The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Obasanjo

  • Obasanjo’s unguided missile

    Obasanjo’s unguided missile

    SIR: Yoruba and Africans as a whole lay much emphasis on the imperative of having good elders in the community hence the adage which translated say something like – when the head of a child is wrongly placed, a good elder naturally steps in to put it in position. It is within the context of the above adage that I will like to commend the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for coming out boldly to confront the federal government headed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Obasanjo accused the president of nepotism, inaction, lack of bite, favoritism and ineptitude. He also thinks that the government has failed in the onerous task of solving myriad of Nigerian socio-economic problems save the war against Boko-Haram insurgency which according to him was well fought but has been replaced by herdsmen’s menace. Obasanjo equally berated Buhari government for lack of understanding of the dynamics of internal politics and economic development.  He accused Buhari of abetting corrupt people in his government. He then advised Buhari to shelve his second term ambition while calling on Nigerians to rise up to chart a new course and reject Buhari in the next year president election.

    Obasanjo should be commended for his boldness to say truth to power.  Unless we would be living in a fool’s paradise, no one can say that it is Uhuru with Nigeria at the moment. Economic hardship, scarcity or high prices of petroleum products, insecurity of lives and properties and so on are what Nigerians are daily grappling with.

    Whereas the federal Government is making frantic effort to make things right, it appears the pace with which the government is going is too slow for Nigerians particularly the matter of security which has been exacerbated by Fulani herdsmen’s attacks on farmers in many part of the country.

    Having said that, what I find objectionable is his manner of addressing the perceived ineptitude of the administration in public while he has unfettered access to the president.  The manner in which Obasanjo opposed successive government while he had the ears of all of them exposes him to charges of playing god over the affairs of the nation. If it is true, as the ex-president said, that he supported Buhari by voting for him in 2015 elections, if he has any axe to grind with it, it should be in private unless he is not given audience which is highly unlikely.

    Buhari is advised to take Obasanjo’s excoriation in good faith as a price to pay as a patriotic leader but he should make adjustments where necessary for the sake of the nation and leave his reelection in the hands of God and Nigerians to decide when time comes.

     

    • Adewuyi Adegbite,

    ayekooto05@gmail.com

  • Buhari meets Obasanjo, Abdulsalam at AU summit (Video)

    Buhari meets Obasanjo, Abdulsalam at AU summit (Video)

    President Muhammadu Buhari and former President Olusegun Obasanjo met face to face on Sunday at the ongoing African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
    It was the first time they met since the open letter from Obasanjo to Buhari last Tuesday.
    Obasanjo, in the letter, had criticised Buhari’s administration and accused him of nepotism and failure to revive the economy, among other accusations.
    Obasanjo had also advised Buhari not to contest the 2019 Presidential elections.
    They met briefly on Sunday just before the opening ceremony of the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union.
    Obasanjo first went round to exchange pleasantries with other African leaders attending the summit, before looking out for Buhari among the crowd to also have a word with him.
    They both shook hands and talked for about two minutes.
    Photojournalists at the summit  made frantic efforts to capture the moment.
    Another former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, later joined Buhari and Obasanjo for a snapshot.

    watch the video below…

    [jwplayer zYeIloaB]

  • Obasanjo ‘letter bomb’: What can Buhari do?

    Obasanjo ‘letter bomb’: What can Buhari do?

    Following former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s advice to President Muhammadu Buhari not to contest 2019 Presidential Election and his proposal for a new political movement as the way forward, Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, reports on what Buhari should do

    AHEAD of the 2019 General Election, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has once again set the Nigerian polity agog with his unexpectedly critical open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari. While pointedly telling the President to forget all thought of seeking another term in 2019, he accused the current federal government of failing to live up to the expectations of Nigerians.

    The former President said Buhari has failed to deliver on his campaign promises and should therefore “dismount from the horse” to join the league of the country’s former leaders whose “experience, influence, wisdom and outreach can be deployed on the side line for the good of the country.” He also alleged that the current administration promotes nepotism and sectionalism with his activities in government.

    Obasanjo, who served for two terms as president on the platform of opposition People Democratic Party (PDP), expressed his disappointment in Buhari, whom he supported during the 2015 presidential election against former President Goodluck Jonathan, who ran as the candidate of PDP, Obasanjo’s party at the time. He however insisted that his decision to oppose Jonathan back then was the right thing to do in the interest of the country.

    “The lice of poor performance in government – poverty, insecurity, poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeed – if not outright encouragement of it, lack of progress and hope for the future, lack of national cohesion and poor management of internal political dynamics and widening inequality, are very much with us today,” Obasanjo wrote.

    Recovering from Obasanjo’s punchy letter after almost 24 hours of silence, the federal government responded through Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information, saying it appears Obasanjo had been so busy that he could not keep track of the progress recorded by the Buhari administration. Describing the former President as a patriot who has proven his love for the country many times, the government urged Obasanjo to take a second look at the score-card of the current administration.

    “Chief Obasanjo is a patriot, and he has proven this time and time again. We appreciate what he said concerning the administration’s performance in two out of the three key issues that formed the plank of its campaign: fighting corruption and tackling insurgency. Specifically, the former president said President Buhari must be given credit for his achievement so far in these two areas. We thank him for this,” the statement read.

    Mohammed continued that “On whether or not President Muhammadu Buhari should run for another term, it is true that many Nigerians have been calling on the President to run again, while others are opposed to his return. However, we believe this issue is a distraction for the president at this time. This is because Mr. President spends every waking hours tackling the enormous challenges facing the nation, most of which were bequeathed to his Administration by successive past administrations.”

    Following the exchange between the two camps and the divided opinions trailing the development, many Nigerians recalled a similar open letter from Obasanjo to the then President Jonathan, during the run up to the 2015 presidential election. An apparently angry Obasanjo, in what many described as one of the most acerbic letters in modern history, had accused Jonathan of ineptitude and of taking actions calculated at destroying Nigeria.

    Saying it would be “fatally morally flawed” for Jonathan to contest in 2015, Obasanjo added, “as a leader, two things you must cherish and hold dear among others are trust and honour, both of which are important ingredients of character. I will want to see anyone in the Office of the Presidency of Nigeria as a man or woman who can be trusted, a person of honour in his words and character.”

    A couple of hours after the letter, Jonathan and his men went all out for Obasanjo, telling him he lacks the moral right to caution the then President, among other things. Not a few people blamed the handling of Obasanjo’s letter by Jonathan and his handlers form his eventual loss of the presidential election the following year. Thus, as the debate over the former President’s letter continues, one question on many lips across the country is “what should Buhari do with Obasanjo’s advices and allegations?

    The way to go

    And from an unusual quarter came an advice to President Buhari to look beyond merely justifying the achievements of his administration and rather address the issues raised by ex-President Obasanjo in his letter. The opposition PDP said this while reacting to the trending news. According to the party, there is need for Buhari and his handlers to consider the mood of Nigerians before deciding whether to seek re-election or not.

    The opposition party said the indicator presented by the federal government in an “attempt to justify its claimed achievements” in almost three years of governance were “cooked up” and will be unhelpful to President Muhammadu Buhari at the 2019 elections. The party said rather than gloss over very serious issues of deteriorating economy, incessant killings, fuel crisis and corruption in the corridors of power as raised by Obasanjo, President Buhari should make effort to address them.

    The spokesperson of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement, said the government should be sober in addressing Obasanjo’s letter, adding that the presidency should understand that the issues raised by Obasanjo, while advising Buhari not to seek re-election, are already trending in the minds of Nigerians and cannot be easily dismissed. “The federal government arrogantly issued misleading indices at a time it ought to be very sober for its failures,” PDP advised.

    Chief Mrs. Remi Adiukwu, a chieftain of the opposition party in Lagos state, while speaking on the development said Nigeria belongs to everybody irrespective of religion or region and so good opinions should be welcome from all and sundry. While urging President Buhari and Nigerians generally to think less about the messenger and concentrate on the content of the message, the former governorship aspirant said there is great need for the federal government to “work with Obasanjo’s letter.”

