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Mar. 21, 2007 It was the former 'cowboy' President of the United States of America Ronald Reagan who once told Americans in 1992: "Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts." America has produced presidents that changed the positive course of their eventful history over recent times and centuries by gone. It is a prosperous free country where excellence in politics and any other competitive field in life is held sacrosanct by one and all. America is a nation of fresh ideas, one in search of better alternatives and working solutions to natural and other daunting man-made problems. Olusegun Mathew Aremu Okikiola Obasanjo is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the most populous black nation in the universe. At 70 Obasanjo told Nigerians blissfully during his recent birthday bash that he felt ten years younger! What else does one expect from a President with enormous powers and resources at his disposal who has all his life been fed, clothed, protected and serviced by the Nigerian tax payers' money? What do you expect from a megalomanic man who has so far been sustained by the people's goodwill which is being paid back by irresponsibility and non-challance to their plights? Like Presidents Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe Obasanjo has everything to thank God for for His mercies upon his life and the rare favour of longevity. Few Nigerians in these perilous times hardly attain the age of 70 before answering the call of death. In a Hobbesian state like ours life expectancy has become a luxury! I thank God for the life of our Aso Rock emperor; I thank God for his life and pray for more years ahead because we need Obasanjo around post-May to account for his eight-year stewardship and mischief while in power. Quite like Babangida (his friend whom he has vehemently refused to be tried for his political perfidy) whose own mischief and kleptocracy while in power is a public knowledge much to his odium and eternal damnation OBJ will be cruelly judged by history and posterity for squandering the fortunes of a great nation in desperate need of a messiah. Unlike Abacha whose sudden expiration foreclosed his date with justice we ask God to prolong the life of Obasanjo so that we can in the nearest future hear from the horse's mouth what really went wrong and how too many crooks spoilt the broth! Abacha's demise for which we have everything to be thankful to the Almighty has not stopped Nigerians from knowing how the disorganized tyrant was stealing our collective commonwealth and stashing same in numerous foreign banks. Millions of dollars has been recovered (thanks to Ribadu's EFCC) but much greater percentage is left still in many bank vaults and cronies' fat bank accounts scattered in Europe and the Americas. After the death of 'Khalifa' the 'Locust' the world now knows how he choked life out of Shehu Yar'Adua in prison, killed Kudirat Abiola and many others using a hit squard headed by his son Mohammed, Al-Mustapha and Sergent Rogers. We now know how Abacha was importing marabouts from neighbouring primitive countries like Chad and Niger who were sleeping with him in Aso Rock killing rams/cows and human beings for sacrifice to their gods for Abacha's security and longevity in power; but in the end they failed to conquer death when it visited. Sorrounded in Aso Rock and PDP by too many old breed unpatriotic profligate politicians (like Tony Anenih, Bode George, Ahmadu Ali et al) Obasanjo is bereft of any morality and scrupples. Aided and abetted by fat cats feeding fat on the stupendous petroluem resources at the expense of Nigerians especially Niger Deltans whose lands bear the golden goose Obasanjo has suddenly become paranoid stretching his luck and chances beyond imagination. The incongruity with which OBJ dispenses justice and administers power leaves a discerning mind confused as to the focus and vision of a supposedly elder statesman thrown up in 1999 by forces outside democratic realm. Obasanjo's eight long giddy years in power is to say the very least a disaster on many fronts. Socially Nigerians are now much more pauperized and more divided on ethnic and tribal lines more than any other time in our history post-1967-70 civil war; the social cohesion for which many a hero had died, that national ingredient of nation building that ordinarily should have been our strenght has been compromised over time on the shameless alter of injustice and divide and rule strategy of those presently in power. Economically Nigeria as a nation is not faring any better if indices and statistics from the World Bank and other Breton Woods institutions are anything to go by. Nigerians are individually creating wealth for themselves while the majority are still downtrodden, at war with privation. Politically Obasanjo has become a symbol of disunity with his 'anointing' political arithmetics and criminal marginalisation and persecutions of opponents. When a leadership loses sight of the purpose of governance, the state becomes a source of terror to its own citizens. What's more, Obasanjo has done more damage to the system than any other President, be he military or civilian before him. His is a tragic story of how best to remain in Ota a prosperous farmer than the muddle he has presided