote about in 2002 is still true today. There are no genuine anti-corruption agencies to wipe out corruption fairly and squarely. I learnt since 1984 that nearly does not catch a bird and that what was worth doing at all is worth doing well. These are my takes on the fight against corruption.

The worst democracies in the world

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By Adeola Aderounmu

Some of the worst examples of democratic government are found in Africa. It is remarkable to note that even the country regarded as the cradle of humanity-Kenya that is, is among the most useless places on earth where crude democracy is established. If Africans cannot practice true democracy, they should denounce it and look for something that will work for the populace especially the poor people who are worst hit by the crimes of the gangster leaders. It is an anomaly to say for example that Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe have democratic governments. In reality, what you see in these 3 countries are autocratic government imposed on the people in a “whether you like it or not manner”.

Kenya Example
Kenya’s Kibaki and Odinga are two selfish leaders who threw the country into turmoil. Together they are responsible for the death of more than 1 000 people and the displacement of nearly half a million others. Today they are both president and prime minister respectively in a power sharing deal that completely negate the significance of the votes casted in Kenya in 2007. Power sharing by these demonic leaders is not democracy. Power sharing is not a reflection of the votes that were discarded and disregarded.

Odinga is now trying to export Kenya’s democracy to Nigeria. Someone should tell him to shut up! Nigeria already has a disastrous form of “home-grown” democracy and the last thing we need in Nigeria is a further dilution of that calamity. So Odinga, Shut up! The only reason you accepted the Prime Minister’s position was for your own selfish reason and that is not related to anything “peace” or “prosperity”.

Zimbabwe’s Example
After Kenya came power sharing also in Zimbabwe. Mugabe is 84 and he is still the autocratic leader in Zimbabwe. He refused to vacate the office of the president even when it was clear that he lost the elections. He said he doesn’t want the opposition in power because the opposition received the backing of the West. But the issue is: who voted for the opposition? Is it the West or the people of Zimbabwe who voted in March 2008?

Anyway, the opposition leader just like in the case of Kenya also accepted to be prime minister. They call it “in the interest of peace”. Good point! But who created the absence of peace in the first place? Of course it is the murderous leaders. It is the likes of Mugabe and Tsvangirai (aided by the West?) who instigated chaos and turmoil and the end result is that the votes became useless!

Truth is no decent man should accept to share power with people like Mugabe and Kibaki who have lost both the plan and ideas regarding modern world. It would have been better to let them persist as sole leaders rather than serve with them. To serve along with them is not the solution especially as the principles of democratic governance are compromised. Why should the people come back another day to vote if the outcomes of the previous voting resulted to power sharing? What then is the meaning of democracy? Nonsense!

Complicated? Yea! When you don’t have a sound principle, you’ll always accept to serve with wicked leaders like Mugabe and Kibaki and you’ll pretend it is for the people. It also shows that the likes of Odinga and Tsvangirai are selfish and very desperate. They are sharing power with friends and co-looters. The people are suffering!

Nigeria
My last example of some of the worst democracies in the world comes from Nigeria. Does anyone know that 20% of black people worldwide are Nigerians? If you break this down it means that for every 5 blackman /woman that you see, 1 is Nigerian!

Yet in this great country, the sleeping giant of AFRICA, democracy remains elusive! Nigeria is not yet a democratic country because since 1959 when the first elections were held, votes have never been counted. It is a tradition that Obaanjo passed on to his puppet called Yar Adua. Nigeria has also suffered tremendously as a result of the incursion of the military into partisan politics. People like Babangida and the Abacha family stole billions of naira and destroyed all the institutions of governance to ground zero.

Nigeria is very corrupt and the corrupt leaders and politicians continue to use stolen wealth to oppress the other people who are more than 90m and living on less than 2 dollars a day. In a country of 140m it is very shameful that those who could save the country are voiceless and powerless.

I am still amazed why Nigerians troop out on every Election Day to cast votes that will never be counted. That phenomenon should be listed as the eighth wonder of the world. In Nigeria, the situation is worse than in Kenya and Zimbabwe. Why? Because the results of elections are already determined before the Election Day. The godfathers who are mostly illiterates and idiots have their ways of sharing and dividing the political office in caucus meetings. It is a shame and today (october 13 2008) as I write there are violent incidents going on in Lagos Nigeria because of some silly re-election. There is no election in Nigeria without violence, arson, murder, molestation and assassination.

The political situation in Nigeria defiles all logic and human reasoning. This is a country that continues to produce some of the most intelligent people in the world. Nigerians are probably the most intelligent people in Africa, US and UK (and Europe generally) and even in the Middle East and Australia. It is therefore amazing how the idiots in politics have destroyed the institutions of governance and made it a cabal affair. It is amazing how Nigerians continue to develop other countries of the world while their homeland is almost uninhabitable.

Conclusively, there are some democracies in the world marred by stupidity, selfishness, looting, corruption and massive maladministration but the examples of Kenya, Zimbabwe and Nigeria readily comes to mind because of the attendant effects of these anomalous democracies on the lives of the people. For example, there is no reason why every individual in Nigeria should not be a millionaire theoretically. That the monies for 140m continue to end up in private accounts and private pockets remain one of the unsolved mysteries of the 21st century, the 9th wonder maybe!