This seemingly well-organized, yet tiny fraction of a select group of aristocrats in cohort with the military oligarchs, now appear to be firmly in control of nearly every facet of the Nigerian governmental institutions, including the impoverished, grossly under-funded and dangerously volatile National Police and Defense Forces. It is a common knowledge, and indeed, common place long-standing practice in Nigeria, for the dreaded National Police and Defense Forces to be routinely used as instruments of terror and brutal suppression of opposition on the part of government officials, politicians, as well as any rich and powerful person, who happens to have the "means" to buy the readily available "brute force services" usually delivered upon request by the "uniformed security forces." These security forces were supposedly created to defend the nation against foreign aggression, protect the citizenry, enforce the laws of the country , and maintain public order.
However, the reverse is the case, as any person or entity perceived or declared as a threat to the public or private interests of the paying parties and government officials with the right influence, stand the risk of severe property damage, bodily harm and/or potentially death by assassination. Since over four decades when Nigeria supposedly gained political independence from Great Britain on October 01, 1960, this controlling band of social misfits have evolved into a rather potent, but unholy alliance of the military elite, career politicians, career civil servants and diplomats, business professionals, academicians, trade unionists, prominent traditional rulers, and yes, the career criminals of the "419" fame. But the peoples of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must now consider doing a detour for the public good of their nation.
Those who are of adulthood at the present time and the Nigerian youths who are matured enough to understand the real dangers which threaten the social, economic and political advancement of their motherland today, must now shun the ever-attractive social vices of the times, and assume their rightful place in history. They must collectively declare a moral stand on higher grounds against the social culprits who are poised to destroy the promising future of the Nigerian nation, merely for the advancement of unproductive cult agendas of individuals fashioned after the domination of the country's politics by a select gang of powerful social misfits, whose indulgence in the worship of personalities with questionable background and character, are holding back the nation's developmental progress.
There are of course some politicians in the current political dispensation in Nigeria that are not necessarily corrupt, and without a direct link to a prior military career or relationship of some sort with the established military oligarchs. But, judging by the current composition of the politicians at the highest levels of the current government, and considering the prevailing advocacy in some segments of the society that are clamoring for the return of the former military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida back to the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it does appears as if the psychic of the Nigerian peoples, collectively, have finally been diabolically affected by the influence of decades of military domination of the country's body politics.
Yet, there is nothing inherently wrong with a military career background as evident in every civilized nations of the world. But leaders of the Armed Forces in the "civilized countries of the world," unlike in Nigeria, do not seize political power or authority through the barrels of guns. And they certainly do not gain prominence or eventually become popular, or known politicians, by first forcefully imposing their military dictatorships and draconian rule upon their citizens by means of dethroning another military regime, or a democratically elected government, loot their nation's treasury of it's precious resources with reckless disregard for the people's welfare or social services, brutalize their citizenry in order to stifle dissent, and deceive their masses as to their actual motives or intent. Instead, they serve their nations courageously with dignity and honor, under the total and unchallenged authority of their civil governments as mandated by the Constitution of their motherland.
So, why are some Nigerians presently advocating for the return of a social culprit like IBB back to the nation's presidency after the country's ugly experiences with his known mischief, you might ask? The answer is not far-fetched. Suffice it to state that the majority of this tiny fraction of the Nigerians who are advocating for the return of the self-proclaimed "evil genius" former non-elected "military president" back to the peoples' Aso-Rock, are obviously mostly bargain-driven well-wishers of this former soldier from Minna. Since the general has amassed such incredibly enormous amount of wealth that is arguably the stolen fortune he acquired from looting Nigeria's public treasury, the self-styled "evil genius" appears to have the ungodly capability therefore, to buy the conscience, and by implication, the souls of some of his fellow country folks, who have in the past, and are continuing today, willingly selling their conscience to the highest bidder.
Amongst the so-called godfathers of Nigerian politics today, IBB is also arguably the one believed to have stolen the most money from the public treasury, and by implication, the richest and most influential of all the social culprits in Nigeria. After all, like other public treasury looters before and after IBB at both the states and federal levels, there's usually no credible or logical explanation as to the origins of the money that's suddenly at their disposal. Except for those who were born with silver spoons in their mouths, your guess as to the origins of their sudden wealth can be as good as mine.
Consider also, the fact that Nigerians appear to have been psychologically conditioned to harbor the fear of, and ironically, reverence for the seemingly established military oligarchs-aristocrats' evil alliance. It's no surprise that the social culprits like IBB that are still operating in the country today are enjoying unprecedented freedom from prosecution, despite their many publicly documented criminal, social, and political offenses, including certain financial crimes orchestrated through various theft-by-deception schemes, otherwise known as "419." This is another social ill, which on record, began at the inception of the IBB regime. This social ill later became deeply rooted in the moral fabric of Nigeria, and ultimately spread like wildfire in the dry season. Instead of becoming the society's inmates that are locked-up in a maximum security penitentiary, some of the perpetrators of those financial crimes in Nigeria are ironically, at the helm of the nation's political affairs today; operating at different levels of governance, at the expense of the country's political and economic advancement, and most importantly, to the detriment of the country's image and reputation as a credible nation before the advanced countries of Europe and North America in particular, and the international community at large.
