saharareporters.com/2007/01/14/crimes-buhari-wole-soyinka#.VI4SZ6fvel4.facebook

THE NIGERIAN NATION AGAINST GENERAL BUHARI


By Wole SOYINKA

This intervention has been provoked, not so much by the ambitions of General Buhari to return to power at the head of a democratic Nigeria, as by declarations of support from directions that leave one totally dumbfounded. It would appear that some, myself among them, had been overcomplacent about the magnitude of an ambition that seemed as preposterous as the late effort of General Ibrahim Babangida to aspire yet again to the honour of presiding over a society that truly seeks a democratic future. What one had dismissed was a rash of illusions, brought about by other political improbabilities that surround us, however, is being given an air of plausibility by individuals and groupings to which one had earlier attributed a sense of relevance of historic actualities. Recently, I published an article in the media, invoking the possible recourse to psychiatric explanation for some of the incongruities in conduct within national leadership. Now, to tell the truth, I have begun to seriously address the issue of which section of society requires the services of a psychiatrist. The contest for a seizure of rationality is now so polarized that I am quite reconciled to the fact it could be those of us on this side, not the opposing school of thought that ought to declare ourselves candidates for a lunatic asylum. So be it. While that decision hangs in the balance however, the forum is open. Let both sides continue to address our cases to the electorate, but also prepare to submit ourselves for psychiatric examination.


The time being so close to electoral decision, we can understand the haste of some to resort to shortcuts. In the process however, we should not commit the error of opening the political space to any alternative whose curative touch to national afflictions have proven more deadly than the disease. In order to reduce the clutter in our options towards the forthcoming elections, we urge a beginning from what we do know, what we have undergone, what millions can verify, what can be sustained by evidence accessible even to the school pupil, the street hawker or a just-come visitor from outer space. Leaving Buhari aside for now, I propose a commencing exercise that should guide us along the path of elimination as we examine the existing register of would-be president. That initial exercise can be summed up in the following speculation: “If it were possible for Olusegun Obasanjo, the actual incumbent, to stand again for election, would you vote for him?”

If the answer is “yes”, then of course all discussion is at an end. If the answer is ‘No’ however, then it follows that a choice of a successor made by Obasanjo should be assessed as hovering between extremely dangerous and an outright kiss of death. The degree of acceptability of such a candidate should also be inversely proportionate to the passion with which he or she is promoted by the would-be ‘godfather’. We do not lack for open evidence about Obasanjo’s passion in this respect. From Lagos to the USA, he has taken great pains to assure the nation and the world that the anointed NPN presidential flag bearer is guaranteed, in his judgment, to carry out his policies. Such an endorsement/anointment is more than sufficient, in my view, for public acceptance or rejection. Yar’Adua’s candidature amounts to a terminal kiss from a moribund regime. Nothing against the person of this – I am informed - personable governor, but let him understand that in addition to the direct source of his emergence, the PDP, on whose platform he stands, represents the most harrowing of this nation’s nightmares over and beyond even the horrors of the Abacha regime. If he wishes to be considered on his own merit, now is time for him, as well as others similarly enmeshed, to exercise the moral courage that goes with his repudiation of that party, a dissociation from its past, and a pledge to reverse its menacing future. We shall find him an alternative platform on which to stand, and then have him present his credentials along those of other candidates engaged in forging a credible opposition alliance. Until then, let us bury this particular proposition and move on to a far graver, looming danger, personified in the history of General Buhari.


The grounds on which General Buhari is being promoted as the alternative choice are not only shaky, but pitifully naive. History matters. Records are not kept simply to assist the weakness of memory, but to operate as guides to the future. Of course, we know that human beings change. What the claims of personality change or transformation impose on us is a rigorous inspection of the evidence, not wishful speculation or behind-the-scenes assurances. Public offence, crimes against a polity, must be answered in the public space, not in caucuses of bargaining. In Buhari, we have been offered no evidence of the sheerest prospect of change. On the contrary, all evident suggests that this is one individual who remains convinced that this is one ex-ruler that the nation cannot call to order.

