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Blood money for Chicago State University? |
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By Mike Ikhariale (EMAIL) Thursday, February 22, 2001 
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When he accidentally found himself in Abacha's shoes as the military head of state of Nigeria, he refused to release the man who won the truly free and fair election in the country, Chief Abiola, until he died in jail. According the testimonies of Major Mustapha who was the chief security officer of the Abacha dictatorship, Chief Abiola was indeed murdered by the "people on top", and at that particular time, the highest person at the "top" was General Abdusalam. The revelations from the Oputa Panel and other independent disclosures have roundly and uncontrovertibly implicated General Abdusalam in several nefarious activities in addition to the crime against the people of Nigeria, which the military in which he was a principal accomplice and active beneficiary inflicted on then nation. Come February 23rd 2001, they, Chicago State University, want to turn their campus red in honor of an African retired but actively "generous" dictator: General Abubakar accompanied by his predecessors in office are the guests of the University. Now in far away America, to be precise in the little Chicago State University, IL. a man with such evil credentials is being treated as the best thing that has ever come out of Africa. For an institution, which is supposed to be for the pursuit of knowledge, truth and moral probity, the Chicago State University, IL, by what she is planning to do, is on the path of total disregard of the virtues of scholarship by declaring Abubakar her hero. I have read the flowing eulogies and encomiums that have been lavished on the evil General Abdusalam on the web page of that university. Of particular importance to me is the statement by the President of the University, incidentally a black woman, to the effect that the University is grateful for the LARGESSE of General Abdusalam in setting up a foundation in that institution. I felt very cold and ashamed. Being a university graduate myself, not Chicago State University (!), I am sufficiently versed on the ideals and philosophy upon which academic institutions are supposed to be established. A largesse from an Abdusalam, be it one dollar or one billion dollars ought to be viewed with suspicion. If the University of Chicago does not have any way of doing background checks on would-be donors, that would be the greatest shame of the millennium. Abdusalami was only a soldier in the wretched Nigerian army. He was neither a businessman nor beneficiary of a legitimate testamentary devise. From when he enlisted into the army and when he retired, his total earnings put together should be less than $500,000, assuming that he never spent a dime on food, clothing or housing! Now he is rich enough to be funding foundations in hard currencies! In the absence of any better expression, the world must know that this is BLOOD MONEY, pure and simple. The Chicago State University cannot now absolve it self from the moral charge of receiving stolen money, knowing fully well that the Nigerian nation has been recently bled dry by the kleptocracy of the military generals that imposed themselves on the Nigerian people. It is morally wrong for a University located in America, not Iran or Iraq or the DRC, the bastion of civil rights and probity in public governance to be seen to colluding to defraud already poor African nations. We are not unmindful of the fact that certain characters, very closely associated with the evil Abacha regime for the shameful lure of oil contracts and cheap dollars, are still associated with this obnoxious scheme to use platforms like this to launder the notoriously dented image of African crooks just for a fee. Why would a university, properly so-called, lend herself to a part of this dubious deal? I am sad that a University would lend herself for this criminal conspiracy of affiliating openly with known enemies of their people. A university that is so insensitive to the feelings of victimized Nigerians and indeed, the civilize humanity, by choosing to build business linkages with these characters has forfeited the right to claim academic excellence, for, true scholarship without morality is worse than mercenarising. And talking about intellectual mercenaries, Ali Mazrui has proved himself to be a force to be reckoned with in this business. His controversial roles in Nigeria during the evil days of the military are till fresh in the mind of every Nigerian. He did not only abuse the generosity and hospitality of Nigerians, he actually plotted the downfall of the nation by openly siding with the military juntas and lately, with the Sharia rebels of some of the neo-theocratic states. Any right-minded individual ought to know that something is dead fishy when it would require a wandering Kenyan to be writing about the virtue of a Nigeria military dictator. If indeed he has any sense of self -respect, he ought to have declined such a mercenary contract to come to America to be white -washing the dirty and filthy image of an African political general before a zombie American audience. Ali Mazrui does not have the intellectual or evidential capacity to pontificate on Nigeria's dictators now pretending to be democrats. In fact, he was an active accomplice in the regimes that did the Nigerian nation in. It hurtfully insults us as Nigerians and Africans wherever they may be, that something like this is still taking place at this day and age. The whole transaction, to me, is a moral tragedy for CSU and all those lurking behind the shenanigan. Finally, I want to say that it is not true that the University did not plan to invite the cream of Nigerian military dictators to "disgrace " the occasion. When I called the university, last week, the person that answered my telephone query was very emphatic about the coming of these Nigeria "dignitaries". I was shocked when I read in the papers that the claim that the school never planned to invite these evil characters to the Abubakar Foundation. That is why it is always better to walk the moral path. Once you err, the tendency is always to err again. It is clear someone is lying at CSU. Whatever happens, I am now convinced that something big is really fishy about the whole arrangement. It stinks, really stenchy. As a Nigerian, I know that our universities are dilapidated due to the neglect of illegitimate military rulers like Abubakar. I know that no Nigeria university has been lucky enough to receive any "LARGESSE" such as the President of Chicago State University told the world that they got from dictator Abubakar. Charity, ought to begin from home. A university should be discerning and positively discriminatory in the way it accepts offers of foundations and gifts or it would soon become the depository of stolen and blood moneys or an unsuspecting avenue for money laundering by crooks of all shades. General Abdusalam certainly does not have legitimate money to offer an American University. That is why the Nigeria people are angry and in grief over this provocative ceremony. Nothing can be farther from the theme of the ceremony itself, namely, "Pan -African Democracy and Leadership an Africa: The Continuing Legacy of the New Millennium" than a Foundation funded by one of those who willfully wasted Africa and her people in the name of military dictatorship. It is ironic that when some people talk of Africa, it is the Africa that could only be exploited that registers in their minds. This new millenim ought to have seen to the end of that mentality. Unfortunately the State University of Chicago is turning such and attitude it into a virtue. If the Chicago State University still has any respect, it should immediately cancel the event because to go ahead will make herself the enemy of Nigeria, any, Africa!  |
eneral Abdusalam Abubakar was effectively General Sani Abacha's number two in the most despicable military junta that the world ever witnessed after the fall of General Oladipo Diya the previous number two man in the Abacha dictatorship. And if Abacha did not die fortuitously, General Abdusalam Abubakar was at the forefront in the promotion of permanent military domination of the nation's political landscape through the notorious self-succession scheme of Abacha. He was actually Abacha's alter ego, a trusted henchman of the Abacha butchery. If Abacha did not die the way he did, and if it was not the case that the military machine in Nigeria ate itself out of relevance and had its operational engines knocked, Abubakar was having a good time pursuing the Abacha genocidal agenda. So he is not different form the pack of rogues and murderers that held Nigeria hostage for so long. He handed over power because the military could no longer continue. Even then, there is evidence that whatever evil he could do within the space available, he did. The records are there for anyone needing proofs.