It’s unimaginable. Quite absurd. That maximum military dictator, General Sani Abacha, could ever again come to our limelight. So profoundly. And dominate our rowdy, unpredictable, choked political space with such comfort and ease. Not by proxy. Yes! He is back with us. He is here.

But come to think of it. At no time did Abacha totally leave us. He never abandoned us either. Since he kicked the bucket in 1998. He had been generous to us to a fault. He kept on remitting money to us all over the globe. In almost all currencies, particularly in dollars and pounds.

We wickedly tagged it Abacha loots. Whatever label. We call it windfalls. Coming at this very moment of our dire need. But this time, Abacha was made to saunter into our political space. Suffocating us the more! 

Sad, President Bola Tinubu made it happen. Live and life! We are scandalised the repulsive manner he’s acting Abacha. Driving his awkward script and vision, sole candidacy, despicably. He does it with unequalled foolhardiness. To desperately hold on to power in 2027 and far beyond.

Somehow, we felt duped. And it pains. We didn’t know he was faking and feigning. He deceived us with unmatched deceit. It was an unpardonable fraud. All through, he had hideous agenda. Hidden somewhere in heinous part of his heart. He successfully concealed it from our view.

He discovered so early that we were naïve. And he exploited that window to the maximum. We failed to read his lips correctly. We now know better: His National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) years were a learning process. He was actually learning the rope from Abacha.

Just like his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, he’s not a faithful, true democrat. The reason he studied Abacha to letters. He was taking a meticulous note of Abacha’s strategies, actions and inactions. For use in a time like today. That came handy for him and his 2027 project. Now, all his efforts are paying off handsomely for him.

Aren’t President Bola Tinubu lucky? Things are falling in “pleasant palaces” for him. Even before electioneering. He is putting his weird foresight to use. And the result? He’s dancing uncontrollably to “victory” already. Stranger than fiction!

This’s amiss. It’s inappropriate. Out of place. Tinubu didn’t need to drag us through this rough road. He needed not, before achieving his cherished sole presidential candidacy desire. He did his homework well. Abacha was his dream model. He had watched, studied him. He was convinced that it is easily doable. And he has proved himself right.

So? We needed not go through these hurdles and hassles. Before conceding to his inordinate lifetime ambition. We’ve given up on him. We saw the signs long enough. And prepared accordingly.

After all. All the hitherto strong institutions of checks and balances are essentially moribund. They are no longer worthy of their weight. They exist barely in name, label and tag. They have been successfully collapsed, subdued.  All under the watch of Tinubu. And his eagle’s eyes. His government superintendents their collapse.

No one institution is strong enough now to stand up to Tinubu. Not even non-governmental organisations. And their list is legion. These ones are specifically disturbing, disgusting, appalling, irritating. They’re mere irritants. You will pity them. The way they operate and function. Moribund is the word. All on their deathbeds.

They include, but not limited to: National Assembly (NASS), Judiciary, INEC, security agencies, labour, students’ unions. They have become lame appendages, annexes. To the almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful Tinubu’s presidency.

Nigeria is sad in a funny way; and funny in a sad way. They’re already looking far ahead. Over and above 2027. By their weird reckoning, 2027 is a done deal. Long time before now. That’s their eerie mindset. And they carry it around with obvious, plain arrogance.

We have a monstrous danger to contend with. There were some missing links that made Abacha lose his war against us. And this is our palpable fear. These gabs may make Tinubu win that war of attrition against us. Very solid fear.

NADECO is unarguably the biggest link missing in this awkward dispensation. Its vacuum is huge; the gab is big.  Resilience and resistance are the weapons deployed against Abacha. They proved very potent and effective. NADECO fought Abacha to the grave. They frustrated him to death.

That same scenario is playing up. Wearing another detestable, ugly, stinking garb. In 1998 and now. The goal tactically remains same: Sole presidential candidate. But the resilience and resistance are graphically absent.

All the five parties were in high mood in 1998. Abacha was scheming and manipulating them to adopt him as sole candidate. He was to be transmuted to civilian president from military Head of State. That would have happened on October 1, 1998. After he would have won the election he conducted. As it was in 1998. It is today. Nothing changes. Nothing broken. Nothing missing.

Tinubu was a prominent figure in NADECO. And deeply entrenched in its pro-democracy activities. He joined others to fight Abacha; home and abroad. He was listed among its 49 founders. The same Tinubu is acting Abacha script. Undoing what he did in NADECO. Great pity!

