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Tag: Obasanjo

Nuisance without value
- Obasanjo points a finger at others, but his other four fingers condemn him
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is again on his notorious binge, talking down, with merry malice, on his successors in power, so he could look good.

In a recorded speech, at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, at Yale University, USA, Obasanjo dubbed President Bola Tinubu as “Emilokan”; and his predecessor, President Muhammadu Buhari, as “Baba Go Slow”. He thus traded insults and crude name-calling like a coarse politician, in the basest of stumps; and not an “elder statesman” that he always loves to posture.

In all of this holy posturing Obasanjo, notorious for his immaculate white hypocrisy, over-reached himself by his chosen topic: “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria.” A self-docking never sounded so savage!

In post-1999 Nigeria, no one is guiltier than Obasanjo of state capture; and as a failed leader, despite his eternal droning. But he crossed the red line by going abroad to proclaim, as “failing” the country that gave him everything;

the country he violently spurred to satisfy his elephantine greed. That’s beyond redemption — or pardon.

“As the world can see and understand, Nigeria’s situation is bad,” the arch finger-pointer thundered to his audience, among who was Peter Obi, the failed candidate that Obasanjo backed for the 2023 presidential election; and one of the most ardent election deniers thereafter. “The failing state status of Nigeria is confirmed and glaringly indicated and manifested for every honest person to see.”

That’s a new low in Obasanjo’s graceless ranting — for every honest person to see!

But back to “state capture”, which could be defined as rigging state policies for illicit personal benefits.

Long before state capture re-echoed internationally with the odyssey of former South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, there was the Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), which Gen. Obasanjo launched as military Head of State. The handmaiden, to implement OFN, was the Land Use Decree (now codified as the Land Use Act, LUA). LUA vested all lands in the state governors, who can then appropriate the land for public use.

While OFN was noble and LUA was no crime, LUA further proved for Obasanjo a veritable instrument, as former junta head and two-term elected president, to capture the state, while he continues to pose as the saint.

LUA paved the way for Obasanjo’s own OFN — Obasanjo Farms Nigeria! Though Obasanjo spoke of some bank loans to buy large swath of lands, all over the country, it was clear LUA made such acquisitions easier. Or how much did Obasanjo earn as Head of State that, after his military tour of duty in 1979, he became one of the biggest land owners nationwide, the acquiring agent his very own OFN — Obasanjo Farms Limited? Is there a more brazen example of state capture?

Maybe, there is! That goes back to Obasanjo’s grand but rotten stunt, as outgoing two-term elected president.

First, he used LUA to corner choice land at Abeokuta, now named the Olusegun Obasanjo Hilltop Estate, Abeokuta. After, he suborned government contractors, major oil players, top banks and blue chip companies, not to mention intimidated state governors and even local councils, to “donate” to his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) — and Resorts — which he bragged was “first in Africa”!

Presidential libraries are a noble American concept. US presidents use presidential libraries to historicise their tenures, via honest donations, after they had left office. But by sheer greed, Obasanjo turned this noble concept on its head! Yet, he points fingers at others as state captors! Meanwhile, none of his three successors — the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari, has such slur attached to their names!

For context, PMB even built the Wole Soyinka Train Station, virtually facing the OOPL in Abeokuta, Ogun State — a stark irony juxtaposing a brazen state captor with another that planted assets that served everyone — rich, poor and

in-between. But PMB never cavilled at anyone! Besides, none of Obasanjo’s successors boasts post-power personal trophies. Obasanjo hauls two (OFN, for his military years; OOPL, for his elected presidency) — both running into trillions of Naira! How much did he earn as junta head and two-term elected president?

Yet, it’s Obasanjo that drones and

grates over state capture! In his insufferable hypocrisy, he condemns himself with his own words! It’s Karma playing jokes on his spiteful soul. The irony is he is the last to notice, as he dances naked in the public, during his seasonal malicious binges.

At the Achebe event, Obasanjo called for the sack of Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, the chair of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); and declared the 2023 election a travesty — because Peter Obi lost; and a desperate Obasanjo was calling for instant cancellation of results?

That post-election panic, and the slur at Yale, both encapsulate Obasanjo’s cave electoral sense of justice, in his unfortunate years as president. For starters, which INEC chair is worse than Prof. Maurice Iwu, with whose criminal collusion, Obasanjo delivered his “do or die” election of 2007?

Pray, which election, in this current Fourth Republic, counting from 1999, is worse than 2003 (when Obasanjo, by military capture — that word again! — clobbered a second term), and 2007: which he unleashed on the country, following his failure to achieve an illicit third term?

The late Yar’Adua (God bless his noble and gentle soul!) was so embarrassed by the brazen steal that made him president! He thus instituted electoral reforms, which have progressively birthed the BIVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) and IReV (INEC Results Viewing portal). This twin-technology has eliminated the PDP-era ghost voters, that delivered the Obasanjo-era fraudulent landslides. Was it an accident that PDP only survived one post-reform poll, and that was 2011?

It’s these strides towards saner polling that Obasanjo now freely bad-mouths as a “travesty”!

But the rot was deeper than Obasanjo-era brazenly skewed polls. He patented the all-mighty principle of legislative “simple minority”, which felled no less than four PDP governors whose faces the imperial president didn’t like. That was aside subjugating an elected governor — Oyo’s Rashidi Ladoja — under Obasanjo’s Oyo Garrison Commander, the late Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu! Had Obasanjo succeeded in his third term bid, only God knows what would have happened to Nigeria’s democracy today.

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He who lives in glass houses, that English saying goes, should not throw stones. But Obasanjo does but recklessly throw stones! His brand of corruption is transparent, yet he glories in it and sits beside the damning evidence, pelts others with stones, and kids himself his glass house of transparent fraud will never ever be shattered. Delusional!

On the economic plain, he shelled out US$ 12 billion to buy out US$ 18 billion debt and he dubbed himself an economic whiz! Yet, had he invested that crude oil windfall in critical infrastructure, wouldn’t Nigeria’s current struggles have been averted? So, is he not fairly docked as the grandfather of the “failing” Nigeria of his spiteful dreams?

As ex-junta head, Obasanjo started his treasured malice with his release of ‘Not My Will’ in 1990. In that post-junta power memoir, he insulted the great Chief Obafemi Awolowo and traduced Gen. Yakubu Gowon, two grand personages that have more nobility in their fingernail, than Obasanjo would ever have in his entire grubby essence. Awolowo is long dead — but is more adored than the ever-grouching Obasanjo. Gowon just turned 90. Both have retained their honour and respect, without uttering a word, yet Obasanjo continues to rant, in grand delusion that his salvation rests in destroying others — all for respect he will never get.

It’s a delusion the old man would pursue till the end of his days — and just as well! It’s spiritual comeuppance for

making too many bad choices, yet feigning they were the best ever. It’s a grand nuisance without the slightest value.
November 24, 2024
What exactly does Obasanjo want? Good governance? Sure not because he never gave it

Getting back to my mother, I still remember your beating her up continually when we were kids. What kids can forget that kind of violence against their mother?

