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Abubakar Umar bristles: I'm not an opportunist

By

Abubakar Umar

Sequel to my open letter to the President titled ‘The Devil Is It Mr. President; the Presidency, or to be exact the Presidential Adviser on Public Affairs, Deacon Femi Fani Kayode, exercised his right of reply. I do not intend to pass any value judgment on the unnecessary tantrums displayed in his reaction to what I thought was just a genuine attempt on my part to bring to the notice of Mr. President the divergence of views between him, his small circle of court officials and the general public, in an attempt to participate in democracy. The underlying message of my submission was that Nigerians have not benefited from the President’s vaunted dividends of democracy. That while the President sees what may now be perceived as his ascension to the throne as the Lord’s making, his method of governance needs to be modulated to be in line with the Lord’s ways. But since the release of my letter a few people have taken issues with its tone which they regard as harsh or even crude and rude. If that is true I am sorry as I did not in any way mean to be rude to the President, more so a retired general and a highly respected one for that matter. I am also sorry if the tone of my letter provoked the Special Adviser to descend so low as to attempt to diminish the Presidency, as many well meaning Nigerians have observed, by engaging in most unprecedented and vitriolic attack on the character of a commentator on issues of public concern instead of addressing the issues raised.

Many highly regarded respondents have since characterized Femi’s response as indecorous, escapist and unhelpful. I fully endorse their assessment and need not belabour the point. The public as represented by the ever dynamic, brilliant and truly nationalistic Nigerian press, has shown the adviser a yellow card. Judging from the overwhelming support that I have so far enjoyed from my fellow countrymen, I am left in no doubt that they appreciate my persistent struggle as a genuine and selfless crusade for the common good. I have no doubt also that those false and wicked allegations against my person have in no way diminished my stature in their eyes. Modesty however restrains me from saying that their confidence is well earned.

Since that abortive attempt at character assassination by the President’s Adviser on Public Affairs, I have been inundated by appeals from well-meaning Nigerians, both at home and abroad, to give the public a chance to respond on my behalf. Many organisations too numerous to mention have also sent such appeals. I have, this far, been restrained out of sheer respect for such people and organizations. Although the adviser claimed in his reaction to be acting on behalf of the President, I am not impressed. I will not aid or abet any action that will further diminish the office of the President. I have high regards for that office, the Vice President, the Chief of Staff, Gen. Abdullahi Mohammed, the NSA, Gen. Aliyu Gusau, the Adviser on Information, Mrs. Remi Oyo and all the good people in that outfit. Moreover, since I still stand by the points I raised in my open letter as they affect the very worsening state of the nation, I should do nothing to aid in further diverting the President’s attention from his onerous task of fixing . Considering the short time left in his final term and the enormity of that task, he needs to be fully focused.

This notwithstanding, I owe it to my numerous admirers, my family and all those doubting Thomases to set the records straight. I can only do so by responding to some of the more serious allegations made against me by the adviser. I decided on this medium because it is the channel of choice by the Presidency and it is a faster means of response. By this I am not foreclosing my option of seeking redress from the courts. As a matter of fact I had already briefed my lawyer Mr. Festus Keyamo who is already in touch with Mr. Femi Fani Kayode.

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Some of my critics including Mr Kayode faulted my decision to resort to writing an open letter to the President when according to them I had unlimited access to him and could easily meet him face to face to put my points across. Of course I do not deny that I visited President Obasanjo a couple of times including on the occasion of the pepper soup party that Femi so gleefully recalls and which I don’t consider a big deal. I had after all hosted Presidents and Prime Ministers in my capacity as Governor of , an office I vacated voluntarily some 15 years ago. The close contact between me and the President was however lost after my interview with Insider Magazine, an interview which the adviser assured me had annoyed the President beyond belief. Femi’s reaction in a text message which I have saved left me in no doubt that I would be on the menu in the next Presidential pepper soup get-together if I dared approach the villa again. Since then the adviser had told many mutual friends that Baba will not see me again, but that he was not disappointed because I have never supported him. I was only disappointed that the President could not tell this to me directly since he spoke to me on telephone on a few occasions and we also communicated through respected mutual acquaintances. So why should I bother if an interview which I still consider to be very objective could change the President’s mind so radically about my sincerity?

