When it looked almost certain 1998 that a certain Sani Abacha would transmute from a military dictator to a civilian president in what would have been a democratic charade orchestrated to turn Nigeria into another Libya, Cameroun or Togo, it took an Alex Ekwueme to rise up to the challenge of defending the inalienable rights of Nigerians to freely choose who governs them through the ballot box.
The man who dared the gods
Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, a world renowned architect, economist, lawyer, estate surveyor, urban planner, hotelier, industrialist and former vice president took it upon himself to rally important personalities against the near-unstoppable plan of the military dictator by letting Abacha know that Nigerians cannot all be cowards who would sit idly and watch him continue to ride roughshod on the country.
Ekwueme mobilised renowned politicians and leaders of thought across the length and breadth of the country to tell Abacha in no uncertain term that Nigeria is no Libya and that if he wished to rule Nigeria as a civilian president, he was welcomed to pursue his fantasy but must first step down as military ruler and submit himself to the ethos of democratic practices, hit the campaign grounds and share his vision with the voters. And ultimately, test his popularity against other candidates who must be validly nominated by their political parties.
Prior to the public opposition of Abacha’s self-succession bid by the second republic vice president, all the five political parties allowed to operate by the regime had adopted the former chief of army staff as their consensus candidate in a charade the Economist magazine pointed was evidence that the Nigerian political class was for sale and that Abacha was fiercely afraid of being challenged at the poll by a credible candidate.
Many who dared died
At the time Ekwueme and the patriots he mobilised under the banner of G-34 stood to challenge what was becoming a political circus in the country with characters like Daniel Kanu singing hymns of worship for the then ruling dictator, Sani Abacha was the most feared man in all of Africa.
M.K. O. Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12 1993 presidential election was locked away in solitary confinement, Wole Soyinka, Anthony Enahoro and several other leading pro-democracy activists fled Nigeria on self-imposed exiles to foreign destinations while journalists like Kunle Ajibade, Chris Anyanwu, George M’bah, and Ben Charles-Obi were imprisoned for publishing news items the Abacha military junta found unfriendly.
Journalists and pro-democracy activists were not the only individuals whose presence and involvement in public conversations irritated Sani Abacha. His former army colleagues- Olusegun Obasanjo, Lawan Gwadebe and Shehu Musa Yaradua were picked up and thrown into prisons like common criminals for allegedly plotting to overthrow the general who loves dark goggles. While Obasanjo and Gwadebe lived to tell the story of their travails, Yaradua did not make it out of prison. He died in controversial circumstances in December 1997.
Ken Saro Wiwa and eight of his kinsmen had it differently under the Abacha regime. For speaking out against the exploitation of their natural resources by the Nigerian government and Shell, they were arrested, made to undergo a sham trial, given a death sentence and later- executed in the most brutal circumstance.
The only group of politicians who had things smooth in Abacha’s Nigeria were those who sold public shame and disgustingly announced their support for Sani Abacha’s self-succession plans. Those who dared oppose Abacha like M. D Yusuf, Dan Etiebet and a few others were hounded until they quietly withdrew from the public space.
Tame Opposition From Abroad
At the time, scores of Yoruba leaders who swore eternal opposition to the army ruler voiced their concerns from outside the shores of the country, relying on support from sympathetic foreign journalists and friendly opinion molders on the international scene. Even the international community and its leaders acted as if they were afraid of the regime- refusing to impose the kind of sanctions that would make the junta wilt. Abacha’s Nigeria was a dreaded space where neither freedom no safety were guaranteed.
You do not threaten a warrior with war
Amidst all the tensions and socio-political anxiety that gripped the land in those dark days, Alex Ekwueme who was imprisoned at Kirikiri by the Muhammadu Buhari military junta after terminating the second republic on the last day of 1983 was not a man to droop in the face of terror.
Ekwueme knew that life under Abacha rule was not entirely different from death for as the Igbos say, a man dies the day he stops speaking out in matters that affect his life. The renowned architect knew that while heroes live eternally even after their mortal bodies had been buried, cowards die many times before they are eventually committed to mother earth.
The former vice president who saw hell during the Biafra-Nigeria war knew that the only thing an oppressor like Abacha sought was to control the mind and thinking of the populace. Ugo Okoh was not one to surrender his mind to a reckless tyrant who rose to power on the strength of bullet, blood and an ability to inflict maximum terror on the weak and innocent.
Ekwueme knew that like the close to 80 million persons living in the country at the time, he had a stake in Nigeria and whatever becomes of it. He mobilised leading politicians from east, west, north and south including Adamu Ciroma, Solomon Lar, Abubakar Rimi, Uzodimma Nwala, Onyeabor Obi and others to tell Abacha in no uncertain terms that Nigerians were prepared to fight him from a united front.
Prior to that time, the major plank of opposition to Abacha came from NADECO- made up mostly of senior politicians of South West origin. Abacha was yet to recover from the shock that hit him after Abubakar Rimi delivered G-34’s letter to Aso Rock when he died in June 1998- abandoning his self succession dreams and other unholy fantasies.
Things have since changed
Today, it is rare to find a politician with Ekwueme’s courage, conviction and credibility. Who would speak for the republic now that it appears we willfully in 2015 returned to where we came out from less than two decades earlier?
Tyranny is back in full swing. On the floor of the senate lies a proposition to jail “merchants of hate speech” for life. Many would not be surprised if the Ahmed Lawan’s senate passes the bill since the senate president appears unrelenting in his resolve to do whatever would make Aso Rock- his main backers in the race for the number three seat- happy.
There is no prize for guessing who the likely victims of this legislative proposition against “hate speech” would be. It would definitely include journalists who ask uncomfortable questions, opposition politicians who suggest alternative policy ideas, human right activists who dare say something Aso Rock finds irritating and of course- international and local NGOs who make calls that the government finds “insulting.” Just ask Omoyele Sowore what happens to those who “insult” the president in today’s Nigeria, remember, this is even before the infamous hate speech bill becomes law.
Who will rise up against the rampaging moves of the tyrant? If and when push comes to shove, will there arise a man who will speak truth to power without considering his personal safety? Who is that politician in Nigeria today that can reach out to others outside his ethnic group to save the country from the treachery of its current leadership?
If there is any takeaway to be picked from the charades that have taken place across the country in the name of elections since 2016, it is this: it does not matter how Nigerians vote or who they voted for. It is about what (who) the powers that be want and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
Take it to the Supreme Court and the pilot who drives an airplane would tell you that there is a bolt which you forgot to tighten and that a thief who steals a car with loose bolts is free to keep it.
May Nigeria find help.