Your maltreatment of women is legendary. Many of your women have come out to denounce you in public but since your madness is also part of the madness of the society, it is the women that are usually ignored and mistreated” – Professor Iyabo Obasanjo, PhD, psychoanalysing her father in an unsparing, no holdsbarred letter dated December 16, 2013.

The above should enable Nigerians know who is advising them because Yorubas say you should first look at what somebody offering to make a Christmas dress for you is wearing.

After describing the 2023 Presidential election in which his candidate, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, through whom he may have intended to resurrect his Third Term Project, of yore, was beaten blue and black to the third place as a travesty, former President Olusegun Obasanjo,

went on to say much more at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum in Yale University, U.S.A where he recently presented a paper on ‘Leadership failure and state capture in Nigeria’.

He sermonised:

“As a matter of urgency, we must ensure the INEC Chairperson and their staff are thoroughly vetted. The vetting exercise should produce dispassionate, non-partisan actors with impeccable reputations.

“Nigeria must ensure the appointment of new credible INEC leadership at the federal, state, local government, and municipal – city, town, and village – levels, with short tenures to prevent undesirable political influence and corruption, and to re-establish trust in the electoral system by its citizens, further adding that “The INEC Chairperson must not only be absolutely above board but must also be transparently independent and incorruptible.”

Pray! When did Chief Obasanjo know all these: after he graduated from the Open University?

Or, good as they are, how exactly did his 2007 hatchetman, the one and only Maurice Mmaduakolam

Iwu, of blessed memory, square up to these his prescriptions?

Knowing full well that the ol’ man did not act on his own, how come the man whose cross the unfortunate Professor carried to his grace, could now turn round to lay strictures against INEC?

Indeed, how on earth should that proceed from the mouth of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a man who was the ‘Capo di tutti’ of election manipulation in the annals of Nigerian history, a mere 17 years after? He must really think he could so soon sell Nigerian a hagiography.

But not so soon because as Google never forgets, History doesn’t, either.

So to his face today, we would count the former president’ss nine toes.

In the first place, consequent upon the rigging that characterised gubernatorial elections in the 2007 election cycle which was superintended over by his government, nearly all the elections in the Southwest, including Edo state, were voided by the Supreme Court.

The election, his last in government, was scored very low by everybody, its Chief beneficiary, the highly regarded President Umar Yar’ Adua inclusive, just as the U. S National Democratic Institute whose leader, Madeleine Albrigh, then U. S Secretary of State, herself an observer at the selfsame election, described it as the worst election ever, anywhere in the whole world, Myanmar inclusive.

It is important that Chief Obasanjo be freshly reminded of that shameful election just in case it has escaped his very busy mind.

I shall do this using the instrumentality of just one of my many articles on the luckiest ever Nigerian Public Servant.

Titled ‘A Grandstanding Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’, and dated 8 April, 2018, it reads as follows:

The letter below (that letter would not be included in this recall) from Chief Deji Fasuan MON, is the leitmotif for this article at a time Obasanjo’s one-upmanship has again reached a crescendo.

The two-term Nigerian Head of state has been grandstanding of late describing, in lurid terms, the sitting President Muhammadu Buhari, just as he has done to everybody who ever held that position other than himself.

Many have tried to posit that it does not lie in Obasanjo’s place to continuously trash a sitting President since he has access and has, indeed, been justifiably described as the greatest pilgrim to Buhari’s Aso Villa until recently.

But that is when you hear some busy bodies asking you to mind the message and not the messenger.

Of course, I do not subscribe to such sentiments since my position is that deeds, rather than talk, which is cheap, should be the determining factor, being far more indicative of who the preacher really is.

In justification of my views, I present below a sample of Obasanjo’s performance in office using election rigging, which was archetypical of everything he did in office.

A decent, late President Yar Adua self-confessed the rigging of his own election, the reason I chose it for this analysis.

I present below, a report of that election as captured by Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Nigerian General Election, 2007.

Reactions

“Ikimi and Amusu, representatives of the AC and the ANPP respectively, at the INEC Collation Centre in Abuja, denounced the results announced by the INEC Chairman. According to Ikimi, “In states like Edo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, Akwa Ibom etc, we know that the elections did not start even as late as 5 pm.

The results collated showed that over 80 percent of the votes being counted were in favour of the PDP and they are totally flawed. In most of the states, only the Resident Electoral Commissioners and PDP Agents signed results. We have been here since yesterday (Sunday) to observe this collation and we have collated only eleven states when the INEC Chairman rushed down to declare the results declaring Umoru Yar’Adua the winner.” Continued Ikimi: “The result sheets we viewed so far were not signed by any of our agents at the state level. They were only signed by Resident Electoral Commissioners and PDP agents.”

Also, Admiral Lanre Amusu who represented the ANPP concurred with what Chief Ikimi said. “Only results from13 states, and they were collated and signed by only the Resident Electoral Commissioners and the PDP Agents. Our agents did not sign these results.”

The national Chairman of the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA), Chief Olu Falae, with leaders of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Action Congress (AC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), National Advance Party (NAP) and the National Democratic Party (NDP), has called for the setting up of an Interim National Government to conduct credible elections in the country. Chief Falae suggested that the country needed an ING to guard against the emergence of the military.

The Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation claimed that INEC deliberately left 70 percent of the ballot papers in a warehouse in Johannesburg, South Africa. We heard that the contractors could have freighted the entire 200-ton consignment into the country three days before the election (Thursday) but INEC instructed them to bring only 30 percent of the ballot papers”.

Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, said that the West should deny entry visas to INEC Chairman, Maurice Iwu for his “complicity in the fraudulent elections.” He said he has heard of the financial prudence and moral uprightness of Yar’Adua. “I wish he [Yar’Adua] would carry his decency even further by publicly renouncing this poisoned chalice to say: ‘I’m not a receiver of stolen goods”,

Observers

Groups monitoring the Presidential election gave it a dismal assessment. Chief European Union observer, Max van den Berg, reported that the handling of the polls had “fallen far short” of basic international standards, and that “the process cannot be considered to be credible”, citing “poor election organisation, lack of transparency, significant evidence of fraud, voter disenfranchisement, violence and bias”. They described the election as “the worst they had ever seen anywhere in the world”, with “rampant vote rigging, violence, theft of ballot boxes and intimidation”.

One group of observers said that at one polling station in Yenagoa, in the oil-rich south, where 500 people were registered to vote, more than 2,000 votes were recorded.

Bishop Felix Alaba Job, Head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, cited massive fraud and disorganisation, including result sheets being passed around to politicians who simply filled in figures as they chose, while bribed returning electoral officers looked away”.

International Reaction

A spokesman for the United States Department of State said it was “deeply troubled” by the election, calling them “flawed”.

“Nigeria has once again failed to rise to the occasion…. Size isn’t enough…. It is a failed giant,” said prominent Ghanaian economist Nii Moi Thompson who compared the elections to those of Liberia in 2005, saying, “Even Liberia, which is coming out of war, had more credible elections than Nigeria”.

“There is the saying: ‘How goes Nigeria, so goes the rest of Africa’. To have this widespread abuse of the democratic initiative certainly doesn’t do Africa any good,” said Scott Baker, a professor at Champlain College in the US city of Burlington, Vermont. “How can Nigeria sit at the meetings of the African Union African Peer Review Mechanism or ECOWAS and talk about other peoples’ elections?” he asked.

