The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Baba

  • Baba in Otuoke

    Baba in Otuoke

    In his January 23 “special press statement”, former President Olusegun Obasanjo used endearing words for former President Goodluck Jonathan whose fall from office he masterminded. Before the 2015 elections, Baba, Obasanjo’s pet name, had written to Jonathan, urging him to change his style or face the electorate’s wrath. Titled : ‘’Before it is too late’’, Obasanjo told Jonathan that he would not back him for a second term. Reason : Jonathan, according to him, has failed.

    Referring to this letter in his statement tagged : “The way out : A clarion call for Coalition for Nigeria Movement”, Obasanjo said he took the unusual step of going against his own party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election to support the opposite side because “Nigeria must be good at home to be good abroad’’. The thrust of his argument was that President Muhammadu Buhari should not go for a second term, just the same homily he preached to Jonathan three years ago.

    To justify his position, he said: “Even the horse rider then, with whom I maintain very cordial, happy and social relationship today has come to realise his mistakes and regretted it publicly and I admire his courage and forthrightness in this regard… The situation that made Nigerians to vote massively to get my brother Jonathan off the horse is playing itself out again…” Expectedly, Obasanjo’s statement created a storm, which has yet to die down.

    Never one to back down from a cause, he took time out to see Jonathan in Otuoke during his visit to Bayelsa State last week. Baba was said to have arrived in the Jonathans’ countryhome without pomp. It was a private visit – after all what is bad in an ex-president calling on another ex-leader. Sources said they poured their hearts out to each other. Baba, it was said, told Jonathan not to take what he did to him while in office personal. “You know I cannot keep quiet when things are not going well in Nigeria. I fought a war to keep this country together and I cannot look the other way or keep quite when things are not working”, he was quoted as saying.

    He was not done. “I came to see you to show that I have no ill-feeling towards you; I have come as a friend to seek your hand in cooperation in order to get Nigeria working again. Things have become worse since you left office. Yes, I supported Buhari against you because I thought I knew him well and that he will deliver. I made an error of judgement, which I am willing to correct now. But I cannot do it alone; I need others in my club (ex-leaders) in this crusade. I will be reaching out to others to sound them out too. You can see that Ibrahim (Babangida) is already on the same page with me.

    “We must fight together to save Nigeria from poor leadership. We have the men (and women) who can do the job. We have to fish them out and guide them on to the right path in the interest of our country. In a country of over 180 million, people abound that can be president. If we search well, we will get them. We even know some of them; they might have worked with us while we were in office. Let us encourage them to come out and be counted on the side of their country. Nigeria needs them now and it is our duty to get them to come out. I want to be able to face my Maker and tell Him that I left Nigeria in good hands when I get over there”.

    Jonathan was said to have listened with rapt attention to Baba. Responding, he thanked Baba for coming, promising to return the visit soon. He made it clear that the leadership problem was that of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the PDP is ready to wrest power back from it. ‘’I thank you Your Excellency for your visit. You know I hold you in high esteem and that I have always done what you want me to do. But on this your request I have to consult my people. I belong to the PDP which membership card you tore publicly in Abeokuta, Ogun State. We do not hold that against you as everybody is entitled to right to freedom of association. We still believe you belong to us except you say you are no longer with us.

    “We see this as a problem of the ruling party which the PDP should cash on to return to power in 2019. I also believe in Nigeria. For me, it is Nigeria first. That was why I accepted defeat in the 2015 election. We will not rest on our oars until we regain power. Baba, I have heard you and I promise you that I will convey your message to my people. Thank you for coming sir and see you soon in Abeokuta”.

