Early in 2012, I took my son to the birthday of a classmate of his at Maitama Amusement Park, Abuja where I noticed a familiar face. As I muttered almost to myself, “is that not Mrs. Maryam Abacha?” my son, then eight years old, replied in the affirmative. “Yes, that is his grandmother. His grandfather was General Sani Abacha that you wrote about in your book.” Although I didn’t say anything to that, my son then added: “They say his grandfather was a very wicked man. But he (the classmate) is not wicked. He is a good person.”
I didn’t need any reassurance about this particular well-mannered classmate of my son even though I had no inkling until then that he had any relationship to the late General Abacha. However, my son was probably concerned that I might have been trying to judge the boy by my prejudices against his grandfather. That was one message I took away from the testimonials he was reeling out. As amused as I was, that also taught me a lesson about how we judge others, not necessarily by who they are but by the family or ethnic group they belong to or the religion they practice.