over and leaving behind at the national level if he has decided to quit that is. The tragedy of a man who prides himself as the modern King Solomon will be fully unfolded and grasped only after the bull is given a soft landing at the China shop. What Theophilus Danjuma has described as a 'King Kong' who has run amock at the twilight of his inglorious exit from Aso Rock. The problem with Obasanjo lies mainly in his ego, belligerence and exaggerated self-worth within the Nigerian power calculus. He believes he's the 'messiah' sent by God to heal Nigeria from her many ills yet H.G Wells once said that "No man is good enough to be another man's master". Here's a man who handed over power in 1979 to an Alhaji Shehu Shagari whom history taught us was rigged to power at the expense of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo who won the election. Here's an iniquitous man who believes he was destined to provide leadership to Nigeria and Nigerians better than anyone else. Here's a man envious of other people's achievements in power hardly acknowledging them but condemns whatever was done and only remembers the legacy he left behind decades ago while in Dodan Barracks. Here's a supposedly 'born-again' christian who calls the name of God in vain at every fora whose vindictiveness and imperviousness is a study in bizzare political engineering. Here's a Septugenerian whose uncouth, undiplomatic and unpresidential dispositions expose his bareful military background and constituency. General Theophilus Danjuma, a man of no mean standing, former Defense Minister under Obasanjo sarcastically dismissed the Obasanjo war against corruption recently in a public lecture in Kaduna saying it is full of "sound and fury which has brought unprecedented plundering and lawlessness". Questioning the character of the "self-opinionated" leader of the crusade he asked categorically: "If a crusader is deficient in integrity, who will believe his gospel?" One of Obasanjo's mischiefs could be found in Adedibu mythology in Ibadan. This is what OBJ has to say about the "garrison commander" Adedibu recently: "Baba Adedibu cannot be reformed, we have to manage him. This is somebody that has been in politics for 55 years. What do you have to tell him? His experience during this period cannot be rivalled. As a human being, Baba is not perfect but in Yorubaland, when an elder does something wrong, he cannot be rebuked in the open, his flaws can be made known to him behind closed-doors. But honestly speaking, it is not part of Yoruba culture for a younger person to openly chastise an elderly person. But I am sure that if his shortcomings are pointed out to him, he will adjust, yes he will change. That I know." How can Adedibu the leopard change when we know that leopard hardly changes it's spot? How can this 'Agbaya' be reformed when he has already caused untold hardship to Ibadan indigenes? What is called for is not reform but sanction; Adedibu should be arrested and charged to court for among others unleashing touts and thugs on innocent people and for illegally smuggling INEC's DDM machines to his Molete residence where only God knows how many fake voters they massively got registered. Adedibu's brazen assault of whatever is in public interest is legendary; it never started today. Adedibu is being treated with kid gloves because those who could sanction him know that he's a master strategist in rigging elections, thuggery and looting of treasury. Barely educated and therefore primitive in acts and deeds Adedibu understands only the language of money, electoral fraud and 'godfather' native laws. He's very useful to the PDP and useless to the Nigerian people and their search for a better future. Another mischief attributable to OBJ is the Atiku conundrum. Through crude politics with EFCC Atiku was purportedly indicted for PTDF corruption and 'Prof' Iwu's INEC is using that as an excuse to exclude the battle-weary VP from contesting the April presidential poll. Every Nigerian of discerning age knows that Atiku's feud with OBJ is not about corruption as it's being bandied about but vendetta and egoistic show of power. Ever since Atiku joined forces with other progressive forces to scuttle OBJ's life presidency plot Obasanjo has sworn to haunt Atiku to political submission in a career-ending gameplan. But Atiku through the instrumentality of the law courts has bounced back victorious gaining more symparthy against OBJ's crude and rude methods and tactics. Rtd. General Mohammadu Buhari, the ANPP presidential flagbearer, over the weekend condemned in strong words the purported disqualification of Atiku Abubakar by INEC. In a statement he personally signed Buhari said: “It is my candied view that their disqualification is the height of contempt of rule of law, pervasion of justice and subversion of the electoral process. On behalf of true democrats and my teaming supporters nationwide, one wishes to condemn in its entirety the disqualification of Vice President Atiku Abubakar and other prominent opposition candidates by INEC.” The former Head of State continued: "Contempt of the rule of law is the highest form of rigging and my elementary knowledge of transparent process posits that obedience of rule of law is a core ingredient of liberal democracy. Hence INEC, if actually an impartial umpire