     

     

    Kaduna’s Mr Bulldozer

    In Nigeria, those in power do not like to be challenged. They see themselves as demi-gods to whom all must defer. You do not bow before them at your own peril. And many of us are ready to lick their ass  because  we want to curry their favour. By so doing, we have unwittingly conferred them with the power they do not have – that of life and death. As powerful as the president and governors are, there is a limit to what they can do as human beings. Yes, they can get people arrested and detained. Yes, they can give you that multi-billion naira contract. But can they give life and death? Yet, they like to play god. Or how do we explain what happened in Kaduna on Tuesday where the property of a politician was demolished all because of his differences with Governor Nasir El-Rufai? Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi and El-Rufai belong to the same party –  All Progressives Congress (APC) – but the battle for the soul of the state has pitched them against each other. That is expected in politics. The party’s  state executive committee is divided over them. A faction led by the chairman is with El-Rufai and another faction headed by the vice chairman is on Hunkuyi’s side. The other day, the El-Rufai faction suspended Hunkuyi; the Hunkuyi loyalists fired back by suspending El-Rufai. His Excellency, the governor aka the accidental public servant did not like that a bit. What did he do? Remember, he was minister in Abuja, where he took delight in demolishing people’s houses? That was the treatment he gave to Hunkuyi on Tuesday shortly after the senator was served with a contravention notice, which claimed that he has not paid ground rent for eight years. Before the senator could react to the notice, El-Rufai’s henchmen came calling in the wee hours of Tuesday and demolished the building housing his APC faction. It was the height of intolerance, which no rational being would have expected of someone like El-Rufai. Is this how professionals in politics will play the game? Even touts will not descend this low. El-Rufai has done his worse, but Hunkuyi has remedy in law, and let nobody tell me that a governor cannot be sued. A governor, who abuses the privileges of his office like El-Rufai should be ready to face the consequences of his action. Being governor does not make him an overlord. And what law was Hunkuyi said to have broken? They said he was using the building for political activities instead of residential for which he was granted approval! So, demolition is the cure for that, barely 12hours after serving the owner with a contravention notice. Haba! Mr Governor. Surely, we have not heard the last about this matter.

  • Baba wan commit suicide!

    Baba wan commit suicide!

    Have you heard?

    Heard what?

    Baba wants to commit suicide!

    Which Baba?

    There are no two Babas now!  The Ebora Owu!

    Whaaaat!  But why?

    He says for him it’s self-guillotine, anytime he feels Nigeria is hopeless.

    O, that!

    Is that all you’ll say — o that?

    What else?  That’s a very safe threat now!

    But how?

    Well, who gauges what is hopeful and what is hopeless?

    Seriously?  Are you real right now?  You don’t expect Baba to put his neck on the block and not have a say as to when the time is ripe?

    Exactly!  It’s a very safe threat — or if you want to be politic — pledge.  It’s like that rogue prophet, Brother Jero, prophesying someone would live for 80 years.  If it comes to pass, fine.  If it doesn’t, who cares?

    Naaaaa!  It’s not quite the same thing.  Baba says anytime he feels Nigeria is hopeless, he goes kaput!

    Meaning?

    Meaning exactly that — kaput!  You should at least praise him for love of country

    About time too!  But how about praising country, for love of Baba?  Nigeria has given Baba too many lollies.

    What do you mean, lollies?

    Exactly that, lollies.  What does OFN mean, do you know?

    Operation Feed the Nation.

    To me, it is Obasanjo Farms Nigeria.  But to others, it could also be Operation Fool the Nation!

    Haba! Nobody fooled anyone now!  Now, you’re getting too creative for your own good!  That is just a mere coincidence!

    Exactly!  No one has fooled anyone.  But it also shows Nigeria’s abiding munificence  for Baba.  Operation Feed the Nation, you must remember, led to the Land Use Decree, which made the other OFN, Obasanjo Farms Nigeria, possible!

    Mere coincidence!  Conspiracy theory!

    True.  Maybe you’re right.  But what of the Presidential Library?

    What about it?

    Would Baba have had it if he wasn’t president, or had OFN, if he wasn’t military head of state, even if he didn’t stage any coup?

    Hen-hen?

    Even NOUN!

    Are we talking parts of speech now?

    No, NOUN as in National Open University of Nigeria, not as noun, adjective, or adverb.

    He did wrong by founding NOUN too?

    No.  I didn’t say that.  He did real good.

    So, what are you saying?

    He did good for all — and for himself too!  NOUN just awarded Baba a PhD in Theology — after his robust scholarly defence of course!

