THE TALE OF TWO CITIES: PART ONE VOLUME ONE

 

THE STORY OF TWO MILITARY REGIMES WEST AFRICA IN THE 1980’S FLIGHT LT JERRY JOHN RAWLINGS OF GHANA AND MAJOR GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI OF NIGERIA..

 

The recent Special investigator on the activities of the CBN led by erstwhile central banker Godwin Emefiele is a grand indictment of the hypocrisy the Nigerian State had become in the last 40 years and counting before the mess that was dugged out from the Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of Emefiele was directly under the supervision of the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, this tale of woes did not begin today it was the little seed that became a proverbial mighty Mahogany tree was planted in the late 70’s and early 90’s …The two sister West African nations of Ghana and Nigeria share striking similarities former British colonies, English speaking, same region, mostly same religious composition of christian and Muslims..

In the 1980s’’s when a young military officer Flight. Lt Jerry Rawlings came to power by staging a coup deta’t and also coincided with Muhammadu Buhari who came to power after sacking the civilian regime of President Shehu Shagari, Jerry Rawlings due to his youthful zest, patriotism, and nationalist vigour wanted to purge Ghana of corruption, indiscipline, maladministration and other social vices militating against the growth and development of former Gold Coast, so he embarked on a rigorous national cleansing of Ghana, by riding and purging the country of the vestiges of the ruling elite comprising of its military leaders by trying and executing former Ghanaian military rulers in successions and their associates, in fairness to Muhammadu Buhari he did carry out a massive crackdown on corrupt political leaders by jailing and prosecuting a lot of them...However Rawlings chose to shed blood by embarking on a killing spree Buhari was advised to follow the Rawlings model, but he refused thinking he was not ready to spill the blood of politicians who had desecrated the Nation's economy with corruption and squandermania, rather Buhari’s regime choose to execute drug barons whose offense was less grievous in nature compared with corrupt politicians who stole the country blind, to the extent that Buhari’s regime in apparent frustration and sheer helplessness had to resort to redesigning the national currency which eventually made the stolen loot of the political class and their associates becoming useless.

Today Ghana is a far more progressive society after 20 years of Rawlings rule until he stepped down in 2001, thus cementing democratic rule and political stability in West African Nation a major producer of Cocoa,Gold and timber, infact Ghanaian authorities now harass Nigerian business interests with severe sanctions and punitive measures, a nation where its citizens once expelled in Nigeria after economic hardship forced many Ghanians migrating into neighbouring Nigeria, into doing menial jobs like shoemakers,guardsman,teachers in order to survive,while Buhari was toppled after 22 months in office by his army chief IBB in a sharp contrast of fortunes, nearly 40 years after Buhari refused to spill the blood of the corrupt political class,today that seed of corruption has made Nigeria's the corruption headquarters and poverty ridden nation harbouring arguably the highest number of poor citizenry most of whom are bent on fleeing the country at the slightest opportunity,decadent infrastructure,malfeasance, poor power supply and a very incompetent public service across the three tiers of government while Ghana today, is home to lots of thriving businesses due to stable and interrupted power supply which is still a mirage in Nigeria after the Obasanjo administration invested a whooping $16b in the power sector with nothing to show for it. This story is indeed A TALE OF TWO CITIES PART ONE watch out for the next episode.