OBASANJO'S MANY' SINS’

OBASANJO'S MANY' SINS’



By FIRSTCLASSNEWSLINE

The past week witnessed a serious blame game against no less personality than former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the man who ruled Nigeria as military head of state for three years and eight months, and as elected President for eight years.

The accusation came from one of his supposed political godsons, former governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili, who made it known in his political memoir, Conscience and History – My Story. In the 115-page book, the medical doctor-turned-politician revealed a conspiracy theory allegedly spearheaded by Obasanjo against his moves in 2006 to run for the office of President.

He held that it was that conspiracy that worked against him and truncated his ambition of becoming Nigerian President in 2007.

The University of Liverpool-trained medical doctor detailed why and how his quest suddenly petered out, even after he had become the ultimate front-runner for the ticket of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Also, he revealed how, after losing the ticket to the late Umaru Yar’Adua, he later became a front-runner for the Vice-Presidential slot, which he also eventually lost.

In the book, Odili explained how the then President Obasanjo, used his security chiefs – most prominently Nuhu Ribadu – against him. Odili indicated that it was Ribadu, as the chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), that was used to play the major role in truncating his plans.

The Ndoni-born politician noted that the whole gimmick started on December 12, 2006 when “a spurious and anonymous petition was posted on the internet from a questionable ‘source’ alleging corrupt practices against the Rivers State Government under me”.

He went on to explain that the allegations were, in less than no time, converted into a petition by EFCC’s Ribadu and handed over to the President, same day.

Odili did not only accuse the former President of scuttling his presidential ambition,

he also accused him of causing bad blood between him and his successor,

Rotimi Amaechi, current governor of Rivers State, by striking his ( Amaechi’s ) name off the list of PDP’s governorship candidate list for the election.

Blame game on Obasanjo is nothing new.

As a matter of fact, the ex-President has been blamed and criticised to the point that many analysts see him as the most criticised Nigerian in the current dispensation in Nigeria’s political firmament.

It becomes instructive to note that about the same time the blames and criticisms of Obasanjo contained in Odili’s book were riding high in the polity,

another book was also released which also has Obasanjo as its target.

Written by the followers of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar,

they accused Obasanjo of being the architect of their principal’s trials and failed attempt to become Nigerian President.

They also blamed the former President for being the architect of PDP’s woes, both in the past and present circumstance.

In the book entitled Atiku Media Office: The wars,

the victories,

they documented Obasanjo’s many ‘sins’ while in office,

which they claimed nearly threw the country into serious crisis.

They listed many of them as acts the then President perpetrated as he schemed for his #Third_Term in the Villa.

Some of them were the sack of Audu Ogbe, the party’s chairman at the time, said to be at gunpoint; the de-registration or re-registration of PDP members,

depending on whether they are in the President’s good books or nor; the sack of Atiku’s staff without due process; the hounding of state governors with the EFCC, to gain their acceptance of the Third Term scheme; and several others.

For instance, they claimed: “The governors were unhappy with Obasanjo’s brusque,

crude and dictatorial style and wanted the more approachable,

suave and liberal Atiku to challenge the President.
” Obasanjo got wind of it and decided to move against Atiku.

#September_last_year, Atiku reiterated this position on the matter when he blamed Obasanjo for the disagreement between them on his third term bid.

“I fought Chief Obasanjo in this country on this issue of term limit, the so-called Third Term”.

Even when Obasanjo denied it, as he had often done in the past,

Atiku accused him of lying.

Obasanjo had declared: “If I wanted a third term, I would have prepared a bill that I would have sent.

If a bill emanated from me, I would have made sure that it got passed.

But there was no bill that emanated from me in that regard,” Obasanjo was reported to have said last year.

But Atiku replied him by referring to a book authored by former United States of America (U.S.A.) Secretary of State,

Condoleezza Rice, where she claimed that Obasanjo approached former President George W. Bush with his plan to amend the Constitution to run for a third term.