    Adiukwu said if people criticize the government, it does not mean that they want it to fail. ”They want them to succeed like telling them to look at the areas they are lagging behind and telling them what they can do to change things. It is in this light I want the government to see Obasanjo’s letter and instead of putting up any stage-managed defense, they should promptly address the issues raised.

    “It is instructive to note that Obasanjo in his letter condemned the killings by Fulani herdsmen. The President should not wave that aside. It is not only Obasanjo that is worried about that. Nigerians are disappointed that as a General and a Fulani man himself, Buhari has no answer to this unnecessary killings. I would rather want him to see Obasanjo’s letter as a challenge for him to solve this problem.

    “And talking about Obasanjo’s statement that Buhari has failed to deliver on his electoral promises, I think the ruling party should share in that responsibility with the President. Nigerians have severally lamented the turn of things and if Obasanjo is now writing that in his letter, he is merely trumpeting a general opinion. Any reasonable and serious government and or political party will not joke with an opportunity to address its obvious lapses.

    “As far as I am concerned, those urging Buhari to confront Obasanjo over the letter neither mean well for Nigeria nor for Buhari. If they are saying Obasanjo is not the right person to say those things, are they saying none of the things he said is true? I am not a member of Buhari’s party, but I am a patriotic Nigerian. So, I will advise the government to see the letter as a wake up call and act promptly in the interest of the masses,” she said.

    Reviewing the situation, former Commissioner of Police in Lagos state, Abubakar Tsav, said the current administration may not be perfect, but it is wrong to say President Buhari should perish the thought of seeking re-election because there is need to again change the leadership at the federal level. He however added that the President need to take some urgent step to boost the confidence of Nigerians in him.

    “If there is any allegation against anybody working with him, he should order an immediate investigation. The question of delaying investigation is not proper. It creates a lot of doubt about his integrity. Also, I believe President Buhari should reshuffle his cabinet because we have only few ministers and they have a lot of responsibilities.He should relieve some of them from their responsibilities and give it to some people to do because one man in charge of three ministries is too much,” he said.

    Speaking further, he said “I believe Buhari should run in 2019 because we need somebody who will put the country back on track. We need somebody who is not corrupt; somebody who is not ambitious, who is not greedy and not planning to build empires for himself. We have all these qualities in the person of Buhari. We don’t want somebody who will assume office and start building empires for himself and his family.

    “As of now, we don’t have anybody who is better than Buhari. I am not saying that there are no better people in Nigeria who are better than him but for now, we don’t have anybody. Maybe after his second tenure, we may get somebody else who is better than him and the person may take over from him. Look at the level of corruption that we had before Buhari became president and look at the amount of money he had recovered from those who looted the treasury of the country.”

    Buhari beware

    In his own submission, a former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, warned President Muhammadu to be cautious in the way he handles the outburst by ex-President Obasanjo. Perhaps recalling what happened between Obasanjo and Jonathan in 2015, Okupe said Buhari must not treat Obasanjo’s observations with levity. To do so, he said, is at the President’s risk.

    Okupe, who is now leader of Accord Party in Southwest geo-political zone, acknowledged that Obasanjo spoke the bitter truth in his letter and President Buhari and the ruling party must be careful not to be too arrogance to admit it the issues raised by the former Presdient. He added that the President should have departed for Obasanjo’s Hilltop Mansion in Abeokuta immediately after receiving the letter.

    “The truth must be told Baba Obasanjo is a man you can never discard his counsel. He voiced the bitter truth but the APC will never accept it. What Buhari should have done is that, the following day after receiving this letter, take a flight, go straight to Ota and ask him to tell you the way forward. I read the presidency’s reply and it is watery. I don’t think that reply was necessary,” he added.

    Similarly, a pro-democracy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called on President Buhari to caution the minister of Defence, retired Major General Mansur Dan-Ali against further subtle justification of the dastardly criminal attacks by suspected armed Fulani herdsmen. The call came in a statement through its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf.

    The group also called on President Buhari to respect the constitutional provision of federal character principle and commence the immediate and comprehensive reconstitution of the national security team to reflect the Federal character of Nigeria and end the ugly era of the’ Fulanisation’ of national security team. The group insisted that the lopsided domination of the security forces by Hausa/Fulani ethnicity was a grave breach of the extant provision.

    “The current administration must respect the constitution and provide security to lives and property of the citizens and should desist from making irresponsible and insensitive statements which may be construed as seeking justification for the numerous bloody attacks waged by suspected armed Fulani herdsmen by an administration that is not determined to arrest, prosecute and punish all perpetrators of the bloody killings in Benue, Southern Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa and Enugu states.”

    Also urging President Buhari to treat the letter from Obasanjo as very important is Senator Shehu Sani, who represents Kaduna Central at the Senate. Describing Obasanjo’s correspondence to the President as truth wrapped in dynamite, he warned Buhari not to ignore or discard it nonchalantly. According to the APC Senator, Obasanjo’s letter “will heal the President better than the corrosive deception of the political pilgrims to the villa.”

    “Obasanjo’s views reflect and represent the views of many members of the political ruling establishment but who simply lacks the courage to speak the truth to power, out of fear of political consequences. There exist a regime and climate of fear among the ruling political establishment; the views expressed before the president is a polar difference and distant from the views they express behind the president.

    The bitterness of Obasanjo’s truth will heal the president better than the corrosive deception of the political Pilgrims to the villa. Those who celebrated Obasanjo when he called National Assembly members unarmed robbers should not demonize him when he calls the knights and Courtiers of the President names. President Buhari cannot get the truth from sycophants, favour seekers, patented friends of power and people whose political survival and future is dependent on his continued stay in office even is to the detriment of his integrity or moral seat in history.”

     

  • Obasanjo throws a spanner in the works

    Obasanjo throws a spanner in the works

    BY the end of 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election was not thought to be irredeemable, despite the horrific killings perpetrated by herdsmen in many parts of the country and the federal government’s chaotic and seeming impotence in dealing with the problem. After the New Year’s Day killings, however, and the desultory and provocative response of the federal government, not to talk of the scathing attacks on the president by a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, President Buhari will need to walk on water to convince Nigerian voters that he is ready, at his age and regardless of his self-confessed slow motion, to preside over the country with all the diligence, impartiality and overarching vision required. But with last Tuesday’s deliberate and merciless lampoon directed against him by ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, the president will, in addition to walking on water, now need to defy both gravity and break the speed of sound to restore the integrity and appeal of his faltering presidency.

    Chief Obasanjo, now a PhD holder, may not have penned what he described as a special statement entitled “The way out: A clarion call for coalition for Nigeria movement” with all the presidential finesse expected of him, but whenever he is goaded by self-interest and a sanctimonious delight to underscore his superiority and nationalist credential, he is capable of reckless and superhuman literary feats. He deployed a part of that recklessness early last week to achieve a comprehensive demolition of President Buhari’s controversial image as a leader. There was little elegance in Dr Obasanjo’s more than 3,500-word eclectic essay. He in fact paid no attention to logic, sequence or arrangement, and cared little about truth and morality. But he made up for all the shortcomings in the essay, and made the vitriol that suffused it palatable, with a precise encapsulation of the aggravated feelings of many Nigerians sick and tired of the killings laying the country waste.

    The country had for a while expected his intervention in the grave matters that assailed the republic. He is not liked, and for all his political achievements, boasts of no idea or philosophy by which he should be remembered long after he has passed on to the other shore. He was not even a successful president himself, judging from his amoral succession politics and narcissism, but he demonstrated a more than average quality in running an inclusive government, working hard, maintaining governmental discipline regardless of his own lack of discipline, and giving hope and direction to the country in all ramifications. It is against this backdrop that this column and many other patriotic commentators have learnt to divorce the often self-indulgent man from his sometimes exemplary messages. His qualities as a man and leader may not be inspiring, but he paradoxically inspires the country when he offers himself as the opportunistic champion of the country against bad and incompetent leaders. This was why his diatribe against ex-president Goodluck Jonathan resonated, and why his vitriol against President Buhari is also resonating magnificently.

