Obasanjo’s nationalisation of personal agenda and Buhari’s re-election bid

By Onyechi Anyadike

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is certainly the most politically active ex-leader of his country. Since his forced departure from Aso Rock Presidential Villa after completing his constitutional two terms n 2007, when he had to leave after his failed bid to alter the constitution for a self-centred third term, the self-proclaimed chicken farmer has continually been in the public sphere and in the news for purely selfish reasons. Just like during the long break following his first outing as military head of state between 1976 and 1979, when every other leader in the 20-year period to 1999 had a taste of his sharp criticism, this practice has returned since he left office in 2007.

  From former President Shehu Shagari, presidential winner of Obasanjo-managed military-to-civilian transition, to coupists Mohammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha, none escaped the volley of criticism from Obasanjo’s sharp tongue and acidic pen.

General Abdulsalami Abubakar who succeeded Abacha after the latter’s mysterious demise in 1998, and who midwifed the democratic transition that produced Obasanjo as elected president, only escaped the chicken farmer’s jibes because Abubakar’s brief stay was basically to conduct elections and hand over power, with Obasanjo as the eventual major beneficiary.

  If Obasanjo’s criticism of his successors prior to 1999 could be attributed to his image as an internationally respected African statesman who, as military leader, handed over power (some say ‘reluctantly’) to a democratically elected president in an era of

sit-tightism among African political leaders, his continuous criticism of every other leader since 2007 has basically been image laundry as he is apparently desperate to rehabilitate himself to the public perception of him prior to 1999.

  Yes, Obasanjo emerged an international statesman after the 1979 handover, a period he also cultivated his self-righteousness. He certainly would have remained that way until he went into partisan politics and exposed himself for the poor political and public

administrator that he eventually emerged.

  Now, he is engaged in laundering his image under the pretense of pursuing the betterment of his fatherland. How Obasanjo can still come out to espouse the rudiments of better government and governance is a measure of our warped socio-political system. But Obasanjo has been doing exactly that since 2007, the latest being his call on Buhari in last January, to step down and not to seek re-election in 2019, his reason

being that the President has failed Nigerians as he claimed the President’s performance had not met the high expectations of the popular acceptance of his candidacy in preference to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. Obasanjo went further to announce the formation of the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), a political

movement which he christened ‘the Third Force’, as alternative platform for the replacement of the President in 2019.

  Those who know Obasanjo very well recognise that his latest venture has the trappings of ego trip encompassed in his desire to be seen as father of modern Nigeria, a position he is most unsuited for, considering his history since he blazed into presidential power in 1976. He possesses the rare knack and competence for attracting to himself undeserved reliance for providing solutions that are just not within his capacity. How he is able to do this is a study in the manipulation of the media and the public.

  Right from the beginning, specifically after his handover in 1979, this public-perception manipulation has gone a long way in establishing him as the voice that counts most, a position not equalled by any other former Nigerian leader. And he thrived and still

thrives to maintain that image, a battle he has been engaged in since 1979. But for how long will he continue to paint a picture of himself with strokes made not from the brush of artistic exactitude?

  When in October 1979 he left office in a blaze of glory, Obasanjo never envisaged any question, especially on financial misappropriation, on his nearly four years at Dodan Barracks, the then seat of power in Lagos. So, when the story reemerged a few days

immediately after he left office, about the rumoured ‘Nine tons of Nigerian currency notes’ that was very hot the year before, Obasanjo sought presidential denial of  the allegation, with his call that an investigative panel be set up to investigate the matter.

And when this was not forthcoming, Obasanjo developed a large grudge against the

Shagari government, igniting a barrage of his criticism of that government. Shagari’s reluctance to comment on the matter nor set up the Obasanjo-craved investigative panel gave the rumour some credibility, especially with the news reports in mid-November 1979 that the Nigerian Senate might prevail upon the former Head of State

to come and explain to the upper legislative chamber the involvement of his regime in the matter. The allegation was that in preparation for his departure from office, Obasanjo had, in 1978, attempted to smuggle ‘Nine tons of Nigerian currency notes’ (believed to run into hundreds of millions) from the country, via Uganda, but that the plane was intercepted at the Entebbe International Airport in Kampala, and the money seized by the regime of then Ugandan dictator, Field Marshal Idi Amin. A request to this effect was made to the Senate on 13^th November 1979, by Alhaji Sabo Bakin Zuwo, the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) controversial Senator from Kano Central. It had led to a rowdy session where the Senate was divided over the the matter, and no

resolution reached.

  While Obasanjo was yet to come to terms with the negative effects of that accusation, the Shagari government constituted the Irikefe Panel the following year, 1980, to investigate the N2.8 billion that allegedly got missing from NNPC accounts during Obasanjo’s regime. Interestingly, Buhari was his Minister for Petroleum then. And the

Panel invited Obasanjo to testify before it, an action Obasanjo obviously considered audacious and degrading to his status. An incensed Obasanjo had to secure a court injunction not to appear.

