Mathew Olusegun, Aremu, Okikiola Obasanjo, civil war hero, Balogun and Ebora of Owu Kingdom, Ekerin of Egba Confederation, former military Head of State, former President and citizen of the world, retired from active politics yesterday.
It was the end of an era. It was a very difficult and painful decision for the most active and controversial leader. In his view, it was inevitable. Apparently, combining two antagonistic roles of partisan gerontocratic monitoring with moral reticence is frustrating. Politics, in Obasanjo’s reckoning, has conflicted with his natural role as a statesman and moral voice, which his less politically active colleagues – former President Shehu Shagari, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Ernest Shonekan and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar – have adjusted to in blissful retirement.
In a fit of anger, he marked his transition from politics to retirement with a drama. Obasanjo publicly tore his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) membership card, thereby repudiating the acclaimed largest political party in Africa, on which back he rode to the Presidency almost 16 years ago.
In the last two years, relationship between Obasanjo and the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan has been frosty. He has disagreed with the President over his style of administration. He also faulted his party’s management under his watch. In December 2013, he wrote to Dr. Jonathan, accusing him of promoting corruption and keeping a killer-squad. Obasanjo also said that the President has surrounded himself with drug barons. He warned that the economy may also collapse under the inept administration. The President returned the missiles in his letter to his benefactor. He said Obasanjo did not lay a foundation for a brighter future.
Following the parting of ways, Obasanjo’s loyalists in the PDP were witch-hunted. The PDP crisis reached a climax when five governors, senators, House of Representatives members, and other notable leaders dumped the ruling party for the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which later merged with other parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The rift deepened recently when after Obasanjo flayed the administration for corruption and lack of direction and the President described him as a motor park tout.
Last week, Obasanjo dropped another bombshell. He urged Nigerians to vote for competence, instead of party. He also defended the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, over the allegation of lack of a school certificate. He said the military was up to a curious game. However, when Obasanjo lambasted President Jonathan for postponing the general elections for ulterior motive, it was evident that the chance of reconciling the two leaders was slim. Obasanjo said “the President was playing Gbagbo”, a reference to the shifting of polls by ousted Ivory Coast leader to a convenient time to pave the way for his party’s victory.
The former President also warned against moves to sack Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Attahiru Jega. He warned that his removal will affect the credibility of the exercise, even, if the President wins the poll.
Mixed reactions have trailed the former President’s latest move. The former President has been saluted for his courage to speak truth to power. Many have described him as a patriot and nationalist, who has always shunned ethno-religious sentiments. Although his cradle is Egbaland, Ogun State, Southwest, Obsanjo’s national outlook has not been in doubt. As a critic, he has, in the opinion of people, struggled to keep the government in check. He has earned the reputation of an advocate of good governance.
On the other side of the coin are Nigerians who have also argued that the former President has been a garrulous personality reputed for acidic commentary on the state of the nation. Since he has direct access to the President, many thought he was in a vantage position to advise the President privately, instead of playing to the gallery. Others have attributed the rot in governance to him as the guardian of the broken political system. Their argument is that the master schemer prevent a legitimate PDP congress in 2007 for the emergence of popular presidential and vice presidential candidates at the primaries. His preference was the Yar’Adua/Jonathan ticket, which the party obliged him as the power-loaded Commander-In-Chief. According to critics, if the table now turns against him, he is the architect of his political misfortune.
The reaction of the PDP was swift. Rejecting his ‘resignation,’ the Ogun PDP State Executive Committee expelled him from the chapter. The Chairman, Chief Adebayo Dayo, an engineer, said that the chapter will not miss him. Other chieftains frowned at the timing, saying that the transition from partisan politicking to statesmanship does not entail public tearing of party card.
In weeks to come, Obasanjo’s decision to quit politics will be a subject of debate. Analysts will beam their searchlight on his politico-military career. Encomiums and blames will be heaped on the enigmatic figure. However, three basic features were discernable from his involvement in the reshaping of the society. These may be catapulted to the front burner as critics dissect Obasanjo’s personality and public service career.
Historically, Obasanjo is part of the symbol of a nationalist military that derailed, following soldiers’ prolonged involvement in governance, an assignment they were not adequately trained or well-equipped for. He was an early beneficiary of an almost clinical liquidation of democracy. He fought for unity. But, he cannot exonerate himself from the political pollution of the polity by the military. While pre-1966 soldiers fitted into the characterisation of modernisers, many post-civil war military men indulged in primitive accumulation, thereby eroding the confidence of those who have uncritically swallowed the substance of military’s political evangelism.