Atiku quoted the line: “In 2006, when President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria sidled up to the President ( Bush ) and suggested that he might change the Constitution, so that he could serve a third term,

the President told him not to do it.” And Bush, according to her, told Obasanjo that he had served Nigeria well and that he should step down and become a #statesman.

Obasanjo’s critics have not only found faults with him on his actions alone,

they have also found faults with his words.

Such was the case when, in 2010, Obasanjo made a snide remark on Atiku’s intention to run for the Presidency the next year.

Senator Ben Obi, leader of Atiku’s campaign organization, had then blamed Obasanjo for his position, counselling him to be careful when making certain statements.

“Obasanjo ought to be mindful of his status when making utterance,” Obi counselled.

The ex-President is known to have always made public statements on the state of the nation, and always finding time to criticise ( when he feels like it ) even the government in power.

This sometimes earned him criticisms from government functionaries and ordinary Nigerians.

Even under the current government, which his political godson,

Goodluck Jonathan, is the President, the ex-President has not found any reason to kick the habit.

For the reason of that, the ex-President has often been accused by a great number of his party membership,

and even a cross section of Nigerians, of meddlesomeness,

not only in his party affairs, but also the governance of the country.

He has made statements and criticisms that have rocked the seat of power, and sent the President and his officials running for damage control.

Such was the case when he #criticised_governments_handling_of_Boko_Haram in November last year, seeming to infer that members of the Islamic fundamentalist sect were being handled with kid gloves.

He went on to recommend the same treatment he meted out to #Odi_community in Bayelsa State,

in which the entire community was reportedly uprooted, with women,

children and the aged being the victims.

Many Nigerians at the time regarded it as another of Obasanjo’s ‘sins’ and criticised him roundly for it.

Apart the President and many functionaries of government who took exception to his recommendation, other Nigerians joined in.

Former military head of state, #Yakubu_Gowon, described the comment as irresponsible.

“Obasanjo is highly irresponsible to have made such comments about the present government.

Many people have condemned what he ( Obasanjo ) did in #Odi and #Zaki_Biam.

So, it was irresponsible for him to defend it or accuse the present administration,” he said.

Others took the opportunity to demand that war crime case be opened on the Odi incident.

Obasanjo’s ‘sins’ have not only been identified nationally,

even in his home state, individuals have found opportunity to criticise him.

During the build-up to the 2011 elections, the PDP in Ogun State was broken into two factions.

Obasanjo was controlling one faction while Gbenga Daniel, then governor of the state, was in charge of the other faction.

Then, Daniel declared to fight Obasanjo to finish.

“We are in a marathon war, and in this particular fight,

we will fight it to its logical conclusion,” he had declared.

Nearer his home state, in the South West geo-political zone,

Obasanjo also had some spat with many like his former political godson, Ayo Fayose, when he was governor of Ekiti State and Obasanjo was still President.

However, what is surprising today, to many political observers, is that despite all the accusations against the former President, he still remains popular in the party, and none of his members wants to do anything without him.

For those who held this view, it was amply demonstrated during the last meeting of the party to choose the chairman of its Board of Trustees ( BoT ), a very important arm of the party.

The meeting was slated for Tuesday, January 8, but the chairman was not chosen eventually, and findings revealed that it was because Obasanjo was not at the meeting.

In view of this, there were people who saw the ex-President as one who is influential across the party and country,

and playing the appropriate role required of him as a statesman.

On the other hand, some respondents on the matter tend to identify Obasanjo as the greatest politician in Nigeria, because somehow, rather than avoid him, unfolding events seem to show that many still want to associate with him.

They give example with the Abeokuta visit of Atiku to Obasanjo in January 2009, after all the heated arguments and bad blood between them.

Seen as a trip made to resume his quest for the Presidency for the 2011 election, even Atiku denied it.

“I have only come to pay my respect to my boss.

I am not here because of 2011 polls but on courtesy call,” Atiku said.

Obasanjo on his part described it as a meeting between father and son.

“We were in government together.

Though we had political differences, which is normal, we looked at it as a political difference between father and son,” he replied those who wanted to know the kernel of the meeting.