In conclusion, would President Obasanjo still be still be seing himself as a messiah, as he loves to do, in any decent country driven by democratic ethos?

It’s time for an Election Malpractices Tribunal in Nigeria which, as happened in Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew, will have no respect for persons, no matter the office.

Read Also: Obasanjo and his ‘failing state’ theory

In Loving & Cherished Memory Of Ambassador Olufemi Ani.

Not again!.

Dipo this evening informed me of Bro Femi’s passing.

It was an absolutely devastating news because I had a long, forever cherished relationship with the Ambassador, dating all the way back to 1958.

That year he hosted me during my interview at Government College, Ibadan to which only 4 of us, Ekiti, were invited in Ondo state.

I became very close to him in later life, and on one occasion recruited a Secretary for him.

My wife and I used to joke that if the Ambassador bought something of N5000 from you, he would rather give you a cheque than pay cash, as he did a few times buying wine in our T.Club.

A very handsome, ever sartorially turned out gentleman, Bro Femi was great to be with.

He will be sorely missed but glory to God, he lived a highly impactful life which spanned not just diplomacy, his forte, but also such diverse areas as business, international relations, sports and community service.

We thank God that he is survived by high achieving children who will keep the flag flying.

May the Almighty God grant him eternal rest and comfort the family he left behind, our natal town, Are – Ekiti, which will be deeply impacted at the loss of another distinguished son, so soon after (that of) Professor Femi Olaofe inclusive.

Adieu.

November 24, 2024
Engaging Obasanjo on his ideas, not person

By now, nearly everyone knows that the person of former president Olusegun Obasanjo cannot be changed by abuse or by any form of unwholesome exposure of what he has done or not done, in the past, present or even future. He is set in his ways, and this old man, as they say, is not for turning. In far away United States, at a Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum lecture he delivered at Yale University in Connecticut, he was at his didactic and sermonising best. His recorded lecture, which spoke more to the Obidient worldview than anything else, was provocatively titled Leadership failure and state capture. He needed no other baiting to be at his pontifical worst. After many decades of the former president serially and periodically pontificating on the same narrow subject, Nigerians should be used to his style and methods. Whatever he says about any issue, whether diagnostic or prognostic, has absolutely nothing to do with whatever he does. Academics love to talk about praxis, the execution of ideas. Chief Obasanjo has no interest whatsoever in any such convergence; indeed he has contempt for bridging any divide. Whoever wants to take the former president to task should simply concentrate on what he says rather than the chasm between what he says and does.

He supposedly spoke on leadership failure and state capture, but much of what he said was frustratingly platitudinous. Apart from saturating his text with authorial references, and undergirding the address with unashamedly narcissistic comments, it is not clear whether his audience did not labour to wade through his quotations to find one pearl or gem worthy of the subject matter. The topic was grand and engaging, even though distinctly Obidient; but unfortunately, Chief Obasanjo lacked the depth of understanding and rich background to explicate the subject. Forget about his person or his style as military head of state and elected president, his treatment of leadership failure was simply far too superficial to attribute to anyone who had ruled Nigeria for a cumulative period of about 11 years, the longest of any past Nigerian ruler. His ideas on leadership have not changed one jot for the better over the years; instead they have worsened, aggravated by comparisons with his successors and predecessors, and weakened by a stubborn refusal to be introspective or learn from past great leaders. Unable to really diagnose the problem, he quickly transitioned to his suggested remedies. But here too he fell on his sword.

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Perhaps his instincts tell him what his audience wanted to hear, and he was not one loth to serve them the menu they craved. To tackle leadership failure, the first thing he recommended was strengthening democracy, without resolving the conundrum of which comes first, the chicken or the egg. His previous analyses of democracy ended in his suggestion that Nigeria should develop a homegrown democratic model, again without elucidating on both its rubric. So, how does a country strengthen a democracy it does not know? And, worse, how does a country tinker with or restructure a democracy whose model it has not settled on? And if homegrown, what are its component parts and its anchors? The French Fifth Republic, the American 1789 constitution, the Chinese reforms begun after the death of Mao Zedong and the castration of the Gang of Four? At Yale, Chief Obasanjo did not structure his ideas, but merely clamoured against the 2023 elections for being a ‘travesty by all rational measures’. He allowed his private longings and sanctimonious disregard for facts to get in the way. He equated his unfulfilled but visceral preference for Peter Obi’s Labour Party (LP) candidacy with the weakening of democracy.

Quoting the Pew Research Center, The Carnegie Foundation, and the Electoral Knowledge Network, he identified three planks upon which to strengthen democracy, to wit, legal, administrative, and political. Flowing from these planks, he advocated the wholesale dismantling of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), insisting that the agency was the fulcrum of democracy. To achieve this radical goal, he offered nothing substantial or rigorous other than the trite counsel about finding men and women of integrity. Had he been consistent with his homegrown democracy idea, which he nevertheless failed to concretise, he would have achieved a little bit of profundity and contributed to knowledge. It was clear he blamed INEC for the loss of his dear candidate, Mr Obi, but offered no rational or legal basis for coming to that unguarded conclusion. How he expected a largely unphilosophical, regional and religiously divisive party to win the last presidential election is extremely difficult to understand. And for a man who had ruled Nigeria for so long, he was shockingly unable to appreciate the legal reasoning that validated the disputed February 2023 poll. Indeed, moments later in his keynote address, he was to excoriate the judiciary for his unfulfilled dreams.

On the subhead of ‘rebuilding the judiciary’, Chief Obasanjo was withering, theoretical and even facetious. “The Judiciary in Nigeria is a very pale version of its once internationally esteemed self,” he began magisterially. “Politicians after rigging elections openly ask their rivals to ‘go to court’ in Nigeria because they are aware that they have completely compromised the Judiciary system. A number of Judges are in the pockets of wealthy politicians and individuals and make judgements – not based on the law of the land but to the highest bidder. This, my learned audience, is one of the most effective strategies of State Capture – discussed next – that must be excised from Nigeria like a surgeon cutting out a malignant cancer.” His pet LP, not to say the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his former political party which he disassembled by his undisciplined approach to politics and governance, won some cases in court. But as long as his preferred party and candidate lost the grand prize, and regardless of the logic of the justices, the judiciary was hopeless.

He rounded up his lecture with a short dissertation on state capture, but managed paradoxically to make his analysis sound like his governing manual during his three terms in office. He could of course not resist a kick to the groin of his old nemesis, President Bola Tinubu, whom he described as the quintessential proponent of state capture; but by personalising and vulgarising his analysis, he undermined the integrity of his address, reflected the poverty of his worldview, was condescending to his audience, and ended up playing almost entirely to the gallery. Mercifully he did not travel in person to Yale. It would have been a sheer waste of money and time to have had to travel over such a huge distance to deliver an unglamorous and commonplace address.