Indisputably, Obasanjo’s political worth has also not been exaggerated. The ruling party has lost a colossus, no doubt, to the protracted crisis that has decimated it. But if the PDP is now on the disastrous road to perdition, the Obasanjo factor is not totally responsible. In his 16 years of sojourn in politics, Obasanjo as a person, lacked the essential electoral value and grassroots appeal. He has not been the hero of the masses. There is a deep hollow in his score card as President for eight years. In fact, it has been argued that President Goodluck Jonathan’s abysmal performance has shifted attention from the past in a beleaguered nation that is perpetually assailed by collective amnesia. However, despite his past records, when Obasanjo sneezes, Nigerians nod affirmatively and the government catches cold.
Exchange of letters
The December 2013 letter from Obasanjo to Dr. Jonathan underscored the strained relationship between the benefactor and his political son. PDP described it as a satanic letter, wondering why the former President opted for that medium of communication. In the letter, Obasanjo hit the President with his sword. The former PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman doubted Dr. Jonathan’s competence, saying that he is unfit for a second term. Instantly, the President became an orphan after his mentor delivered the deadly blow.
Obasanjo’s verdict was that Jonathan’s government is deficient in character, integrity and honour. He cleverly isolated himself from the administration, as if he did not lay its foundation. He showcased the weakness of the administration, urging Nigerians to make him answerable for ineptitude. Leaning on public opinion, which had put the Federal Government on the edge, the former leader exploited public emotion and sentiment to nail its coffin.
The timing of the Obasanjo’s letter to the President was strategic. The letter at a time the President was facing battles on many fronts. The APC has taken the government to task over the national drift. Also, aggrieved PDP chieftains had challenging the President to a duel. In fact, many PDP chieftains have started perceiving Dr. Jonathan as a burden to the ruling party.
The bomb was also delivered to Aso Rock at a time the President has come under attacks by stakeholders who perceive him as a burden to the ruling party and the polity, owing to poor performance. Now, the letter may boost the North’s campaign that 2015 should be the terminal year for the Jonathan-led administration.
Many disagreed with Obasanjo over the letter. They doubted whether he was on a patriotic mission. They also questioned his legacies as a former President, whose administration left a sour taste in the mouth. Others said that that he fired the letter because President Jonathan accepted his letter of resignation as the BoT Chairman gleefully and without much reflection. They also pointed out that Obasanjo was visiting his frustration on the President because he was indifferent to Obasajo’s loss of grip on the Ogun PDP.
Obasanjo’s main allegations against Jonathan were two-fold. He alleged that the President was not tackling corruption. In the past, critics also raised the raise issue with the Obasanjo administration, although it set up anti-graft agencies which targeted perceived foes for political liquidation. The second allegation was that the President wanted to renege on the one-term agreement. But in the past, there were echoes of third term.
Jonathan’s reply
President Jonathan returned the salvos two weeks after Obasanjo passed a vote of no confidence on his administration. Returning the missiles, he said the former leader was subjective, adding that he was inciting Nigerians against him and subverting his regime. Then, the President turned the heat on Obasanjo by making valid references to his score cards as the military Head of State and civilian President.
He dragged Obasanjo to the court of public opinion by pointing out that some of the ills and vices alleged in his letter were associated with the administrations he presided over as a soldier and civilian. The President portrayed Obasanjo as a ruler who laid a bad example for his successors. To that extent, although Obasanjo is a benefactor to Jonathan, the President conveyed the impression that Obasanjo is no more his role model. In one breath, Dr. Jonathan demanded apology from Obasanjo for peddling falsehood. In another breath, he challenged him to prove his weighty allegations. The President said he chose to respond to “the most serious of the charges”, which questioned his “sincerity”, “personal honour” and the “interest of Nigerians”.
Jonathan described his predecessor’s letter as a threat to national security. He said his letter may deliberately set the stage for subversion. The President took exception to Obasanjo’s carrot and stick approach to overcoming militancy and insurgency. Dr. Jonathan viewed the invasion of Odi community in Bayelsa State by the Army as the stick. But, he observed that the “corresponding carrot” was not forthcoming. Thus, in his view, Obasanjo failed in this regard. The court verdict on the Odi massacre may have abolished the rightness of “carrot and stick” approach to militancy.
Jonathan made another valid point. He reminded Obasanjo that Boko Haram crisis started as far back as 2002 when he was in power. “Goodluck Jonathan was not the President of the country then”, Dr.Jonathan said. This interpretation is that, if Obasanjo had nipped the insurgency in the bud, it will not stare successive administrations in the face.