    Indeed, it is a tribute to Dr Obasanjo that the Buhari presidency’s response to his attacks was both feeble and limited to only economic matters. It is true the former president dismissed the president’s knowledge of economics and foreign affairs, but he laid emphasis on completely different issues over which President Buhari’s response was disturbingly silent. In summary, Dr Obasanjo accuses President Buhari of demonstrating three major weaknesses. The three are ‘nepotistic deployment’, a coded term for the president’s indefensible and appalling lopsided appointment of security chiefs from his own part of the country; a ‘poor understanding of the dynamics of internal politics’ that has produced division and inequality; and his grating buck-passing that sees him avoiding responsibility for unpleasant happenings. Against these three accusations, the Buhari presidency’s response was either blank or impotent. When the president himself tried to answer accusations of lopsided appointments recently, using the Southeast cabinet appointments as an example, he spoke only of his cabinet and avoided mention of how provocatively and unadvisedly he concentrated the country’s security apparatus in the hands of his fellow northerners.

    These anomalies have bred suffocating resentment in all parts of the South, and were exacerbated by the fact that the president has neither answered to the bitterness nor given the impression he understood anything is amiss. It was expected that sooner rather than later, the country’s prefects (former leaders) would speak up, probably led by the outspoken and intransigent Dr Obasanjo. It was also expected that they, or their mouthpiece, would address the dangerous divisions alienating a huge swath of the country and endangering its peace and unity. Last week, Dr Obasanjo finally let the other shoe drop. Since then, however, he has been pilloried in terms that are unexampled. But he pre-empted the insults by welcoming them in advance with his unique self-deprecating wit. For a man so inured to truth and falsehood alike, it was not unexpected that he would be indifferent to the raging storm generated by his bilious essay. He is, however, satisfied that he has thrown a spanner in the works for President Buhari; every other thing pales into insignificance.

    Before Dr Obasanjo’s dismissive essay, President Buhari was probably weighing the right time to throw his hat into the ring for re-election. With the servile and fawning Communications minister form Oyo State, Bayo Shittu, indulging in travesties to coax the president to contest in 2019, and the likes of the egotistic Nasir el-Rufai composing dithyrambs in favour of the president, President Buhari is assured of a sufficient number of supporters and aides eager to egg him on towards 2019. The president and his aides know that there will be no placating Dr Obasanjo whose antagonism becomes relentless once it begins. There will, therefore, be more shots fired in the coming months until the election is conducted, with each shot acquiring more amperage as the election draws near. The former president’s essay was more conciliating towards the end. But if he is given any reason to fire a few more, he will not pull punches. He may not be always right or moralistic in what he says or writes, but he will wound with a severity that is far more trenchant than the president and his aides are capable of deploying.

    Whether the president likes it or not, Dr Obasanjo’s essay is popular in both the South and the Middle Belt. The herdsmen attacks, the unbelievably insensitive and prejudiced Defence minister’s arguments in favour of the herdsmen, and the creation of an unprecedented and lopsided security apparatus, have convinced a huge number of Nigerians that the unity of the country is threatened. They will rally behind Dr Obasanjo, though they loathe his manners and beliefs. A few days after the former president’s acerbic essay, however, the balance of opinion still favours the president seeking a second term. It is uncertain that in the coming months his confidence will not be so shaken by the turn of events that he will actively begin reconsidering his decision. Should President Buhari contest and win in 2019, Dr Obasanjo will be completely demystified. But much worse, should the president contest and win, he will believe in his own invincibility and infallibility, and he will be encouraged to stick to his policies, appointment patterns, and whatever other secret agenda many of his opponents have read into his presidency.

    After the Defence minister, Mansur Dan-Ali, emerged from the National Security Council (NSC) meeting presided over by President Buhari last Thursday, it was clear the attendees told themselves only what they liked to hear, and apparently spoke angrily in unison. That anger and illogic were adequately communicated to the public by the minister when reporters sought to know what the government thought of the herdsmen killings and who should bear responsibility. If the skewness of the security apparatus is not corrected now when things look so dire for the government, why should it be corrected after the elections when a triumphant spirit would have taken hold of the government? The government’s approach to the herdsmen attacks, the disingenuous blame apportioned to ethnic militias attempting to combat the herdsmen, and the lack of assurance that sensible remedies have been conceived to tackle the menace threatening the peace of the country, all combine to make Dr Obasanjo’s harangue memorable, believable, timely and appropriate.

    Had the former president, however, stopped at dismissing the Buhari presidency as anachronistic and ineffective, his essay would have resonated far beyond the ordinary, indeed even acquire some degree of altruism and morality. Instead, consumed by the itch to run things, an itch certain to follow him to the grave, Dr Obasanjo has suggested the formation of a coalition for Nigeria to reclaim power from the hands of the disreputable All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). His offer to participate in the coalition’s formation and operations should be properly interpreted as a desire to run it, for the eminent former president does not know how to play second fiddle to anyone, a habit he acquired immediately he assumed office as a reluctant but giddy military head of state in 1976. Not only will such an association mark the effective and complete return of Dr Obasanjo to the corridors of power, he would be unable to resist foisting another presidential ticket upon the country using his cracked moral and political prisms. The country has spent the better part of nearly 11 years trying to whittle down the unwholesome and pernicious influence of Dr Obasanjo; it would be a tragedy to allow him any leeway again. He is right about the ineffectiveness and even prejudices of President Buhari; but he is mistaken to assume that he possesses the morality, intellectual depth and philosophy to help birth a new Nigeria. He was a major part of its decay; he cannot hope to be a central part of its revival.

    There are admittedly a few Nigerians who have not written off the Buhari presidency as both misguided and irredentist. But perhaps the shock of Dr Obasanjo’s letter and the dismay it has caused everywhere in the Buhari government should encourage the president to realign his government away from the imperial and insular presidency he has run from the beginning. Except he lies to himself, he knows, and everyone knows, that his government is in the grip of a cabal. As his wife, Aisha, has repeatedly warned, except he breaks the hold of the cabal, infuse his government with the right mix of technocrats and politicians, set his party free to organise and play politics the way it should be done, and adopt a liberal and intelligent approach to governance, he will come to grief. But if he undergoes this self-immolation and rebirth, he may stand a chance of remaking and reinvigorating his presidency.

    Dr Obasanjo may have dismissed the APC and PDP, both of which have consistently and incidentally deferred to him, though obviously not enough to his satisfaction, but both parties can make a last-ditch attempt to reclaim their souls and their political savvy. In particular, if the APC is unable to reinvent itself in the next few months, much more than the PDP, it will disintegrate. Since winning office in 2015, it has shown itself to be an unstable and sometimes dangerous amalgam of ambitious and misdirected politicians. There is restiveness in the party capable of consuming its chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, if the battle is truly joined and if the issues are really pressed. But whether it is now too late to get the ruling party running like a real political party is anybody’s guess. For about three years, the president seemed quite unable to appreciate the value and utility of the APC running as a party. He may have experienced that epiphany now. But it is uncertain that whatever he does subsequently would amount to an exhilarating success. Perhaps a little success would be sufficient in the absence of a threatening so-called Third Force.

    On the other hand, the PDP began as a real political party in 1998, but its operations and soul were truncated by the same Dr Obasanjo when the party won office in 1999. Having led the country down the red gullet of crises and decay for 16 years, and having lost the last general elections by a disastrous margin, the party needs to recalibrate its oppositional mechanisms, come to terms very brutally and frankly with its failings, make atonement for its scandalous and obscene displays, and embark on concrete rejigging of its methods and structures such as the country has never witnessed. Sadly, there is nothing inside and outside the party to indicate that such a radical transformation can be done. But if the APC and PDP are not to fulfil Dr Obasanjo’s baleful prophecy, they must embrace very urgent and realistic changes deep enough to substantially convince the public that a new party, whether called third or fourth force, cannot hold the candle to the existing parties, especially if Dr Obasanjo is part of that chimerical adventure.