    And what’s wrong with that?

    Nothing.  It only proves the latest lolly Nigeria has thrown into Baba’s mouth.  So, if he wants to commit suicide for Nigeria, Nigeria has pumped him with enough — in fact, too much — goodies to earn it.

     

    You sef!  Poison dey your mouth!

    Not poison.  Just the truth.

  • Ali, Baba and the NASS mob

    It must be a sobering time for Col. Hameed Ali (retd), the Comptroller-General of the Customs who has been riding gaily in his own self-made whirlwinds. Talk of enfant terrible, talk of in-your-face-defiance and talk of haughty go-to-hell ripostes and Ali is a master of that ancient art.

    Unable to bear the stench in the Nigeria Customs Service, President Muhammadu Buhari had drafted Ali to exorcise that honeypot of its infernal quick-fingered gnomes. The old soldier came riding in gallantly, wielding long swords – an old saying suggests that a son sent on a night mission by his father knocks down doors with impunity (well, not unlike our DSS). Ali, a sole administrator of sort, had let fly numerous heads in the service since he got on board and he is still harvesting scalps.

    But he may have backed up a wrong tree when he recently encountered the National Assembly (NASS) mob. Here is the story: Ali loves his agbada and danshiki and he also thinks it’s rather infra-dig for an army officer to climb down to donning any other yeye uniform. So he would not commit such class hara-kiri. But the Senate recently got on his case and insists he must love the service plus its uniform, or leave her.

    The hell with you, Ali had shot back, at least in body language. But then Baba returned in the middle of this eyeball-to-eyeball hold out. Now, Hardball can only wager that Baba must have told Ali: Oldboy what is this fuss about donning your khaki now? Even Fela said uniform na cloth, na tailor de sew am. Do you want to quarrel about uniform or do you want to do the job I sent you, Baba must have admonished.

    Ali sure got the message and immediately embarked on nocturnal peregrinations, to lobby the Senate and probably do a dress rehearsal. It is likely that Ali would don his khaki CGC regalia soon. That would be the photo of the age and it should go viral instantly.

    Ali has also returned to earth now promising to suspend and review the vexatious customs duty on vehicles saga. While at it, it may also serve him well to get his men off the streets and markets. There are probably more armed customs men in town today than soldiers and police combined. These men should be redeployed to the borders – every nook, every cranny, every footpath, every inch of our borders should be locked down – that is where the action is.

    Finally, and by way of lesson:  governance is always by consensus, always.

  • Sai Baba and Niger Delta

    Sai Baba and Niger Delta

    It is one year and five days today that President Muhammadu Buhari became the landlord in Aso Presidential Villa, Abuja. Not one single kilometre of federal road has been tarred anywhere in this oil-rich region. The North, Southeast and Southwest are also in the same situation.

    The song of hip-hop act, African China, comes to mind at a time like this: “Food no dey, walahi light no dey. And our road no good…”

    And to add salt to injury, the people of five states in the region have not had the honour of being visited by their president. Of the six states in the Southsouth, Buhari, in his first year in office, only visited Cross River. Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Edo and Bayelsa did not have the honour of hosting the president.

    For reasons best known to those behind it, brigands in the Niger Delta were reborn in the first year of the Buhari administration. A new ‘terror’ group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), emerged. Grenades were thrown at major oil and gas facilities at will. They said without some conditions being met by Buhari, peace would elude the Niger Delta, their home. And, by extension, Nigeria.

    They bombed the Chevron valve facility and the 48-inch trunk line supplying crude oil to Warri refinery. The Chevron facility they bombed is the main connecting point where all other platforms are linked up. “With the valve platform blown all Chevron activities are now halted,” the group boasted.

    Their demands are myriad. One of them is the immediate implementation of the report of the 2014 National Conference organised in the run-up to the last general elections by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan. They said if this was not done, the country would break up.

    Another of their demands centres on ownership of oil blocks. They said 60 per cent of the oil blocks must be owned by indigenes of oil-producing areas.