November 24, 2024
Thoughts and non thoughts of OBJ

So pungent, incisive, convincing and irrefutable have been the several reactions to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent address at Yale University in the United States in which he not only excoriated the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration but, characteristically, held his own leadership record up as the ideal to follow, that there is no need to reiterate the well known arguments here. Sermonizing endlessly on the ills plaguing Nigeria and magisterially pronouncing solutions to them has been the routine pastime of the former military head of state and then elected President for two terms despite the fact that he did not avail himself of his latter day wisdom when he had the opportunity to steer the affairs of Nigeria and shape the destiny of the nation.

The truth of the matter is that the Owu Chief, perhaps more than any other past leader, cannot escape culpability for the state of Nigeria today – her continued underdevelopment and poverty despite an abundance of natural, mineral and relatively qualitative Human Resources. Had he seized the opportunities placed on his laps seemingly on a golden platter to steer Nigeria’s ship of State particularly between 1999 and 2007 to deepen the country’s federal practice, diversify the economy, lay the foundation for the modernization and expansion of key infrastructure, revamp the country’s security architecture, institutionalize electoral integrity through the conduct of credible polls and pay more than lip service to the fight against corruption, the trajectory of the country’s socioeconomic and political development would be far different from what it is today.

In his book, ‘Not My Will’, a personal memoir of his years in power as military Head of State between 1976 and 1979, Obasanjo, with characteristic lack of charity, derided the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo asserting that what the legendary politician and statesman had sought in futility all his life, which was to be elected President of Nigeria, he (Obasanjo) had attained at a relatively young age. Yet, he did not address his mind to the critical issue of whether or not he had maximally utilize this opportunity to pursue and promote the best interest of Nigeria and her accelerated developmental transformation. His military regime’s political transition programme ushered in a civilian dispensation in 1979 that was one of the most venal, corrupt and inept leading to the collapse of the Second Republic and the return of military rule within four years. Given another opportunity to redeem himself as elected President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, Obasanjo demonstrated that he had learnt nothing from his past foray in power.

In his address at an event to honour the memory of the great novelist and intellectual, Chinua Achebe, at Yale University, Obasanjo’s unsparing criticism descended heavily on the incumbent Tinubu administration in the same way that he had subjected every government to since his exit from power in 2007. It little occurred to him, as many analysts have pointed out, that the naturally reticent Achebe was forced to trenchantly criticize bad and lawless governance under the Obasanjo presidency and even rejected the national honour bestowed on him by the Ota farmer as a gesture of symbolic protest.

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Some have attributed the former President’s relentless criticisms of successive administrations after him to a desire to be the focus of attention as well as the urge to portray his administration as the best in this dispensation if not in the post-independence history of Nigeria. Unfortunately, any such pretensions fly in the face of indisputable facts and cannot be supported by objective, serious minded analysis. It is my view that the former President’s serial critiques of Nigeria’s political economy under successive administrations and habitual indulgence in self-glorification stem from an innate lack of capacity to transcend superficiality in analysis as evidenced by the ephemerality of most of his books in which he makes magisterial pronouncements that have minimal impact on the polity because they are hardly deeply reasoned and well thought out. This is in sharp contradistinction to the immortal thoughts and works of Awolowo that still remain pertinent and relevant to Nigeria’s quest for a viable socioeconomic and political order decades after they were written.

For instance, Obasanjo loves to flaunt his self-proclaimed patriotism and incomparable love for Nigeria. Yet, from his conduct when he had the opportunity to preside over the country’s affairs, there was no indication that he had reflected deeply on what patriotism really means beyond mere cliches and empty sentimentality. For instance, when a 20-man delegation of the League of Northern Democrats led by a former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, visited him in Abeokuta recently, the former President reiterated once again his fabled love for Nigeria. In his words, “You said I am a believer in the greatness of this country. Yes, I am. I am also an incurable optimist in this country. I am totally committed to the goodness of this country. But I believe if we look back and we want to be sincere with ourselves, we can see some of the mistakes of the past which we must not fall into again”.

But it is no less a person than Chinua Achebe who gives us an insight into the shallowness of Obasanjo’s understanding of patriotism and love for country. On page 15 of his slim but powerful classic, ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’, Achebe writes, “In 1978 or 79 General Obasanjo paid an official visit to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Of the academic community assembled in the Niger Room of the Continuing Education Centre and which rose respectfully to its feet on his entry, General Obasanjo made a totally unexpected demand. He asked them to recite the national pledge! A few ambiguous mumbles followed, and then stony silence. “You see,” said the General bristling with hostility, “You do not even know the National Pledge”. No doubt he saw in this failure an indictable absence of patriotism among a group he had always held with great suspicion”.

Achebe then goes on to dilate lucidly on patriotism. His words, “Who is a patriot? He is a person who loves his country. He is not a person who says he loves his country. He is not even a person who shouts or swears or recites or sings his love for his country. He is one who cares deeply about the happiness and well-being of his country and all its people. Patriotism is an emotion of love directed by a critical intelligence. A true patriot will always demand the highest standards of his country and accept nothing but the best for and from his people. He will be outspoken in condemnation of their shortcomings without giving way to superiority, despair or cynicism. That is my idea of a patriot”. It is thus obvious that Obasanjo’s address at Yale and his several scurrilous denunciations of previous administrations both of the PDP and APC fall far short of Achebe’s thoughtful and exacting standards of patriotism.

In the same address to the League of Northern Democrats, Obasanjo spoke on the vexed issue of Igbo presidency which is yet to be a reality in the country. According to him, “I think all of us in Nigeria have to rethink…It bleeds my heart when people say because the Igbo had carried out a secession and so an Igbo man cannot be the President of Nigeria. I say what nonsense? There is no section of Nigeria that has not planned secession? What is “Araba” in the North? The North planned to break up Nigeria…What is treasonable felony? So, who among us can say I am better than the other? None!”.

In the first place, it is untrue that there is no part of the country that has not planned a secession. There were certainly tensions in the relationship between various parts of the country leading to threats and heated exchanges at various times which is natural in a complex, plural polity like ours. But it is only the Igbo of the Southeast that had actually carried out the threat of secession, an attempt that was militarily crushed after three years of bloody conflagration. Even then, I am unaware as Obasanjo posits that anybody worth taking seriously has ever suggested that an Igbo man cannot be President of Nigeria because of the abortive secession attempt. Indeed, as I have previously said in this column, within nine years of the end of the civil war, an Igbo man, Dr Alex Ekwueme, had become the Vice President of Nigeria. There is every possibility that within the dynamics of democratic politics an Igbo man would have since become President of Nigeria but for the truncation of democracy by military intervention in 1983.

In the last presidential election, Mr Peter Obi, directed his campaign mainly at his fellow Igbo as well as Christians of the North and South and his support base was restricted to that limited constituency which cannot deliver a presidential victory in a vast country like Nigeria. A candidate who engaged in church tourism campaigns and openly called on Christians to “take back your country” understandably did not win a single state in the core Muslim North which constitutes at least one half of the electorate. In any case, if Obasanjo is so passionate about Igbo presidency, why did he emerge from nowhere to snatch the PDP presidential ticket from Dr Ekwueme in 1998 with the support of retired northern Generals even when Ekwueme, one of the founding fathers of the PDP, was on course to winning the ticket?