These social culprits that are running the grand evil alliance of the highly privileged class of pot-bellied military oligarchs and aristocrats are seated, deep-rooted in the bowels of Nigeria. And IBB, the self-acclaimed "evil genius," as co-author, perpetrator, and executor-in-chief of this grand evil alliance understands the mechanisms of their evil alliance too well. History definitely stands to implicate IBB in his personal behind-the-scenes involvement in every military coup plot known in Nigeria up until, and perhaps beyond his personal take-over of the reigns of power from another brutal dictator, his predecessor, retired Major-General Muhammadu Buhari in the now infamous IBB coup speech of August 27, 1985. To put matters retrospectively, a careful revisit and analysis of that speech today clearly reveals to any intelligent, inquiring, and well-informed mind, one thing and one thing only: That lesson is that IBB's take-over was simply the fulfillment of the life-long dream or ambition of the Gwari Muslim from Minna, who become the first "non-elected military president" of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, by way of his Maradona-like manipulation of his fellow social culprits, to finally cheat his way to the top in 1985.
IBB's eight years of misrule following his take-over turned out to be a monumental failure and a national curse to the hitherto already poorly managed economic, social and political order in Nigeria. Non of his administration's actions and demeanor from the first year all the way through his eighth year in power reflected or matched any of the rhetoric of his take-over coup speech of August 27, 1985. A revisionist look at the degree of unchecked corruption of government officials, political suppression and brutal crackdown of any perceived opposition or dissenting voices, university closures and harassment of protesting students, wide-spread illegal bunkering, government officials' involvement in drug trafficking by means of diplomatic courier baggage, state security services officials' assassination or detention of investigative journalists, wide-spread money laundering, and the virtual institutionalization of graft indulgence by corrupt administration officials during the eight-year misrule of the "evil genius," shows no evidence of any statesmanship qualities that should be evoking any sort of excitement with well-meaning Nigerians today. In fact, all of the above characteristics of the IBB era almost make the social culprits of the previous civilian administration of former President Shehu Shagari of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) fame to look as if they could have passed for the collaborators or assistants of the late Mother Theresa, to put it mildly!
Since the time that the IBB eight-year corrupt government ended and after several years of more failed efforts by consequent "arranged governments" orchestrated by Mr. "evil genius" behind-the- scenes, millions of ordinary Nigerians - who were, and who remain the victims of all the failed schemes after schemes of the oligarch-aristocrat gang of social culprits - continue to suffer untold hardships even to this present time. Today, the vast majority of the peoples of Nigeria can barely make ends meet, let alone envision any real hope for decent quality of life standards in the horizon. At best, their collective hopes for decent living remain on a downward spiral, declining faster than millions of hungry Nigerian families can humanly tolerate. That's the sad reality of the vast majority of millions of the peoples of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, even under the current political dispensation of retired General Olusegun Obasanjo, the current Nigerian president, and arguably the most recent beneficiary of the IBB-led established military oligarchs-aristocrats' evil alliance.
The implications of the resulting negative social, economic, and political roller coaster mode, which this self-assured evil genius' grand evil alliance' clique have entangled the Nigerian nation into, is essentially responsible for well over three decades of the worst economic backwardness and political regression known to scholars of Nigerian history around the world. The world remembers the still to be explained IBB's infamous annulment of the results of the June 12, 1993 democratically held presidential elections that was deemed by reputable International Observers to be the most widely free and fair elections ever held in Nigeria's history, even to date.
That one miscalculation as history records, and as the world remembers it, ultimately led to the 1993 tactical, yet disgraceful exit of the all-powerful political opportunist of the Maradona-like fame! Of course, the world also remembers the aftermath of the IBB "arranged exit," which ushered in yet another draconian lunatic, a complete mad man, the late General Stannic Abaca, whose totalitarian insanity, greed, and lust for power, although reminiscence of his dictator fore-bearer, practically drove him beyond human reasoning, as the monster's abuse of power defiled every conceivable logic.
Unfortunately, after the many social and political lessons that are still fresh in the individual memories of millions of Nigerians, there still seem to be "willing souls" that are clearly for sale in Nigeria today. Most of them are hungry victims of the status-quo, others are merely under obligation to the existing band of the social culprits due to past benefits derived from their mentor's many illegal give-away gestures, while others are simply cult followers! They're varied in orientation. Chief among them are close family friends or cult acquaintances, current business associates or benefactors, former military and political aides or fellow social culprits, as well as other wannabe's who are simply hoping and waiting for a slice of the eagerly anticipated or perhaps imagined "golden pie" of yet another free-for-the-grabbing treasury looting bonanza of monumental proportions, should there be another IBB-led political dispensation, as was the trademark of the dictator' s past eight years of misrule of Nigeria between 1985 and 1993.
