MKO, THE IGBOS AND YAR’ADUA’S REVISIONISM
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In his analysis of greatness, William Shakespeare, the English literary titan of all times identified three categories of greatness. According to him, some are born great, some have greatness entrusted into to their hands while some attain greatness by dint of
hard work. Undoubtedly, Major General Shehu Musa Yar’dua – a soldier, politician, statesman,
Entrepreneur and a newspaper baron belongs to all the three categories cited above. The Tafida
of Kastina was born great. He is a scion of an Arewa (Northern) aristocrat named Musa Yar’adua
– an erstwhile Federal Minister in the First Republic. His illustrious father, was the Minister in
charge of Lagos affairs and it was this great and colourful man that supervised the construction
of the renowned Eko bridge in the 1960s. By dint of hard work and a combination of an element
of luck, Shehu Musa Yar’adua rose to become one of the youngest soldiers to attain the rank of a
Major General. As one of the principal actors in the coup d’état that booted the amiable General
Gowon out of office; on the demise of General Murtala Mohammed in February, 1976, he had
greatness entrusted into his young hands by his elevation to the position of Chief of general staff
and head of government.

Unlike July, 1966 when powerful group in the Nigerian army prevented Brigadier-General Ogundipe from assuming the mantle of leadership on the assassination of the powerful, mythical and ubiquitous Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunake Aguiyi-Ironsi; it was the dynamism, clairvoyance and reasonableness of General Yar’adua and other patriotic and progressive elements from the North of the Niger such as Lt. General Theophilus Danjuma,
Major General Joe Garba and IBB that made General Olusegun Obasanjo’s ascension to the
number one spot possible. It goes without saying that their patriotic act was a kind of harbinger
of hope to the disadvantaged groups in the Nigerian army.

Also, it was widely believed that General Yar’adua was one of the progressive Arewas that endorsed the candidature of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo the UPN presidential flagbearer during the 1983 presidential election. This was a no mean feat if the magnitude of ethnic chauvinism and religious jingoism that reigned supreme then was anything to go by.

In 1989, when the ban on politics was lifted by the IBB administration, this great general went a step further. He was said to be the financier of one of the progressive parties – (the patriotic Front) that transformed into the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Numerous political pundits are even persuaded that General Yar’adua’s overt association with the progressive elements might have contributed immensely to the large following enjoyed by the SDP north of the Niger.

GODWIN DABOH’S REVELATIONS
In June, 1990, a horrendous bombshell was unleashed. Dr. Godwin Daboh, the celebrated anti-corruption crusader (remember the saga of if you Tarka me, I will Daboh you?) in a press release made staggering and mind-boggling revelations about General Yar’adua’s Morbid and Pathological Phobia for both Chief Abiola and Yoruba race as a whole and the need for a
concerted effort at stopping both Abiola and any of his kith and kin from attaining the political
headship of this great nation (see Sunday “Concord”, 3rd June, 1990 and the Nigerian “Tribune”,
19th September, 1992 for Dr. Daboh’s Press Released).

In view of General Yar’adua’s acclaimed brilliant credentials as regards his enormous
love for this great nation, I dismissed Dr. Daboh’s stunning revelations with a wave of the hand.
In the heart of my heart, I thought Dr. Daboh’s revelations were tantamount to an act of
demagogism. I decided and concluded that it was a campaign of calumny, against the Tafida of
Kastina.