On the allegations of political assassination under the administration, the President said the same tragedy happened under the Obasanjo administration. Also, Dr. Jonathan said that corruption was rampant under Obasanjo, making his kinsman, the Afro-beat king, the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, to wax a record decrying the menace in the seventies. Dr. Jonathan added: “Even, in this Fourth Republic, the Siemens and Halliburton scandals are well known.” In the next statement, Jonathan emphasised that “the seed of corruption was planted a long time ago.”
The President also said that Obasanjo dislocated the PDP when he was the party’ national leader. He said his hand was heavy on the PDP founding fathers, including the late Chief Sunday Awoniyi, the late Chief Solomon Lar, Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo, Chief Audu Ogbeh and Chief Tony Anenih. The message the President sought to convey was that he was not as ruthless as Obasanjo. He even alleged that Obasanjo was a partial Head of State who supported the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) candidate, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, against Chiefs Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe (both of blessed memory). However, the President was trying to hoodwink Nigerians when he said that he has directed security agents to investigate the allegations against him. If some of the allegations are true, who will take action against the President? Will the Commander-in-Chief move against himself?
The lessons of the correspondence are instructive. It fostered an accountability process. Obasanjo was a one- man battalion in this regard. But the past was also being revisited. Thus, he who comes to equity must come with clean hands.
Torn apart by 2015 calculations
Following the hot exchanges, Gen. Obasanjo and Dr. Jonathan continued to work at cross purposes. The sour relationship contrasted sharply with the previous father-son relationship. Indeed, Obasanjo admired Dr. Jonathan, who was a loyal deputy to former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who neither undermined nor subverted his boss, until the governor was shoved aside, following the his face-off with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The relationship between the two leaders was cordial. In fact, Obasanjo single- handedly nominated Dr. Jonathan as the vice presidential candidate in 2007. In quick succession, he became the vice president, acting president and president, following the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua.
When the President contested for the highest office in 2011, Obasanjo was also a pillar of support for him. He mobilised support for him to defeat former Vice President Atiku Abubakar at the PDP primaries and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) at the presidential election.
During Yar’Adua’s long absence, a cabal initially prevented Jonathan from stepping in as the Acting President. Obasanjo was among the eminent Nigerians who insisted that the 1999 Constitution should be followed in resolving the logjam. The former President even said that Yar’Adua should resign, owing to his incapacitation. When Yar’Adua died, the same forces were at work, until the ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ was invoked to pave the way for Jonathan’s emergence as the President. In those trying period, Obasanjo stood with the President.
However, cracks appeared on the wall because of the 2015 calculations. President Jonathan was scheming for a second term. Obasanjo objected to his move, saying that it contradicted zoning. Although President Jonathan visited Obasanjo in his Abeokuta, Ogun State residence, no truce was achieved. The former President also visited Dr. Jonathan in Aso Rock. But, the visits have not engendered mutual confidence.
When Obasanjo resigned as the PDP BoT Chairman, the President gleefully accepted his resignation. Party sources said that Obasanjo was dazed by Dr. Jonathan’s reaction. The former occupant of th office, Chief Tony Anenih, instantly regained his lost seat. Instead of prevailing on the former President not to abdicate from the powerful and influential party structure, Jonathan simply welcomed the resignation and wished him the best in his future endeavours.
However, crisis broke out between Obasanjo and the President, following the removal of Obasanjo’s men from the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party. The sack affected the former National Secretary, Gen. Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the National Vice Chairman (Southwest), Chief Segun Oni, and the National Auditor, Gbenga Mustapha. They were national officers from the Southwest zone. Oyinlola’s election was not voided by the INEC, which voided the election of other 16 national officers. When the party’s erswhile National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur refused to reinstate him, Obasanjo’s camp took up the battle, claiming that it was an orchestrated plan to reduced the former President’s influence by politically eliminating his supporters from the organs of the party.
Obasanjo had other grudges. He had lost his grip over the Ogun PDP. It was a victory for his foes in the troubled chapter, who are financed by the billionaire businessman, Kashamu Buruji.
As the relationship between Obasanjo and Jonathan deteriorated, the relationship between the embattled President and Nigerians, who voted en mass for him in 2011, also went sour. Their hope was raised by the birth of the Transformation Agenda. But almost four years after, soaring unemployment, collapsed infrastructure, power outage and abject poverty have inflicted pains on the people. Gradually, the President began to lose public goodwill and solidarity . Thus, Obasanjo secured a vantage position to attack the inept government, berating it for shortfall in focus and capacity.
