By Rotimi Fasan
IN his May 29 ‘Democracy Day’ broadcast to the nation, President Goodluck Jonathan did what Nigerian leaders are not famous for: recognise the contribution of opposition elements to nation building. MKO Abiola, Alfred Rewane and Gani Fawehinmi among others came up for mention in the presidential speech.

It’s a small start but nevertheless a good one. I shall return to this point again. But for now be reminded that a line of our National Anthem speaks of our not forgetting the labour of our past heroes. It is however the peculiar affliction of Nigerian leaders not to see anything good in their opponents. Where concession is made it is usually with an eye to some advantage and usually not by the administration or regime directly involved.

Independence had barely been won and Obafemi Awolowo, one of the nationalist   leaders, had hardly vacated his seat as Premier of the Western Region than he was thrown into jail  on charges of treasonable felony. It did not  matter that he was yet serving as Leader of  Opposition at the centre.

The series of events that followed his incarceration and the hounding of his followers would gradually lead  to breakdown in law and order in the country, the collapse of the First Republic and eventually the Nigerian Civil War. See what intolerance of opposition could lead to?

Things improved a bit with the Shehu Shagari government in 1979 but events were taking a fascist turn for the worse towards the end of 1983 before the military stepped in to ‘arrest’ the drift in the ship of governance. But after the bitterly contested 1979 elections and before the termination of the NPN government that won, President Shagari had the generosity of spirit to confer the highest honour in the land, GCFR, on his fiercest opponents: Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo.

Under the military, the case of the opposition is usually a foregone conclusion: it stands no chance as it is a do-or-die affair. But for the presidential pardon by President Shagari, Yakubu Gowon would probably have rotted in exile after he had been overthrown and  thereafter accused of complicity in the death of his successor, Murtala Mohammed.

Obviously with an eye on making some mileage politically, Shagari extended state pardon to ‘rebel’ leader, Odumegwu Ojukwu, who banking on the heroes welcome he got in 1982 wasted no time in joining the ruling NPN only to have his mystique blown off by a relatively unknown  medical doctor who worsted him in the senatorial election of 1983.

Ibrahim Babangida gave Mamman Vatsa  no quarter after he was accused of involvement in a coup in December of 1985. The soldier-poet was executed despite earlier promises of pardon to three eminent members of Vatsa’s literary community.

Sani Abacha was the butcher of Nigeria’s military era: he went after the opposition, real or  imagined, with the same zeal as the unconverted Saul (later Paul) went after those Jews who belonged to the Way. His killer squad, led by Barnabas Jabila, aka Sergeant Rogers, was undiscriminating in its choice of targets: women and old men, soldiers, even, generals and ‘bloody civilians’ were all fair game.

Those who didn’t get the bullet, acid bath or lethal injection had bottles rammed into their private parts. Yes- that was part of our bestial past. When at the turn of the millennium President Olusegun Obasanjo took over, it looked as if things might be different.

For a graduate of the Abacha  School of Torture who by self-avowal had been through the valley of the shadow of death, it was both natural and not asking too much to expect that he would be different. True Obasanjo has not been shown to manage a killer squad, but his military past seems to have clung to him so much that he abhorred opposition, especially where such opposition displayed sufficient know-how that called into question Baba’s know-it-all tendencies.

In addition, Obasanjo seemed to have suffered and continues to suffer from an exaggerated sense of messianism and self-importance- a preternatural inclination to see every other successful Nigerian leader as competition and a threat to whatever record he believes he has created. It was in this wise that he didn’t see MKO Abiola as the ‘messiah’ in the wake of Nigerians’ struggles to have his mandate validated following the annulment of the June 12 election. As if Nigerians ever said they were expecting a messiah.

And although he was the major beneficiary of Abiola’s sacrifice, he saw no point in recognising the latter’s contribution to Nigeria’s democracy for the eight years he was in office. Babangida who today is working at winning the confidence of Nigerians for his presidential ambitions has not been known to be openly dismissive of Abiola and has at least called for his immortalisation.

What has Obasanjo said or done for others? It’s  not  very clear what President Umar Yar’Adua might have done. But he did not appear possessed of the vindictive spirit of his predecessor and, indeed, in his time important streets were named for certain Nigerians famous for their opposition to authority. The likes of  Fela and Gani Fawehinmi have streets named after them in  Abuja.

It is only in Nigeria that those in government see themselves only as patriots and opposition to those in power, no matter how justified, is seen as a treasonable act. The older George Bush became Vice President after contesting the 1980 Republican primaries with Ronald Reagan who picked him as his running mate.

Hillary Clinton was President Barack Obama’s bitterest rival in the Democratic primaries of 2008. She is today the Secretary of State of the Obama administration. Obasanjo couldn’t even end it well with his deputy. It was a fight to finish!

President Jonathan couldn’t have amassed as many enemies as his predecessors. And since leaders tend to extend their generosity to opponents of a previous regime, it remains a mute question what President Goodluck Jonathan might do to opponents that would certainly come his way. Will he be generous enough to recognise their contributions in spite of personal differences?