YAR’ADUA’S SCHEMINGS AND STRATAGEMS
However, the roles played by General Yar’adua at the SDP conventions in Jos and Abuja
appeared to have corroborated Dr. Daboh’s revelations. Contrary to wide spread belief, the reports that reached us showed that the general actually worked against the interests of Chief MKO Abiola at the Jos convention. The anti-Abiola roles played by the general at Jos are well known and do not need any recapitulation here (see “Tell” magazine, April 12, no 15, p. 19).
Furthermore, if the general had genuinely endorsed the candidature of Chief Abiola, he would have instructed his lackey or protégé – Alhaji Abubakar Akitu to withdraw for Chief Abiola without any equivocation whatsoever. Atiku merely said ambivalently that he was withdrawing from the race in the interest of the party! He refused to say whether he withdrew for Chief Abiola
neither did he instruct his followers to vote for Chief Abiola – what a mother of all withdrawals!
Having failed in his bid to stop Chief Abiola at Jos, political analysts opined that the ubiquitous
General perfected yet another stratagem in an attempt to create impediments on Chief Abiola’s
way. For instance, in an attempt to bring about an equitable distribution of strategic positions
among the various ethnic groups in the party, the chairmanship position should be zoned to the
South Eastern Minorities.

In keeping with the above arrangement or understanding, the various political groups
within the party namely; the kingibe, Falae/Rimi/Balarabe/Lar and Mbakwe/Nwobodo groups
threw their weights behind candidates from Eastern Minorities Zones. However, in any attempt
to further his interest (at the expense of the macro interest of the party) and ostensibly in an
attempt to make good its plan of stopping Chief Abiola, General Yar’adua, in a blitzkrieg fashion
bulldozed his way (by all means at his command) and got his surrogate – Chief Tony Annenih
elected as the Chairman of the SDP – thereby leaving the Eastern part of Nigeria in the cold! An
act that fell short of declaring a state of belligerency against Chief Abiola.

It is doubtful, if Chief Abiola would require the services of a soothsayer to be cognizant
of the fact that Yar’adua’s gift of Chief Tony Annenih was indeed a Greek gift. His dastardly
acts of commission or omission becomes nauseating when one bears in mind that both Chief
Abiola and Annenih hail from the same geographical area (the defunct Western Region). What is
more, the Edos and the Yorubas are cousins. There is an African adage which says that “the
hawk is totally oblivious of the fact that its movements up in the sky are being monitored by the
human beings below.” In General Yar’adua’s political calculations, he must have reasoned that
Chief Abiola’s failure would enhance his political ambition of being the flagbearer in 1997
especially with the party apparatus firmly in his kitty. He must have forgotten that politics is not
mathematics. General Yar’adua’s act of revisionism and renegadism may be counter-productive.
His anti-party activities may engender a new thinking. It may unite all the groups that are truly
progressive (Kingibe, Falae/Rimi/Balarabe/Lar and Nbakwe/Nwobodo groups) against the
progressive renegades or the revisionists represented by the Yar’adua group because his antics
and unbecoming actions may portray him as an agent of the NRC.

A school of thought believes that beneath General Yar’adua’s acclaimed liberalism
towards the southerners is a pathological and morbid phobia of the southerners. Those who know
the general inside out opined that he subscribes to the perpetuity of the Hausa/Fulani political
hegemonism in Nigeria. The said School of thought believes that he would do anything within
his command to frustrate and create impediments for any southerner who attempts to rock the
boat by aspiring for the numero-uno job in the land.

THE DYNAMISM OF POWER
One of the identified shortcomings of some human beings is either they have refused to
learn from history or that their memories are too short. Otherwise, the general should have
known by now that power is transient and ephemeral. Attempts to hold power in perpetuity by
any group of people is bound to fail because it is against the natural law of nature. Heraclitus –
the Greek philosopher who lived between 540 – 480 B.C. once said “All is flux, nothing stays
still”. Also, Robert Burns had this to say about the dynamism of nature “Look around through
nature’s range, nature’s mighty law is change.”