The absence of NADECO and its likes creates a wide gulf Tinubu is exploring and exploiting. He is on the fast lane, yielding to self-distrust. We had erroneously believed. A Tinubu would detest an Abacha. And stay thousands of kilometres away from being one. A near Abacha won’t also be it. We earnestly regret. That error is massive.

The reality starring us in the face is the exact opposite. A Tinubu now is strenuously labouring. Day and night. Not only to be an Abacha. But to also surpass the Abacha we all knew too well.

The Abacha he once sturdily fought to finish. That same Abacha he’s courting courteously, even in death. Wonders shall never come to an end. Not in Nigeria of all insane climes. To our crowned tin-god. His mission and vision are far beyond 2031.

That’s what’s showing off on our crystal ball. And emerging on our radar. Past antecedents confirmed our fears are genuine. And that we’re seeing clearly enough. We are equally convinced. Far beyond reasonable doubt.

Let Tinubu take heed. And be discerning enough. He is working speedily towards self-contest. This profound old Greek proverb cannot be wrong totally: “Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad.” First, they become irritating tin-gods unto themselves. And those under their heavy yokes.

To the legion of their sycophants, flatterers and kowtowers. They can’t do anything wrong. Never. It’s not “godly” possible. Whatever they choose to do is good, perfect. And whatever their fancy touches, turns to gold. Instantly!

They are ruled by extreme arrogance. And controlled by unfathomable pomposity. Always grandstanding. In the process, they fumble, stumble all the way. Their do-gooders make them to see no faults.

The biblical Egyptian Pharaoh exemplified and amplified this succinctly. Nebuchadnezzar rolled along the pattern in his Babylonian Empire.  King Herold of Jesus day also fell for it. And so many others in the Holy Book. All of them were severely judged and ended in damnation.

These ancient rulers are being thrown up. And playing out to our faces. They are richly manifesting in the lives of our rulers. In them we’re identifying and picking our own Pharaohs, Nebuchadnezzars and Herolds.

Help! The centre is crumbling. It can no longer hold sway. Their weird tribe is growing in leaps and bounds. And surging on unperturbed. In reckless abundance. With the greatest impunity. Such is our pathetic plight.

Literally. Our home-grown democracy has been programmed on auto-pilot. It’s out-growing, out-running and out-smarting itself. Slipping away dangerously into self-destruction. Perdition awaits it with bated breath. And our principal runners of the self-inflicted democracy see nothing amiss in all of this.

Our minds are made. That this species of characters. Aren’t the leaders we deserve at this our critical crossroads. They are the “ruinners” they want to be. Tinubu effectively made this clear in Jos, Plateau State, exactly a week today. He confirmed that our rulers are aloof to our collective quandary. He didn’t mince, miss or mix words:

“You have no light at the airport. And I have to fly back within the next 10 minutes. To you leaders, I have heard. To the victims, there’s nothing I can give you whether money in millions, but console you and promise you that this experience will not repeat itself…

“Favour Rhoda, I know the pains. I saw you in the video how you held on to Ayuba. And the pain and agony in your heart. But it is only God, it’s only God, who can give joy and comfort. No amount of money can pay all your… Yes, as government, we will try our best…”

Imagined! The same element who damned former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Saturday, December 24 2014: “Resign if you cannot, enough of the excuses…Let them stop giving us excuses that Boko Haram is in my government, fish them out. That we have saboteurs in the military, you are admitting failure. No excuse of failure, Mr President we chose you to lead this country.

“A nation fails because of the leadership failures. If there is a good leader at the top, a nation will not fail. Because the fish start getting rotten from the head. The poverty, insecurity, unemployment which we are witnessing today in this country is because the head has failed.”

Twelve years after. He still finds it difficult to walk his cheap talk. We are bold to announce this. Such ruler attracts our doubts. Erodes our confidence. And loses our trust.

We were expectant. And we weren’t disappointed. It couldn’t have been otherwise. That Tinubu’s attack dogs would angrily bark. But would never dare to bite. It was certain as day and night. That his foot soldiers would be spurred into action immediately.

They would toil in pains. And trudge to explain away Tinubu’s Jos hollow and colossal speech performance. They would labour hard to convince us. And win us over. But that labour was in vain. It couldn’t have yielded any fruitful fruits. That has always been their lot. It would not be taken seriously. Never again!

Final Words

We’re not only effectively trapped. We have been captured and pocketed. Who dares contest that? Even more horrific and horrendous. Just as it happened to Lagos and its Lagosians. Nigeria has been signed off, sealed and delivered.

True talk. Tinubu truly knows all manner of roads. Explicitly, the ones that lead to the throne. And will make you want to hold on to it till eternity.

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