Buhari – need one remind anyone - was one of the generals who treated a Commission of Enquiry, the Oputa Panel, with unconcealed disdain. Like Babangida and Abdusalami, he refused to put in appearance even though complaints that were tabled against him involved a career of gross abuses of power and blatant assault on the fundamental human rights of the Nigerian citizenry.

Prominent against these charges was an act that amounted to nothing less than judicial murder, the execution of a citizen under a retroactive decree. Does Decree 20 ring a bell? If not, then, perhaps the names of three youths - Lawal Ojuolape (30), Bernard Ogedengbe (29) and Bartholomew Owoh (26) do. To put it quite plainly, one of those three – Ogedengbe - was executed for a crime that did not carry a capital forfeit at the time it was committed. This was an unconscionable crime, carried out in defiance of the pleas and protests of nearly every sector of the Nigerian and international community – religious, civil rights, political, trade unions etc. Buhari and his sidekick and his partner-in-crime, Tunde Idiagbon persisted in this inhuman act for one reason and one reason only: to place Nigerians on notice that they were now under an iron, inflexible rule, under governance by fear.

The execution of that youthful innocent – for so he was, since the punishment did not exist at the time of commission - was nothing short of premeditated murder, for which the perpetrators should normally stand trial upon their loss of immunity. Are we truly expected to forget this violation of our entitlement to security as provided under existing laws? And even if our sensibilities have become blunted by succeeding seasons of cruelty and brutality, if power itself had so coarsened the sensibilities also of rulers and corrupted their judgment, what should one rightly expect after they have been rescued from the snare of power” At the very least, a revaluation, leading hopefully to remorse, and its expression to a wronged society. At the very least, such a revaluation should engender reticence, silence. In the case of Buhari, it was the opposite. Since leaving office he has declared in the most categorical terms that he had no regrets over this murder and would do so again.


Human life is inviolate. The right to life is the uniquely fundamental right on which all other rights are based. The crime that General Buhari committed against the entire nation went further however, inconceivable as it might first appear. That crime is one of the most profound negations of civic being. Not content with hammering down the freedom of expression in general terms, Buhari specifically forbade all public discussion of a return to civilian, democratic rule. Let us constantly applaud our media – those battle scarred professionals did not completely knuckle down. They resorted to cartoons and oblique, elliptical references to sustain the people’s campaign for a time-table to democratic rule. Overt agitation for a democratic time table however remained rigorously suppressed – military dictatorship, and a specifically incorporated in Buhari and Idiagbon was here to stay. To deprive a people of volition in their own political direction is to turn a nation into a colony of slaves. Buhari enslaved the nation. He gloated and gloried in a master-slave relation to the millions of its inhabitants. It is astonishing to find that the same former slaves, now free of their chains, should clamour to be ruled by one who not only turned their nation into a slave plantation, but forbade them any discussion of their condition.


So Tai Solarin is already forgotten? Tai who stood at street corners, fearlessly distributing leaflets that took up the gauntlet where the media had dropped it. Tai who was incarcerated by that regime and denied even the medication for his asthmatic condition? Tai did not ask to be sent for treatment overseas; all he asked was his traditional medicine that had proved so effective after years of struggle with asthma!


Nor must we omit the manner of Buhari coming to power and the pattern of his ‘corrective’ rule. Shagari’s NPN had already run out of steam and was near universally detested – except of course by the handful that still benefited from that regime of profligacy and rabid fascism. Responsibility for the national condition lay squarely at the door of the ruling party, obviously, but against whom was Buhari’s coup staged? Judging by the conduct of that regime, it was not against Shagari’s government but against the opposition. The head of government, on whom primary responsibility lay, was Shehu Shagari. Yet that individual was kept in cozy house detention in Ikoyi while his powerless deputy, Alex Ekwueme, was locked up in Kiri-kiri prisons. Such was the Buhari notion of equitable apportionment of guilt and/or responsibility.


