The Locust of Buhari and Grasshopper of Abacha, a tale of two Grand Thieves and a Saint | Abiodun Egunjobi
By Editor
7 min read
The overall situation that I encountered in Nigeria gives rise to extreme concern. By many measures, the Federal authorities and the international partners are presiding over an injustice pressure cooker – Agnes Callamard of UN
Phenotypically , Locusts and grasshoppers look very similar, but behaviorally, locusts can exist in two different states (solitary and gregarious), When not gregarious, locusts behave as individuals, much like grasshoppers. In essence, a locust is a group of grasshoppers on a mission. When locust population density is high, individuals go through physiological and behavioral changes, known as phase Polyphenism, and form gregariously behaving bands of nymphs or swarms of adults.
These changes are so dramatic in some of these insect species that the swarming and non-swarming forms could be considered to be descendants of different species. However, locusts are a collection of grasshoppers behaving like gangsters. I hope I am speaking to someone here?
Recently, Enrico Monfrin gave BBC a rare behind the scene of ‘follow the money’ script of Abacha looting spree by the ‘truckload’. Abacha would tell an adviser to make a request to him for money for a vague security issue. He then signed off the request which the adviser would then take to the central bank, and the central bank would hand out the money, often in cash. The adviser would then take most of that money to Abacha’s house. Some were even taken in dollar notes “by the truckload” On its face, it looks like a drama. No one in advanced democracy will ever believe that the president of any country will just send a truck to the Federal reserve bank for currency delivery to his house. It is insane. But It is true.
That was the looting style during Abacha. Abacha was a grasshopper looter. A grasshopper thief. Abacha was a kleptomaniac. No doubt. However, Abacha did not promote nepotistic looting in the grand style that we witness today. I do not want to waste any space to list the names of clannish looters linked to the chief looter himself. Some of them are even living in government houses.
Let us begin to take a curious look at the two governments of Abacha and Buhari. During the Abacha, there were so many unsolved murder cases. They were unsolved because the government of the day was the killer. Instead of outsourcing the killing to his clan as we witness today, Abacha had a diverse hit squad. He was not a nepotist. Most of the clans in Nigeria were in the HS involved in the rolling out of the bullets to anyone that opposed the government at that time. The squad did the killing in his name. None of his children or nephew was in government. It was mega monopolistic looting by one man.
As a result of the fact that the looting was not that hydra-headed, the economy was not as bad as we see today and naira was stable. He could only steal so much by himself. Other looters dare not compete with the chief looter. Abacha had no Uthman dan Fodio agenda. No Fulanisation or Islamization agenda. He was a proud Nigerian. Abacha loved Nigeria. He was ready to hire the best for Nigeria. Abacha wanted all to live together in peace. The major issue with Abacha was that he was a kleptomaniac who needed the power to do the thieving. The killings were done on his behalf with his blessing. That is where Abacha’s story starts and ends. He was a thief who wanted to protect his position to steal more. In some cases, people were killed on his behalf to show loyalty and steal at the micro-level.
On the contrary today, we have a Locust of thieves running the government of Buhari . What we are experiencing today is called nepotistic looting which I will call Locustic stealing in this piece. Locust stealing is devastating in the sense that they steal anything and everything. If Buhari and his Fulani Supremacists were stealing only our money, we will not be where we are today. Buhari is not only stealing money but our future. Buhari has destroyed the country beyond repairs. Buhari is stealing the pride of the hard-working, honest, and tax-paying citizens. Worst of all, he is stealing the country’s hope, belief in democracy, and the future of our children and our country.
Vagabonds, thieves, hooligans, scoundrels, rascals, and the like have always been in politics and at the controls in the corridors of power but not at the level we experience today. Buhari is the Covid15 of Nigeria. He has infected Nigeria and in the comatose state of the country, he has his knee on her neck. I can hear the country which has an infected respiratory organ crying, ‘I can’t breathe’. Yes, Buhari is kneeling on the neck of a country that can not breathe because of respiratory infection of Nepotism, stealing, and mismanagement. Buhari, the commander in chief of the armed forces who asked soldiers to kill innocent demonstrators is releasing same soldiers to accompany his herdsmen, the mini-buharis(myrmidons) , to graze on other people’ lands. It is crazy. Nigeria is already in civil war.
