By Latiifah Amusan
I’ll attempt a modest effort to respond to Prof. Yusuf Dankofa, a cerebral lawyer and law lecturer, who incidentally taught me Legal Methods in my first year at the Faculty of Law, ABU, Zaria.
You see, the learned Professor believes I was unfairly critical of Babangida (IBB) yesterday when I pointedly accused him in my Facebook post of being the grand architect of the rot we see today in Nigeria’s society.
My learned Prof told me in clear terms, that all past leaders share, or should share, the blame, equally. I have had time to sleep over this matter, and rethink my held position, but must express my regret, sadly, that I woke up with the same opinion as I held yesterday, though in stronger measure, for good reason.
My dear Prof., do not think it is remiss of me to disagree with you on this issue. You see, Prof. Yusuf Dankofa, Nigeria presently groans under the pains of a curable but vicious and widely-spread syphilitic disease.
And from the way I see it, she contracted this disease, because Babangida, who admits himself to be some sort of evil genius, single-handled lured her into the bushes of tyranny, and violently raped her, doggy-style, without condoms, day-in-day-out, from 1985 to 1993. Eight Years of unremitting rape.
The likes of Abacha and co held down her legs while the deed was done, and promptly took their turns as soon as IBB was done. But first, we must acknowledge that it was through IBB that the idea occurred to the other military urchins, that there could be some fun, and money made on the sides, by engaging Nigeria in violent, bondage sex, not minding the ensuing and long-lasting pains we would all suffer for it.
Nigeria’s perception of morality and integrity has not been the same again since IBB.
Nobody cares how money is made anymore, just make the damn thing!! So after the scorch of 419 came Yahoo Yahoo boys, money rituals, and all sorts of get-rich-quick schemes. But you cannot but trace the root cause of IBB’s regime.
Let me mention the integrity of the Judiciary. It was during the whole June 12 debacle that we heard, for the first time, that a Judge had been procured to grant a midnight injunction to first stop the June 12 elections, and then again to restrain the announcement of the results. Don’t forget, the preceding years up to this period are always referred to as the “golden years” of the Judiciary.
We had upright and intelligent judges. Bribing or influencing a Judge was a phenomenon that was not common, in fact rarely heard of. But Babangida saw to it that it was done, using Arthur Nzeribe. Well, we all know where we are on this issue today.
My great Prof Sir, the tapestry of IBB’s ills to the Nigerian society is encyclopedic, and can only be captured in volumes. It will serve me no purpose to continue because I will not end.
like I earlier said, he is enjoying his loot in his 50-room mansion up the hills of Minna. From that vantage point, he has a bird’s eye view of all of us and must be laughing himself silly at what fools we all are, by continuing to pay him pensions, changing his cars every 4 years or so, acknowledging him as a statesman, consulting him on how to “move the country forward” or backward as the case may be and generally paying homage to him, all as a befitting reward for his role in single-handedly destroying the moral fabric of Nigeria’s society.
