No doubt, we are in a country of anything goes. Some years back, when we were rated as the happiest gathering of people in the world, it was not for any special reason other than the way we giggle over the putrefying mess that defines official inaction and everyday living in this nation – the most populous of Africa’s black race. Regular readers of this page would readily agree that Knucklehead does not particularly fancy the wily old fox from Owu, former President Olusegun Obasanjo. And so when he, in what has become a commonplace ritual, fired his verbal canon on Tuesday at a summit on sustainable development in Ibadan, many would have concluded that I would join the band wagon of those who will pick offence against his latest vituperation. Well, I am not. This time, Obasanjo was right in all matters particular as some would put. My only fear is that, in our haste to hang him in the sun to dry, we may end up not appreciating his courage in telling the truth to power. Doing that, I must point out, will be deleterious to the growth of this nation. And if we are all agreed that this country needs to be cleansed of ancestral ‘curses’ and ‘jinxed’ patrimony, the canticles of this old war horse should be taken seriously.
As a thoroughbred Yoruba, I know it’s sacrilegious to call the elderly, no matter how senile, a liar. In fact, we were brought up to understand that elders don’t lie even as they are the only breed licenced to be economical with the truth. It is for that reason that the young ones are encouraged to commend the elderly for daring to release an utterly discomfiting offensive fart in the middle of a family. You are admonished to tolerate their indiscretion and temporarily suck in the foul smell. They can’t be wrong and their words are, we were also told, soaked with wisdom. In Obasanjo’s case, he is not just an elder but also a statesman. He is therefore one of the living elder-statesmen of the Yoruba stock today.
Instead of vilifying him, especially for his indelible contributions to the jinxing of Nigeria, we should worship him for the privilege of drinking from his fountain of wisdom. It’s just that if he had foresight in place of hindsight, his long years in power ought to have left Nigeria better than the cursed years that he and his lieutenants, including a merry band of bandits in power, bequeathed to us. Instead of this mortifying angst over what some describe as a hollow patter, we should apply the same wisdom ingrained in us by the elderly to sieve the truth. At least, we ought to know that, oftentimes, the truth we seek is wreathed in tissues of lies. And so, we ask, why knock our heads in anger over the deliberate taunts of a whiny old man whose self-perpetuation agenda was collectively frustrated?
For those who have followed Gen. Matthew Aremu Okikiola Olusegun Obasanjo’s trajectory with painstaking incredulity, it did not come as a surprise that integrity takes a completely different meaning in his lexicon. ‘Baba’, as his sycophantic admirers use to call him, was known for convivial interactions with hapless foes, even while planning to whack them with a political sledgehammer. I doubt if Nigerian citizens are surprised that a spent gadfly like OBJ and a grandmaster at recycling faded talents has also elected to blame the younger breed of modern-day leaders for the country’s depressing woes. If he had blamed himself or the gang of military interventionists that held the nation by the jugular for the better part of its chequered history, that would have been the shocker of the century. If he had not directed his poisoned darts at notable sworn enemies like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and ex-Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamiyeiseigha, then that would not be the vintage Ebora of Owu that most hate to love. If he had indicted his governmens (first as military ruler and later, as a democratically elected president) for the tragic combustions in a country that freely fritter its natural resources, that would have been tantamount to carrying patriotism beyond its reducible minimum. Why should anyone expect him to point a loaded gun at himself and dare to pull the trigger? Senility may be a disturbing health condition for the aged but it is not anywhere near stupidity. C’mon, let’s be fair to this man!
We may quarrel with his style of using some persons as his toothpicks of abuse. We may not like the way he wields his selective tar brush. We may even pooh-pooh his sanctimonious arrogance, knowing that he remains a major part of the country’s multidimensional crises. What we cannot ignore is the truth wreathed in his latest outburst. For Knucklehead, especially in this period of frustrating leadership chaos, it is important to note that someone like Obasanjo has thrown a challenge at the people to get back their country from the vagabonds in power. He has told citizens to free themselves, take action and stop the whining while the rot deepens.
