The founder of the Anap Foundation and Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Atedo Peterside has said that if the Nigerian elite gets its way, dishonesty may become “normalised.”
Speaking on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics, Peterside stated that the Nigerian elite should always speak the truth and avoid making light of important issues.
Peterside was responding to Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s (IBB) newly published autobiography, “A Journey In Service.”
In the memoir, Babangida, among several revelations, said he was in Katsina when the annulment of the election, won by MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was announced by the press secretary of his second-in-command without his knowledge or permission.
He stated to have later learnt that Sani Abacha, his chief of defence staff who subsequently rose to the position of military ruler of the state, was in charge of the soldiers opposing the June 12 poll.
According to Peterside, Nigeria requires the rise of elders who would tell the truth and guide the next generation.
“I’m not here to indict anybody but I think if we are not careful, the Nigerian elite would normalise deceit or fraud and things like that. They would normalise all sorts of things. That is why some people have pointed out that enough is enough. Let’s draw the line somewhere. There are some issues you cannot joke with,” Peterside said.
“The other thing I want to explain is that, very recently, we lost two very respected elder statesmen. People who showed examples in terms of standing for the truth repeatedly.
“When you hear something from Chief Ayo Adebanjo, you can take it to the bank. When you hear something from Chief Edwin Clark, you can take it to the bank. Two of them passed on very recently. I served at the national conference with both of them. We were together in Abuja in 2014. We were delegates.
“So, we have to be careful because elder statemen like that who helped to set the right values for some of our young stars in terms of standing for something. Always telling the truth and so on.
“We have to make sure that a different group of elders also appear to fill that vacuum — stand for the truth. Tell the same story the same way. Tell the whole truth that would set them free. Because at the end of the day, it is a struggle for the soul of the nation.
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“When IBB annulled that election on June 12. That was the first time we had mobile phones. I voted on my street in Victoria Island. We saw the results coming from all over the country except Taraba state. I was in my 30s. I knew what happened. I was among the people that came out after the annulment to say we can’t do this.
“Interestingly, one of the articles I wrote then. I have never heard anybody use that expression. I sat in my house and wrote it because there was no internet. I called it the ghost of June 12. What I was writing then was that June 12 would be like a ghost and it would haunt some people forever.”
Peterside added that the book launch “was the ghost of June 12 haunting some people and it is still haunting them, unfortunately”.