    The avengers also had an axe to grind with their fellow Niger Deltan and Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who earlier in the life of the Buhari administration faulted the Maritime University started by the Jonathan administration. They said Amaechi, an Ikwerre man from Rivers, must apologise to the Ijaw on whose soil the university is situated for his “careless and reckless statement about the siting of the university”. They said maritime university “is located in the most appropriate and befitting place Okerenkoko” and must start the 2015/2016 academic session immediately.

    They also said Ogoni and all oil-polluted areas in the Niger Delta must be cleaned up and compensation paid to the communities. They also demanded that the Niger Delta Amnesty programme must be well funded and allowed to continue to function effectively.

    These avengers also claimed the Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign was, in his first year, skewed in favour of his political associates. The militants said that all members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) indicted in any corruption-related cases should be made to face trial like members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

     

    They also demanded apologies from Buhari, the Department of State Services and ex-Governor Timipre Sylva for killing former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, “with intimidation and harassment because of his party affiliation”.

    “Until our demands are met, no repair works should be done at the blast site. Whoever that is going there for any repair work will be doing that at their detriment,” they threatened.

    As expected, the president wrote them off. Fighter jets are now in the region trying to smoke them out. If their statement is anything to go by, they are not deterred. Their latest statement, issued on Tuesday, threatened the military, the oil companies and their workers. And of course the economy.

    Let’s get away from the avengers, whose real motives are still shrouded. In the last one year, the common man in the Niger Delta has not felt the change that Buhari promised.

    The common Niger Deltans are still poor, stinking and not sure of where the next meal will come from. They are yet to quit the creeks. Their houses, made of wood, are still covered with palm front. For them, luxury is a stranger. Their children can still not go to school.

    At this juncture, I will like to share my thoughts on what the president and governors in the region can do so that by May 29, next year and beyond, we will have a better story to tell about the common Niger Deltan.

    I will start with the East-West Coastal Road, which can be funded through Public Private Partnership (PPP) since there is cash crunch in the land. The concept, construction and cost of the East-West Coastal Road surpasses geographical spread, technical and structural specification, of any other project ever undertaken since independence.

    The proposed road, which will originate from Udukpani in Cross Rivers State, will transverse and connect over 1,000 communities and will terminate at Aiyeteju, Epe, in Lagos State. The three sections of the road will pass through areas with challenging and difficult terrains. The East-West Coastal Road Section 1 is from Warri to Kaikama in Delta State; the Section II is from Port Harcourt to Ahoada in Rivers State and Section II-II from Ahoada, Rivers State to Kaiama in Bayelsa State. It will interface with the ongoing Trans-African Highway running from Dakar, Senegal to Mombasa in Kenya.

    The East-West Coastal Road, according to experts, will serve as the shortest link between Lagos and the coastal areas of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Ondo and Rivers states. It is also meant to stem the rising tide of rural-urban drift as the opportunities within the region will outweigh those outside it.

    The road will enhance the security of the region and Nigeria at large. It will facilitate the direct access to waterways that have not been utilised, even as it will encourage the setting up of core maritime engineering facilities, such as ocean terminal for deep-sea anchorage; ship repairs and maintenance facilities to handle the engineering needs of big ocean-going vessels; fishing and passenger commuter terminals; increase in fishing activities in the coastal region; encouraging the establishment of functional Export Processing Zones (EPZs) in the coastal states; and boosting trading activities.

    The road will open up employment opportunities to both skilled and unskilled labour during and after the construction of the road. The road will facilitate new investment in the coastal areas of the Niger Delta and encourage local technology and content.

    Also, there should be profound commitment to the prosecution of a diversified economic roadmap with special emphasis on agricultural transformation and agro-industrial development that will utilise available local raw materials and other contents.

    The various states should be made less dependent on statutory allocations from the Federation Account and concentrate on other areas of revenue-generation. This is time to plan for Niger Delta after oil.

    I also want the administration to ensure the proper monitoring of the activities of oil companies to control the recklessness associated with oil exploration and exploitation as most of the past spills and other ecological disasters have either been as a result of poor regulation or none at all.