Undoubtedly, the former military ruler of the erstwhile dictatorship in Nigeria does have his long list loyal followers and fans alike. Most of them have their personal vested interests and reasons as to why they identify with the so-called "evil genius" of the Maradona-like fame, while some of them can be likened to mere stray demons seeking a Master whom to belong. Others are just hoping to become famous or perhaps gain some recognition in the process of publicly identifying themselves with the self-appointed "evil genius." But for there to be "so much ado about nothing" over someone who has not even officially declared his candidacy for the presidency yet, speaks volume about the mentality of the Nigerian politicians.
If the former dictator's political record of criminal misadventures is worth anything, then the retired general ought to be in prison; locked-up and paying back his debt to the Nigerian society for the execution of his many evil details, instead of being paraded as a potential presidential candidate in the 21st Century. So far, the likes of Mr. Alex Aimee, a former Information Minister in the administration, and self-confessed errand boy of IBB and Mr. Katz Safeguard, who is said to be a "chieftain" of the so-called National Democratic Party (NDP) are the most conspicuous public enemies at the moment, whose mouths have been the loudest in the unconscionable "IBB for President" movement in Nigeria.
Culturally speaking, the singing of the praises of persons who are perceived to be powerful is a common past time in Nigeria. And Nigerians can be rest assured that Mr. "evil genius" understands why he' s gaining traction amongst the social culprits who have family or business links to the country, regardless of whether they physically reside in Nigeria or domicile some place else outside of the country. As expected, the IBB advocates mostly have one thing in common: the over-zealousness that they exhibit whenever they have a need to explain their reasons why they're drumming for the general. That most of Nigeria's social culprits are really hoping for his return is no surprise as IBB knows his "kind of people," and his "kind of people" know him too. But the unscrupulous societal misfits are mistakenly discounting the resolve of Nigeria's new warriors of the jet age of well-informed and determined intellectual patriots who won't take a back seat in the struggle to free their nation from the evil grip of the present status-quo.
With respect to certain remarks about their idol, the two aforementioned IBB zealots not surprisingly have nothing but praise for their god. But their remarks, though not necessarily news-worthy, help to highlight the narrow-mindedness of these comics in ways that makes one wonder how the zealots really expect the millions of well-meaning Nigerians who truly abhor the notion of IBB's return, to take them seriously. Mr. Alex Akinyele, the known self-confessed errand boy of IBB and Mr. Kazeem Afegbua, a not-so-known wannabe, who is simply dying to belong in the camp of the "evil genius" both certainly come across as aloof, arrogant, overly self-assured, and quite frankly, delusional.
Mr. Akinyele for one probably does not recollect his declaration to journalists in October of 2000 at a symposium held at the Hill Station Hotel in Jos, the capital of Plateau State in Northern Nigeria as reported by Bamidele Johnson of Tempo News Publishing. During the lavish gathering that represented the 'creme de la creme' of some of Nigeria's most prominent social culprits, organized by Open Press Limited and the African Center for Social and Political Research, supposedly honoring their culprit-in-chief's perceived accomplishments, the former Information Minister remarked: "IBB is my mentor until tomorrow. In fact, I will die for IBB. Let the press go to hell. I repeat, I will die for IBB...yes I agree to be called IBB boy any day. Yes, press men, IBB is my mentor. You can write whatever you want; it's your papers."
Well, that was almost five years ago when Akinyele's Maradona first decided to check-out testing the political waters again. But the self-appointed errand boy recently got out-of-bound when he attacked the noble and intrepid patriots behind
againstbabangida.com. With his attacks as recorded in Nigeria's Comet newspaper report of June 22, 2005, the "mr. loverboy" fame consequently placed himself on notice, by inadvertently drawing the battle lines for the war ahead. One would have expected that "this roof will be on fire" in the course of this difference of opinion war, perhaps sometime down the road, but the "Lobosin of Ondo" opted for a Bush-like preemptive strike, pre-maturely setting-off the the roof on fire quite early. Can the "Lobosin of Ondo" stand the heat generated from the inferno that he ignited?
As for the "Prince" of the House of Afegbua, the Etsako native of Okpella from Edo North Senatorial District has said quite a lot about the "evil genius" within such a short period of time. The only problem is that he talks a whole lots, and much of what he says truly bothers on delusional blablabla! In a chat with the Sun News Publishing in March of 2005 as reported by Onuoha Ukeh, Mr. Afegbua actually "believed" that he has spoken for IBB because according to Afegbua, IBB has declared for the 2007 Presidency through the NDP. Kazeem Afegbua's own words?: "...I don't know what kind of declaration you're talking again. We have declared for him. We said we have adopted IBB, that means the man has spoken through us. And we are saying that since he has spoken through us, we are going to set out the procedure for reaching out to the electorate ... Also, we admire the man for his beauty. You need to see Babangida on parade, his voice is melodious as is infectious. His accent and rich presentation capture the beauty of a president. At 63, the man still radiates warmth, candor and finesse, looking refreshingly urbane like a man of my generation. Even the women will vote in their millions for IBB for his gap tooth alone. Give thanks to Mrs. Maryam Babangida, the doyen of first ladies for keeping the man refreshed agelessly..."