Listen to him: “The whole thing is not just about leadership. If we talk about good leadership, you should also talk about good followers. If you talk about human rights, you should also talk about human duties and obligations. It is sad that after 53 years of independence, we have no leader that we can commend. Then, we are jinxed and cursed; we should all go to hell. The problem in Africa is that when one person takes over, he would not see any good thing that his predecessor did. Let us condemn, but with caution.”
Surely, good citizens should not follow ‘Baba’ into the hellhole created by his political cohorts. It has been said that people only get the kind of leaders they deserve. If the followers that Obasanjo gleefully talk down on had not been a laid back, see-no-evil, do-nothing and condescending lot, maybe the story would have been different today. Many years of leadership abuse have made most followers to believe that it is a norm for the man on the throne to steal the treasury blind and leave them with the crumbs. Some would even worship at his feet, forgetting that the true power lies with them and not the one that was twice given the privilege of being first among equals.
Buried in Obasanjo’s words is the bitter truth of how and why we found ourselves in this mess. Because we allowed this bunch of power grabbers to toy with our ‘human rights, duties and obligations’ for so many years, we have given the likes of Obasanjo incredible opportunities to fart in our midst with pomp and ceremony while we applaud the ‘kind gesture’. Perhaps, as followers, if we had insisted on probity, accountability and thorough scrutiny of some persons, they would not be the ones to teach us the meaning of integrity, based on selective amnesia. If we had not looked the other way while they pillaged the treasury with ignominy, they wouldn’t have had the liberty to twist the truth and carpet the few ones they offered as sacrificial lambs to justify their fight against corruption. If they had been forced out of office for flagrant abuse of the Constitution by withholding billions of naira meant for local government councils in a state, even in total disregard of a Supreme Court ruling, they would not be the ones posturing about integrity in governance. But with followers like us, why won’t some persons stand at rooftops, offering to give us what they really don’t have?
It is, indeed, banal to lay the blame of this national rot at the door post of the younger generation. In any case, how old was ‘elder’ Obasanjo when he became Head of State in February 1996? And when he came up again in 1999, what difference did he make with his grey hair. Anyway, Nigerians who have refused to be ‘cursed’ and ‘jinxed’ are beginning to ask questions on the social media after the rant. My good friend, Afolabi Gambari observed: “One man ruled a country TWICE for a cumulative 11 years and eight months in a country of over 160 million people; thereby depriving millions of compatriots the opportunity to rule in their lifetimes. He could say, “That’s my own destiny and there’s nothing any one can do to change it.” Absolutely right, isn’t he? Two days ago, the man woke up and declared, characteristically: “My country is cursed and jinxed.” He went further to blame every past leader but himself for the woes that have befallen his country. Yet, a whole 11 years and eight months rule out of 52 years of nationhood represents a HUGE chunk! And he wouldn’t see it this way. Pity, isn’t it? He could well be written off as a comedian. But, pray, this is absurd comedy!”
Yet another, a man highly respected for his steadfastness in speaking truth to power, Richard Akinnola, noted: “In his usual puritanical, self-righteous bogey, OBJ in his yesterday’s derisive treatise on bad leadership, refused to mention his own name and that of his daughter, Iyabo. Or how can someone who was broke when he came out of prison in 1998 become a billionaire in 2007?”
More poignant is Emmanuel Ogbeche’s troubling update on his Facebook account. His posers should serve as food for thought for anyone who truly believes in redeeming this nation. He wrote on his wall: “We are all taking parochial stance in the coming conflagration that threatens our country, hmmmmm. Fuming funny Kayode rants, some applaud, some hiss and we take entrenched positions. Now Oby Ezekwesili joins the fray and calls on government to arrest the kiss and tell bad boy; some are hailing, others snigger and we are cool. Shekau kills dozens in Borno, some thinks it’s a divine mandate and silently wished him success, others are stupefied by the callousness of it and life goes on. Hmmmmm! Rwandan genocide had such red flags three clear years before it happened. May we not wait to become ‘Iwenzis’ ie cockroaches!”
What is there to add really? Now, Obasanjo thinks we should all go to hell as if hell is that distant from the reality staring us in the face. Well, which other clime will tolerate this fart sauced with abundant salt from the butt of a perennial abuser of power and age? Only in Naija….