Buhari, the Arsonist.
He is the arsonist that lit the match of nepotism and looting that has burnt Nigeria to the ground. Nigeria is no more a going concern. It is a dead geographical expression. Buhari is daily moving Fulanis to Nigeria from foreign countries for one mission and one mission only– to Islamize the comatose nation. He surrounds himself with men of yesteryears to manage the affairs of tomorrow. His myrmidons are all over the place.
This arsonist lit the fire that destroyed our economy in 1984. The economy was booming, Ghanaians and other nationalities were here investing in our economy and also doing menial jobs. They will polish our shoes and take care of our homes. The educated ones with college degrees were impacting us with their knowledge. Things were going on well for us until the arsonist lit a match and burnt everything to the ground by sending them back in trucks. Yes, he sent them back in trucks to Ghana. My Chemistry (Mr. Purtugi), Economics (Mr. Mensah), and Physics (Mr. Boateng) teachers just disappeared, thanks to Buhari. This heartless man caused pains and destruction to many lives. He looks at every human being who is not a Muslim from the prism of a cow.
He ran the country like a nomad. Nigeria can never calculate the loss occasioned by this “idiotic” judgment. We will never be able to put value to the loss occasioned by the inhumane treatments of one of the most valuable factors of production. According to Forbes, immigrants form 25% of new US businesses. Go number.
By 2030, there will be no single internal combustion engine car in China and the USA. The race to 2030 has commenced. While these nations, including Saudi (through Lucid car), are racing to ensure they are not left behind, Nigeria is racing back to 2001. We are racing back to the reason Buhari shut down government offices in Ibadan in 2001. He has no vision for Nigeria because he can not see Nigeria. He is completely blind to Nigeria.
Nigeria’s respiratory virus
The virus of Nepotism/Islamism has a playing field in Nigeria, as it were, to mutate, and form mini-Buhari’s. “If we stop that and stop the replication, the virus of mini-Buhari cannot mutate if they don’t replicate. Buhari is a virus unleashed on Nigeria .We all have a common enemy in Buhari. It is important to note that, this virus is mutating but it has to replicate to mutate. Let us join hands and stop its replication by ensuring that our forests are clear of his myrmidons. If he cannot replicate, he cannot mutate, and if he cannot mutate, we will develop herd immunity if we use the vaccines on the grounds.
Every herdsman that is killing and maiming people today in Nigeria is a mini-Buhari from a member of the band of locust. Elitist ones are stealing directly from the government wallets while the missionary locust is stealing directly from the people through kidnapping. From Boko Haram to the herdsman in Oja-odan and Irruan of Boki local government of Cross Rivers , the mission is the same. These Fulani Supremacists are out to destroy Nigeria and burn it to the ground to build their Islamism from the ground up.
Final note
In a nutshell, Abacha as a human being and head of government is a millionfold better than Buhari. We were not in civil war under Abacha. Buhari is worse than Abacha in every department that I looked into. Unlike the case against Abacha, we cannot follow the looting under Buhari. This is a locust of thieves with Fulani supremacist agenda. To make matters worse, Buhari and his entourage of thieves have Bitcoin. Anyone surprised by the fact that Nigeria is the second-largest bitcoin market on Paxful after the USA? There you go! I dare you to follow the money. The more you look the less you see. Abracadabra. Abacha was a thief but Buhari is not only a thief that is stealing more than money from us, he is stealing our hopes in the future. Abacha was stealing the present during his time, Buhari is stealing both the present and tomorrow. Apple to apple, Abacha qualifies for sainthood.
Make no mistake Nigeria is already in a civil war and at the end of the day, Buhari will end up like Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.