I may not have supported General Obasanjo’s presidential bid in 1999 but I did when it mattered most i.e. when he was facing prosecution in the 1995 coup trial and throughout his stay in prison. I know the President appreciated this because he spoke to me less than a week after his release and his message still rings in my ear. Gen. Obasanjo said to me, "Dangiwa, you know the walls also speak. I heard all that you said and did to protest my unjust trial and incarceration. Thank you so much". I felt more than rewarded by those words because I never in my wildest dreams imagined Obasanjo ever coming out hale and hearty to even return to his farming activities, not to talk of becoming President. My support for him could therefore not be said to be opportunistic. Having received Femi’s message I resolved never to visit Gen. Obasanjo again, as long as he remains in office.

Unlike what Femi imagines, the topic of my discussion with the President was almost always ostrich farming and I am proud to say I have guided OBJ in setting up his own booming ostrich farm, hence the reason for an open letter. The public must know that I had in the past written similar letters to IBB, Generals Abacha and Abdusalam on national issues, which I felt so strongly about.

In all cases, the tone of the letters could, from the judgment of my present critics, be said to be acerbic but the underlying aim was always to cause the leaders to follow the path of justice, truth and honour which I consider necessary elements in good governance. If today I have to rely on handouts or lobbying for contracts or government-dispensed menial jobs as per Femi’s account it is only because 1 pursued this difficult and at times dangerous course. Perhaps it would have paid me better materially if I had adopted a different and less than honourable course by supporting such leaders on the path to perdition and national destruction. In support of this submission I have decided to reproduce as annexes to this paper two of many such letters which I wrote to President Babangida and General Abacha. Let me however first address the spurious allegations, which Mr. Kayode so maliciously and misguidedly levelled against my character, starting with the fictitious 5 million dollar gift from IBB.

5 MILLION DOLLAR GIFT FROM IBB.

The adviser alleged that IBB gave me a gift of 5 million US dollars with which I established my ostrich farm. This he went on to claim is part of Nigeria’s stolen funds which the present government is trying to recover. So if government is in possession of this evidence what else is it waiting for to start the prosecution of IBB? Since the government does not believe in sacred cows why am I spared considering that there is an existing law that deals with such a case of receiving stolen property? Must I even deny the receipt of this staggering sum? I challenge Femi to publish his facts and I will bear the cost. But to the public I say this; if I was ever offered or received this money may God in His infinite power destroy everything I own, and may He make it impossible for me to approach paradise.

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Although I don’t need to do this I still insist on revealing the source of my farm’s capital. I sold my 400-acre orchard farm, which I had bought long before for a far lesser amount, to Gen. Abacha’s Bde of Guards commander for a sum of N10 million. When he wanted to seal the deal the honourable person that he is, and perhaps to play safe, the general informed Gen. Abacha of his plan. Perhaps out of genuine pity for a ‘fallen’ colleague or in a desire to compromise me though I don’t believe the latter motive, Gen. Abacha asked him not to take my farm but to request me to accept the N10 million free as his contribution to my enterprise. When the message was conveyed to me by the middle man Alhaji Bala Gusau, a mutual friend of mine and the general’s, I insisted on selling the farm which was paid for instalmentally by the officer. Would I be pestering Obasanjo for contracts if I had decided to accept Abacha’s many offers? Perhaps Obasanjo would not even be in the position to be lobbied if some of us had compromised.

But that is by the way. The truth is I established my farm with personal funds. The President visited it and blessed it. If his personal assistant is now telling the world that the Presidency knew all along that the source of its funding is stolen money then the President’s sincerity in his war against corruption is called to question. I am one of those privileged Nigerians who were educated, and paid while employed, with tax payers’ money. I also find myself in a position to afford three square meals a day while majority of Nigerians are living below poverty line. I would therefore consider it the height of ingratitude and treachery for me to connive in defrauding the public of this staggering sum.

No sir, I am not guilty of this felony! Next, let me come to my relationship with General Babangida.

MY RELATIONSHIP WITH GEN BABANGIDA.