Daniel, after saying many hard things about Obasanjo, later came down from his high horse early March 2011 to apologise to Obasanjo.

After the reconciliation meeting, he told the media that he apologised to Obasanjo, and why he did it.

His words: “I apologised to Baba Obasanjo and I will continue to apologise.

Let me say this to you; I am a true Yoruba man,

and in Yorubaland, it doesn’t matter who is right or wrong, it is the younger person that will beg the older person.

I have begged Baba and I will continue to beg Baba. In all things, we must give thanks to God.

I think what has happened here today is the manifestation of the work of God.

I want to seize this opportunity to thank all the elders and also thank Baba ( Obasanjo ) for the opportunity of this meeting.”

One of the important events that marked Wednesday, January 9, out in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, was the visit of PDP leadership to Obasanjo.

The party leaders from Ogun Senatorial District went to receive counsel from the elder statesman, and good counsel they did receive.

Though Obasanjo called for discipline in the party, he counselled the party leaders to receive, with open hands, returning members of the party who had gone away to other parties.

“There must be discipline in any institution. Many of them were misguided.

When the misguided see the light and return, we must open our arms to embrace them.

The misguided must be welcomed and re-integrated into the fold,” Obasanjo said.

In view of such developments, some analysts saw the ex-President as one who is influential across the party and country.

Yet, there were others who wrote him off as a mere bully, who intimidate people; make them fear him rather than love and respect him.

On the other hand, some respondents on the matter tend to identify Obasanjo as the greatest politician in Nigeria, because, somehow, rather than avoid him, unfolding events seem to show that many still want to associate with him.

Wale Ogunade, president of Voters Awareness Initiative ( V A I ), said Obasanjo had been getting along because of a lot of things are going for him.

Among the things he said that have been going in favour of the former military leader was the fact that he was the only Nigerian that governed the country twice – firstly as a soldier and secondly as a civilian leader.

He said Obasanjo also had a #special_threat_of_being_a_hard man and a jovial man that make many people hate to love him.

He described the retired general as a cat with nine lives that knows how to resuscitate himself.

“He has a special trait,” he said, “by which he can play with you and laugh with you so easily.

Again, he has a special trait that he will just throw one big stunt and people will go for him again.”

On the contrary, John #Ogbuka_Okiyi, a political analyst, is of the view that Obasanjo has only succeed in #striking_fear into members of his party, who have come to fear him rather than love him.

“What makes Obasanjo tick is his capacity to fight dirty and without scruples?

It makes his opponents fear him rather than love him,” he said.

That may be the case with members of his party.

In fact, many willing members of his party contacted for comments withdrew instantly, immediately they learnt that Obasanjo was the subject of discussion.

However, it was most obvious that this was not the case with his visit to Imo State recently where he was cheered by the people.

During the marriage of Governor Rochas Okorocha’s daughter, it was hard for analysts to explain how the same man whose vehicle was stoned by the people the last time he visited the state to campaign for Ikedi #Ohakim,

the immediate past governor, would be cheered by the same people few months later.

But #Louis_Okafor, spokesperson of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos State, like Ogunade, saw the staying power of Obasanjo on the fact that he has governed Nigeria before.

Apart from that, he said Obasanjo distinguishes himself as a man who was not shy of controversy, and as a result of that was always ready to dare anything.

“He does not run away from troubled waters,” Okafor said.

In addition, Okafor joined other respondents who held the opinion that every other thing going for the retired general amounted to so little because the #country_he_governed_for_about 12 years had almost become a #failed_state.

However, as a great number of the allegations against Obasanjo were recorded in the #Odili_book, as well as that written by Atiku’s media team,

it appears only another book will cancel out the allegations.

Perhaps, that was why Obasanjo sanctioned the writing of the book, The President Explains.

And perhaps again, the book which would be launched in Abeokuta on January 22, and which goes with the name of Obasanjo’s monthly chat with journalists as President, might be able to cancel out all the allegations against the Ota farmer.