Chimamanda on effect of Buhari's first era on her parents

As it was in the beginning, it is now, only she is not sure if this is how it will continue to be. Nigerian writer Chimanda Adichie has memories of what her parents went through during the first time President Muhammadu Buhari ruled Nigeria as a military head of state. They are not so fond but scaring. Excerpt from OP-ED by Chimamanda Adichie for the New York Times: On how her parents fared during Maj. Gen Buhari’s era in the 80s. She wrote: “I was 7 years old the first time I recognized political fear. My parents and their friends were talking about the government, in our living room, in our relatively big house, set on relatively wide grounds at a southeastern Nigerian university, with doors shut and no strangers present. Yet they spoke in whispers. So ingrained was their apprehension that they whispered even when they did not need to. It was 1984 and Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was the military head of state. Governmental controls had mangled the economy. Many imported goods were banned, scarcity was rife, black markets thrived, businesses were failing and soldiers stalked markets to enforce government-determined prices. My mother came home with precious cartons of subsidized milk and soap, which were sold in rationed quantities. Soldiers flogged people on the streets for “indiscipline” — such as littering or not standing in queues at the bus stop. On television, the head of state, stick-straight and authoritative, seemed remote, impassive on his throne amid the fear and uncertainty…” Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Chimamanda Adichie’s parents She also noted the lopsided method employed to fight corruption. She noted: “Nigerians who expected a fair and sweeping cleanup of corruption have been disappointed. Arrests have tended to be selective, targeting mostly those opposed to Mr. Buhari’s government. The anti-corruption agencies are perceived not only as partisan but as brazenly flouting the rule of law: The Department of State Security recently barged into the homes of various judges at midnight, harassing and threatening them and arresting a number of them, because the judges’ lifestyles “suggested” that they were corrupt.” “There is an ad hoc air to the government that does not inspire that vital ingredient for a stable economy: confidence. There is, at all levels of government, a relentless blaming of previous administrations and a refusal to acknowledge mistakes. And there are eerie signs of the past’s repeating itself — Mr. Buhari’s tone and demeanor are reminiscent of 1984, and his military-era War Against Indiscipline program is being reintroduced.” Ending her essay in a typical homourous Nigerian way, Adichie wrote: “In a country enamored of dark humor, a common greeting among the middle class now is “Happy recession!”

NAIJ.COM