    No one knows exactly how Nigeria will navigate its way out of its present quandary. It seems fated to run the gauntlet of hurtful ethnic and sectarian prejudices and attacks. In addition, there is the self-serving Dr Obasanjo on one side peddling all manner of embarrassing and demeaning sure cures; then there is on the other side the ineffective and undeserving President Buhari unable, as Mallam Na’Abba suggested, to summon the depth and competence to envision a great tomorrow for the country; and there are the two leprous leading parties so riven by internal schisms and revolts as to make them incapable of offering leadership to anyone, let alone themselves; and there is the fractious electorate who can’t see the forest for the trees, not to talk of determining what their own best interests are. If only President Buhari had envisioned a transcendental Nigeria and shaped his presidency to deliver that utopia; if only the APC had managed its affairs robustly; and if only the country had not suffered the meddlesomeness of its past leaders, particularly Dr Obasanjo. Instead, the country perches precariously on the horns of a dilemma, torn between embracing the sensible suggestions Dr Obasanjo offered in his essay or rejecting his intolerable person, and hoping that in this moment of angst, President Buhari would by an inscrutable metamorphosis rise to be at least half the man the country yearns for.

     

     

     

  • ‘Buhari will win 2019 poll without Obasanjo’

    ‘Buhari will win 2019 poll without Obasanjo’

    The dust over ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter to President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to settle. Joining the fray is a former Deputy Director, Implementation and Coordination, Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mohammed Lawal, who is also a member of the Board of NNPC. He spoke with Managing Editor, Northern Operations, Yusuf Alli and Grace Obike in Abuja. Excerpts

    JUST a few days ago, a former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo wrote a stinker to the President, raising some issues including a warning that Buhari should not attempt to contest in 2019 presidential poll.

    Well, it is Chief Obasanjo’s view that the President hasn’t performed. By all standard of any rational person in this country, President Muhammadu Buhari has performed wonderfully well. Obasanjo has the right to comment on the performance of the government but he has no right to tell Buhari not to contest; it is not done. Honestly speaking, I am beginning not to be bothered about what is coming from Obasanjo and what he says.

    Why?

    He is a letter writer.  He did it to Shagari, he did it to ex-President Ibrahim Babangida, he did it to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and he did it to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan. But what he didn’t take cognizance of is that Buhari is not Goodluck or Yar’Adua. Buhari contested for presidency three times in this country.  That experience Obasanjo is claiming to have, Buhari has it more than him. And if you see the way the government and party responded, it was not the way they responded during the past administration. So, since Obasanjo said he wants to work with coalition to destabilize the government, we have taken note of it.

    Didn’t Obasanjo give advice to effect change but not to destabilize?

    It is to destabilize because if you want to effect change, that is not the way to address the office that he went through for eight years. He was the President of this country for eight years; he knows what it means by Presidential communication. Look, if Obasanjo started his letter by saying that he tried his best to reach Buhari through anybody and he couldn’t, it is a different case. But there is malice in the letter and he is not the patriot he is claiming to be.

    But the government itself said Obasanjo’s advisory was in good faith and you are saying that the statement was malicious. Which is which?

    Look, there is malice in it. I am speaking to you as Buhari’s supporter not as an appointee or a spokesperson for his government.  Obasanjo wants to fight this government and Buhari’s supporters will fight back.  We know their plans, more letters are coming and there is a way he wants to turn people to rebel against the government. But the security agencies are watching and we have people in some NGOs and others who would confront him. Look, nobody knows their intention but I am telling you, this would be the last time he would write letter. We are not Goodluck Jonathan.

    But Obasanjo is the moral compass of this country? Why will you disagree with a harmless statement?

    By what yardsticks?  What is the morality in forcefully removing democratically elected people and putting military Generals to oversee some states?  What is the morality in attacking peaceful communities of Zaki Biam, Odi? He is saying Buhari did not achieve anything in fighting Boko Haram? When did we have more insecurity in this country than during Obasanjo when a whole Minister of Justice was killed and nothing was done? It was under his supervision that several people were killed. He removed PDP chairmen at will, what kind of moral compass is that? Look; we are not Goodluck or Yar’Adua. Obasanjo did not plant Buhari, he only supported Buhari to become the President. He did not single handedly plant him like he did to others. So, Buhari’s supporters would fight. Let him bring his coalition.

    But Buhari benefited from his goodwill, is it out of place to advise Buhari?

    The advice is taken in good faith. Where he ad vised, we would accept and work with it but this has been his tradition. Nobody knows anything in this country except him. He did that to Abacha and look at what Abacha did to him and he is trying to do it to Buhari now by galvanizing people to rebel and riot against government. That is the intention but the security people are watching and they must do something about it. But if they fail to do something about it, we are in politics; we will galvanize people and go to the street. He will never write letters to anybody again by the time we finish this war. This is the last letter he would write to any Head of State. So, because Buhari is trying to be more democratic than any president in this country, people now feel that they can say whatever they want? Buhari’s supporters will not take it. The supporters are there and ready to confront Obasanjo’s coalition and we are calling on the attention of the security people to be on the watch.

    Is there no sense in some of the issues he raised?

    Yes, there is sense in some of them and the party and the government said, they are looking at it. We will work on some of the issues he raised. Is there any government that the people are satisfied with its performance 100 percent in this world? We don’t expect Buhari to perform 100 percent. Who has ever done that? Nobody has ever done that. Buhari came with three cardinal goals—to fight corruption, reshape the economy and tackle insecurity. Tell me, during the 16 years that PDP was in power, Obasanjo supervised eight years of it and we were thrown into deep 16-kilometre shithole and we can’t come out within three years.  He supervised eight years of the rubbish his party put us in, so what does he have to say? Even the World Bank said that we are trying and that if we continue, we will get better.

    But people are finding it hard to feed during this administration and rate of suicide is higher. Should Nigerians  continue to starve to death?

    As you see me, I have relatives that hardly eat three square meals. Look, it is easier and always faster to damage something. When Buhari came in, we know how we met this country and the economic situation. You and I know that it is very much impossible to fix the problem of food security, agriculture and farming within two years. If we didn’t take the measures by closing the border and make sure that people go to farm, there won’t be improvement in food production.  We had to make sure that people farm what they want to eat. But that cannot be sufficient within the three years. I can also appreciate that people cannot understand if we tell them to please take it easy with hunger or to take it easy with hospital bills but we cannot fix it overnight. Let me tell you, if not because of the love I have for this country, I would have wished that PDP continues so that we will know where we would find ourselves now. We forget too easily in Nigeria.

    But there are quick issues you can fix like the Fulani herdsmen. Why was the President complacent?

    Do you mean the clashes started during Buhari administration? It didn’t start during this administration. This has been an issue in focus in this country.

    But it had been heightened under Buhari, don’t you think so? It was heightened because politics came in. Take Benue for example, you know the problem the governor has is with his people, especially on the management of Paris Club. Workers in Benue State were not paid for the past nine months and he didn’t know what to tell them. He had no explanation but he is riding on the back of communal clashes or disturbances in order to heighten insecurity so that people may forget his shortcomings. When it happened in Taraba and Adamawa states, hundreds of Fulani and children were killed. The Emir of Kano was sent to go and find out; he had the pictures and all the details but we didn’t go viral with them. We didn’t send pictures and throw the news into public domain. Why? It was because we want peace in this country. We don’t want to escalate the tension. If things happened like that, see reason and try to see what would calm the tension. This is unlike what our former President did by bringing the tension up again.

    Did the letter Obasanjo wrote bring down the tension or raise the tension, considering the mood of the country? Is he supposed to heighten the tension or lower the tension of insecurity and instability in this country? If he is a patriot and a statesman as he is claiming to be, he is supposed to lower the tension of insecurity and instability. That is why I said there is mischief in the letter. Where the letter said good things, the government would work on it but there was mischief where he mentioned a coalition that would fight government. We are asking security agencies to be on the watch.