Reporting Obasanjo’s address to the visiting League of Northern Democrats, The Punch newspaper wrote, “The former President blamed regionalism as practiced before obtaining independence in October 1960 as the foundation of the country’s prolonged lack of cohesion, adding that “the truth is that at independence, Nigeria emerged with three leaders and so it is a situation of three countries in one ever since”. Again, it does not appear that this submission is a reflection of rigorous thought.

For one, it is simplistic to base an analysis of post-independence Nigerian politics on the three major ethnic groups when ethnic minorities have increasingly asserted their influence within the polity. Again, it is as misleading to blame the regional structure of the first republic for the collapse of democracy in 1966 just as it is to proffer a return to regionalism as the solution to current challenges. Rather than regionalism per se being the problem with the First Republic, it was the attempt by the ruling NPC/NCNC coalition at the centre to forcibly seize control of the Western Region from the Action Group (AG) and impose an unpopular Ladoke Akintola of the NNDP on the region through the brazen massive rigging of the 1965 Western Regional elections that ignited the flames of anarchy in the region which then had national implications bringing down the democratic edifice on everybody.

Obasanjo lectured his northern visitors to the effect that “Yes, you have identified your group as the League of Northern Democrats, but how I wish you had called your group National League of Democrats, because where you come from should not be a problem. Where I was born should not be the enemy of my ‘Nigerianess’. I will be increasing by being a Nigerian rather than being a member of the Republic of Oodua”. This is hardly realistic. When asked to respond to allegations that he was a tribalist during his campaign for the presidency in 1979, Chief Awolowo submitted that he could not be a good Yoruba man without first and foremost being a good and responsible indigene of Ikenne and that he could not claim to be a good and patriotic Nigerian without first being a good and responsible Yoruba man. This sounds eminently sensible, practical and honest to me. The point, as the Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, was said to have told the great Zik is not to deny our differences but to understand them.

November 23, 2024
Obasanjo and his ‘failing state’ theory

A leopard cannot change its spots.

This age-long apothegm utterly beggars the cacophonous vituperations of former President Olusegun Obasanjo about other Nigerians, especially the nation’s leaders – past or present – except himself.

For a personality that ought to stay peacefully in the glasshouse of respected statesmen, Obasanjo has been throwing stones all his life at fellow citizens as a fancied self-entertainment.

The former President thinks he laid a foundation of exemplary leadership as a military and civilian leader. He is inclined to blaming every administration and other leaders for not measuring up. But, an x-ray of his leadership style reveals otherwise.

The all-knowing General, civil war commander, former military Head of State, ex-President of Nigeria, Ekerin Egba, Ebora and Balogun Owu, and seasoned letter writer, is yet to overcome the shock of last year’s presidential election.

His anointed candidate, Peter Obi, could not fly during the poll. Therefore, anything done by the winner and President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is a precursor to a “failing state,” which exists only in the imagination of the self-appointed monitor of Nigeria.

Delivering a keynote address at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States, the former leader, combative as ever, blamed the one-and-a-half-year-old Tinubu’s presidency for the nation’s cumulative woes.

In the lecture, titled: ‘Leadership failure and state capture in Nigeria,’ OBJ, as fondly called by some people, said the country’s pervasive corruption, mediocrity, immorality, misconduct, mismanagement, injustice, incompetence and all forms of iniquity confirmed Nigeria’s failing state status under the President.

The General deliberately closed his eyes to the courageous steps and bold reforms of the Tinubu administration. He cleverly manufactured fables and tissues of lies to dent the image of a government tackling the mess created by the previous leadership.

Obasanjo posed as a scholar and pontificated on good governance. He uncritically confused “state fragility” with “state failure,” creating panic.

At issue is governance legitimacy, which is dictated by the people’s perception of the government’s capacity for role fulfillment and the unhindered exercise of sovereignty and authority over the nation’s territories.

A failed state implies the extreme weakness of the political or economic system and the colossal loss of control by the government. A state does not fail suddenly. There is a spectrum of fragility. There are abnormal circumstances that may ultimately culminate in failure, including wars, comprehensive weaknesses of the military and bureaucracy, as well as the prolonged, unmitigated collapse of social order throughout the country. States can move from fragility to failure if there is no remedy; if the government and the people are helpless, and if disintegration is inevitable.

However, at a time Tinubu is recording more successes in steering Nigeria away from “state fragility,” what Obasanjo could see through his self-fabricated lenses is only “state failure”.

The General stirred the hornet’s nest through his highly inflammable statement. Assessing the nation’s electoral system by his yardstick, he also called for the removal of the current leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to restore integrity and sanity. Would he want Professor Maurice Iwu, the former INEC chairman who conducted the most controversial election that resulted in the longest electoral litigation, to return?

The former president, as some observers would say, is entitled to his personal opinion, even if his view is laced with bile.

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If previous governments, including the ones Obasanjo headed, had laid good examples, the country would have been much better.

But what are the legacies of OBJ, Africa’s statesman and self-acclaimed democrat who some observers have also described as a symbol of imaginary purity?

Obasanjo presided over a very ‘secure country where the chief legal officer, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, was murdered. Throughout the life of the administration, there was no clue. The killers remain at large.

He conducted the best presidential election which produced President Umaru Yar’Adua, who confessed that the poll that brought him to power was severely flawed.

At the tail end of Obasanjo’s administration, allegations of a third-term agenda filled the air, and the report of the Constitutional Conference was sacrificed on the altar of deceit.

Under his leadership, the hand of the centrist Federal Government was heavy on the sub-national units, as underscored by the seizure of allocations to states and councils.

Is the administration not also remembered for turning the anti-graft bodies into a veritable weapon for witch-hunting, intimidation, and oppression of perceived foes?

What about the Odi bloodletting? What about Zaki Biam? Did his government not receive condemnation of the international community?

Too numerous acts of political aggression were peculiar to his regime. No one was insulated from his venom. His life outside power has not been dull. But his pastime is a subjective assessment, most times, of the state of the nation.

Confronted with the awful memory of electoral horrors, Obasanjo’s do-or-die statement confounded most Nigerians. Yet, in 2019, he feared what his administration did to the opposition. Ahead of the poll, the Ota farmer regressed into a curious defence mechanism, alerting the international community to an imminent rigging that should attract punishment by powerful Western countries.

Also living up to expectations as a crafty actor, Obasanjo alleged that a former Vice President was buying Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) from prospective voters at N10,000 per voter. The Doctor of Theology said the vice president could not be a man of God, urging the General Overseer who inducted him as a priest to terminate his priesthood.

In another outburst, Obasanjo, in a letter, said Muhammadu Buhari should not run for presidency. He inspired the formation of a political party, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which could not attract a huge following. Later, he turned his back on the youths by abandoning his push for a generational shift. He has been dreaming of what he called a third force in the nation’s polity; whatever that means.

Highly inconsistent, the man who opposed Atiku Abubakar in 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015 suddenly woke up from slumber in 2019 and became Atikulated.

Less than a month before the 2019 presidential election, Obasanjo resumed his old tricks of maligning, intimidating, and blackmailing candidates, reminiscent of what he did to Atiku in 2007 as the flag bearer of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.