For the sake of decency and the pain it causes me and of course IBB and our families, I will not repeat Deacon Femi’s scandalous allegation regarding this relationship. I had on several occasions in the past explained why I enjoy a very close relationship with IBB. IBB was my instructor at the Nigerian Defence Academy. Since then I found him to be a very brilliant and inspiring officer. Infact he had great influence on my career choice of the armoured corps, being an armour officer himself. Of course we had disagreements, some of them quite straining, but they have not succeeded in changing my perception of him. This is true with most officers who worked closely with the man. With all this I had never allowed such a close personal relationship to becloud my vision and judgment of his performance as a superior officer, particularly during his eight-year rule as President and C-in-C. Mr. Edwin Madunagu, a man I have high regards for as an accomplished intellectual and a socially concerned person, confirmed what I have always suspected that most outsiders believe I am too fanatically loyal to IBB to the extent that I failed to attribute any fault to him even in the June 12 saga. This definitely ignores my decision to demonstrate open dissent to the annulment by writing a letter to the President resigning my hard-earned commission, a letter that was mischievously leaked to the press. The truth however is that such strident opposition to IBB’s faltering steps was a remarkable and consistent feature of that fanatical loyalty. I must confess that were it not for IBB’s magnanimity and unusual patience with dissenters, or opposition parties as we were jokingly called, I would have been kicked out of service a few months after he took over. Some senior officers including the late Gen. and Gen Dogonyaro queried my continued retention in service even though to them I constituted a grave threat to the regime by what they regarded as my anti-regime activities. Not many Nigerians are aware that I escaped execution or jail by the whiskers during the Mamman Vasta coup trials.

The evidence used to cause my interrogation came from some senior officers who later confessed that they found me too confrontational and rude to be left in service. I was set free when no evidence of my involvement could be established. Later events changed the minds of some of these officers but the point here is that IBB appreciated officers who by doing what is right; any misstep on your part could spell doom for the very existence of Nigeria.’ He assured me that he was conscious of that and would abide by his oath. I left for Bauchi a very dejected and troubled man. I could not fight the thoughts of what terrible fate would befall Nigeria if appreciated officers who possessed high moral courage and could deploy reason to influence his decisions.

The IBB boys that many want to denigrate were some of the best and brightest in the service. IBB encouraged the culture of dissent and dialogue and this is why some of us became emboldened to speak out when we disagreed with him. Sometimes

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we won and many other times he taught us that junior officers could have their say but generals decided on the course of action. Readers will also be surprised to learn that IBB had no respect for sycophants.

The June 12 crisis and events leading to it are evidence enough to buttress the above points. My loyalty to IBB which people allude to did not prevent me from vehemently disagreeing with and opposing him when he was being misguided by sinister forces to take decisions that were injurious to good governance and inimical to the existence and unity of this country. I had in the past resisted all temptations to recount these sad events. Infact I rejected a very lucrative book contract simply to avoid any attempt at what may appear as self-glorification and causing injury to some of my colleagues. It must be made clear that I didn’t contribute more to the democratic struggle than most of them; the fact that I became more prominent could be a result of my very good relationship with the Nigerian press which I certainly identified as a most veritable weapon for such struggle and used so effectively. It must also be remembered that I was the first military casualty of that struggle and that I persevered to the end. The fact that I belong by birth to a group which was perceived by that press to be the major beneficiary of continued military rule which the pro-democracy groups were fighting added poignancy to my participation in that struggle. I hope that this account will help in disabusing the mind of the Presidential Adviser of the wrong notion that I am an opportunist who courts patronage from leaders. It will also enable him to view our democratic struggle more objectively from his current privileged position and appreciate what made our current democracy a possibility.

I do believe as Deacon Femi posits that leaders are appointed or anointed by God, but in a democracy He does so through the votes of the electorate. But as it happens, like it did in the case of Nigerians, very costly struggles are necessary preconditions for the achievement of democracy.

Curiously enough, the beneficiaries of those struggles are often those who contributed little or nothing to the process. It is no wonder then that the anointed leaders in their newly found glory fail to even acknowledge those who were in the vanguard of the struggle, which propel them to their dizzying heights. This point is very eloquently made by those who lament what they rightly perceive as the insufficient recognition by this government of the central figure in that struggle, Chief MKO Abiola.

I had resolved long ago to leave the public disclosure of the details of the horrendous risks which I ran in the process of my pro-democracy activism and my struggle for the validation of the June 12 mandate until I release my memoirs which I have been working on ever since. Mr. Kayode’s scurrilous allegation has however forced my hand, so I now prematurely reproduce the relevant chapter in that book which I titled ‘The Descent Into the Abyss. '

‘THE DESCENT INTO THE ABYSS’.

For the records, my pro-democracy activism started well before the June 12 crisis. When towards the end of 1992 I came to the painful realisation that Gen. Babangida was being ill-advised to once again postpone the transition to civil rule I decided ‘in consultation with some of my colleagues to advise him to save Nigeria from an unnecessary political crisis.