And then the cascade of escapes of the wanted, and culpable politicians. Manhunts across the length and breadth of the nation, roadblocks everywhere and borders tight as steel zip locks. Lo and behold, the chairman of the party, Chief Akinloye, strolled out coolly across the border. Richard Akinjide, Legal Protector of the ruling party, slipped out with equal ease. The Rice Minister, Umaru Dikko, who declared that Nigerians were yet to eat from dustbins - escaped through the same airtight dragnet. The clumsy attempt to crate him home was punishment for his ingratitude, since he went berserk when, after waiting in vain, he concluded that the coup had not been staged, after all, for the immediate consolidation of the party of extreme right-wing vultures, but for the military hyenas.


The case of the overbearing Secretary-General of the party, Uba Ahmed, was even more noxious. Uba Ahmed was out of the country at the time. Despite the closure of the Nigerian airspace, he compelled the pilot of his plane to demand special landing permission, since his passenger load included the almighty Uba Ahmed. Of course, he had not known of the change in his status since he was airborne. The delighted airport commandant, realizing that he had a much valued fish swimming willingly into a waiting net, approved the request. Uba Ahmed disembarked into the arms of a military guard and was promptly clamped in detention. Incredibly, he vanished a few days after and reappeared in safety overseas. Those whose memories have become calcified should explore the media coverage of that saga. Buhari was asked to explain the vanished act of this much prized quarry and his response was one of the most arrogant levity. Coming from one who had shot his way into power on the slogan of ‘dis’pline’, it was nothing short of impudent.


Shall we revisit the tragicomic series of trials that landed several politicians several lifetimes in prison? Recall, if you please, the ‘judicial’ processes undergone by the septuagenarian Chief Adekunle Ajasin. He was arraigned and tried before Buhari’s punitive tribunal but acquitted. Dissatisfied, Buhari ordered his re-trial. Again, the Tribunal could not find this man guilty of a single crime, so once again he was returned for trial, only to be acquitted of all charges of corruption or abuse of office. Was Chief Ajasin thereby released? No! He was ordered detained indefinitely, simply for the crime of winning an election and refusing to knuckle under Shagari’s reign of terror.

The conduct of the Buhari regime after his coup was not merely one of double, triple, multiple standards but a cynical travesty of justice. Audu Ogbeh, currently chairman of the Action Congress was one of the few figures of rectitude within the NPN. Just as he has done in recent times with the PDP, he played the role of an internal critic and reformer, warning, dissenting, and setting an example of probity within his ministry. For that crime he spent months in unjust incarceration. Guilty by association? Well, if that was the motivating yardstick of the administration of the Buhari justice, then it was most selectively applied. The utmost severity of the Buhari-Idiagbon justice was especially reserved either for the opposition in general, or for those within the ruling party who had showed the sheerest sense of responsibility and patriotism.


Shall I remind this nation of Buhari’s deliberate humiliating treatment of the Emir of Kano and the Oni of Ife over their visit to the state of Israel? I hold no brief for traditional rulers and their relationship with governments, but insist on regarding them as entitled to all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of any Nigerian citizen. This royal duo went to Israel on their private steam and private business. Simply because the Buhari regime was pursuing some antagonistic foreign policy towards Israel, a policy of which these traditional rulers were not a part, they were subjected on their return to a treatment that could only be described as a head masterly chastisement of errant pupils. Since when, may one ask, did a free citizen of the Nigerian nation require the permission of a head of state to visit a foreign nation that was willing to offer that tourist a visa.?