In 2007, Obasanjo left the stage with a perception that has continued to hunt him in public life. As president, he was the lord of manor whose word was law. Power drew the wool over his eyes. As the PDP leader, he was the party. In eight years, the PDP as the ruling party had four national chairmen. That leadership instability in the party was, to a large extent, his making. He cleverly pushed away the pioneer chairman, the late Chief Solomon Lar. Later, he subjected his successor, Chief Barnabas Gemade, to the same ordeal, making him curse the party. Also, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who succeeded Gemade, had a bitter experience. When former Anambra State Governor Chris Ngige was abducted under the former president, he did not haunt the perpetrators of such a heinous constitutional breach.

Under his watch, a gale of impeachment hit the polity. The victims were former Governors Joshua Dariye (Plateau State), Senator Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo), Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti), and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (Bayelsa). The impeachment did not follow the laid-down procedures. The court later reinstated Dariye and Ladoja.

In Rivers State’s PDP, Obasanjo objected to Rotimi Amaechi’s choice as the candidate the party’s delegates should choose, saying the selection had a k-leg. Senator Ifeanyi Araraume suffered the same fate in Imo State. The party lost to the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) candidate, Ikedi Ohakim.

Obasanjo successfully plotted the removal of former Senate President Chuba Okadigbo, who succeeded his ousted anointed candidate, Evan Enwerem.

When former Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, defected from the PDP to the Labour Party (LP) to contest the governorship election in Ondo State, Obasanjo threatened him with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He said: O su s’aga (he defecated on the stool). But the people of Ondo ignored the former president.

In 2004, President Obasanjo withheld allocations to the local governments in Lagos State, following the creation of an additional 37 local council development areas (LCDAs).

Earlier in 2003, he orchestrated an electoral earthquake in the Southwest. Governors Adeniyi Adebayo (Ekiti), Lam Adesina (Oyo), Olusegun Osoba (Ogun), and Adebayo Adefarati (Ondo) were the casualties. Only Tinubu of Lagos State survived the electoral terrorism. There was panic when INEC initially indicated on its website that the PDP had won Lagos.

Although Obasanjo secured a second term, it is instructive to note that at the Supreme Court, where the final verdict was given on the 2003 presidential poll, the judges were split. Some jurists were not convinced that he defeated his challenger, Muhammadu Buhari of the defunct All Peoples Party (APP), at the poll.

In 2006/2007, Obasanjo foisted on the ruling party a personal succession agenda. Presidential aspirants, including Dr. Peter Odili, Donald Duke, Ahmed Makarfi, and Adamu Abdullahi, were edged out of the selection process. His anointed candidate, the late Umar Musa Yar’Adua, was imposed on the party.

In 2007, Iwu’s INEC operated from Obasanjo’s armpit. Losers were declared as winners during the governorship polls; PDP candidates were the beneficiaries. The mandates were later restored in the court. Affected states included Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Osun, and Ekiti. That rigging is responsible for the scattered off-season governorship polls in the country today.

Although Obasanjo has become an emergency advocate of judicial independence, he demonstrated a lack of respect for court orders. Emergency holidays were even declared to frustrate the move by courts to deliver their judgments on sensitive cases. Court orders were disregarded.

The history of Nigeria is incomplete without a mention of Obasanjo. He was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) the Third Marine Commando when his juniors, including Lt.-Gen. Alani Akinrinade (retd.) and Brig. Godwin Alabi-Isama brought the rebels to their knees. In his book, ‘Military Leadership in Nigeria,’ General James Oluleye said: “[Yet] Obasanjo claimed he won the civil war by solo effort.”

He craved political relevance as a military officer. The agitation for political power resulted in the pressure on former military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, to make him Minister of Works and the late Gen. Murtala Ramat Mohammed the Minister of Communications.

In 1979, Obasanjo made history again. He handed over to civilians. He became a moral voice of sorts.

Twenty years after leaving power, he bounced back as a civilian president in 1999. However, many observers believe that he had lost the steam by 2007 when he handed over power to Yar’Adua.

Outside power, he embraces the pastime of attacking other leaders, some of who had made greater contributions to national development than him. Today, some of these leaders are celebrated by Nigerians more than him.

Obasanjo had mocked Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the first Premier of defunct Western Region, for not becoming the president of Nigeria. In his book: ‘Not My Will,’ he described the late Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe as a leader who fell from his pre-eminent national position and carried on with life in his old age as a tribal chieftaincy holder, the Owelle of Onitsha.

Obasanjo also described the late President Shehu Shagari as colourless; Aminu Kano as a placard-carrying protester, and Waziri Ibrahim as a rich but unserious contender. Buhari and Idiagbon, to OBJ, were autocratic rulers and Ibrahim Babangida a fool.

Ahead of the return to civil rule in 1999, he once asked what has ‘Jack’ (General Yakubu Gowon) left behind in Aso Villa that he wanted to go and take. To OBJ, Moshood Abiola was not the messiah Nigeria needed. The option of an interim government, instead of the June 12 election de-annulment, was regrettable but understandable, according to Obasanjo.

Out of over 200 million Nigerians, nobody else is clean, honest, and knowledgeable enough. Only OBJ is.

November 23, 2024
Obasanjo calls for completion of National Library headquarters

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for the completion of the headquarters of the National Library of Nigeria.

Obasanjo noted that completing the national monument was vital to creating a solid foundation for the country’s advancement.

Speaking through a letter to commemorate the 60 years of existence of the National Library of Nigeria in Abuja on Wednesday, Obasanjo said a fully operational headquarters will serve as a beacon for literacy and learning, a hub for cultural preservation, and a global symbol of Nigeria’s commitment to education and innovation.

This thought was shared by the guest speaker, Prof Ibrahim Gambari who was the former Chief of Staff for former President Muhammadu Buhari who noted that the National Library of Nigeria was a custodian of Nigeria’s rich heritage—housing historical documents, indigenous literature, and archives that reflect our nation’s diverse cultural identity.

While applauding the launch of the “Lit for Life Africa Festival”, a groundbreaking initiative to rekindle the love for reading and creativity among youth, Obasanjo stated that such programmes are crucial for shaping the minds of tomorrow’s leaders and ensuring that Nigeria’s literary and cultural legacies endure for generations.

In his appraisal of the celebration theme: “The future of libraries in a digital age: preserving heritage, expanding access and engaging youth”, Obasanjo reiterated that government must ensure that the 60th anniversary marks not only a celebration of past achievements, but also a turning point for the Library’s future that will inspire generations to come.

He said: “I commend the NLN’s commitment to embracing digital transformation and innovation, as reflected in the 2025-2030 Strategic Plan. This exemplifies the NLN’s forward thinking approach to positioning itself as a vital engine for Nigeria’s knowledge economy.

“As we celebrate this remarkable milestone and new directions, we must also confront a pressing challenge, the completion of the National Library of Nigeria headquarters in Abuja. The vision for a purpose-built, state-of-the art national library is not just a symbolic aspiration; it is a critical necessity for our country which represents a physical and functional commitment to our collective belief in the power of knowledge to transform lives and societies.

“I therefore, call on all stakeholders, from government to the private sector and international partners, to prioritize the completion of this vital infrastructure.”