    Why can’t you focus on the message instead of the messenger?

    We have to focus on both. The message is addressed; the good thing about it is that it will be looked at. Also, the messenger who is promoting mischief would also be checked because this has become his antecedent. We are not going to sit down and allow him get a coalition that will come and hit the government and probably put the whole country in trouble. Nobody will sit down and allow that.

  • Obasanjo’s special statement and its silence

    With a flurry of anti and pro-Obasanjo comments on his Special Statement in the last few days, many people would agree that enough has been said about Obasanjo’s latest letter and his history and brand of epistolary politics. The focus of today’s column is not on Obasanjo the messenger. Instead, it will be on his message, particularly the meaning of implication of his silence for the polity and society.

    Of course, Ad Hominem commentators have reminded Obasanjo about his credential as a bad messenger which Buhari and his supporters need not worry about for hundreds of reasons:; he is worried about having any president after him have two terms; he deployed troops to kill innocent men and women in Odi on account of the killing of soldiers by militants from the Niger Delta; he has been too busy moving across the globe in response to several invitations  from external bodies that have attracted him after leaving office in frustration over failing to secure tenure elongation;  he had made a habit since the end of his post-military presidency to criticize his successors unnecessarily in order to be seen as the life-long doyen of the country’s presidents, the poster-child of good governance in the country and the only one that should be seen as the kingmaker to appoint and judge his successors.

    As bad as these descriptions may sound, OBJ, to call him by the name preferred by his friends and foes, still has a constitutional freedom to express his opinions, regardless of how unpopular they might be. And he had done this before to fellow military dictators and fellow civilian presidents. Relatedly, his statement deserves to be analyzed in terms of both remote and immediate causes of what the former president has characterized as poor governance under the current president, just as it was under President Goodluck Jonathan that preceded President Buhari. One thing that OBJ’s critics have overlooked or forgotten is his role in the evolution of the country from federalism to unitarism, an evolution that he left out of his assessment of President Buhari. It is Obasanjo’s omission to establish a link between the system or structure under which Buhari has governed Nigeria thus far that is referred to in the title as Silence.

    Obasanjo’s Statement includes a guiding thesis, analysis of data at his disposal, and a conclusion that also serves as recommendation or call to action. His overall thesis is poor governance arising from inadequate leadership skills: “I believe the situation we are in today is akin to what and where we were at the beginning of this democratic dispensation in 1999. The nation was tottering. People became hopeless and saw no bright future in the horizon. It was all a dark cloud politically, economically, and socially.”

    Is Obasanjo’s description of the state of the country today and in 1999 true or false? His opponents will say false while his supporters will say true. I believe that his description is accurate and that his conclusion is forced. Certainly, there is as much anxiety today as there was when Obasanjo assumed power as a civilian president in 1999. What is not clear is why OBJ cited his adoption of what he called a near government of national unity as what prevented his own government from failing. Is this an oblique way to recommend a government of national unity to President Buhari or to prepare the country for governance of Nigeria at the instance of Coalition for Nigeria? Surprisingly, Alhaji Balarabe Musa made such recommendation a few weeks ago. OBJ has omitted an important point: what is the remote cause of Nigeria tottering before the 1999 and 2015 presidential elections? Even the two elections between Obasanjo’s and Buhari’s brought back the anxiety that had characterized elections since 1979. And Obasanjo had played a substantial role in why elections have been moments of fear for Nigerians since 1979. This does not have as much to do with leadership as it has to do with military dictators’ de-federalization of the polity and citizens’ recognition of the dangers of re-designing the country away from its original consensus on the character of the Union. When citizens asked for sovereign national conference to re-negotiate the Nigerian Union during Obasanjo’s first term, he poohpoohed such demand and set up a conference of political reform that was designed to distract citizens without making any dent on a flawed structure.

    One way Obasanjo believes that the country can bounce back is to do away with the status quo that had produced a Buhari: “We have only one choice left to take us out of Egypt to the Promised Land….Change that will mean enhancement of living standard and progress for all. A situation where the elected will accountably govern and every Nigerian will have equal opportunity not based on kinship and friendship but based on free citizenship.”  The aspiration captured by this statement could have come from leaders who have been calling for restructuring since 1999: Ben Nwabueze, Alani Akinrinade, Ayo Adebanjo, Ndubuisi Kanu, etc. The most unlikely question that Obasanjo can be asked is whether his call for a change that will enhance the life of all Nigerians and save the country from dependence of politics of kinship (parochialism) and free citizenship (opportunity for self-government within a federal Nigeria) includes returning the country to the pre-military constitutional ethos? In other words, is Obasanjo calling for removing all sections of the country from the shackles of unitary governance that had made kinship to thrive and freedom for citizens to wane?

    In the final section of his statement, Obasanjo calls for formation of Coalition for Nigeria (CN) to take Nigeria out of Egypt to the other side of River Jordan, i.e. from enslavement to freedom and from poverty to prosperity: “CN must be a movement to break new ground in building a united county, a socially-cohesive and moderately prosperous society with equity, equality of opportunity, justice and a dynamic and progressive economy that is self-reliant and takes active part in global division of labour and international decision-making.”

    If these sentences were created by someone else, they would have been interpreted as a call for restructuring. But coming from Obasanjo, the father of Nigeria’s unitary governance, no one should be deceived by the vision of CN. It must be for the avoidance of any doubt that Obasanjo omitted words like restructuring, federalism, negotiation of a new constitution, etc. Federalists and autonomists need to be warned about the danger in getting carried away by the words of hope and renewal in this season’s four-yearly sermon. It is not for those who are convinced that only a federal Nigeria can make progress and give hope to all citizens, regardless of their ethnic, religious, and social background. If anything, Coalition for Nigeria must be a strategy to prevent the collapse of a governance model that has oversize capacity to corrupt those in government, disorientate leaders, inflate the importance of those in charge of power, and in the spirit of winner-take-all make a culture of nepotism defensible to those who practice it. For example, would there have been killing of Taraba, Plateau, Benue, and now Ondo states, where, people are being killed for protecting their ancestral land, if the country had been restructured between 1999 and 2015?

    Federalists are again at a stage reminiscent of 1999, when the opportunity to insist on restructuring was missed. Admittedly, the temptation to just agree with any suggestion to create a new government to share power is noticeable, but such choice has its own danger. Suspending the struggle for re-federalization and de-militarization of the country’s constitution as we did in 1999 in a bid to escape from Egypt to the Promised Land can be counterproductive. It can drain energy needed to push for the change that can take country back to a functional multiethnic federal democratic state constituted by people with different worldviews, perceptions of reality, and divergent attitude to modernity and globalization.

    Federalists need not be distracted. Buhari as a person is not the problem of Nigeria’s failure; he is just one of its symptoms. The problem is the obsession of former military dictators and their civilian collaborators with a system designed to homogenize, colonize, and subjugate the various nationalities in the country under a leviathan or behemoth central government made possible by military rulers’ damaging of the political structure upon which Nigerians willingly  agreed to live together in 1960.

  • OBASANJO Statesman in his element

    OBASANJO Statesman in his element

    EBORA Owu Mathew Olusegun Aremu Okikiola Obasanjo, civil war hero, former military Head of State and president, is standing before the mirror of history. What is discernable from the mirror? A patriot, detribalised leader, strong and effective administrator, advocate of national unity and gerontocratic monitor and power-loaded president, who brooked no opposition. His “special statement” to President Muhamadu Buhari has polarised the polity. On one side of the divide are newly recruited fanatical advocates of regime change, who have swallowed the substance of his message that the president should not seek re-election in 2019. On the other side are Nigerians who have dismissed the “satanic letter” as a ploy to stop Buhari’s second term ambition by an ex-president who nursed a curious ambition for third term.