    Given the success of Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals, more investment should be encouraged in the area of petro-chemicals and agro-allied industries.

    And to governors in the region, it is time to collaborate to realise their goals through judicious deployment of the region’s oil earnings to ensure a seamless transition from huge allocations to none at all.

    My final take: It is only when the welfare of the people of the Niger Delta becomes the utmost concern of leaders at the federal, states and local government levels that those years of marginalisation, lack of representation, physical development and exploitation can be reversed. With opportunities for all, dissent and rancour will be banished.

    The region sure needs leadership that thinks years ahead of its contemporaries to bring enduring succour and satisfaction to the people and extricate them from crass poverty, hunger, under-development and want.

     

  • Baba savages his own dog

    When a dog bites a man, it is no news, but when an old man bites his former dog, that is the stuff of great news. Whilst we are still on the subject of Easter and the season of charity, it is meet and charitable to note that our good friend, the roly-poly prince of Remo, absconding medico, erstwhile doyen of presidential guard-dogs, master of mastiffs and rector among rottweilers is in fine fettle and ebullient spirit.

    So far, and to the detriment and eternal chagrin of implacable detractors, his name has refused to show upamong those who benefited from the arms bazaar and operation “ebamigbondoyigbe” even though we hear that Magu is still mulling his options. It will be recalled that the old bruiser of Owu once hurled unflattering epithets at the flamboyant prince on this delicate matter.

    But not to worry. Even a temporary respite fromGeneral Buhari is enough to trigger off frenzied animation and renewed volubility in the most lion-hearted of men. But as the Yoruba will say, a man named Folorunso must not tempt God’s elastic patience by climbing a palm tree with banana straws. It is strange that the feisty doyen of digbolugidogs, in his frenzy, should choose the old warrior as the object of promiscuous adulation.

    It will be recalled that Junaid Mohammed, the volcanic Russian-trained Kano medic, once swore that he personally witnessed baba in Aso Rock wielding the cane on the orotund buttocks of the rogue doctor with headmaster-like severity. Such was the traumatic cruelty of corporal punishment that the corpulent doyen started screaming in his native Remo dialect: “Oro baba oo, orobabaoo!”

    It was the inevitable Okon that drew baba’s sharp and severe putdown of the doyen to snooper’s attention last Friday.

    “Ha oga, baba don finish demyeye Yoruba doctor. Him say he be hippocrate. But the problem be say even if you put dem hippo animal for inside crate he fit bite and he fit make trouble”, Okon noted fearfully.

    “Didn’t baba give him corporal punishment before?” snooper wondered half aloud.

    “Oga dis one don pass corporal. Na general punishment make dem baba give dem doctor boy. He don teywey him dey do rubbish”, Okon charged angrily.

    “I see”, snooper noted with a hint of irritation.

    “But you see oga”, Okon began in a low tone. “Make demOwu baba be careful oooo. Young boy fit defeat old man for fight oo. He get one fight like dat I come see for television between dem big crocodile and demobonge python. You go think say dem crocodile go finis dem python kiakia like dat. But small time, dem python come roll over dem crocodile and he come dey squeeze am like dem Yoruba women dey do dem belle scarf when market don scatter. The crocodile comedey cry like small baby and he come kaput. As dem python come dey swallow am,naimOkon come pick race….”

    “OKon, get lost!” snooper screamed as he dismissed the crazy fellow.

  • Ouch, Baba’s children at war!

    God loved Biblical King David, to be sure. But the amorous excesses of the man who the Bible said knew how to celebrate God – and the Psalms are concrete proof – mainly on account of the Beersheba covetousness, received a God-ly rebuke: swords shalt never depart from thine house!

    Of course, you know God also loves Baba – Baba being former President Olusegun Obasanjo – at least from his own personal testimonies. Didn’t all of you hear Baba declare that if he had wanted a third term – and he had earnestly asked his God – God would have done it for him?