The human history is replete and inundated with a group of people having power for a
period of time only to lose it to other people as time wore on. For instance, the Egypt of the
Pharaohs was not only the cradle of world civilization, for centuries Egypt ruled the then known
world. It is an established fact that subjects such as Geometry, Algebra, Trigonometry, Medicine
et cetera had their roots in Egypt. It should be recalled that Egypt the Greek Philosophers and
scientists such as Pythagoras, Euclid, Eudoxus (Aristotle’s teacher) Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and
a legion of others were under the tutelage of Egyptian teachers in various academics scattered all
over Egypt. Pythagoras in particular spent an aggregate of twenty-one years in various schools in
Egypt. As time wore on, power shifted to Mesopotamia where three powerful nations namely:
Sumeria, Assyria and Babylon ruled the known world in that order. From the Babylonians,
power shifted to the Persians; from the Persians, power shifted to the Greeks; from the Greeks,
power shifted to the Romans; from the Romans, power shifted to the British; from the British,
the world witnessed a bipolarism or dualism of powers in the international system between the
United States of America (USA) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Now, with
the Revisionism and the capitulation of the Soviet Union, we have a unipolarism of power with
the United States calling the shots in the international system. Undoubtedly, at the appointed
time, other country or countries would take over the reins of power from the Americans.

To come nearer home in the West - Africa Sub-Region or what the historians would call
Western Sudan; great Empires such as Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu, Benin, Oyo,
Ashanti, Sokoto et cetera has risen and fell in consonance with the natural law of nature. It is a
well-known fact that Calabar was the first capital of Nigeria, later on, the capital was shifted to
Lagos, now it is situated in the great city of Abuja. If the omnipotent God want it in Kaduna or
Kafanchan in about a thousand years, so be it! Yesterday, the words of our amiable General
Yakubu (Jack) Gowon were law in our land, today it is our own IBB that is calling the shots and
history has taught us that somebody else would be at the saddle tomorrow.
From the above, who says that an upper hand gained by a group of people over the others would
last for ever!

RAPPROCHMENT IN EAST/WEST RELATIONS

With the exit of Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo from the political
scene, it has been observed that a major political development is unfolding that may have very
fundamental impact on the political equation in Nigeria. In recent times, there has been a
growing rapprochement or détente in the East/West relations. For instance, following the
endorsement of the candidature of Chief Olu Falae by the Zik of Africa, Chief Sam Mbakwe and
other Igbo leaders of thought, Chief Falae had an enchanting showing in the East during the
botched presidential primary elections in 1992-an unthinkable thing at the apogee of mutual
suspicion between the two groups. The growing understanding or Entete Cordiale between the
two groups reached a crescendo at the Jos convention of the SDP when in an unprecedented
manner, the Eastern delegates voted en masse for Chief Abiola. There is no gainsaying the
truism that it was the massive support of the Easterners that enabled Chief Abiola to clinch the
SDP presidential ticket, Chief Bobwendy Digitemie, the Rivers State Publicity Secretary of the
SDP had this to say about the new Entente Cordiale between the East and the West “this is the
beginning of a new but long-awaited accord between the West and the East. We would use it as a
springboard to further the elusive understanding between the two major parts of the country” (see
“Tell” magazine, April 12, 1993, p.19).

From the look of things; it appears there is an increasing awareness on the part of the
Southerners that as long as they remain divided that their more cohesive and monolithic brethren
in the North would continue to monopolize the political power. What is more, it is an established
fact that he who controls the political power, controls the economic power. Little marvel
therefore, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the fire-brand African revolutionary once said “seek yee the
political kingdom first and all other things would be added unto it”. The quiet revolution that is
going on in the South (in spite of the Nkemba’s renegadism) is a pointer to the fact that there is
now an unbending resolve to have the perennial anomaly rectified or ameliorated and Jos has
provided the rare opportunity. The events at Jos has corroborated the immortal words of
Benjamin Disraeli, the 19th century British Prime Minister – hear him “the secret of success in
life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes”.

Having said that much about the Tafida’s political manoeuvres aimed at damaging Chief
Abiola’s chances at the forthcoming presidential election in an attempt to pave way for his 1997
presidential ambition and the growing rapprochement between the East and the West, I would
now wish to dwell on the symbolism of Chief Abiola in the unfolding political events. Chief
Abiola’s breathtaking philanthropy and his impeccable credential as a detribalized Nigerian has
brought about his acceptance by most ethnic groups in Nigeria. Consequently, in Abiola, there is
an opportunity for a new beginning and a new hope. He symbolizes a new deal and a rejuvenated
Nigeria that would be a victory for other ethnic groups that have been elbowed and shoved into
the backwaters in the political equation of this nation for decades. The new deal would obliterate
a situation whereby the Igbos are condemned perpetually to the role of professional running
mates or second fiddlers.