Gambari commend the NLN’s forward-looking initiatives, such as the digital transformation roadmap and the launch of virtual libraries, which aim to expand access to information across Nigeria.

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“The development of a digital knowledge hub, accessible to all Nigerians, aligns perfectly with our national goals. By embracing technologies like artificial intelligence, data analytics, and digital archiving, the NLN is taking critical steps to ensure that our citizens have the tools they need to succeed in the 21st century,” Prof Gambari stated.

He urged government officials and policymakers to continue investing in the infrastructure, technology, and resources needed to sustain the country’s libraries.

“To government officials and policymakers here today, I urge you to continue investing in the infrastructure, technology, and resources needed to sustain our libraries. For those in academia and the private sector, let us seek out innovative partnerships that will expand the reach and impact of the NLN’s programs. And to the young people here, I encourage you to embrace the library as a place of opportunity, as a foundation for your personal growth, and as a source of inspiration for your future,” he added.

Minister of State for Education, Dr. Suwaiba Ahmad, said the Federal Government remained committed to supporting the national library in its mission to empower Nigeria with knowledge and resources for lifelong learning.

The minister, who said celebrating 60 years is not just a momentous occasion for the education sector, but for the nation, emphasised that the role of the library must evolve a bedrock of any thriving economy and not just a repository of history.

Earlier, the National Librarian, Prof. Chinwe Anunobi highlighted the progress the National Library has made in its six decades of existence despite facing challenges.

She said: “Currently, the NLN has preserved over 5 million titles and more than 13 million volumes stored in various locations across the country, including 2.5 million titles and 7.5 million volumes of Nigerian-origin resources.

“As a bibliographic centre, we have issued a total of 1,000,574 International Standard Book Numbers and 27,755 International Serials Numbers to publishers.”

She noted that the National Library has supported many Nigerians and non-Nigerians in scholarship, education, research, and lifelong learning through its 34 branches and headquarters.

Anunobi added that the library has had over 7 million unique users, and 32 million visits, and engaged over 1 million Nigerians through its literacy and readership promotion centres.

November 22, 2024
Elder statesman knocks Obasanjo

Close associate of Chief MKO Abiola winner of June 12, 1993, presidential election, Alhaji Sufianu Kazeem, has knocked former President Olusegun Obasanjo for his comments on graft.

Obasanjo, speaking at Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University, America, said pervasive corruption and leadership failure characterised today’s Nigeria, which he described as a failing country.

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Kazeem said Obasanjo’s comments were reckless, noting since Independence, the President remained our best.

He said no leader, either civilian or military, had ever come close to being so bold to tackle Nigeria’s problems.

Kazeem said the president had done very well.

November 22, 2024
Obasanjo, INEC and need for a balanced review of Nigeria’s elections

By Ezenwa Nwagwu

The dust from the Ondo State Governorship Election is yet to settle when former President Olusegun Obasanjo fired a salvo, calling for the sack of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and other officials at all levels.

The former president made the call during his address at the prestigious Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum held at Yale University in the United States, where he presented a paper titled “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria.”

As expected, the statement by the former president has stirred backlash. However, it is my opinion that Obasanjo’s statement provides a critical opportunity to contextualize Nigeria’s electoral journey, the progress made, and the challenges that persist despite attempts to reform our processes.

We must not miss this opportunity to remind and educate the younger generation, who had the privilege of participating in Nigeria’s elections for the first time in 2023. We must use this opportunity to remind young Nigerians where we are coming from and the progress that we have made in our elections and democracy.

For the younger generation, it is essential to understand the context of Nigeria’s electoral history, why and how we arrived at reforms like BVAS and IReV which represent a departure from the irregularities of the past.

This is an opportunity to remind Nigerians that in 2022, under this current leadership, INEC opened itself to scrutiny by publishing the voters register online for the first time. Many Nigerians may have forgotten what our voters’ register looks or how it is inundated with various forms of irregularities ranging from registration of minors, multiple registrations and registration of foreigners or aliens.

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In fact, Nigeria’s voters register used to contain fictitious names such as Muhammed Alli, Mike Tyson, Michael Jackson, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, to concoct victory for political parties. This was how some states “manufacture” two million votes in past elections. A feat they couldn’t achieve in 2023 due to reforms by INEC.

While, INEC under its current leadership has come under criticism due to the functionality of the IReV portal, it is important to respectfully note that the IReV portal is an INEC initiative to improve access to election results. It may not have worked perfectly during the 2023 election, but there is no doubt that we have made progress.

That Nigerians have a result viewing portal or that Nigerians can do simultaneous accreditation and voting is a significant lift from what we had in the past. In the past, elections lasted into midnight because people had to do accreditation, go home and come back later to vote.

That Nigerians do not hear of people being killed on election day or ballot boxes being snatched and stuffed with ballot paper is significant progress.

While these reforms are not perfect, they have shifted Nigeria’s elections towards greater credibility.

Since Obasanjo’s comment coincided with the Ondo governorship election, let me provide some context into how this election is far better from what we had in the past.

The Ondo State election that held on Saturday had 111 domestic and international accredited observer organisations. Reports from the groups acknowledged challenges like vote buying and electoral violence, while commending early opening of polls and the rapid uploading of results to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV). As at 7pm on Election Day, 90% of the results were available online, a feat that demonstrates the impact of technological reforms implemented by INEC.

To understand the strides made in Nigeria’s electoral process, and why this context of Ondo election is important, it is essential to reflect on where we started in Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999.

A check on Wikipedia shows that during the 2003 Edo State gubernatorial election, PDP’s Lucky Igbinedion reportedly garnered 969,747 votes, while his opponents scored zero. Such blatant irregularities were characteristic of elections conducted under Obasanjo’s administration. Similarly, the 2007 general elections were marred by massive irregularities, with instances of results being announced while voting was still ongoing.

It was the same Obasanjo who pressured the then INEC leadership to declare Prof Oserheimen Osunbor the winner of the 2007 governorship election won by Adams Oshiomhole.

These were dark chapters in Nigerians electoral history, marked by lack of transparency, manipulation, and disregard for democratic principles. It was so bad that during the 2007 general election in Rivers State, election results were being declared while voting was still in progress.

In fact, the winner of that election, President Musa Yar’Adua was so embarrassed by the outcome that he vowed to review the election. That review gave birth to the Justice Uwais committee. Interesting, the current INEC leadership had commenced the implementation of that committee report. Nine recommendations that relate to INEC from that committee have been fully implemented, especially biometric registration of voters.

As someone who is invested in the electoral process, I’m concerned that former President Obasanjo’s critique of INEC could be considered part of a broader resistance to reforms that reduce the control of elites over electoral outcomes. The democratization of Nigeria’s elections has transferred power from political kingmakers to the people. This shift has alarmed those accustomed to manipulating the system.

We may argue that our elections are now characterized by vote buying – an unfortunate reality of desperation by the political class. Sadly, vote buying reflects a moral and societal issue rather than an institutional failure by INEC. Nigerians must address this problem collectively rather than placing undue blame on the electoral body. Issues of electoral violence and voting buying are issues that politicians and security agencies must address.