    Well, the old man is back at university, trying out a PhD in theology. Who knows? Maybe when all is settled, his swansong would be a book entitled Obasanjo’s Jehovah Praise, which in the sheer celebration of the Almighty, would put the David Psalms to shame? That, to be sure, is a mouth-watering proposition!

    In sweet expectation of that however, Baba seems to have caught the David syndrome, in terms of a civil war in his political house – his children are boys and girls at war!

    Ah, on the score, Baba lives by example! He fired the first shot by training his verbal AK-47 on Goodluck Jonathan, president of the Federal Republic, but a godson out of favour. Since godfather and godson fell out, the nation has been catching a cold!

    Godfather says godson is incompetent and useless – and mind you, Obasanjo doesn’t hate Jonathan; he only loves Nigeria. Godson counters godfather is no statesman to harshly put down his own president just like that – remember the Fela number “Just like that, just like that..”? He says godfather, at least from the irreverent lampoon of his own president, is nothing but a motor park tout.

    True, quid pro quo,  after Baba had shown up at Jonathan’s daughter’s wedding, Jonathan too showed up in Baba’s sanctuary – to beg: remember Fela’s “E don beg me” episode with Justice Okoro Idogu? But Baba? “No agreement today, no agreement tomorrow…”, ah another Fela’s famous number! The war continues!

    But as this war rages, the political children too appear to have caught the bug.

    When former CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi accused Jonathan of hugging sleaze on account of NNPC’s alleged non-remittance of US $20 billion into the Federation Account, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (NOI) was talking of some forensic audit, Oby Ezekwesili (OE), gave the coordinating minister for the economy a short shrift. What was needed, she roared, was a full international enquiry, not some closely-guided forensics. Both NOI and OE were golden girls of Obasanjo’s presidential economic think tank.

    Then comes the latest theatre of war: NOI vs Chukwuma (his first name is no longer Charles) Soludo (CS). CS, in a truly seminal intervention, rippling with contemporary Nigerian political history, political economy and economics qua economics, scored Jonathan F9 in his (mis) management of the economy. Not only that: he buffeted the president for “outsourcing” the economy, a chore he should have done himself!

    But NOI, the CEO of the “firm” benefiting from the “outsourcing” came out, eyes flashing, gun blazing: Soludo is Nigeria’s worst CBN governor ever! Well, ask Nasir El-Rufai: there is no love lost between the two, even during the halcyon days of Obasanjo’s economic management team!

    Which of Baba’s children would tango next? Watch out, Baba’s children are at war!

  • Baba, the ‘beautiful bride’?

    Baba, the ‘beautiful bride’?

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is one Nigerian that excites a lot of passion in these shores and beyond. With his good, not too good, interesting and humorous sides, he has been able to confound many who continue to wonder whether he could be regarded as a friend or foe. Obasanjo, who had been on a selfimposed break from party politics, may have become the beautiful bride in recent times among members of the two leading political parties in the country, writes Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI.