The endorsement of the candidature of Chief Abiola by the East would be congruent to
an emphatic no to the role of servitude that has been earmarked for them. A vote for Abiola
would send an unmistakeable signal that after Abiola, we want our own Mbakwe, Nwobodo,
Okadigbo, Anaekwe, Ajuwa, Etuk, Aso or even the mercurial and maverick Nzeribe (He might
have been changed from Saul to Paul then) to be the number one citizen of Nigeria. In the words
of Aristotle “What we expect, that we find” and according to the Holy Bible “Ask, and it shall be
given you; seek, and yee shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7).

Voting for MKO is like putting one’s money where one’s mouth is. He is an achiever of
no mean order, a philanthropist of staggering proportions, a detribalized Nigerian by all
standards. He is what could be regarded as an homo sequendum – a leader in all respects - a
visionary, trustworthy, intelligent, endowed with lots of guts, benevolent, magnanimous and
above all he is God fearing. To our Eastern brethren, the words of Paul Micali is relevant here “if
you are waiting for your ship to come in, start working days, nights and weekends building the
dock”.


CONCLUSION

The illustrious General is advised to jettison his revisionist stance and join the
mainstream of the party in working for the success of Chief Abiola because that is the only path
of honor that could lead to his name being engraved in gold in the annals of the progressives in
Nigeria. He should be a progressive not only in name, but indeed and in truth. Revisionist
tendencies could bring about untold reverses to his political ambition in the morrow. Apart from
the possible spill-over effects of acts of negativism on his political career, revisionists and
renegades have always ended up in the dustbin of history.

Ultimately, I wish to add that if it has been pre-ordained that Chief Abiola would become
Nigeria’s helmsman come August, 1993, no mortal being can stop him. This established truism
is in consonance with the famous Italian aphorism which says “Che Sara Sara” meaning what
will be will be. A word they say is enough for the wise!

I love history.

Reading.

With the exit of Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo from the political
scene, it has been observed that a major political development is unfolding that may have very
fundamental impact on the political equation in Nigeria. In recent times, there has been a
growing rapprochement or détente in the East/West relations. For instance, following the
endorsement of the candidature of Chief Olu Falae by the Zik of Africa, Chief Sam Mbakwe and
other Igbo leaders of thought, Chief Falae had an enchanting showing in the East during the
botched presidential primary elections in 1992-an unthinkable thing at the apogee of mutual
suspicion between the two groups. The growing understanding or Entete Cordiale between the
two groups reached a crescendo at the Jos convention of the SDP when in an unprecedented
manner, the Eastern delegates voted en masse for Chief Abiola. There is no gainsaying the
truism that it was the massive support of the Easterners that enabled Chief Abiola to clinch the
SDP presidential ticket, Chief Bobwendy Digitemie, the Rivers State Publicity Secretary of the
SDP had this to say about the new Entente Cordiale between the East and the West “this is the
beginning of a new but long-awaited accord between the West and the East. We would use it as a
springboard to further the elusive understanding between the two major parts of the country” (see
“Tell” magazine, April 12, 1993, p.19).

From the look of things; it appears there is an increasing awareness on the part of the
Southerners that as long as they remain divided that their more cohesive and monolithic brethren
in the North would continue to monopolize the political power. What is more, it is an established
fact that he who controls the political power, controls the economic power.

Nigerians, your now leaders are dividing you and its working perfectly....

Little wonder the eradication of history on the classrooms, in event it fails in the previous generation, the new can always be brainwashed..

To our Eastern brethren, the words of Paul Micali is relevant here “if
you are waiting for your ship to come in, start working days, nights and weekends building the
dock”.

These eastern brethren are flat out hateful to listen to this advice till date.