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No Tears
at Malu’s Golgotha
By TONY IYARE
Even if it will
involve in the words of acclaimed sociologist, Professor Omafume
Onoge, some archaeological retrieval of the khaki and boots, which
I last donned as a budding youth corper 16 years ago, it may be
worth the epic occasion. As a civilian I will not mind joining the
train and trying my hands on the beagle to pull out Lt General Samuel
Victor Leo Malu, who was fired along with two of his colleagues
early last week. Whatever was the general’s iniquity, his bold affront
to spill the beans on the shady military pact between the US and
Nigerian government under President Olusegun Obasanjo may like fiery
Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi have earned him the title of
General of the People’s Army. But for him the Nigerian public would
not have known that this regime has subverted our 40year old victory
against the Anglo/Nigerian Defence Pact by handing the military
over to America under the aegis of Military Professional Resources
Initiative (MPRI), a group of retired American military officers.
Although the
nation was told that the Americans were brought in to re-professionalise
the Nigerian military battered by a protracted hold on political
power, it was soon clear to the military bigwigs that they had other
designs. No sooner the Americans settled down than they started
seeking information about strategic bases of the county. They even
sought to define what should constitute the strategic goals of the
country. Malu could hardly stand this arm twisting tactics. He resented
the idea of the Americans wanting to teach them the “rudimentary
art of soldering” and made enough noise which hardly went well with
Aso Rock . Hear him in the interview granted Tempo last March, “Mistakes
have been made when they drew their programme, there were some aspect
of it that we thought should not be handled by them because of the
security implications. So we’ve been objecting”. I admire Malu’s
guts.
My fear is
that just like the economy which is being run by the IMF and World
Bank, Obasanjo has not through this military pact reduced us to
marionette of the US desperately in search of new military outposts.
Notwithstanding the opprobrium which the regime of late dictator,
General Sani Abacha acquired, the general never wavered wearing
an Abacha badge as a demonstration of his loyalty to the commander
in chief. And he relished it. Were there another with the picture
of President Olusegun Obasanjo, “I would have worn it”, he told
a livid audience at the Lagos sitting of the Human Rights Violations
Panel headed by Justice Chukwudifu Oputa last January. It may be
revolting for many like me to don a badge of the infamous General
Abacha particularly given his permutation schemes and the rings
of assassination of political opponents which trailed that era.
But you hardly
can fault the position of Malu that he needed to give an undiluted
loyalty to whosoever was de jure commander in chief. It’s the same
way I seem to admire the guts of former special duties minister
under Abacha, Alhaji Wada Nas, his solid minerals counterpart, Alhaji
Kaloma Ali and the former managing general director of the Peoples’
Bank of Nigeria, Mrs Hamra.Imam. How many of such Abacha loyalists
chose to still raise their heads in defence of their late master.
Even before he was lowered at the sprawling Kano home, many who
were regular faces in the general’s court seeking for a slice of
his largesse had scampered denying a million times that they ever
knew him. But undaunted Nas has continued to shout to the roof top
that death would not separate him from his master.
Also, Ali, fondly
called Baba by the Abacha family, brushed aside all entreaties at
the risk of his life to defend the late general’s son, Mohammed
in Lagos courts milled by a rabidly hostile crowd. Imam would also
not bulge. A close friend of the Abacha family, she never had any
qualms standing in for the former first lady, Mariam at some high
profile events .
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