On the 4th of February 2018, Mr Kassim Afegbua; spokesman of Retired Gen. Ibrahim Babangida released a statement titled; Towards National Rebirth, in which the former military general said that it was time to sacrifice “personal ambition” for “national interest”. He asked Nigerians to cooperate with the president till he completes his term of office in May 2019, before giving way to new, young generation to assume the role of leadership; to make room for fresh blood so to speak.
The statement was without a doubt, a brutally honest appraisal of the state of the nation. Wreaked with political, economic and cultural crisis, Nigeria it seems is on his last legs. The Boko Haram insurgence, ethic wars, prevalent corruption, murders, kidnappings, molestation and quite recently, the unchecked activities of the Fulani herdsmen has cast doubt on the capacity of this administration to govern the nation. Like a sick man on life support, the nation is barely surviving, and without a miracle, the likelihood of a flat line is imminent. We call ourselves the giant of Africa, but in actuality we only tower over toddlers. For years, the deteriorative state of the nation like a dead man in a beautiful casket, was hidden from the rest of the world but is now open for the world to stare at the rotten corpse.
The former general was candid in his statement about the sorry state of the nation and how the Buhari Administration under the APC party has failed in keeping to its promise of change to Nigerians. I therefore agree with IBB and I am of the opinion that his statement was simply a truthful criticism of the current administration and nothing more. As a fellow Nigerian, I admire IBB for his candour and in speaking truth to power; a feat many are unable to do. The statement was in my opinion, fair and without bias. It openly addressed the situation of the country. It was devoid of slander, neither was the former general defamatory in his remarks. Therefore, I see no reason why Mr Afegbua was arrested; on what grounds? He is the spokesman of IBB and a member of the press and as such is entitled to publish what he deems fit in line with freedom of the press. This is of course backed and legally supported by the Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, African Charter on Human & Political Rights and most importantly; Section 39 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. The basis of the witch-hunt, eventual arrest and detention of Mr Afegbua is therefore wrong and unjustified. The president should rather regard the statement as an expression of opinion by a citizen of the nation, an exercise of his fundamental human right and either take to the advice or discard it.
However, a popular legal maxim goes thus; He, who must come into equity, must come with clean hands. Now consider for a moment, Nigeria as a courtroom, the president as the accused, IBB as the plaintiff, the APC party as the defendant, the press as the audience, the Nigerian populace as the jury and you the reader the judge, will the argument of a guilty party hold sway? Can a criminal tender a case before the judge? Or are we to assume that perhaps, unlike Lady Macbeth, the perfumes of Arabia have sweetened his little hand?
IBB is no saint. He has no moral justification to castigate the president or his efforts at restructuring. He led this country during the military era when he overthrew Buhari in 1985, and during his time in office, the country was neither prosperous nor thriving. Though he established some good policies and reforms, Nigerians haven’t forgotten the flaws in his administration. Some of which include; initiating and introducing the structural adjustment program (SAP) which devalued the naira and began the era of hardship; a sore Nigeria is still festering to this today, the mismanagement of the 12 billion dollars from oil windfall during the gulf war, the mysterious death of journalist Dele Giwa and also the annulment of the June 12 elections which led to political crisis and instability in the country. To many, he is known as the evil genius. This is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. He didn’t do better when he had the opportunity, so he shouldn’t be self-righteous. As Jesus told the people who were about to stone Mary Magdalene; “He who is without sin should cast the first stone” IBB should remember that while Nigerians laud this effort, his sins are not forgotten.
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