₦airaland Forum

Former Nigerian Foreign Minister Bolaji Akinyemi,speak­ ing at the Black Caucus Legislative Conference in Washing­ ton, D.C. on Sept. 16, issued a call for a strong Clinton administration intervention into Nigeria, after Haiti. He called on the U.S.administration to recognize that his fellow tribesman Chief M.K.O. Abiola won the June 12, 1993, Nigerian presidential election and should be installed as head of state, and that the United States should strengthen the sanctions against the military regime of Gen. Sani Abacha.
He also suggested that "the assets of members of the present regime and their civilian collaborators should be fro­ zen," and that here Washington must take the initiative.
Akinyemi re rtedly repeated the call several times dur­ ing the week following,at the State Department,with mem­ bers of the U.S.National Security Council,and according to one source, also at the White House, where he was well received. Akinyemi was foreign minister in Gen. Ibrahim Babang 's p -Inte ational Monetary Fund regime (which came to power in December 1984), and in recent months has headed a British-supported organization based in London of "retired " Nigerian of cials and military o cers to support "democracy " boss Moshood Abiola.
Akinyemi has the appearance of a bit of a political chame­ leon,having made quite an about-face in recent months.He is on record in the latter part of 1993 as strongly encouraging General Abacha to step in to stop what many Nigerian leaders perceived as the political dri that was leading to the disinte­ gration of the country. During late 1993, Akinyemi wrote letters,both directly and through Nigerian dailies,appealing to Abacha to step in.
But sometime after Abacha became commander in chief and head of state,which posts he now holds,Akinyemi shi ­ ed sides and became a member of Nadec Nigeria's self­ proclaimed "democracy " movement. A Nigerian gove ­ ment source in London says that the transformation may have been connected to the fact that he requested from the gove ment two things he was not given-a cabinet appoint­ ment, and a great deal of money to write his memoirs. "The gove ment said it was not in the position to spend resources that way.It was a er that that he moved to London."
It is worth noting that Akinyemi has longstanding ties to the Anglo-American ruling establishment,as does his presi­ dential "solution " for Nigeria, Moshood Abiola. For example,prior to becoming foreign minister,from 1978 to 1983, Akinyemi was the director general of the Nigerian Institute of Inte ational Affairs, which is one of the many spinoff organizations from the Royal Institute for Inte ational Af­ fairs based in the United Kingdom,and the Council on For­ eign Relations in the United States.
A design against Nigeria's interests
At the ongoing National Constitutional Conference which was inaugurated by General Abacha in June, e have reportedly been wide-ranging discussions about what has happened to Nigeria during e Babangida adminis ation and during the transition period from this adminis ation.
A s ech by one of the conference delegates,Mazi S.G. Ikoku,a respected Nigerian elder and Christian,published by the New Nigerian on Sept. 26 lends insight.Ikoku begins: "History has made us the arbiters of the politics ofJune 12.The politics of June 12 [1993,the da of the presidential elections which were annulled by Babangida] is the clever exploitation of the weaknesses of the existing Federal Republic of Nige a and the foibles of present day Nigerian leadership to consoli­ date the hold of foreign hegemony over Nigerian life and af­ fairs.In the process,the emergence of the new Federal Repub­ lic of Nigeria is to be aborted; Nigeria is to remain a state of nominal independence and pseudo-sovereignty,presiding over a satellised economy with zero growth rate and a clientele people battling with escalating penury."
Ikoku insists that a major source of the confusion that Nigeria is undergoing stems from the fact that "labels have lost their meaning," which is not just a problem for Nigeria. Taking on the supposed ght f democracy,he asks if any­ one has noticed that "the colonizers of the world since the 16th century now claim to be the crusaders for dem racy worldwide."
Discussing what he termed the "grand design " for Nigeria by Britain and forces within the United States, he noted that the co erstone of the venture was the installation of an elected civilian President of Nigeria endorsed by both w­ ers."This was what esident Babangida's Transitional Pro­ gram was to have put in place... .At first IBB [Babangida] went along with the program.He had put into place rm pro­ imperial economic and nancial policies.These include SAP [the IMF's Structural Adjustment P gram],debt servicing,and debt swap."
Thus on the economic end,Ikoku insists that processes were going as planned,but on the political side,it became more complicated."A close con dant of IBB,a vice presi­ dent of ITT representing Africa and the Middle East,a busi­ ness tycoon in his own right,and a nancial magnate thanks to powerful connections in the corridors of power-these were accolades that made Abiola t the bill." Discussing the June 12,1993 elections that were then annulled by Babangi­ da,"for reasons only known to him," Ikoku notes the con­ trived nature of the election from the get-go.
"Note that in January 1993,Abiola was not even a mem­ ber of the SDP; yet four months later,and contrary to the ground rules,Abiola clinched the presidential ticket of the
SDP....Then things began to fall apart.IBB encouraged the rise of the Association for a Better Nigeria (ABN) to provide a counter-weight to the pressures on him from British and U.S.diplomatic circles.Following the injunction order by an Abuja High Court stopping the conduct of the presiden­ tial elections,Mr.O B' rien [head of United States Informa­ tion Service under the Bush administration] stated publicly that the court order was unacceptable to the U.S.gove ­ ment. ... O B' rien was declared persona non grata and expelled from Nigeria.The National Electoral Commission went ahead with the elections without even bothering to go on appeal against the Abuja High Court order.For reasons best known to him,IBB opted out of the venture and annulled the June 12 presidential elections.Relations between the IBB and CIA soured."
Who is Moshood Abiola?
Moshood Abiola boosts of how he rose rapidly from employee to partner of the Inte ational Telephone & Tele­ graph (ITT).His own story,as he told the newspaper New Nigerian as published on June 1,198 5,sheds light on what some Nigerians call "a problem of method." Abiola recounts:
"From there [P zer] I joined ITT [in December 1968].I found that was the tu ing point in my life because that was when I met the late Gen.Mu ala Mohammad [the highly respected and later assassinated Nigerian President].At the time ITT was owed about 3.5 million pounds by the army for about three-and-a-half years....I went to see him several times,he wouldn t' see me. So one day I was there at 6:30 a.m.waiting for him,as he used to get to work at 7:2 5 sharp. As he was coming with his walking stick,he said 'You ITT man: leave this place.' I said 'That is not a polite way to talk to a creditor: You are a debtor.' He got so mad,he wanted to use his stick on me....Gen.Hassan Katsina was coming from behind.He said: 'What is the matter?' I said: 'This man has owed me three and a half years.' He said: 'But we don t' touch money here.' I said: 'Ask the Perm Sec.' So they send for Alhaji Gobir who was then the Perm Sec.He said 'Murtalarefusedtoauthorizethevoucher....'ThenMurta­ la said: 'But these people are rogues,they made 20% profit;General Hassan said: 'Bring me the document.I will sign,' but Murtala said: 'I think I will sig .' So Murtala signed and I took the check."
Abiola continues his story: "I ph ned my managing direc­ tor [for ITT],a white,that I have got this money with me [and] that by three o 'clock I will be roming down with it.By the time I got to the o ce,he wa stark drunk.I was then controller........