The letter reproduced below was part of the efforts at getting him to fulfill his promise of handing over power to an elected government. In that letter which was written October 1992 I had said inter alia, "Mr. President, it truly pains me any time I read in the newspapers and magazines speculations on your sincerity in handing over in January 1993 as the Transition Programme provides. I am pained because of the implied questioning of your integrity...

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I beg you to resist any temptation from any quarters whatsoever to become another Mobutu or Eyadema. You have bidden official farewell to both the OAU and ECOWAS and I can tell you that I was personally proud of that action...I stand to share no matter how infinitesimally in any encomiums that history may pour on you. I equally stand condemed if history judges you otherwise... About all my suggestions, in the name of Allah, I beg you, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, to leave this stage while the ovation is loudest.’ I spoke to most of IBB’ s close associates to help dissuade him from any further delays. Gen. Sani Abacha was one such people. The general assured me that he would do everything possible to prevail on IBB to complete the transition by the end of 1992. He told me how worried he was that the military was fast losing credibility on account of the glaring insincerity in the implementation of the Transition Programme. He appealed to me to try and assist in sensitising officers particularly of the armoured corps to realise that not all of us were in support of the delays in the programme. He confessed that he was already in touch with other officers who were equally concerned. With hindsight I may be accused of naivety but one needed the gift of clairvoyance to correctly appreciate Gen. Abacha’s dubious designs. The general’s leadership limitations were all too glaring and who would have thought that he could harbour the desire to take over political control of the country at its most turbulent period? The nation was united in its opposition to any further delay in the military’s handover to a democratically elected government and the international community had taken a firm stand against military regimes. How then could a general of Abacha’s caliber hope to command the loyalty of Nigerians and gain the support of the international community, especially since that he was such a key player in the IBB regime?

I convinced myself that we could use Abacha to achieve our aim. I brought in more officers including those that would only grudgingly pay compliments to the general as their military duty. Col. Sambo Dasuki was one of such officers who kept asking me whether I was sure that Abacha was truly the nationalist I wanted to convince him he was. I pleaded with him to come along. The group enlarged so fast. We decided to meet weekly to review the situation. Gen. Abacha served as a kind of Trojan horse in government. He reported back on his many dialogues with IBB and some officers who he claimed were against a transfer of power under the prevailing political crisis and our low economic state. He kept painting a hopeless situation in which IBB had become impervious and incorrigible, a hostage of a clique. It was not difficult for most members of the group to believe him because the Transition Programme, which had originally been meant to terminate in 1990, continued to suffer further setbacks. The primaries of the political parties were cancelled on the pretext that they were plagued by malpractices. Reforms that saw the adoption of the Option A4 formula were carried out. All these added to their skepticism.

I decided to meet IBB directly to find out the true situation. I came out with a different picture. He assured me that for real he would keep faith with the handover. Any changes to the transition programme were only necessary measures that would guarantee the survivability of democracy. I gave him further indications of his constituency’s growing distrust and restiveness, such that no one could guarantee the support of the entire military in the event of civil uprising, which was imminent. I felt free to warn IBB of the possibility of a military coup if he decided on self-succession as some of his senior officers were speculating. Being the commandant of the armoured corps and a truly loyal subordinate I had no doubt that my observations had significant impact on the President and perhaps contributed to his decision to step aside at some convenient exit point. Having said this, I was under no illusion that a coup against IBB would be an easy task, not with his sophisticated security network, which was reinvigorated after its embarrassing failure to detect Orkar’s attempted coup. I believe it is his sense of total control of the military that informed his often quoted statement that he dominates his environment. Also he operated one of the most generous welfare programmes the military ever had. All the same, self succession was not on the cards he assured me. I left him more confused. What I heard was in sharp contrast with Abacha’s conclusion. My attitude was to give IBB a chance but at the same time keep in touch with the Abacha group.

The SDP and NRC primaries were held, with MKO Abiola and Bashir Tofa emerging as their respective presidential candidates. Although security reports scored them as worse than the previous party primaries in the manner of their fraudulent conduct, the government expressed satisfaction with their conduct. Infact IBB endorsed the emergence of the two flag bearers when he opined that the nation could not hope for better presidential candidates. I did not share these sentiments but I was satisfied that the transition was making progress. In our subsequent meetings with Abacha I drew attention to the positive development and urged him to sustain the momentum. He expressed pessimism. I will now fast forward to June 1993.

