If the cap fits...
by Elizabeth Ohene
Those who earn their living by trying to raise laughs from audiences, do not get very amused when onlookers try to ridicule them.
All new military regimes go through a period of uncertainty when they feel insecure and discover plots to oust them every other day.
It is therefore not surprising that Gen. Buhari has been feeling less than secure, it is only to be expected, what is more having emerged from a conspira torial den himself only recently, every body must be looking like a conspirat- or to him. The more people pledge their loyalties, or the more people claim to be uninterested in politics and power, the more he must see in them his own behaviour and that of his col leagues and that should explain why he has been jittery.
An unkind person would say, he should drink some of his own medicine or possibly even remind him that those who live by the sword, do and must die by the sword, but the emotion that is evoked by the nervousness being displayed by the regime is rather pity.
One does not know really whether the bizarre stories that have been surfacing are the work of the fevered imaginations of a justifiably nervous coup plotter-turned military ruler or the work of the Nigerian security organisation trying to justify their existence and promote the dependence of the rulers on the NSO.
Newspaper reports last week quoted the Information Minister, Group Captain Emeka Omeruah as saying that the Federal Military Government had uncovered a new plot by exiled officials of the previous civilian government aimed at overthrowing the military government.
According to the reports, Nigeria's security officials had confiscated a document by an unidentified London professor which outlined a plan to overthrow General Buhari's government.
The document was said to have laid out details of a three-year plan to infiltrate and undermine the government by forming an intelligence organisation to UNCOVER embarrassing information about the government and establish links with other officials and professionals opposed to General Buhari.
An unkind person would urge him to drink his own medicine or possibly even remind him that those who live by the sword must die by the swordThe next step was then to discredit the government by spreading the damaging information through friendly newspapers and officials in key government positions. The cost of the plan was said not to have been finalised, but it was to be submitted to Alhaji Umaru Dikko, the ex-Minister of Transport and Aviation who has made no secret of his opposition to the Buhari regime.
There are a number of very weird aspects to this latest 'discovery' of a coup plot. It would have helped for example if the Group Captain had named the London professor - are courses now being offered and taught in coup plotting at some U.K. university?
It will also be very difficult for many Nigerians to understand why the coup had to happen at all if they are faced with the fact that those who are jailing their former leaders have done the same things that others are being made to serve 44 year jail sentences for.
Was this report commissioned by the exiled politicians or this professor was worried about? freelancing with a master-plan for coups and was intending to hawk the document to potentially interested groups?
And what about this business of trying to "uncover embarrassing information about the government and trying to discredit it by spreading the damaging information"? This is a theme that has been running through all the security pronouncements.
Three months ago, Chief of Staff Brig. Tunde Idiagbon announced that the country should brace itself for the release of information to the effect that a certain member of the government had a bank account in a certain London branch and it had a certain amount of money in it, and the people were being warned that whatever information was released, was untrue.
Obviously the Nigerian Security Services must be more than efficient to be able to make such specific predictions of disinformation!
Again, the same theme has been resurrected in the current coup alert. It is however important to note that Group Captain Omeruah is not at all worried about disinformation or any kind of falsehood being spread about members of the government. His choice of words is very significant: "to uncover embarrassing information about members of the government... U.K. and spread the damaging information to discredit the government."
It is important to remind Group Captain Omeruah that as far as members of government are concerned, there is no such thing as "embarrassing" information. He seems to be worried about the "UNCOVERING' of information, thus conceding that there is information that has been covered, which, if 'uncovered' will be embarrassing and damaging to members of the government.
One wonders what it is that is making the members of the Federal Military Government so nervous, what have they hidden that they are so afraid will damage them if made public?
Is it at all possible that it had anything to do with the earlier alarm that was sounded about foreign ban accounts - could that be what they are worried about.
If exiled groups are indeed planning to make certain information public such information will be either true or false, if they are false, members of the FMG can easily show them to be false if such information should be true however, then it should not matter whether it be embarrassing or not, the people of Nigeria will have the right to know.
This right to know stems from the fact that not only are the members of the Supreme Military Council public officers, they have offered themselves as incorruptible, and untainted and put themselves in power on the strength of being morally superior to those they have overthrown.
If there is evidence to show that the members of the FMG, SMC etc are guilty of the same crimes that they have accused their predecessors of, then surely there is a lot of compelling reason why such information should be made public.
Writing in the London Sunday Observer of last weekend, Richard Hall, the paper's Africa Editor offered that the information that the 'fugitives' public? have about the military Government which they might make public if pushed to the wall concerns details about Nigerian oil sales to South Africa.
It is the considered opinion of this writer that such a disclosure will not worry members of the FMG unduly - this opinion not meant to question the abhorrence of apartheid of members of the FMG, but simply to state that in the Nigerian context of things, many people will forgive Gen. Buhari for selling oil to South Africa to help Nigeria out of economic difficulties but will NOT forgive him and his friends if confronted with evidence that their foreign bank accounts have as much money in them as those of Chief Akinolye or Alhaji Umaru Dikko.
It will also be very difficult for many Nigerians to understand why the coup had to happen at all if they are faced with the fact that those who are jailing their former leaders have done the same things that others are being made to serve 44 year jail sentences for.
Such nervousness can only lead to speculation that indeed, members of the present military government have something to hide which they are very anxious to hide. Or else they know something that everybody else does not know. For example, could it be that they think that the exiled fugitives are in possession of facts about members of the FMG that will prove embarrassing if they should become known to the public?
There is a story that was being told about the late Maj-Gen. Murtala in the courts. Muhammed. It is quite possible that the story is apocryphal but it is worth recounting here. It was said that when the late popular General Murtala overthrew Gen. Gowon in 1975, he made a general confession of all his own illegally acquired wealth, declared them to be federal property AND THEN started his purge of corrupt officials! In other words, he admitted that he himself too was guilty of the crimes, confessed, handed over his ill-gotten properties and then felt himself competent to 'try' others.
As stated, it is very likely that this was an apocryphal story but it does not detract in any way from the moral of the story.
Rather than looking behind their shoulders every minute afraid of what "fugitive politicians" might say about their personal lives, it surely will serve the FMG better if the members willing to laws fashioned out to suit spec come out clean with whatever they are afraid will be made public by others.
Is it possible that such a dramatic admission will make people realise that this crop of people have no right to accuse others of 'squandermania?'
It has become obvious however that the FMG is not only concerned about their ridiculous actions being pointed out, Group Captain Omeruah wants to put fear in everybody.
After drawing up various decrees and amending them along the way as every loophole is discovered and pointed out, the FMG now does not even want its citizens to challenge anything in the courts
The council has arrogated to itself the right and drawn up what it considers to be iron-clad decrees to protect its members and officials, now the taking of court actions by citizens is being equated to subversion.
The attempt to intimidate the people and the judiciary is quite clear for judges will have to be very brave before returning any verdict that will be unfavourable to the FMG, since that will fall into part of the great design to destabilize the regime.
It surely cannot be argued that a court action in the normal courts which is conducted and decided after open debate and according to the time-honoured laws of Nigeria can be termed subversion of the loyalty of Nigerians through the misuse of the judicial process. What name then, can be given to the secret trial of Nigerians according to laws fashioned out to suit specific individuals?
