By Azuka Onwuka
I was close to my 23rd birthday. I was in my final year at UNN. Suddenly ASUU struck; so we left the campus for the longest stay-at-home of our era. That was the same year Nwankwo Kanu, Wilson Oruma, Karibe Ojigwe and co won the U-16 World Cup in Japan and put some smiles on our faces.
I had prayed and prayed that the military should not be in power by the time of my graduation. I wanted a sane environment. My prayer was about to be answered. After the election, IBB would end his maradonic moves of 8 years and leave Nigeria to breathe again.
We argued ceaselessly about the candidates and parties. Who was the better candidate: MKO Abiola of the SDP or Bashir Tofa of the NRC? MKO appealed to me better. He sounded more pragmatic and intelligent. He was a successful businessman, a chartered accountant, a long-time philanthropist, and seemed to understand the economy and leadership better than Tofa. I had never heard of Tofa before the election. And even though he chose an Igbo man, Sylvester Ugoh (former Governor of Bank of Biafra) as his running-mate, I was not convinced that Tofa had the capacity to turn things around. Furthermore, since Balewa, Shagari and all the military heads of state from the North had ruled Nigeria then for years; aside Obasano and Ironsi, I felt it was a simple case of fairness and justice for us to try someone from another part of Nigeria.
- MKO
Then Ojukwu, Nzeribe and some other Igbo politicians in SDP pulled out angrily and joined NRC. It was alleged that Abiola was asked to commit to a concrete top position for the Igbos but he did not, and when they protested, he told them that he would win even without Igbo votes. That dampened my spirit. There were campaigns that Abiola would betray the Igbos once he was voted in; that it was better to vote for NRC where an Igbo man was the running-mate. Also Abiola was a Muslim and his running-mate Kingibe was a Muslim.
But somehow my analysis of things told me that in spite of his shortcomings, Abiola would be a better president than Tofa, and that it was better to have a better Nigeria than to have a worse Nigeria with an Igbo man as vice president. In my teens, I had started reading magazines, books and newspapers on Nigeria. Sometimes I would use my pocket money to buy some. That helped me to have a more-rounded and wider view on Nigerian issues to take my own decisions. I was not convinced by Ojukwu and some others that Tofa and NRC were better options.
So Nigeria went to the polls. It was peaceful. We waited for the results. Soon Humphrey Nwosu began to announce the results as they were collated in each state. Abiola was leading, and he was leading from different parts of Nigeria. I was elated. Finally, Nigeria would move away from stagnation and rot and join the progressive countries of the world. So I thought.
Then IBB’s subterfuge and maradonic nature reared their head. Announcement of results was suspended. Dubious and weird court injunctions – clearly masterminded by IBB – began to fly around. Then the election was annulled – even before all the results were announced.
It was terrible.
Even if I had supported Tofa or did not support any of the two, I would have seen that annulment as callous. There was no cogent reason for it. Why not announce the results then allow the aggrieved parties to go to court? Why start a match and continue to shift the goalpost whenever one side was about to score, or annul the match a few minutes to the end of the match when it was clear that one side had an unassailable lead?
So the electoral crisis started and Nigeria was taken through another harrowing five years of instability under Shonekan and Abacha, with many people killed.
Twenty eight years after all that, see where we are. Have we learnt anything? Have we become more committed to Nigeria over our ethnicity, religion and self? You know the answer. That is why I feel angry whenever someone tells me about having hope that Nigeria will be better. Hope is good. Positivity is wonderful. But positivity should go hand-in-hand with reality.
For example, if a 40-year-old jalopy that does not go beyond 60kmph takes off from Lagos for Maiduguri, one can hope that in a week or two, it will get to its destination. If the car leaves Ojota by 6am and takes you to Ibadan by 6pm, one can conclude that it is making progress, albeit slowly. The next day it makes it to Ilorin and spends one day to rest and undergo check-up. No problem. Slow and steady win the race. People like us are patient in life.
But if the car takes off from Oshodi and faces Mile 2 and then Badagry, any sensible person inside that vehicle should be worried. Then from Badagry the driver crosses the border into Benin Republic and drives to Ghana, rests for a day and says he is planning to get to Senegal in a week’s time. And you ask the driver his final destination, he tells you “Maiduguri”, and you believe him and continue to hope and pray that you will soon get to Maiduguri … hmmm.
• Onwuka is a newspaper columnist and author.