    There are some puzzles raised by observers: how does OBJ, as the former leader is fondly called by admirers, expect Buhari to clear the mess of 16 years in just two and half years? Can the new coalition or movement being proposed by Obasanjo achieve the feat in two years? Did the former president achieve the targets he is now setting in eight years of his administration? Obasanjo has written off the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He said the platforms are not credible and should not produce Buhari’s successor, if he steps aside. Despite its protracted crisis, can any party match the ruling party at present? When he was the PDP leader, what example of great leadership did he lay for the party? Was the foundation of the impunity ravaging the party not laid when he was the party leader? Obasanjo, civil war hero, Ekerin of Egbaland and Balogun of Owu Kingdom, connotes different interpretations. He is perceived as an experienced, fearless and outspoken leader, who can speak the truth to power. He is not afraid of battles. Always confident and proud of his ability, he believes no great leader preceded him and after he has left office, no great leader assumed the reins.

    However, it is possible that he has more fans abroad, especially among world statesmen, than at home. He is not a powerful electoral mobiliser. His constituency is the bar of influence. Although he rode to power twice as military and civilian Head of State, he is not perceived as a giant of history in the mould of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello and Sir Tafawa Balewa. Yet, having successfully built on his illustrious career as a soldier, he has remained at the top. Even, in his blissful retirement, certain circumstances have often thrown him up as an indisputable and indomitable leader of opinion whose punchy views on crucial matters of national importance can hardly be ignored. Today, the Ota farmer is the most active ex-president. He runs errands for humanity on behalf of African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN).

    This may make some continental leaders to perceive him as a citizen of the world. His intervention in some troubled spots across the globe has restored peace. Obasanjo is also involved in the activities of other reputable global organisations dedicated to worthy causes, including the promotion of agriculture, the banishment of hunger, youth development and development of a culture of enterprise.

    The difference between other world and African leaders and Obasanjo is that the former president is yet to embrace philanthropy as a hobby. At home, he cannot be ignored, although he is not worshipped as an idol. Although he claimed to have retired from politics, he has played more politics in retirement. He is an expert in gauging public mood before firing salvos at the government of the day. Despite his lack of political platform, his Hilltop Residence at Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, attracts many aspirants jostling for his endorsement. Having established himself as a factor, Obasanjo is not ready to be off the radar.

    The former president is the face of an influential power club ready to challenge any government to a duel. Hardly can he fire his salvos without consultations with the league. Among these old political principals and principalities, Obasanjo’s place is assured. His views are respected and criticised by fans and foes. Ultimately, his outburst has always generated controversy. Obasanjo’s legacies are threefold. As the Commandant of the Third Marine Commando, he claimed in his highly controversial book, My Command, that he ended the civil war. Many of his colleagues disagreed with the assertion. In his book titled: Military leadership in Nigeria (1966-1979), the late Major-General James Oluleye stated that “Obasanjo felt he won the war through a solo effort.” Also, an aggrieved Gen. Alabi Isama, objected to the claim, saying that Obasanjo’s his juniors, including Gen. Alani Akinrinade, actually achieved the feat only for him to take the glory. The second legacy was the peaceful transfer of power by the military in 1979 which he supervised. Indisputably, Obasanjo presided over the defunct Supreme Military Council (SMC) that handed over power to President Shehu Shagari. On that singular account, he became the toast of the democratic world.

    Up to now, many world leaders still shower praises on him for exemplary leadership. When he retired from the Army, Obasanjo became a large scale farmer and a shrewd businessman, almost with an insatiable appetite for business investment and wealth accumulation. Twenty years after, he bounced back as president to lay the foundation for a stable polity by sacking ambitious soldiers who may likely stage coups, thereby returning Nigeria to dictatorship. This is his third legacy. Ironically, the military Head of State who surrendered power to civilians in 1979 was reluctant to constitutionally abdicate the throne in 2007, making the third term agenda to create a hollow in his score card and underscored a reluctance to surrender control. Obasanjo is an interesting figure. His life is full of humour. If he had ventured into theatre arts, he would have become a resounding success. His real age is in the realm of conjecture.

    The only thing he can remember is that his mother told him that he was born on a market day, either in his village of Ibogun- Olaogun, or Owu. It will require some historians and archeologists to dig into his past to unravel the authenticity of his claim. In his military and political careers, Obasanjo has become a rare beneficiary of Godgiven opportunities that have catapulted him to stardom. As a cat with nine lives, when hopes were lost for him in the past, he miraculously survived. On the war front, the lot fell on him to receive the Biafran surrender. He was not visibly involved in the July 1975 coup that ousted the military Head of State, Gen. Yabuku Gowon, but he emerged as second-in-command to his successor, Gen. Murtala Mohammed.

    Following Murtala’s assassination, Obasanjo, who was allegedly in hiding, surfaced and was made the Head of State. Although he was in prison when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was formed, he later became its greatest beneficiary as the presidential candidate and winner of the election. Obasanjo’s life underscores a craving for superiority and the stoic rejection of inferiority. Having been born into a position of disadvantage and obscurity, he may have regressed into the defence mechanism of psychological compensation, which ultimately made him to be highly unrealistic in self-appraisal as he always speaks glowingly about his accomplishments, thereby conveying the impression that he was the most outstanding Commander- In-Chief who has served without any blemish. When Obasanjo sought for global fame, forces at home rose against his bid for the Secretary- General of the United Nations.

    At the forefront of the anti-Obasanjo campaign was the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, who said that, judging by the abysmal human right record of his military administration, he was unfit for the global assignment. In his controversial book, Not my will, Obasanjo castigated Awo, Zik, Aminu Kano, and Waziri Ibrahim, and Oluleye. His comments angered their followers. He mocked Awo for not becoming the President. He described Zik as a national figure who regressed to a local chief, the Owelle of Onitsha. He dismissed Ibrahim as an unserious politician. He chided Kano as a serial protester, who may inadvertently carry placards against himself. When Nigerians were demanding for the revalidation of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, he said the winner, Chief Moshood Abiola of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), was the not the messiah. Instead of agitating for the revalidation of the election result, he rationalised his support for an interim government, which he said, was unfortunate, but understandable. Three months later, the interim government fell.

    Yet, Obasanjo adorned the cap of a pseudo-pro-democracy agitator in the days of Babangida and Abacha. Under the Abacha administration, Obasanjo was humiliated when he was roped in a phantom coup. A death penalty was hanging on his head for offences he did not commit. He survived the ordeal and fulfilled his destiny. From prison, he returned to power without much struggle. Between 1999 and 2007, OBJ was the most powerful Nigerian. His word was law and the country his fortress. As the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the platform operated under his armpit. In eight years, the PDP produced four chairmen-Chief Solomon Lar, Chief Barnabas Gemade, Chief Audu Ogbeh and Dr. Ahmadu Ali. Party chieftains, governors and opposition figures trembled before his might. Even, court orders were ignored by the Federal Government. Election was war. Troop deployment and rigging were the order of the day.

    In 2007, Obasanjo handpicked his successor, the late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, and his running mate, who later succeeded him, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Yar’Adua acknowledged that the 2007 poll was severely flawed. Although he set up the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to fight graft, it later became a tool for witch hunting perceived foes. Outside power, Obasanjo became the Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees (BOT). When ailing President Yar’Adua was absent for a long time from the country, Obasanjo doubted his fitness to remain in office. He said if a person was assisted to get a job and he lacked the strength to do it, he should leave.

    He was also highly critical of his former deputy, who he described as a disloyal and corrupt politician. Irked by Dr. Jonathan’s obvious weakness, Obasanjo fired two letters to him denouncing his ineptitude. The letter may have mobilised public opinion against Dr. Jonathan, ahead of 2015 polls. Obasanjo later resigned from the PDP. He supported the APC, having been assured that it will not field Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate. Then, he announced his retirement from politics. Obasanjo is a great polygamist. The book, Bitter-Sweet: My life with Obasanjo, written by his wife, Oluremi, speaks volumes about Obasanjo as a family man. It may underscore an unfinished business of reconciliation with aggrieved wives and children. But, will his recent letter do the trick of successfully wiping up sentiments against the Buhari administration among Nigerians? Unlike Jonathan, who replied Obasanjo’s missiles, President Buhari has demonstrated maturity and directed his aides not to attack his former boss. But, can Gen. Buhari actually be intimidated by Gen. Obasanjo? Will Buhari bow to pressures not to re-contest? After Obasanjo’s letter, what next?