One is only too aware that some Nigerians love to point to Buhari’s agenda of discipline as the shining jewel in his scrap-iron crown. To inculcate discipline however, one must lead by example, obeying laws set down as guides to public probity. Example speaks louder than declarations, and rulers cannot exempt themselves from the disciplinary strictures imposed on the overall polity, especially on any issue that seeks to establish a policy for public well-being. The story of the thirty something suitcases – it would appear that they were even closer to fifty - found unavoidable mention in my recent memoirs, YOU MUST SET FORTH AT DOWN, written long before Buhari became spoken of as a credible candidate. For the exercise of a changeover of the national currency, the Nigerian borders – air, sea and land – had been shut tight. Nothing was supposed to move in or out, not even cattle egrets.


Yet a prominent camel was allowed through that needle’s eye. Not only did Buhari dispatch his aide-de-camp, Jokolo – later to become an emir - to facilitate the entry of those cases, he ordered the redeployment – as I later discovered - of the Customs Officer who stood firmly against the entry of the contravening baggage. That officer, the incumbent Vice-president is now a rival candidate to Buhari, but has somehow, in the meantime, earned a reputation that totally contradicts his conduct at the time. Wherever the truth lies, it does not redound to the credibility of the dictator of that time, General Buhari whose word was law, but whose allegiances were clearly negotiable.

This was same Buhari that boldly exonerated past military governments of corruption on Channels interview few weeks back. I dont need the prof to remind me of him...i read and researched all his crime. GEJ is clueless but Buhari is not the option. All the atrocious crimes he committed has not gotten justice....and the bad leadership of the military brought us here. Even though Buhari thinks otherwise.

Again, how can i trust a man that all those who are bringing him to power are corrupt. See Tinubu, see Atiku, see all of them...Nigerians will be so disappointed if he wins...ordinary to select his VP. His party will decide..every question you ask him. You hear my party will decide...He lacks poise and personal will.

Look at all the young bright hands APC had going for them...they pushed them aside....i will not join the masses and the media hype Buhari is enjoying...

And prof thank you because, most folks on social media never experienced GMB leadership...they only read...i choose to believe you...you have been an activist since in the 60s.

I am watching

Dont blindly comment if you did not read all thatt prof x-rayed...be objective for once and lets find solution to Nigerias problem...GEJ showed up in 2011 promising heavens and being shoeless. GMB is here capitalising on what we all cry foul about Corruption''

Now i know better, even though i have known deep down in my heart that Buhari is not the messiah his followers will want us to believe, i'm all the more convince that, Buhari is a wolf in sheep clothing.

Built2last:
Dont blindly comment if you did not read all thatt prof x-rayed...be objective for once and lets find solution to Nigerias problem...GEJ showed up in 2011 promising heavens and being shoeless. GMB is here capitalising on what we all cry foul about Corruption''

What are you even talking about? You opened the thread, but I don't think yourself read through it.

Read bro, and be enlighten.

Where are the Mods? Afam4ever, Ngwakwe, and the rest of the mods, This piece is a front page material, Nigerians deserve to know the truth.

knightsTempler:


What are you even talking about? You opened the thread, but I don't think yourself read through it.

Read bro, and be enlighten.

I read every damn word in that article...and was telling people like you who are either his occultic fans or pro GEJ that you must read through and be objective in analysis.

hairyanus:


I read every damn word in that article...and was telling people like you who are either his occultic fans or pro GEJ that you must read through and be objective in analysis.

If my username was 'hairyanus' i 'd be making same statement, but thank God i'm not...

Next please!

You'll never see APC e-touts gracing this kind of thread with their ignorant malicious lies and their super stupidity, never.