had no option but to obey the judgment of Hon Justice Babs Kuewumi, until the judgment is set aside or vacated. When I alerted the nation that President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has commenced rigging waiting for the election day to legalize and legitimize it, Mr. President demanded evidence, now the evidences are coming out.” Another OBJ mischief is what is dramatically playing itself out in Anambra State. Andy Uba has been positioned to assume leadership of Anambra State come May. Every other serious challenger has been sidelined by INEC paving the way for Uba to coast home to expected victory at the polls. Since Uba smuggled thousands of US dollars via a presidential plane in which Baba was on board 'settling' Obasanjo thereafter with 55.000 dollars worth of mechanized farming equipments bought and delivered from America by Uba's girlfriend and partner-in-crime Obasanjo has made up his mind to bulldoze Uba's way to power as an anointed son. That is why no one will be surprised with an Uba and in extension PDP magical victories in many states at the guber polls. Remember political magicians abound in PDP! The newly-crowned Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar III had spoken forcefully about INEC's lack of preparedness towards the April polls. The Sultan spoke the minds of many Nigerians as Iwu and his INEC go about employing fire brigade measures in an election that was announced years back. His Eminence equally faulted the idea of INEC trying to ban candidates in the elections arguing that every Nigerian should be allowed to exercise their fundamental rights of voting and to be voted for, adding that it is up to the electorate to choose the right candidate to govern them and not INEC. As the constitution says it is only a competent law court that is vested with the power upon indictment to disqualify any candidate, so what Iwu and Philip Umeadi were rationalising using semantics and rethorics cannot stand in the face of the law. The Nobel Laurette Prof. Wole Soyinka has just added his voice of reason to the attempt by INEC to 'disqualify' Atiku and others from contesting the presidential election. In a statement released over the weekend entitled "The Will of One and the Rule of Law" Kongi saw doom ahead! Hear Prof. Soyinka: "I watched the performance of Professor Iwu, INEC's chairman, on television last night (Thursday). It would be excessive to claim that I was frightened for the nation - let me restrict myself to admitting that I felt very apprehensive. The Obasanjo-Atiku saga has taken a dimension that reaches far beyond the issues that are actually touted the loudest - corruption, probity, integrity etc. etc. We are now firmly within the terrain, not even of the rule of law, but of the paranoid will of an individual, however powerful, against the very fabric of society, against such intangibles as confidence in the ability of the law to protect the individual and the community. In other words, we are speaking of freedom and its protective mechanisms." The literary 'warlord' continued: "Between the will and scheming of one individual and adherence to the rule of law, the choice is not particularly difficult for those who believe in a secure environment for daily and productive existence. What we, who lack the knowledge to strictly interpret the law, can and must do, is firstly, to inform ourselves by consulting those whose profession this is, but ultimately, urge the courts to clarify any such disputes, and expeditiously. After that, we must line up solidly behind, and at whatever cost, the pronouncements of the courts of the land, however unpalatable they might be for our individual leanings or preferences on any issue." The social critic who authored "The Man Died" concluded thus: "Those whose conduct imposes a choice on the nation between a defence of the rule of law on the one hand, and even the most laudable and patriotic acts on the other, must understand that they bear the ultimate responsibility for the damage done to our quest for moral solidarity. Both are not incompatible with each other, indeed the latter is strengthened and made durable only by proceedings that respect the authority of the former. To reverse that relationship is to enthrone fascism in place of lawful governance. The nation protects itself by rising in the defence of the rule of law." For me the oracle has spoken and nothing more to add other than to say in the final analysis that Obasanjo and his marionettes (like 'Prof' Maurice Iwu of INEC) are fanning the dangerous embers of anarchy. They must as a matter of national service be dissuaded by forces that matter from pursuing the dangerous course they are hell-bent on pursuing: plunging Nigeria into foreboding chaos. The chaos already caused by poverty, NEPA's darkness, crimes, insecurity of lives and property, bad roads and bad drinking water are enough burden for a people much long enslaved by leadership woes. Nigeria must as a matter of national emergency be saved from these 'Utopian' elements enmeshed in gross political mischief. ------------ About the author: Sunny Chris Okenwa is a U-K contributor based in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire. Email: soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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