  • Communication – Between Obasanjo, Trump and Buhari

    Communication – Between Obasanjo, Trump and Buhari

    While  the quality  of leadership depends on the personality of any  leader, power itself thrives on political participation and communication especially in a democratic  setting. The  message of the leader is  as important  as its delivery  before it can be translated to performance which is the ultimate decider of the refusal  or renewal   of  leadership at periodic elections which  also  are  the engine  oil  of all  political systems claiming  to be democratic.  This  is the premise of our approach  to the topic  of the day, which  is a departure  from our normal  conceptual  configurations, for  the simple  reason  that the three figures   mentioned have  gotten  to such a stage  in their   leadership postures  and   challenges  that their  masquerade  of leadership  needs  to be unveiled  today.  This is   to see  their leadership in its true perspective even  as we weigh the consequences  of their past  and present  actions and its toll on the  political, geopolitical  and world  order  in which  they  have exercised  their immense  and powerful  leadership  before  our eyes, which  we assume  were wide  open  as we marvel  or recoil  at their  leadership whims and caprices.

    Former  Nigerian  president, retired  General  Olusegun  Obasanjo  set the ball  rolling  this week,  in   the rather Trump-  like and  explosive way  he shredded the Buhari government in terms of performance and bluntly   asked the Nigerian president to get off the leadership  horse, take a good rest  and  not seek reelection in the coming 2019 presidential  elections.  That  was a tall order from the former Nigerian president  to  another military  colleague  and the   horse riding example  must be a clearly understandable one to both leaders,  who coincidentally,  have  a lot in common in the way they got power both militarily  and democratically. Obasanjo  became  military  president against  his’ personal  wishes  and desires‘    as he was forced  to lead after the assassination of   late  General Murtala Muhammed.  General  Buhari  was brought to Lagos from Jos after  the coup  by the IBB led officers to be Head   of State in Lagos.  20 years  later after Obasanjo  handed power to an elected government  he was picked again  by his military  disciples  as the only man capable of leading Nigeria and he became president in 1999 and ruled   till  2007.  In the case of  General  Buhari   he  became    a democratically elected   president thirty  years    in 2015     after  he  was    removed in a  coup    as a military  president in 1965.  He   became  president in 2015 after the APC leadership  decided  he was the only one capable of winning the election because  of his integrity  and well  known   discipline as military ruler.  So  how  come that the circle of power acquisition has gone full  circle that the generals  are using their slang  on  each  other   and    for  full  effect?  The  answer  to that may  be  important  but it is not urgent for now.

    What  is important  for  now  is the  manner  the Obasanjo  tirade  was received by the Nigerian  people and nation. The  governor of Ekiti  state Ayo  Fayose hit the nail  on the head by saying that Obasanjo  contributed to the problems of  Nigeria today  and whenever   he spoke, people  hissed. Yet Fayose  asked the Nigerian  president to heed the warning in Obasanjo’s missile. Even  Northern  political  leaders  of all shades  said  Obasanjo  has a right  to say what  he has said and the government  should listen.  Of course  the government has listed its achievements  which  it  said Obasanjo never countenanced  because  of his busy travelling engagements.  But  the world is a global  village  and anyone  can monitor  events from anywhere in the world today. Similarly  the government defence that  the president is busy  running the state  and  cannot address  speculation on his reelection  in 2019 is  arrogant and unrealistic  because  the president is a product  of elections and  cannot  take the issue of his reelection as below  him or a waste of his time. That  surely is a misrepresentation of the president’s  posture on the respect  or lack of it for the Nigerian electorate, which  massively put him in  power in 2015.

    In  releasing  his letter now, Obasanjo  has  in a  way broken  political  convention of the times.   That   for now    is to praise  the government on the fight against insurgency and corruption  and pretend  all is well and Nigerians are happy. Obasanjo  has belled  the cat and like  the incumbent US President  Donald  Trump  has stood up against  political  correctness  in Nigeria  and that is commendable. The  saying   that a cat has nine lives is applicable to Obasanjo with regard to this timely warning to government which  should be heeded  especially with regard to the speedy  resolution   of  the killing of Nigerians in Benue, Taraba  and Benue  states  especially  and the call  for  Cattle  Colonies by the Minister  of  Agriculture. The  way  Nigerians have derided   and   rejected the idea  and   are asking for pig , farm  and oil  colonies, show how  the issue  of the Fulani  herdsmen  has polarized  the nation.  If  care  is not  taken this matter  would overtake  the call  for restructuring as the panacea  to Nigeria’s  political and economic problems.  The  recourse then  would be agitation  for a confederation and that  is a slippery  and contentious  way  to the fragmentation of the Nigerian nation.  Reining in the Fulani  herdsmen according to the rule of law  will  surely  give the Nigerian  nation, its stability  and well  being a lot of breathing space. That  really was all Obasanjo  was talking  about and for once Nigerians did  not ask  the messenger to be told off  even  though as Governor  Fayose observed, they hissed because  of the messenger’s  well  known leadership antecedents and  pedigree.

    The  Nigerian leader Obasanjo wrote a 13 page letter  that is sure  to be the  focus of political  attention in Nigeria  for some time .He  was  you   may say  not quite modern and innovative even if his message  was effective. The  now recognized modern political  leader in terms communication globally is US  President Donald  Trump who  has tweeted over 1000 tweets in his first year in office.

     

    This was someone who  was  touted as an  IT illiterate during his presidential  campaign.  His tweets have drawn attention  to the issue of fake news which  governments all  over the world have condemned  as weakening democracies  and human  societies with  false news. Both  Britains’ Theresa May  and Hillary Clinton  have also  come out to condemn fake news on the internet as anti democratic and Germany has made a law that fines  companies like Face  Book, Google and Whats app heavily  for not removing fake news within a given time. Even  global  Media mogul Murdoch  has asked internet companies like Face Book  to pay  for –truth-  and promote genuine journalism  and publishing online. The   Vatican  too is not left  out as Pope  Francis recently claimed   that fake news originated from the garden  of  Eden in Genesis where Eve misinformed Adam  and he ate  the forbidden  fruit.

    Political Communication matters  a lot in terms of leadership. In  Nigeria, unfortunately that is not the fort of the present Nigerian  leader. He is of course well  known  for his taciturnity  and integrity. In  a democracy  however the leader must  read  correctly,    when  to say something  and when  to keep  quiet. Loud  silence in the face of pressing problems in the polity is a sign of leadership aloofness  and it  sooner than later  that   estranges such leadership to its followership. The  Nigerian  leader needs to have more rapport with the Nigerian people and their sectional  leaders  and representatives. That  is what democracy is all about  and that is how to move  the nation forward 2019 or no  2019  elections.  Once again, long live the Federal  Republic of Nigeria.

  • Obasanjo’s Buhari verdict generates more storm

    Obasanjo’s Buhari verdict generates more storm

    The storm ignited by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s “special statement” in which he castigated the Muhammadu Buhari administration is yet to subside.

    The reactions have been mixed, with some people hailing him and others knocking him for advising the president not to run for a second term.

    Former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu and Senate Committee on Police Affairs Chairman Senator Abu Ibrahim rejected Obasanjo’s stand.

    Kalu questioned Obasanjo’s achievements and said it would be unfair to the Southeast, the Southsouth and the Southwest not to support Buhari’s second term bid, given the need to return power to the South after the completion of his two terms.

    Kalu told reporters at the airport in Lagos:”I think Obasanjo’s letter is not in the best interest of Nigeria. There are three express roads Obasanjo refused to build when he was the President. Port Harcourt, Okigwe, Umuahia, Enugu expressway. It is being built now by the Buhari administration.