Imagine your child was performing poorly in school, failing nearly all their subjects. As a parent, you responded with scolding and punishments. Over time, the child began to improve, excelling in some subjects while still struggling in a few. Interestingly, the child has shown commitment to further improve in those areas where he or she is still struggling.

I imagine that the sensible thing to do at this point would be to acknowledge and praise the areas of improvement, while perhaps hiring a tutor to help with the remaining challenges. However, continuing to berate the child and label them as dull, despite their visible efforts, would be unfair. Yes, you want your child to excel, but it’s important to balance criticism with encouragement—commending their progress while addressing areas that still need work.

INEC, under successive leaderships, has made deliberate efforts to address the flaws of the past. The introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and IReV has brought significant improvements. These technologies ensure transparent voter accreditation, faster result uploads, and greater public access to election results in real time.

As Nigerians, we must acknowledge that our elections are not yet perfect, but they have improved significantly.

The road to credible elections is a marathon, not a sprint. It requires collaboration between INEC, political actors, civil society, and citizens. Let us celebrate the progress made while remaining committed to addressing the challenges that persist. Nigerians remember, and history will judge us all by how we uphold the principles of democracy.

I will end by quoting former President Obasanjo in his address at the Leon Sullivan dialogue on Nigeria at the National Press Club, Washington DC, on April 29, 2010.

The former president said: “with all due respect, if Jesus Christ could come to the world and be the chairman of INEC, any election he would conduct will be disputed.

“Since I got here three days ago, I understand that the chairman of INEC has been asked to go on leave. People have also talked about electoral reform.

“Quite honestly, I have said that I don’t understand in detail what this electoral reform is. One thing that we need to reform in our own society is the politician. We need to reform politicians.”

•Nwagwu is the executive director, Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA).

November 21, 2024
Jimoh cautions Obasanjo over inciting remarks

Senator Jimoh Ibrahim has urged former President Olusegun Obasanjo to desist from making inflammatory statement while commenting on the state of the nation.

He advised the former leader to be mindful of his language, saying that employing a language of war in peace time is tantamount to mutiny.

Ibrahim, who represents Ondo South District in the Senate, reacted to the ex – President’s address at a symposium organised by the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum in Yale University, Connecticut, United States, where he described Nigeria under President Bola Tinubu as a failing state.

Taking exception to the outburst, Ibrahim said the country is functioning effectively under the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government.

Ibrahim, who spoke on a television programme, said contrary to Obasanjo’s claims, Nigeria is not a failed state.

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Obasanjo had in his keynote address also urged Nigerians to prioritise the appointment of a new and credible leadership for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)at all levels to ensure electoral integrity.

The former President, who spoke on the theme: “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria,” described what was happening in the country at the moment as “state capture”.

Ibrahim, who disagreed with Obasanjo, said:” I have a lot of respect for former President Olusegun Obasanjo, but the language of war in peace time is inappropriate . Everybody knows that developing countries have a myriad of challenges , but it is most inappropriate to label all of them as failed states. How do you define developing countries in international relations? Failed states with absence of government and institutions that are not working ? Nigerian cannot be so defined.

“Obasanjo cannot be more interested in Nigeria than myself and many others. I employ over 4,000 Nigerians. Baba himself knows that Nigeria is not a failed state, but a country going through a difficult phase.

“Nigeria is working under this government. Tinubu’s administration knows from the beginning the problems they are going to face by trying to be independent . The economic reforms are necessary and will lead to a more prosperous country.”

Ibrahim, who maintained that Nigeria is not a failed state, cautioned the former President to desist from using war language during peacetime.

He stressed: “So, I disagree with former President Obasanjo that Nigeria is a failed state. I disagree with Obasanjo for using war language in peacetime; we don’t need this kind of bullet statement from an elder statesman.

“Obasanjo should keep quiet. If he wants to say anything, he should look at the assessment of the government in its totality. Why is Obasanjo not talking about Boko Haram? Why is Obasanjo not talking about security? Why is Obasanjo not telling us that the security situation in the country has improved under Tinubu? Is the dollar-to-naira ratio now the yardstick to measure government performance?

“So, to me, when you use the language of war in peacetime, you are doing a disservice to the nation.”

November 21, 2024
Obasanjo’s ex-aide, Sen. Andy Uba, others charged with N400m fraud

A former Special Assistant on Special Duties and Domestic Affairs to ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo, Andy UBA has been accused of complicity in an alleged N400million fraud.

In a charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/538/2024 filed before the Federal High Court, Abuja in the name of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Uba was alleged to have worked with three others to obtain N400million from one George Uboh.

Uba, Crystal Chidinma Uba, and Benjamin Etu (named as defendants in the charge) along with Hajiya Fatima (now at large) allegedly obtained the N400m from Uboh on the pretext that they could facilitate his appointment as the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The charge reads:

*That you Andy Uba, Crystal Chidinma Uba, Benjamin Etu, and Hajiya Fatima (now at large) sometime in the year 2022 did conspire amongst yourselves to commit an offence to wit: obtaining by false pretences by making a presentation to George Uboh you have perfected a way to an appointment of the Managing Directorship of NDDC (Niger Delta Development Commission) to any interested person who can afford the sum of N400,000,000, a presentation which you know is not true and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 8 and punishable under section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related offences Act, 2006.

That you Andy Uba, Crystal Chidinma Uba, Benjamin Etu and Hajiya Fatima (now at large) sometime in the year 2022 did conspire amongst yourselves with the intention to defraud did induce George Uboh by making a presentation to him that you have perfected a way to give an appointment of the post of Managing Directorship of (NDDC) Niger Delta Development Commission to any interested person who can afford the sum of N400 000 000 a presentation which you know is not true you ed the money and converted it into your own personal use and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 1 (2) and punishable under section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related offences Act, 2006.

It was learnt that the charge was informed by findings by police investigators, who acted on a petition by Uboh.

In the petition, Uboh claimed among others, to have been hoodwinked into parting with the N400m.

He said: “This petition is based on documentary and voice recording evidence thus the evidence is overwhelming and irrefutable.

“Andy Ubah stated unequivocally to me that he has perfected a way to give NDDC Managing Directorship to any candidate who brings N400 000,000, that if the appointment does not occur, he will refund the money.

“I nominated my sister, Honorable (Engr.) Doris Uboh, who by profession, is qualified to be NDDC MD.

“Andy Ubah provided two accounts and instructed a transfer of N200,000,000 each into the accounts.

“I instructed another sister of mine, Princess Engr. Ify Akanmode, who is a business partner and whose account I had some funds, to do the transfers.

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“Till date, Andy Ubah has promised to pay and has not.”

The defendants were to be arraigned on November 13, but was stalled when the lawyer to the prosecution, M.L. Anthony complained about his inability to effect personal service on the defendants, as required.

Anthony claimed that the defendants have been evading service of the court documents after they were given administrative bail.

Anthony told the court that they had been on the case since 2023, adding that the defendants obtained a fundamental rights enforcement order, which prevented the police from bringing them to court.

The lawyer said it was not until after the order was lifted that the defendants were finally charged before the judge.

Ruling, Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned till February 18 next year for the purpose of arraignment, before which the prosecution is expected to effect service of the charge on the defendants.

November 20, 2024