At a lecture in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, the former President wrote off the younger generation, which Dr. Jonathan exemplified. He said the generation has failed the nation. unlike his own generation, which he said, erected lasting legacies. When Obasanjo was invited to the unveiling of the President’s mid-term score card in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territoty (FCT), he shunned the event. Instead, the former President went to Dutse, the capital of Jigawa State, on the invitation of Governor Sule Lamido. After inaugurating some projects by the governor, Obasanjo praised the governor to high heavens. The extraordinary encomium was perceived as an endorsement of Lamido for the presidency in 2015 by Obasanjo.
Also, Obasanjo stayed away from the PDP special convention at the Eagle Square, Abuja, to the consternation of the President. Mid-way into the convention, seven governors walked out on the President and Alhaji Tukur, citing irregularities in the conduct of the convention. Among them were the five aggrieved governors, who are loyal to Obasanjo. They repudiated the convention and demanded for Tukur’s resignation as the chairman.
Obasanjo was instrumental to the installation of the ‘G5’ members as governors. He had directed Admiral Muritala Nyako to vie for the Adamawa State governorship in 2007 to checkmate Atiku. When Kano State Governor Musa Kwakwanso was dislodged by Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), the former President appointed him as the Defence Minister. Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu was a Federal Permanent Secretary before his election. In 2007, Obasanjo advised Aliyu Wamakko to defect from the ANPP to become the governor of Sokoto State under the PDP. Governor Lamido was Obasanjo’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs. All of them have remained loyal to the former President. In fact, before they announced a parallel executive, they had visited Obasanjo to complain to him about the way Jonathan and Tukur have been managing the party. Their visit to Obasanjo at his Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, coincided with the President’s visit. But, following a tip off, they avoided the President.
When the ‘G5’ teamed up with other aggrieved PDP chieftains to form a faction led by the former Acting National Chairman, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, many believed that Obasanjo was not kept in the dark.
When it was evident that Obasanjo had distanced himself from the PDP, the leaders of the APC visited him in Abeokuta to request for his help in the task of navigating into the future. Although he maintained that he has not changed his party, it was obvious that PDP’s loss was becoming the APC’s gain.
Obasanjo’s place in history
For eight years in this dispensation, Obasanjo was the most powerful Nigerian. His word was law and the country his fortress, as it were. Governors and opposition figures trembled before his might. As the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, he brooked no opposition. Court orders were meaningless and the parliament merely existed as a crippled organ of government in an inexplicable atmosphere of decorative checks and balances. In that exalted office, he was perceived as the state. Indeed, the fear of the General was the beginning of wisdom.
But power is transient and no condition is permanent. While in the saddle as the number one citizen, he installed governors, legislators and above all, he handpicked his successor in the twilight of his reign. Her daughter, Dr. Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, former Health Commissioner in his native Ogun State, had a smooth sail to the Senate. The stamp of Obasanjo catapulted numerous politicians to power, demoted others and liquidated those who fell out of favour.
Barely four years outside office, the combative General was left in the cold. He regressed to his pre-1999 years when he lacked home support. Obasanjo failed to deliver his ward to the PDP in 2007. His daughter also lost the senatorial poll. His hold on the polity had slipped away. He could not even broker peace and reconciliation in the crisis-ridden Ogun PDP as a former President.
Basking in old glory
But the old glory did not fade away. No Nigerian, living or dead, has had that unique privilege bestowed on Obasanjo by benevolence. Not even the giants of Nigerian history – Awo, Zik, Aminu Kano and Moshood Abiola – could achieve the feat in their life time. The opportunity to rule the country eluded them, despite their intellectual fitness and political virtues.
When he joined the Army in 1959, little did the ‘poor boy’ from Owu know that the sky is the limit. He had reflected in his famous book: “Not My Will”, although in mockery of the late Chief Awolowo, that he was bare-footed on the line when the Premier of the defunct Western Region, who was already aspiring to the Office of Head of Government, visited his primary school.
His career blossomed in the military. The crowning was his performance as the gallant Commander of the Third Marine Commando, who accepted the surrender of the scattered Biafran soldiers led by Col. Philip Effiong. He took the shine off his seniors; Brig. Iyalla Bisalla and Col. Benjamin Adekunle (aka the Black Scorpion). In post-civil war period, restless soldiers coveted more powers and fame and Obasanjo and Muritala were arrowheads of the agitation for their inclusion in the all-civilian Federal Executive Council headed by Gen. Yakubu Gowon. In deference to their wish, the Head of State appointed Muritala as Federal Commissioner for Communications and Obasanjo was given the Works and Housing portfolio.