    “Another one is the Enugu-Awka-Onitsha expressway. It is being built now by the Buhari administration. Obasanjo did not build it. Then there is the Onitsha-Owerri and Aba expressway. The Buhari administration is building it now.

    “Between Obasanjo and Buhari, who should I call my friend in real terms? It is Buhari who is developing our region. With the roads, trailers loaded with manufactured goods in Aba will be able to get to their various destinations from the city. So, Buhari is my friend; so he is a better President.

    Why the former President is not qualified to write is because he is the cause of many of the things happening in this country today. Obasanjo is not a worthy person to write that letter. Under the Obasanjo administration, $16 billion was spent on power plants but that money was wasted. Where we are now at the privately-owned domestic airport, you can hear the sound of generator. The electricity in the facility is being powered by generator. Where is the $16 billion spent on electricity?

    “It is just that governments are not serious. If the different tiers of government are serious, they would address where the $16 billion meant for provision of power has gone.

    “Before June this year, I will write my own letter to President Buhari and that letter will be explosive. Nigerians will see my letter to Buhari and that will be explosive.”

    Kalu added: “Buhari is fighting corruption. It is those who don’t know Buhari that will not be saying that. You know that I supported Buhari in 2003 even when I was a PDP governor. Senator Ibrahim said Nigerians should judge Buhari by his achievements rather than “the sentiments” expressed by Obasanjo.

    He asked Nigerians to ignore Obasanjo and focus attention on the quantum lift on the country had made under Buhari.

    He said: “Obasanjo is always himself. He always wants to be seen as the best president the country has had. He should however be advised not to always do things that are subjective.”

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairman Uche Secondus said “the government of APC has become a lame duck after the former President Olusegun Obasanjo released a political tsunami and verdict on it”

    He said the PDP would save the nation from collapse

    Secondus spoke in Abuja  during a meeting with the league of former ministers who served under the various PDP administrations since 1999.

    He said: “Our nation is in a situation where PDP must save this nation from total collapse.

    “We shall be engaging most of you even at emergency level. As we move, it will be so dynamic in nature. Feel free, this party belongs to all of us.

    “We have opened the party up; no one single person owns this party. No one single individual can direct; it must be collective leadership. That is what is going to give us victory.

    “Very soon, we shall roll out our programme; we are going to embark on online membership drive and it is going to be aggressive.

    “We also want to assure you that members of the NWC are not ready to sit at Wadata in the confines of air-conditioner.

    “We want to roll out our suites and move to the states and the local government and we will get to the wards and, if possible the units, to seek for membership. So you will join us in your states”.

    The party chair described the former ministers as‎ men and women of integrity who have worked for the nation, assuring them that the National Working Committee (NWC) was ready to work closely with them.

    Former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido praised Obasanjo  ”for speaking the minds of Nigerians.”

    He said: “APC and the president have no capacity, they have no knowledge, no political sagacity; they can’t lead Nigeria. If we allow APC to continue, this country will perish.”

    Lamido said President Buhari would have been impeached for allegedly declaring that he would only work for regions that voted him into power.

    His words: “For a government which says I can only work where I got my own votes, which means from the beginning, the culture of hate has been there. Nigeria is for all Nigerians. In saner countries, the president would have been impeached for declaring that he would work in areas where he got votes.”

    To the former governor, the Buhari administration is intolerant of divergent views. Critics are often “maligned, demonized and blackmailed,” he said.

    Lamido spoke in Asaba, the Delta State capital while soliciting the support of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and PDP members for his presidential ambition.

    A pro-Buhari youth group, the Democratic Youths Congress for Buhari 2019 described former Obasanjo’s statement as “an open confrontation against the North that made him what he is”

    Its National Chairman, Hon Kassim Mohammad Kassim told reporters in Owerri, the Imo State capital, that Obasanjo’s “outburst” was not in the interest of the nation as he claimed cbut a ploy to relaunch himself into relevance ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    Kassim, who is also a member of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly representing Akwanga South Constituency, said:  ”As a lawmaker and the national chairman of a youths support group for Buhari, I want to categorically say that, not because I am a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) or running a campaign team for Buhari, but as a matter of fact, Nigerians will agree with me that some of our past leaders are the problem of this country.

    ”Why I am saying this is that I want to specifically respond to former President Olusegun Obasanjo because Nigerians will agree that when Obasanjo was President, all his activities were centred on himself alone and that was why he wanted the third term to remain in power and die in power but since that plan was truncated, he became demoralised and felt so bad that Nigerians rejected him to that extent because he was not having any agenda that could promote this country. But because he has seen that with what is happening and the way things are moving, Nigerians won’t mind to ask Buhari to continue for even more than two terms and that is why he is raising issues to create more confusion and to add more crisis to the existing crisis. Nobody would wish to see the system collapsing; so, as good citizens, we say ‘no’ to that but we condemn Obasanjo’s ploy to create relevance for himself by creating tension in the polity.”

    A chieftain of the APC in Delta State, Chief Ovo Ofigo, said the Obasanjo statement should rather be seen as a wakeup call to the President, to live up to his campaign promises.

    Ofigo, who is the National Coordinator of the Buhari Solidarity Movement (BSM),urged Buhari to remain focused and use the remaining period of his administration to focus of doing what made Nigerians to vote for him in 201.

    “Failure is an opportunity for determined people to succeed. Thus, President Buhari is determined to have a second term, then he has to take the former President’s outburst as a welcome and healthy development,” he said.

    He added that “President Buhari should not forgo his second term ambition. Instead he should study critically the Obasanjo outburst and make amends.”

    “If power and energy are properly put in place, every other thing will follow-including sound economy that Obasanjo himself will vote for Buhari in 2019,” Ofigo said.

    He advised Nigerians to give Buhari 10 calendar months to give us the desired change, stressing that “he should be encouraged to transform Nigeria”.

  • OBJ’s Letter: ‘See the letter as a Challenge’ APC Chieftain Advised

    OBJ’s Letter: ‘See the letter as a Challenge’ APC Chieftain Advised

    President Muhammadu Buhari has been charged not to let the recent letter by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, dissuade him from putting himself forward for the 2019 contest, but should use same to better his rating with all Nigerians.

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress ( APC ) in Delta state, Chief Ovo Ofigo, who gave the charge in a statement he titled “Failure is an opportunity for determined people to succeed”, said the letter by Chief Obasanjo should rather be seen as a wakeup call to the president, to live up to his campaign promises to Nigerians.

    Ofigo, who is also the National Coordinator of the Buhari Solidarity Movement (BSM), noted that Chief Obasanjo’s letter, though harsh on
    the president, was a welcomed development, which would in the end held the chances of the president in the upcoming election.

    He charged President Buhari to remain focused and used the remaining years of his administration to focus of doing what made Nigerians to vote for him in 2015, urging him to forgo his ambition of running for a second term if he is convinced within himself to contest.

    “The recent letter of former President Obasanjo to President Buhari is a welcome development. The letter among other things adjudged President Buhari as a failure in governance. Failure is an opportunity for determined people to succeed. Thus, President Buhari is determined of having a second term, then he has to take former
    President’s outburst as a welcome and healthy development”, he said.

    While saying that former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s outburst will definitely contribute more than 40% to President Buhari’s electoral fortunes in 2019, he added that “President Buhari should not forgo his second term ambition. Instead he should study critically the Obasanjo outburst and make amends.”

    Ofigo argued that “if power and energy are properly put in place, every other thing will follow-including sound economy that Obasanjo himself will vote for Buhari in 2019”, he said.

    He also appealed to Nigerians to give President Buhari ten calendar months to give us the desired change stressing that “he should be encouraged to transform Nigeria.”

    The former National Treasurer of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), described former President Olusegun Obasanjo as a patriotic Nigerian who loves Nigeria and President Buhari adding that,”He wants Buhari to succeed.”

    “I appeal to President Buhari to invite Ex-President Obasanjo for a round table talk. Obasanjo is not an enemy. He has spurred Buhari and those of us (The Apostles) to be ready to work harder in ten days ahead”, he said.