What an expository article that was.
First,

History matters. Records are not kept simply to assist the weakness of memory, but to operate as guides to the future - Prof Wole Soyinka

The atrocities of GMB will continue to hunt him till he dies, such a man cannot I repeat cannot near the corridor of power again in this great nation.
Little wonder why he lacks basic economics sense and live in penury after ruling a country.You can't come and enslave us as a nation again, we don wise up now.
Since APC have decided the best they can offer is this guy, they've failed. As the saying goes,

Satan that we have known for long should be preferred to a saint we just heard about

Before you all e-rats come here to spill rubbish, read this

It is astonishing to find that the same former slaves, now free of their chains, should clamour to be ruled by one who not only turned their nation into a slave plantation, but forbade them any discussion of their condition. - Prof Wole Soyinka

ok....
buh this text book long. I'll come back to read on fp

GOD forbid dat devilish man ruling naija......Come 2015,he will loose again and loosing will bcome part of his life.......Shame on u buhari......wickked soul
..

We need change but not from those that brought us to where we are.

I love APC but I can't vote for buhari.

God bless Nigeria

If any of the guys above me can comprehend an article clearly;u'll notice this was in 2007

The article is dated Jan 14, 2007 almost 8 years ago.

Jonathans fear of Buhari and PDP's desperation is mind boggling.

Wole Soyinka is Fela's first cousin, so Soyinka would rightly not be happy that Buhari jailed Fela.

I am a Christian and also a Yoruba man like Soyinka and Fela. Soyinka is someone I respect for his achievements and his uprightness and for being a conscience of the nation for such a long time. Fela is someone I venerate for repeatedly standing up for the masses against the Government to the detriment of his freedom and personal safety.

But I pitch my tent with Buhari because he is the only one among the current Nigerian politicians that has not stolen the money meant for 170 million people even though he had the opportunity to do so. Now that is commendable however you look at it especially in the Nigerian context.

In the context of 1983-85, it was military setting where the C-I-C could do and undo with no checks and balances.

Note that the fear of Buhari then was and now is the beginning of wisdom for corrupt LootoCrats.

Moreover Obasanjo did worse than Buhari when Obj was military ruler - Fela's enclave was razed to the ground, Fela battered, his wives sexually assaulted including one who was pregnant and Felas mum was thrown from the window to a certain death by Obj's military zombies but that did not stop Obj coming back to rule Nigeria in a democracy for 8 years.

And Buhari is 1000% better than Obj in terms of honesty and probity.

Buhari gets my vote because of his unashamed transparency and for being non corrupt. He has always fought corrupt public holders even whilst in the military hence he was toppled.

Soyinka was referring to a Military era 30 years ago which is different from now that we are in a democracy and Buhari will no longer act like a military general for fear of being impeached by the national assembly.

But the mans honesty, integrity and spartan lifestyle is infectious.

EMERIT2US:
If any of the guys above me can comprehend an article clearly;u'll notice this was in 2007

What is this fool saying? You should have known this as well.

History matters. Records are not kept simply to assist the weakness of memory, but to operate as guides to the future - Prof Wole Soyinka

Please go back to sleep you twit

Ilekokonit:
Note that the source was craftily removed so that no one would easily suss out that the article is dated Jan 14, 2007 almost 8 years ago.

Jonathans fear of Buhari and PDP's desperation is mind boggling.

I'm guessing you didn't even read the article because if you did you should have seen it as the first line in the article.

Comsol:


I'm guessing you didn't even read the article because if you did you should have seen it as the first line in the article.

Thats why I had already edited my post and resubmitted before yours.

Ilekokonit:


Thats why I had already edited my post and resubmitted before yours.

The fact that I quoted your original post implied that I submitted before you. Anyway that aside, your reason of standing with GMB is alarming. I thought he has a strong propositions and strategy in moving this great nation forward and that is why you're standing by him.

All those atrocities, murders and disrespect to human right that Prof stated will continue to hunt him... He's not fit to lead us.

Comsol:
All those atrocities, murders and disrespect to human right that Prof stated will continue to hunt him... He's not fit to lead us.

