Whispering Drums With Maigani
by Musa Ibrahim
Dikko: the myth and the reality
A common indulgence among many Nigerians is what I have often referred to as foolish wagging of tongues, mostly, in ill-natured gossips. What this means is that there is no room for keeping secrets in this part of the world. As soon as a word is dropped here, it is picked up by the next person (usually the most unlikely) and within a short period of time the word has spread to all the nooks and corners of the society, just like the spreading of a bush fire in the harmattan. By the time that very word makes a 360 degree rotation and arrives at the original or first source, it has been mauled, fractured, distorted, polished and given a new appearance, a new life. Not to wonder, it is only a people's hobby and recreation.After about one week in Lagos lying low and making sure that there was no immediate hope of reviving the slashed democracy in Nigeria, Umaru Dikko decided to leave the country. While in London, rumours started flying in Nigeria as to how he made his escape possible. Inspite of his own explanations, the popular belief among many people is that Umaru Dikko used 'juju' or magical powers, and not 'bribed his way out' as has been reported by Western media. In the muslim North where Dikko comes from, one of the most potent of these magical powers is what is called 'layan zana' which is supposed to make you invisible so much so that while you can see every- thing around you, you will still remain unseen. This is what is supposed to have been used by Umaru.
Again, when he 'emerged from the grave' or 'resurrected' as one man preferred to call it following the crate episode, there were quick metaphysical allusions to the whole drama coming from Nigerians. Remarked a dumb- founded Ibo trader whose admiration for Umaru was clearly showing on his face: "If Idiagbon and members of the SMC want to stay in power, they should leave Umaru Dikko alone... His 'juju' is too powerful for them. They can never get him. . .'
Whatever the myths surrounding Umaru are, there is a truth that was recognized by an American poet, Josiah Gilbert Holland, hundreds of years ago that seem to sum up the whole essence and being of Umaru Dikko. Holland wrote:
"God give us men!That, to me is the real Umaru Dikko, not a myth that has been created out of poverty and desperation and frustration. That is why he lives to fight again and again.
A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith
and ready hands,
Men who possess opinions and a will,
Men who have honour - men who will not lie,
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries
without winking,
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above
the fog
In public duty, and in private
thinking..."
Jesse Jackson's message to Africa
Defined by contemporary political scientists as "majority rule, minority rights", democracy at its simplest connotes a government of the people by the people and for the people. But it is more than that, and, in the words of the Reverend Jesse Jackson who just narrowly lost a bid to be the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, "democracy guarantees opportunity, it does not guarantee success. Democracy guarantees the right to participate, it does not give a license to either a majority or a minority to dominate... Yet it is this simple concept of govern- ing that has proved difficult and elusive to the entire continent of Africa.Admittedly, democracy as a form of government is not a perfect form of government, but then nothing and nobody is perfect. In the West, where this system is administered, all is not paradise. But there is no great disen- chantment among the people as in other parts of the world, simply because of the realization by the people that ultimate power lies with them and not with the leaders. Once a case is established that a leader has become in- adequate, the people wait patiently for the time and at elections their opportunity to assert their powers is manifested. Presidents are crowned and dethroned. It is the people's right.
It is this consciousness that Jesse Jackson re-awakened and re-kindled among those who had hitherto resigned themselves to Alexander Pope's mes- sage of doom that "for forms of government, let fools contest, whatever is best administered is best". Calling them the "damned, disinherited, disrespectful, despised", Jackson charged them to hold the Reagan administration responsible for the rise in their misery index by going to the polls in November and exercising their democratic right to vote for a change of leadership.
The short-lived democratic experiment in Ghana and Nigeria was definitely not perfect. It was not worthless either, for, beyond the banalities, the quibblings and the empty rhetorics of the military who terminated both trials, there was a re-awakening among the people of their right to create their leaders. It is that reawakening that gave the people the hope and inspiration to keep on struggling.
Today, there is a deliberate and conscious suppression of this hope and inspiration by the military leadership of both countries as evidenced by the number of repressive decrees spewing out daily from the barracks. The military themselves are aware that it is the people that hold the balance of power but what they have failed to realise is that no amount of repression can deter a people who are determined to fight for their rights. It is for this that I see Jesse Jackson's speech at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, recently, as one that is not only directed to the American people but to the entire continent of Africa as well. The truth of that lies in Jackson's final epithet: "suffering breeds character. Character breeds faith. And in the end, faith will not disappoint. Faith, hope, and dreams will prevail..." As Africans suffer under the tyranny of military dictatorship they grow and mature. Today, it is not the military that is the enemy. It is time, for it is this time that will determine the people's next line of action.
