By Abubakar D, Sani, Esq

This portrait might come across
(Not without some justification)
As an attempt to demystify or deconstruct
One of Nigeria’s presumed finest (at least, to some)

A man who, from the onset
Made it his life’s mission
To – in his own words,
“Dominate (his) environment”

The title of his biography said it all:
‘The Prince of the Niger’
His personality was so gregarious,
That he was implicated in all Nigeria’s coups d’état

Having reportedly installed
Or assisted in installing
All, but one, of his military predecessors in office
He finally seized the Crown
In the year that was infamous
Across the world
For the Ethiopian famine
In which millions perished

Never one to do things in half -measures,
He adopted the title of ‘President’
Another first,
In a glittering array of personal ‘accomplishments’

This was a departure from the norm
As, all his military predecessors
Were content simply to be addressed as ‘Head of State’
And, indeed, after him, that remained the case

It was the first sign
Of what would prove to be a
Larger-than-life public persona
As he sought to bring everyone to his side

Brutally epitomized by crushing
A putsch against him
By his supposed childhood friend
Whose other life was as a poet

Affable and genial,
That exterior was so beguiling
That most Nigerians (and, indeed, foreigners)
Were all taken in

Including the Iron Lady herself
The former British Prime Minister
Mrs. Margaret Thatcher
Who visited Nigeria at his behest

He continued to bask in popular goodwill
spite the dire warning
Of the likes of Gani Fawehinmi
That our man was bent on a Life Presidency

Indeed, his record
Of newspaper closures
And detention of critics
(Including the aforesaid Gani) –

Without trial
(Under the notorious Decree 4)
Ought to have been the red-flag
But, alas, we were ‘lost’

Even when the economy
Floundered so badly
Under the weight of his Structural Adjustment Programme
That it all but wiped out the Middle-Class

Nigerians – and, crucially, the military
(Well, with the exception Major Gideon Orkar
And his co-travellers)
Kept faith with him

Everyone seemed to be under his spell
Including the supposed consciences of the nation
The Tai Solarins and Wole Soyinkas of this world
As they all accepted to serve his Government

He finally lost the plot
When his transition-to-civil rule programme
Ended in something of an anti-climax
With the callous annulment of the Presidential election

Which his friend, Chief MKO Abiola
Was poised to win
The singular act
Cost him all the credibility
Which he had worked so hard to earn
And, which, to be fair, he deserved – at least partly
By his reportedly single-handedly
Confronting mutinous soldiers

Who had holed up in a radio station
In the course of a coup that never was
For that demonstration of personal bravery
He earned the respect of all and sundry

Until, that is, he blew it
In what was supposed to be
His swan song
Talk about putting a foot wrong!

In doing so (he took personal responsibility)
He finally emboldened his critics
Who had accused him all along
Of institutionalizing corruption

It was a sad end for a tenure
Which had started with a bang
But ended with a whimper
As it ensured that his departure was unceremonious

This, surely, is a lesson
In sincerity of purpose
As one’s guiding credo
Anything else is, well – poison

Written By Abubakar D, Sani, Esq.