The highest office landed on the palm of Obasanjo twice, and by chance. In 1976, he ascended to power as the military Head of State, following the assassination of his boss, Gen. Muritala Mohammed. In 1979, he handed power to a civilian President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Twenty years later, he was recalled from retirement to serve as civilian President, thus becoming the first Nigerian to have serve as the military and civilian leader of the most populous country in Africa. Before becoming the number one citizen, Obasanjo served as the Commander of the Third Marine Commando that won the civil war. Later, he served as the Federal Commissioner for Works and Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters.
After retiring as the military Head of State, he ventured into book writing. In his controversial book, ‘Not My Will’, he mocked the indomitable Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the first Premier of Western Region, who had visited his school when he was bare footed. He pointed out that, despite his ambition and long struggle to rule the country, he missed the opportunity. However, Obasanjo emphasised that the same position landed on his palm without struggle. In fact, in 1979, Gen. Obasanjo had remarked that the best material may not become the President. Many believed that he was referring to Awo.
Obasanjo also took on Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe, teacher, philosopher and first ceremonial President. He described him as a towering leader who fell from the position of pre-eminence nationally, only to carry on with life in his old age as a tribal chieftaincy holder, the Owelle of Onitsha. In his view, Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim, a First Republic federal legislator and Minister of Health from Borno was a rich businessmen, but an unserious contender for the presidency. The late Aminu Kano, the champion of the oppressed, was described by Obasanjo as a renowned placard carrier, who can even protest against himself.
Obasanjo had also dismissed Gen. Buhari and the late Gen.Tunde Idiagbon, his juniors in the Army, as autocratic military rulers who held the nation in its jugular. When they were dethroned in a coup, he criticised their prolonged detention by self-styled President Ibrahim Babangida. He also criticised Babangida’s economic policies. On the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), he disagreed with the military president on the implementation process, saying that adjustment must have human face, human heart and milk of human kindness.
When Babangida tinkered with the transition timetable, Obasanjo rallied prominent Nigerians to protest the elongation of military rule. He was one of the leaders who suggested the Interim National Government (ING) headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan. He said, the option was regrettable but understandable. The suggestion nailed the coffin of “June 12”. Of course, Obasanjo said the winner of the historic presidential poll, the late Chief Moshood Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 2003 presidential election, was not the messiah.
In 2007, when the third term project collapsed, Obasanjo threw his weight behind Yar’Adua/Jonathan ticket. When Yar’Adua could not cope with the rigour of office, due to health problem, he said at a public lecture that, although a person can help somebody to find job, but when he knows that he cannot perform the task again, he should vacate the seat.
His bid for the Secretary-General of the United Nations was however, scuttled. Prof. Wole Soyinka said that, judging by the abysmal human right record of his administration, he was unfit for the global assignment.
Obasanjo campaigned for the restoration of civil rule at home by rallying eminent Nigerians into a pro-democracy group which met regularly at his Ota Farm. Yet, when his Egba kinsman, Abiola, was struggling for the restoration of his mandate, the retired General remarked that he was not the messiah who would take Nigerians to the Promised Land.
Instead, he threw his support behind the ING contraception headed by another Egba man, saying that it was unfortunate, but understandable. The regime fell as predicted.
Under administration of the late Sani Abacha, the former Head of State was humiliated when he was roped in a phantom coup. He may have been killed in the prison, if the activist-doctor, Beko Ransom-Kuti, had not alerted the whole world on the’ internet’ that that he was about to be either poisoned or injected. Then, a death penalty was hanging on his head for offences he did not commit.
Obasanjo survived and fulfilled his destiny. From prison, he returned to power, amid cheers. But the lessons of the past were easily forgotten. Instead of resolving the fundamental national questions, including constitution amendment, restructuring, true federalism. state police, land use, and other issues, he concentrated attention on building a political empire.
In 2003, an earthquake, by his grace, swept across the Southwest. The rigging of that year paled into insignificance in the face of monumental malpractices that marred the 2007 polls. Before the election, the third term project of the President stared the anxious country in the face. It collapsed like a pack of cards.
Obasanjo left office, leaving the country prostrate. Power outage, water scarcity, collapsed infrastructure and rigged elections became his legacies. While he was celebrated in 1979 for his feats, he was scorned at in 2007.
Is political retirement possible?
Human beings are political animals. Can Obasanjo be indifferent to partisan politics? Does it mean that the former President will refrain from moulding political opinion? Does it mean that he will be aloof to request for partisan endorsements? Many stakeholders agree that, although Obasanjo may not attend party meetings again, he may continue to shape the direction of politics as an influential leader of national and international repute.