Lets be honest, are the current polithiefians of ALL parties leading us or killing us
Are Goodluck and his cohorts (of ALL parties) respecting our human rights by stealing the money meant for 170 million people just for themselves and their families leading to more than 2 million Nigerian children dying before their fifth birthday just in the last 10 years.
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/164182-nigeria-anatomy-of-a-feckless-state-by-larry-diamond.html

Any Nigerian Politician of any Party who stole even 1 naira from the money meant to look after the 2 million Nigerian children who have died before their fifth birthday just in the last 10 years has blood on their hands and around their mouths.

According to the BBC, Corruption kills 3.6 million people every year

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29049324

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-29040793


We need someone as openly honest as Buhari to do what he knows best by tackling corruption in Nigeria before it consumes our future and that of our children.

We need to go back to the basics of honesty being the best policy for our long term future as Nigerians to be guaranteed.

That Nigeria has survived this much stealing by politicians of ALL parties is a miracle that was bought with the suffering and smiling faces of the 170 million pauperized nigerians whilst the few fat cats at the top get all the milk and honey meant for all.

If Buhari joins PDP today, I will vote PDP in the Presidential elections.

So its just about the mans integrity for me. My vote follows him whereever he goes because of the way he tackled corrupt politicians and top military officers, brought discipline back to Nigeria, stood up to Britain, refused the IMF loan and refused IMF's advice to devalue the Naira between 1983-1985.

Between 1983-1985, Buhari was a thorn in the flesh of corrupt politicians that he replaced. For starters their stolen cash became too hot to handle for them as a masterstroke of Buhari's was for him to unexpectedly change the design and colour of naira bills in 1984 thus forcing everyone who had naira in their posession to go to the banks to exchange the old notes for the new ones. Now corruptly enriched ex-politicians dared not take their loot to the bank to exchange as the fear of Buhari then was the beginning of wisdom.

If OBJ was given a chance to rule us for 8 years then Buhari deserves a chance too. Of the lot, Buhari stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of his frugality and honesty. Buhari is simply a cut above Jonathan in terms of honesty and integrity.

How long do we want to do this suffering and smiling for

Obasanjo said it all. The Aparo hunter should just shut it already.

now am even more perplexed

So nairaland will carry this enter front page, anything to spite GMB!

Whether 2007, 2011 or 2015 .... The write up remains valid. The person of Buhari is unchanged neither has time wiped off history.

There is no greater evil in the space called Nigeria than Buhari. He always leaves blood, anarchy, death and sorrow in the traiL of anything that he gets involved in.

Opolo eye e no b open eye

Prof i dnt even knw which of ur article to bliv



ok, tell us who u gonna vote for n reasons, stop spoiling ppl u too have ur lapses . Who knows if u r like bill cosby or micheal jackson

If only our light headed, thrill seeking youths with misplace priorities will stop just for a moment....and reason.

Truckpusher:
You'll never see APC e-touts gracing this kind of thread with their ignorant malicious lies and their super stupidity, never.

d prof was right.buhari is too strict against corruption.d prof is now buhari convert.he is now regreting to have nebuchanezer as president.d prof is also regreting that after buhari,no other better leader in nigeria again.is it ibb,abacha,obj or gej(nebu).even in democracy,gej impunity is more than abacha regime.awolowo,murtala and buhari are president we never had.we are lucky to stil have buhari alive,there is stil hope,vote buhari 2015.

Am just returning from space................ Can anyone tell me what is going on here?

Oh! Wait ooo......... Did buhari say he wants to rule Nigeria again after all his crimes and atrocities? Ooh no, he's joking. Abi Una no no wen somebody dey joke again??

Or let me guess, maybe his party field him because they know that they will definitely fail and needs someone that's used to failure.....................or maybe to reduce stress on INEC staffs since they already have his data: he is INEC'S POPULAR CUSTOMER, you know.

But has anyone checked his present health .condition..............?? He may be suffering myopia - short sightedness, malaria parasite - makes one to have funny dreams and.................... We don't want another president to kpafuka in aso rock again ooo

with or without buhari, GOD BLESS NIGERIA.