Far away, across the seas and the oceans, across mountains and valleys, across countries and continents, a battle is taking place in the United States of America, in 'the land of the free and the brave'. It is a battle being fought by two antagonistic forces from a foreign land over a crime that may or may not have been committed by a foreigner in violation of that country’s domestic laws and the 'laws of international morality?'
Two very big, influential, rich, and powerful men who were once business partners, political associates and allies are locked in a battle of wits in the judicial system of the United States in an attempt to unravel the matter of the mystery of one of them who is now the leader of a country with the largest concentration of black people in the world.
Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president of Nigeria, says that the man he has dealt with in the past across different interests and issues is not who he says he is. He wants the American court to help unravel the mystery of the man who is now president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
This is simple enough.
Or maybe not.
The Nigerian president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has pleaded, begged, and cajoled the judge to let sleeping dogs lie because the exhumation of the past could destroy the present with a devastating impact on his life and person. In other words, the information hidden in a document in the Chicago State University (CSU), must remain dead and buried to prevent irreparable damage to the living.
Surely the court in Chicago has the capacity to save him from the 'malfeasance' of the past. But does it have the legal and moral obligation to do so?
What has Tinubu done or not done in the past to unleash this terrible fear of present retribution? What is the crime that can be committed that is beyond forgiveness and redemption? Perhaps none. Even the worst murderers in society who have tasted society's punitive measures have sometimes experienced societal 'salvation' and reintegration. Those who were not forgiven by society and had to face execution still had the possibility of divine forgiveness on two conditions: acknowledgement and repentance.
Judas Iscariot had that chance, but he blew it.
What does our president want? To eat his cake and have it? To approbate and reprobate? To hunt with the hounds and run with the hare?
Does he want to keep the presidency without embracing the demands and burdens of the office?
Only the president and perhaps his lawyers know what is hidden in the labyrinth of the archives of Chicago State University. But surely he is right. Severe harm will be done to him should the court order that the right thing be done (if the court so believes).
People have posited that it will be an explosion of the lies told and lived for decades as a person that he was not and is not. This unfolding story is a story that is beyond belief. If the egregious insinuations and rumours about what is, or is not in the Chicago records are true then it will be the stuff that good Hollywood movies are made of. It will become the story of how one man of unknown origin bested over 220 million people and manipulated an entire nation through lies, falsehood, and impersonation.
It is not unimaginable that some people, including partisans and supporters - supposedly good people, are willing to accept and live the lie. This is how you know people who will refuse to transcend the boundaries and strictures of identity proclivities because of parochial myopia. This is how you know people who are ruled by passion rather than principle.
By now, everyone must know that the malfeasance is not about the need to protect privacy. Tinubu has made that known by his declaration that the secret contained in the CSU records will destroy him.
Ordinary paper will destroy a president?
But some people's reality is that truth is sometimes a bastard that must be alienated and vanquished while craving for the glorification of falsehood. Satan basks in the adulation of evil, and the angels must go into hiding when the truth is trodden underfoot. Mischief is afoot. Bad conduct is lifted on high, and good character is thrashed in the mud.
Is it that some people are not aware of the relentlessness and implacability of truth? Is it that they are not aware of its undeniable quality of longevity and indestructibility? You can try to subvert it, change it, colour it, but all to no avail; truth is truth and has no other defining quality.
They say that the president is terrified of the truth. Maybe he is. Maybe he is not. But sadly, his conduct through his lawyers is giving us a bad feeling about what is in his records at CSU. They are giving us the impression that there is a truth buried therein that is frightening and ruinous to him. The president of Nigeria, a country of over 220 million people, says that TRUTH, that five-letter word, T.R.U.T.H., will destroy him.
If we have to protect the president from the treacherous and poisonous secret of the Chicago papers, who will protect Nigeria from the irreparable harm that comes from hiding the deep and dark secrets of her political leaders?
Put on the light so that darkness will be dispelled. Open the curtain so that the rays of the sun's new dawn will break in. Let those who choose darkness over light remain in the dark. Those who have kept our dearly beloved country in the dark for far too long should begin to tremble. Our country shall be free, but only after the deep-seethed contradictions of the Nigerian state have played out to the full with all the acknowledged consequences.
As for our president, who is afraid of his CSU records, the deed is already done. Even if the U.S. court decides to shield him over this matter, the controversy will haunt him every step of the way going forward.
But Tinubu has shown himself as a cat with more than nine lives. What if he suddenly gets angry with all the drama and suddenly decides to call everyone's bluff by instructing CSU to release the documents and calamity strikes? - No Malfeasance, No Duplication, No Impersonation. No Crime.
Shame go catch all of us.
Let him vex and release the documents jọọ.
It's the only way we can deal with the terrorism of truth.