Man without Allah. Why my emotions and thoughts muster in my creative bent the subject at hand today of all days is a journalistic or intellectual experience or inspiration I cannot vouch for. But let me state urgently for a start that something entered me when this post entered my phone: “Any terrorism that lasted for more than 24 hours, the government knows about it.” The remark was attributed to the late General Sani Abacha, who died in office and was rightly or wrongly described in the post as: “He was a man of few words but dangerous actions.” After moments of deep contemplation and reflection, I, a connoisseur of sincere feelings, found myself speaking, or better stated whispering to myself and calling General Sani Abacha “A Man with Allah.”
The late Nigerian military head of state who many persons will say died ingloriously as a military iron leader and personage, without dispute had more than several faults and flaws – monumentally and politically -faults and flaws – but from the perspective of hind-sight, some persons there must be or there are who will ever treat him and his memory with the kindness of candour and with the candour of kindness. The dark goggled Kano-grown, -groomed and brought-up Kanuri man murdered my good elderly friend Ken Saro-Wiwa who misunderstood the nature of his friendship with his soldier-friend; the fiendish general and master of fiendish problems committed General Obasanjo and others to prison; he also did to our late Moshood K. O. Abiola what he did to him – ably assisted, engineered and encouraged by the one and only ‘Maradona’ in our country’s military and political history – but – let us face the truth – he must now be recognized as a patriot whose plans miscarried. (I am not engaging in any kind of revisionism, but when Obasanjo, for example, left prison after both Abacha and Abiola kicked their fatal buckets, and became our president, did he preside over our affairs as somebody who learnt handsomely from his short spell in prison?)
Abacha was a man of faith unlike the current so-called democratic leader-president who rightly we can call a man without faith. If Abacha was a flawed patriot and one whose mother allegedly was Kanuri from Borno State and whose father allegedly was from Niger Republic is an un-essential patriot and a bloody and pompous one indeed who mesmerized us all with his rhetoric of change to enter Aso Rock as our president. How can we call such a person a truthful Nigerian patriot and pious Muslim? A president who before he became president vowed, promised and honey-talked us into accepting that he would vanquish the terrorists called Boko Haram in his mother’s alleged State of Borno under three months or so, how can we call him a patriot when day by day, terrorism and banditry grow and grow everywhere, including his allegedly adopted State of Katsina and also his allegedly adopted home-town of Daura? Is it not absurd that under Buhari, Nigeria has become predominantly a country where nothing truly works?
Under Abacha whom Buhari served as Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund was Nigeria like as it is now? Was Nigeria as un-patriotically divisive as is the case now? Did Abacha use the Islamic religion and faith to undo Nigeria as the present man is doing? Abacha or any former Muslim head of state or president never used Islam or the Muslim spirit to work up religious, or better stated Islamic patriotism in the land – as ex-president Jonathan and other past Christian presidents or heads of state never used their Christian faith and spirit to create Christian patriotism in the land.
What the current president is doing leaves the masses un-moved. Even his fellow Muslims in many places detest his repression everywhere. The man does not really love his fellow Muslims whom he pretends to demonstrate concern for with his pretentious art of holiness and piousness. How many Muslims are truly happy, are happily happy in Nigeria now? Are they possessed of happy happiness when Christians and persons of other Faiths, are devoid of happy happiness in today’s Nigeria? Is this man truly in charge of Nigeria as Abacha truly was?
Before I forget, let me state that under the much maligned General Abacha, the naira was not a shit currency as it is today. The exchange rate was 22 naira to one dollar. Patriotic Abacha vowed to make it far lower before his death. No Nigerian head of state or president had the economic courage and tough temerity and audacity of endeavour and chutzpah of mind to take Nigeria out of dark economic stress the Western world subjected it to. Day by day since Buhari came to presidential power, Nigerians have become more and more anguished. Wao! He knows or seems to know the terrorists and bandits and their modus operandi, yet he lets them be. Wao!
This president cannot appeal to our true love any longer. As has been said elsewhere, he is un-economically and unpatriotically using our hard-earned and hard-worked-for money to be doing a railway line to Niger Republic when our universities and Nigerians are dying as they should not. And he is also doing a refinery in Niger Republic where refined oil will be transported to Nigeria of dormant and dead refineries. This man is certainly not a Nigerian patriot and a true Muslim who should value Justice and Love for all in one and in one’s country.
Today is Christmas day when “Christianity means the indwelling God, a truth sought by the heart and assented to by the conscience,” to quote Marcel Proust (1871-1922), a pre-eminent French novelist of all time. President Buhari and his Muslim partisans should imbibe this spirit and do their patriotic duty to Nigeria. Will they?
Merry Christmas I say with all pleasure to all my readers, Christians or Muslims or both. Bury your despair and plod back up the rock (if you are in the area of rocks and hills) and swim patiently in the wild waves to the shore (if you are in the areas of rivers and waves unpredictable). Things will cease to be what they are sooner than later. Subordinate your dark thoughts to happy thoughts of happy happiness.
Afejuku can be reached via 08055213059.
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