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A few days to the 12 June presidential elections Justice Bassey Ikpeme (now late) of the Federal Court of Appeal Abuja granted the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), a previously unknown political pressure group, an injunction stopping NEC from going ahead with the conduct of the elections. I met the President and pleaded with him to set aside the court ruling on the strength of an existing law that ousted the powers of all courts to interfere with NEC’S conduct of elections and also because of its cataclysmic potential. He agreed and immediately summoned NEC chairman, Prof. Humphrey Nwosu and asked him to go ahead with preparations for the election. Before I left Aso Rock I met Brig. Gen. Akilu who told me that the President had just briefed him on my position which he supported. He added that the nation was fast losing faith and that we should support IBB to hand over and leave a good legacy like Gen. Obasanjo had done in 1979. I thanked him. On my way out I met a group of officers including Gen. Abacha making their way to the President’s office. I was later told that their mission was to urge IBB to respect the court’s ruling, their reason being that neither Abiola nor Bashir Tofa was acceptable to the military. Furthermore, the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) had not started yielding the much expected dividends and civilians could not muster the political pluck to sustain it. I really didn’t know whether Abacha shared these views or was simply carrying the message of a group which he felt was politically influential in the scheme of things. Whatever the truth was I became skeptical of Abacha’s sincerity.

The presidential elections were held on June 12 as scheduled. They were adjudged as the freest and fairest by both NEC and local and international observers. I phoned the President from Bauchi to congratulate him on the peaceful election. He sounded relieved. Results started trickling in and from all indications MKO Abiola was leading by a wide and, one could safely conclude, an unbridgeable margin. But then rumours started flying that NEC was after all not satisfied with the conduct and was about to recommend total cancellation to the government. About a week later I met Mr. President and confronted him with the rumours. He denied but added that NEC. was still in the process of collating the results, which would be announced in due course. I went back to Bauchi satisfied that all was well.

We had earlier discussed with who was Abiola’s running mate, against the wish of IBB according to him. He told me that the President expressed misgivings about a Moslem I Moslem ticket but had to let go when Abiola assured him that he would have no problem with the Christian community. Baba Gana visited me on my return to Bauchi. He was agitated. He was as usual very blunt when he warned that they had information about government’s plan to annul the June 12 election results.

He added that should that happen Abiola would fight the annulment. I assured him that no such thing would happen. I told him that I was in touch with IBB who assured me that there was no truth in the wicked rumours. He left, definitely feeling reassured. I got the impression that Baba Gana was more concerned about the dire consequences of an annulment to national stability than losing an opportunity to serve as the Vice President.

A couple of days later I was summoned to Aso Rock by Mr.President. He was presiding at a meeting of the National Defence and Security Council when I arrived. He came out on break around 1 pm and called me to his office. Looking tired and angry he said to me, "I am really fed up with all this. I am going to quit this thankless job and allow you guys to find a solution to your problems" or words to that affect. I expressed surprise. He then told me about the security reports he received to the effect that the military was against the .election results and that some middle ranking officers had vowed to topple the new government as soon as he handed over. Some senior officers had become apprehensive of the decision to hand over immediately. I was shocked by this revelation and assured IBB that such reports were baseless. They were the creation of senior officers who did not want to retire from service. I told him that my reading of the situation was that Abiola did very well in the barracks and most officers spoke to expressed satisfaction with the results received so far and were happy that the military was after all relinquishing power. He looked unsure.

Well, I beseeched the President not to even contemplate annulment. It was already evident that Abiola had emerged the winner after the results of 29 states were already known to NEC. Abiola’s win was an added bonus because it would achieve

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the much desired power shift to the south. He agreed. Before taking my leave I informed the President that I planned to retire from service as soon as he found any need to annul the June election. I also informed him that some newspapers had that morning mischievously and falsely identified me as the leader of a group that met and recommended that the President should annul the result of the election. He was very sympathetic. I took leave. On my way to the ADC’s office I met the Chief Press Secretary, Chief Duro Onabule. Knowing how very close he was to the President I pleaded with him to encourage the general to accept the results of the elections. He promised to do that. At the office of the ADC I met the NEC chairman who was looking rattled. I took Prof. Nwosu aside and said to him ‘Mr. Chairman, I know you are a good Christian I beg you in the name of the good Lord to follow the path of honour and justice by doing what is right; any misstep on your part could spell doom for the very existence of Nigeria.’ He assured me that he was conscious of that and would abide by his oath.

To be continued

March 2004

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