    GIVEN the frequency of visits of leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s hilltop mansion in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the elder statesman appears to have become the beautiful bride whose support must be sought by any party who hopes to win next month’s presidential election. While Obasanjo is not the only elder statesman whose endorsement and support has been solicited for, as the campaign for the make-or-mar February 14 presidential election gets underway, he has been the most sought after. Unlike others such as former military President Ibrahim Babangida, Obasanjo who remains a card-carrying member of the PDP, in his usual colourful and bombastic manner, has not left anyone in doubt where his loyalty lies. In the latest round of such visits, the presidential candidate of the APC, General Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the party met with Obasanjo at the hilltop mansion on Tuesday, barely 13 hours after President Goodluck Jonathan held a nocturnal secret meeting with the former president at the same venue to woo him to their side. Buhari and his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo in company with APC leaders, including Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Chief Audu Ogbe, Chief Barnabas Gemade, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Governor Ibikunle Amosun and others arrived at Obasanjo’s residence at about 11.20am in a convoy of cars. It is now clear that the APC, which has been wooing the former president for some time now, has completely won him to their side; despite the fact that he still carries the card of the PDP. It is a well-known fact that President Jonathan and Obasanjo are not best of friends at the moment. Strategists within the opposition party foresaw that the party would need to throw in everything at its disposal to win this battle and quickly cashed in on it. One of Obasanjo’s grouse with Jonathan is the President’s decision to seek a second term. The former President is not favourably disposed to this and he had made his position clear that Jonathan promised not to re-contest and that he should honour the agreement. Civil society activist and President of the Nigeria Voters Assembly (VOTAS), Comrade Mashood Erubami, said Obasanjo became a new bride because of his influence in Nigeria and abroad. He noted that the APC is latching on the old belief that the enemy of an enemy is a friend. The civil society activist was alluding to an ancient proverb which suggests that two opposing parties can or should work together against a common enemy. Erubami argues that the two parties are pursuing their own interests by wooing Gen. Obasanjo to paint them well before the people. Obasanjo, two-time ruler of Nigeria, remains an enigma to many Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike. So far, he has lived up to his reputation as a controversial, unpredictable, but courageous individual who is often credited with native intelligence. The man who would clock 78 in March, is widely perceived as a complex and difficult person to understand. Depending on his mood, he could unleash his good, not too good, interesting and humorous sides at a moment’s notice. On the part of the APC, the move to enlist Obasanjo’s backing started over a year ago. Shortly after the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Peoples Party of Nigeria, the Congress for Progressives Change and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) metamorphosed into the APC, the party leaders stormed Obasanjo’s residence to introduce the party to the former President. Among the APC leaders that spoke at the Obasanjo’s residence was Tinubu. He described the former President as an elder statesman. He had hailed him thus: “You have come out of tribulation and held the highest position in this country. We are here because of your courage. Nobody can claim that he has information more than you. You have surmounted a number of crises. Nigeria is divided now more than before. To realise a stable Nigeria, we want to encourage you to continue to speak the truth. We are resolved and determined to rescue Nigeria, we want you as navigator.” Obasanjo’s meeting with Tinubu was also attended by the APC National Vice Chairman, Segun Oni, who is a close ally of the former President. Tinubu’s visit, it was said, centred on what should constitute the interest of the South-West in the forthcoming presidential election. It was gathered the APC leaders specifically solicited the support of the former president for the party. Obasanjo was said to have advised the opposition party to choose a presidential candidate with a clean record. The contest between the PDP and the APC for Obasanjo’s attention started in October 2013, when as part of its reconciliatory efforts, Senate President David Mark led a PDP delegation to the hilltop residence of the former President, to bring him back to the mainstream of action within the party. The Mark-led delegation arrived the residence some minutes after Tinubu left the place. As a follow up to the delegation’s closed-door meeting with Baba, as he is fondly referred to, the PDP National Chairman Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu publicly apologised to the elder statesman and sought hi’s forgiveness. Mu’azu offered the apology on behalf of the party in Abuja, while welcoming former Ogun State Governor Otunba Gbenga Daniel with his loyalists within the Labour Party back to the ruling party. He said: “All of us must beg Obasanjo to forgive us. We need to beg him. He is very prayerful and we need to ask him to forgive us so that we can be forgiven. We are your children. We have made mistakes and Baba, please forgive us. Come and lead us. We are your followers and we assure you that we are all good boys and girls. We have sinned. Baba please forgive us.” The robust relationship between Obasanjo and Jonathan snapped not long after the 2011 general elections, but they managed to keep it from public glare. The breakdown in the relationship became glaring through an exchange of open letters between them. The tone of the two letters, analysts said, left the impression of irreconcilable differences between both “combatants.” Obasanjo felt that Jonathan had derailed from the expected path and enjoined him in an open letter to return to the path of honour. The former President had accused Jonathan, who he had supported to become the President, of training snipers for the purpose of unleashing terror against perceived political enemies and of allowing the PDP to slip in disarray, among others. Erubami is of the view that the PDP move to woo Obasanjo to support Jonathan’s re-election bid is belated. His words:’ The President and his party have been approbating and reprobating at the same time coming belatedly to apologise, begging the General on each occasion that is convenient without attaching any seriousness to their apologies.” There is no doubt that many Nigerians are enjoying the game. Politically, Obasanjo commands the greatest respect of all Nigeria’s past leaders. He was the first former President in the country that installed his successor and as well facilitated the emergence of the incumbent President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. In the South West, Obasanjo also enjoys political goodwill in almost all the states, including Lagos. All the governors referred to him as their father. Though, some of the states are being governed by opposition parties, Obasanjo still enjoys his political relevance. Apart from politics, Obasanjo also dabbles into traditional matters. He had facilitated the installations of many traditional rulers, including the incumbent Alake of Egbaland; the Olowu of Owu among others. During Tuesday’s meeting at Obasanjo’s residence, Buhari solicited Obasanjo’s support for the February 14 presidential election, stressing that the APC would focus attention on issues of security, economy and corruption, if voted into power. In spite of all entreaties by Buhari and the APC leadership, Obasanjo insisted that he remained a card-carrying member of the PDP. He, however, reiterated that regardless of his party affiliation, the well-being of the nation remained paramount to him.

