POST EXPRESS
Category: Editorial
Date of Article: 11/12/99
Topic: History As 'Mwalimu'
Author: John Ofei
Full Text of Article:
THANKS to Dr. Bala Usman and Dr. Walter Rodney that the subject, History is
much more than the way it was defined to me in my elementary and secondary
school days as "a record of past events." This definition smacks of dead-end
agenda that it did not grab me as a course that one may want to pursue at a
higher level of education. The books, "For the Liberation of Nigeria" and
"How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by Bala Usman and Walter Rodney
respectively changed all that. History gives the reasons why certain events
took place, why some are currently happening in the future - all things
being equal. What comes out poignantly in this is that History is a teacher
and we have a great deal to learn from it. The only mistake we make is that
we tend to learn from past mistakes too late. History has it that Methuselah
was the oldest man - so far- on earth. But History - to be precise, the Holy
Bible - is silent or is not explicit enough on his other useful achievements
while he tarried on earth. The same Bible confirmed Jesus' short but, so
far, the most eventful mission on earth that any being has ever dreamt of.
The late Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso is our focus here. Immediately he
assumed leadership of that country, he publicly declared his assets:
everybody, even kids knew what he had and what he did not have. We all knew
that his official car was a rickety and an out-of-date Renault car. Even in
death, history told us that he was and he is still one of the greatest
leaders ever produced in Africa. And what of the real Mwalimu? The late
Julius Nyerere lived as an ordinary man and retired from the country's
presidency in 1985 a "homeless" president. His wife and children were like
every other Tanzanian who went to public schools and patronised public
hospitals. There was no office of the "First Daughter of the Federation" and
the wife's "Family Support Programme" and "Family Economic Advancement
Programme" (if there were any- were not as corrupt as Nigeria. Both in
retirement and in death, Nyerere's life, times and virtues are a teacher
unto those who care to listen and borrow a leaf.
In Nigeria, we seem to be moving in circles. In 1992, probably, for the sake
of accomplishing an aim, Arthur Nzeribe, now a Senator, founded the infamous
Association of Better Nigerians, ABN. The aim of its founding fathers was to
scuttle the presidential elections of June 12, 1993 and to ensure the
continuity of military and, perhaps, ensure that the de-facto leader of the
association became the country's prime minister. Nzeribe told us then that
he had secured the signature of millions of Nigerians who wanted the
military president, Ibrahim Babangida to continue in office for as long as
he could. In the history of our nation, we were witnesses to how a court
injunction was secured in the dead of the night for the elections not to
hold. We were witnesses to how successive court injunction to invalidate the
Abuja Court's order and de-annul the presidential elections were flouted at
will. In fact, we still remember how that "evil genius" hastily stepped
aside and how he sagaciously enthroned Earnest Shonekan as Nigeria's Interim
Leader with the original leader wearing the garment of a chief of Defence
Staff.
Then enter the Sani Abacha years. We still remember how he assumed
leadership in the wake of confusion, arson and mayhem that accompanied the
annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential elections. Sani Abacha capitalised
on the confusion that had enveloped the country to unleash a reign of terror
on Nigeria and Nigerians and turned the country into a family affair. Those
who were for him had their say and their way while those who were against
him were either hounded in prisons, driven into exile or murdered. We all
were witnesses to how Abacha suddenly died on June 8, 1998 and the
subsequent dilemma of a once-powerful family and the endless pleas of a
matriarch. The Abacha years brutalised Nigerians but they were made
stronger. Of mention is the Catholic Church and Human Rights Groups. They
all fought in unison and brought the regime to its toes. They brought the
atrocities committed by the Abacha people to the knowledge of the
International Community and the fear of human rights groups was the
beginning of wisdom for Abacha and his cronies.
We were witnesses to how Sankara took the bull by the horn by first
declaring his assets publicly but our own present government has not shown
us how Nigeria's charity would begin at home. We knew how the late Nyerere
and his family lived like ordinary Tanzanians but in Nigeria, the wife of a
commissioner enjoys the country's state-of-the-art hospitals and a mere
headache is something that must be treated abroad. Everyday, we hear of one
good thing done by the late Mother Theresa to the extent that her
canonisation is years above the conventional time for sainthood. We heard of
the late Princess Diana's feat in Angola but here, our women are always in
support of anything that goes as if kitchening was the official - and the
unofficial - duty betrothed to them by God. So far, the only outfit that is
rising to the occasion of change and constructive ciriticism is the human
rights groups, hence, the reason why Gani Fawehinmi, Beko, Ransome-Kuti and
Femi Falana, though human rights activists and Yorubas, still differ on
principle yet are still together in the(ir) fight against oppression.
Democracy in action par excellence.
It is so frustrating and demoralising that our successive leader have turned
this country to their personal property solely built for them to perpetrate
and perpetuate absurdity and tyranny. Of course, they are content with the
absence of ideological goals and delight in satisfying the ruled with
suffocation instead of the required satisfaction, brickbats instead of the
deserved solidarity and scarcity, instead of the needed surplus. Isn't it a
strange thing that an individual - a patriotic(?) Nigerian - owns over fifty
houses even as majority of Nigerians are starving with some driven out of
their rented apartments for their inability to pay house rents. Thank God
that the former chairman of Shehu Shagari's Task Force on Rice is still
alive to witness millions of Nigerians as they search the dustbins
tirelessly for what to eat. In the Nigeria of nowadays, there is surplus of
corruption; there is surplus of poverty; there is surplus of assassinations
and other hated vices. The rich does not want the poor to exist and the poor
have not the wherewithal to "Andrew Out."
When other people of commitment, concession and peace are intensifying their
efforts in favour of peace, co-operation, oneness and mutual understanding
and when other people are putting their efforts at consolidating the
institution of governance and re-integrating the variety of ethnic groups
and cultures present on their soil with the hope of bequeathing to future
generations a habitable land, some protagonists of deceit are busy toying
with the fate of over 100 million Nigerians and the future of their children
through their selfish acts that are unworthy of the federated Nigeria in the
ambience of the global civilisation and development. Nigeria has been
inhabited by greedy people who delight in violating the general norms of
decent human behaviour by using political office as an unfettered channel to
defraud the already wobbling economy. To them, it is their duty to deprive
the already-embittered but voiceless and powerless people of not only
inalienable rights but also their assets. Our dear nation is sadly a haven
for non-proficient professionals-those who, rather than being professional
in their duties, have chosen the ignominious, disgraceful and degrading path
of personal integrity and sacrifice of self-respect. The grand diversionary
tactics of Zamfara State's governor and the sharia is an exercise in
futility because the vast majority of Zamfarans are crying for food, shelter
and health-care, nothing else.
We have heard enough from our leaders who told us lies but hid the bitter
truth under the tongue. Till date, President Obasanjo's anti-corruption bill
has not received the senators' blessings and neither have they thought of
amending or expunging those aspects that offend their conscience nor taken
any bolder or broader steps towards combating the crime called corruption.
Thomas Stearns Elliot once asserted that "History has many cunny passages
contrived corridors and issues." According to him, it "deceives with
whimpering ambition" and "guides us by vanities." Certainly, if those men of
yesteryears had ever thought that today would, one day, come and if they had
assisted those they met on their way up the ladder of life, this country
would never have remained the same. Similarly, if our powerful men of today
will ever sit down and think f a tomorrow that will one day be here with us,
the world will surely move forward and future historians will surely have
positive tales to tell for there is no better judge than history which in
itself is "Mwalimu." "Philosophers have only interpreted the world, the task
is to change it."
Rv. Fr. Ofei is of the Catholic Secretariat, Lagos.
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