To forgive or not to forgive?

As the countdown to the official exit of President Muhamadu Buhari gets to an arm’s length, many are wondering what legacy he would be leaving behind as his security achievement, despite boasting and beating his chest about tackling and crushing insecurity in the country.  After almost eight years, all that Nigerians are hearing from the President is that they should forgive him.

According to the President, “God gave me an incredible opportunity to serve the country. We are all humans; if I have hurt some people along the line of my service to the country, I ask that they pardon me.

“All those that I have hurt, I ask that they pardon me.”

Many are not surprised at this end-time humbling of the President because such is always the way of politicians. Weeks before the President’s open plea for pardon, Governors  Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and Atiku Bagudu also asked for forgiveness from the people of their states and many more would soon come to the stage to ask for forgiveness.

“Pardon” and “forgive” mean the same thing, which is: “The act of excusing a mistake or offence.” The truth is that Nigerians would find it very difficult to forgive the President  based on what they had suffered under his administration for eight years by his allowing terrrorists to ransack every state of the country, leaving hundreds of innocent citizens dead and property worth billions of naira either carted away or destroyed.

That the President is pleading for pardon reminds one of innocent Nigerians kidnapped by terrorists and dragged to their torture forest after a long harrowing experience, and, suddenly, the women were asked to strip and lie on the ground before being raped amid cries for mercy.

Despite their pleading, they were still raped. Yet, such a person like the terrorist would after perpetrating such heinous crime would ask the women for pardon. Not every sin is forgiven, so the President may have to meet each concerned Nigerian for individual pardon or visit each affected family to receive their pardon certificate; the pardon should also extend to those he stepped on their toes when he was a military leader.

This writer recalled, in 1985, as the chief correspondent of the now defunct National Concord in old Anambra State, when Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon held sway as the military leaders and sequel to a front page story I published that was described as being offensive to the then military administration of the duo, I was arrested, detained and tortured under the instruction of the state director of the Nigeria Security Organization (NSO) by one Mr. Njemanze at their headquaters in Enugu. Immediately I was detained and  tortured, Mr. Njemanze obtained authourization from the military junta to further detain me under Decree 4 but, miraculously, their government was routed out of office. 

How can I forgive all those who arrested, detained and tortured me for simply exercising my right as a journalist? This same scenario applies to thousands of people who lost their breadwinners and loved ones for no justifiable reason as well as those who lost their source of income due to  bad policies of government. While asking for pardon, was the President not aware that seeking the face of the same God he is making reference to, would have helped him with better way to handle the situation. Calling on God after the deed has been done means nothing to most Nigerians who have borne the brunt of insecurity with their family members.

One should have expected the President to admonish other leaders to always seek direction from God so that they would not fall into such pitiful situation whereby they will revert to pleading for pardon from their citizens. The situation is very dire, even security agencies need to be apologized to. Like members of the public, many security agents have died due to faulty presidential directives.

There is not enough money to cater for the needs of security agencies. The country under him had gone aborrowing and, consequently, the country is in a sorrowful situation. It is said that, “He who goes  aborrowing,  goes asorrowing”.

  Even as the country’s indebtedness has rolled into several trillions, yet the Buhari government is still panting to accept more debt to further impoverish the people and children yet unborn. No wonder the country is in a sorrowful situation with 80 percent poverty-stricken citizens.

My main concerns are security and the dwindling economy of the country. Both are like Siamese twins, whereby the progress of one usually affects the progress of the other. Should there be insecurity in the country, as it is presently being witnessed in Sudan, authomatically, the economy of the country would snowball into recession. 

Insecurity could be triggered by either internal or external aggression. Sudan’s internal war, which began on April 15, 2023, has prompted many foreign governments like the US, UK, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, Japan and the Netherlands to evacuate their citizens, not forgetting African countries like South Africa, Somalia and Kenya, because they value the lives of their citizens. Yet, the Buhari government heard about the war and delayed before setting up a panel days after the violence broke out, knowing full well the exigency of the situation.

Such has been Buhari’s style even  as a military General, one would have expected a rapid response in evacuating our citizens wherever they are stranded in any war or disaster region. Not at all,  the government always delays untl Nigerians’ reactions are at a frenzied point before evacuation is effected. For example, in the Caribbean, South Africa, Ukraine and currently the Sudan, where over 4,000 Nigerian citizens  are stranded.

Paraventure any mishap befalls our stranded citizens and it, unfortunately, result in death, the same President would open another chapter to ask for pardon. 

According to famous Indian civil rights lawyer, Mahatma Gandhi, “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

This explains why Nigerians are always on top of every depressive situation, like the legendary Afrobeat musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti once sang, “ Suffering and smiling”.

Here are people with double resilience, whose capabilities are  uncommon. Even when Buhari’s harsh policies would have depressed them, yet, you find them smiling like the lsraelites under their Egyptian task masters. So the plea for pardon by the President has made Nigerians to be seen as strong people and, according to Jonathan Lockwood, an author, “Forgive others not because they deserve forgiveness but because you deserve peace.”

To forgive is not what the other person did. It’s to prevent their behaviour from destroying your heart.

However it is good to hear that the President asked for forgiveness from both Christians,Muslim and animist who make up the country Nigeria. Interestingly, Christians would make reference to the Bible, which states in 2 Corinthians 2:10, “To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ.”