  • Baba, the Bard and barbs

    Baba, the Bard and barbs

    Still on his Watch, Baba and the Bard (BAB) just tangled. Is it any wonder barbs are flying from the Bard, that takes no lexical prisoners?

    Baba, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has committed the literary equivalent of the proverbial Islamic zealot that carries his saara (votive offering) beyond the mosque.  The last time the Ebora Owu committed such literary harakiri, he was still the all-mighty president.

    But not even that illusion could save Baba from the Kongi tempest, sending Baba hurtling down the literary plane, as a vicious hurricane would uproot a big tree and send it zipping on the horizon, like some tiny pin!

    Phew!  Had Baba compared notes with those who inherited his court, they would not have committed similar suicide.  Not so long ago, a certain presidential spouse tried her lexical kindergarten on this same bard — and open sesame, a new lexicon birthed on Nigeria’s literary space: sheppopotamus!  This bard sure takes no prisoners.  Lexical mis-adventurers, beware!

    But like a doomed dog deaf to the hunter’s whistle, Baba would go court avoidable trouble. In his latest book, My Watch, Baba ran his mouth on the Nobel laureate’s alleged shakabula (crude, inaccurate) reputation as a political pundit.

    Hear Baba Iyabo declare with flourish: He is a “misfit as a political analyst, commentator or critic … For Wole, no one can be good, nor can anything be spot-on politically except that which emanates from him or is ordained by him … I take him seriously on almost all issues except on the political, particularly Nigerian politics.”

    Since Baba chose literature, a field in which the Nobel laureate is well grounded to dismiss him as a “bloody amateur”, the same way the general would, in military conceit, dismiss non-soldiers as “bloody civilians”, Kongi chose D.O. Fagunwa’s Yoruba classic, Igbo Olodumare, to paint an unflattering portraiture of Obasanjo’s public persona. That persona belonged, according to the book, to the worst set of humans who, when they die, in Fagunwa’s fictive cosmogony, don’t go to heaven or hell direct, but are garrisoned somewhere, for extreme wickedness, while on earth.

    The Bard declared that the alleged persona of his amateur literary traducer, from Fagunwa’s classification, belongs to the seventh and worst of this class of people.

    More details on that persona, according to WS, quoting Fagunwa: “With his mouth, he ruined the work of others, while he used a big potsherd to cover the good works of some, that others might not see their attainments. He nosed around for secrets that would entrap his companions, and blew them up into monumental crimes in the eyes of the world. He who turns the world upside down, places the deceitful on the throne, casts the truthful down — because such is a being of base earth, he will never stand as equal among the uplifted …”

    Does that really add up Baba’s public image, though the Bard insists the man is an unfazed master of mendacity? The jury is out!

    But before you could call WS, our Bard rounded off with sarcastic flourish: “So, let our Great Immortal, the Unparalleled Achiever, Divinely appointed Watchman … remember Fagunwa’s Iku, the ultimate predator whose visitation comes to us all, sooner or later.  Chei! There is Death o!”

    Did a certain presidential spouse feel some collateral heat?