  Not even the award of the highest national honour, the prestigious

Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on him by Shagari in September 1981, which made him to join Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first president, as the privileged two to have received the award then, could mellow down Obasanjo’s criticism. The height of which was his, as usual, well-publicised November 1983 exclusive interview with ace journalist and then Editor of Sunday Concord, late Dele Giwa, and published on 13th November 1983, a month before the overthrow of that

Government, where he accused the Shagari government of wanton corruption: ‘The money that has disappeared cannot come back.’ He then advised the government to persuade the corrupt politicians and their acolytes with millions of looted funds abroad to return the money to the country for investment: ‘But a little bit of it can come back,

because they are still in the hands of Nigerians, without them losing the money.’ This was setting the stage for the downfall of that democratically elected government. When therefore, according to Babangida, the New Year Eve coupists approached Obasanjo in late 1983, with their plan, presumably in order to douse international outrage against the overthrow of a democratically elected government, the chicken farmer happily gave his nod for the overthrow of a government whose legitimacy was rooted in his democratic transition programme.

  But clearly not wishing to be seen as being instrumental to the fall of a democratically elected government, especially in the international community, where he still commanded respect, Obasanjo set about setting agenda for the Buhari government for a return tocivilian rule. And after the Buhari government settled in and went further to announce that its Supreme Military Council (SMC), the highest decision-making body of his government, was a continuation of Obasanjo’s defunct Supreme Military Council (SMC), Obasanjo was quick to denounce this, if only to disparage Buhari’s government, by drawing a distinction between his government that had and executed a democratic transition plan and Buhari’s that did not announce any such intentions. Therefore, Obasanjo’s unforgettable speech, delivered to the annual conference of the Agricultural Society of Nigeria, in Ibadan, 22 days before the overthrow of Buhari’s government, precisely on 5th August 1985, auspiciously titled Nigeria: The Way Forward, where he continued his criticism of the Shagari government, and called for another democratic transition, presumably seeking another military government that would transfer power to a democratically elected government: ‘Let me assert my belief that Nigeria’s second experiment at Western-type democratic form of government failed, not due to the

fault of the system but due to the fault of the operators of the system. Until 1979, I was by virtue of my training and upbringing what you might call a system man. I believe that if a system was good and well-founded, any person with average ability could make it work.’ Still in the Ibadan speech, Obasanjo added, in defence of Buhari’s take-over of Shagari’s government: ‘Let me remind the political ideologues and puritans within and without that considering particularly our experiment and experience of recent past, I will not now regard military administration as an aberration. I am concerned more with good government.’ Ironically, Obasanjo also called for another round of democratic transition to usher in a democratic government.

  The implication of this, therefore, is that Obasanjo exonerated himself from the failure of the second republic and put the blame at the doorstep of the political class for the return of military rule, which he considered as the best option to this failure; thereby,

achieving his personal and selfish agenda of the exit of a ‘tactless and disrespectful Shagari’ (in the words of one celebrated columnist), with the return of military rule. Babangida’s overthrow of Buhari’s government later that month was well received by Obasanjo, who easily took a shine to the gap-toothed general, especially with Babangida’s early promise of a return to civilian rule; the success of which would

also be to Obasanjo’s personal favour: an African statesman who was preaching democracy across the continent, but whose home country was under military dictatorship.

  But as characteristic of Obasanjo, he, not quite long after, resumed his criticism of every government in power, pointing out governance defects, most of which his own government could not acceptably execute, especially Babangida’s own military-to-civilian transition.

  Obasanjo made himself the Critic-in-Chief of the Babangida government, with no major event going by without him making his comment public, and most times critical. So much so that in nominating him as its first ‘Man of the Year’ winner in 1988, in its annual Man of the Year ritual, The Guardian gave as one of its major reasons for his choice, the watchdog role the General was playing with his criticism of the Babangida government, and keeping the government on its toes.

  Following the nation-wide outrage that greeted the annulment of the June 12 presidential election, the Babangida government came up with the idea of the Interim National Government (ING) to run government affairs after his departure on 27th August 1993, and to conduct another presidential election, to douse the suspicion that the

election was cancelled because Babangida did not want to relinquish power. The political class was divided over accepting the ING option, an option, it was later revealed and subsequently confirmed by him, had Obasanjo’s input. The ING option lost steam when Chief MKO Abiola, winner of the election, went against it and was able to win over both members of his party, the SDP, and the opposition NRC to turn it down,

and insisted on his mandate instead.

  In the heat of the moment, Obasanjo issued a preliminary report by an interim committee set up by the Association for Democracy and Good Governance in Nigeria (ADGGN), Obasanjo’s brain-child. The committee, which was made up of Obasanjo and other senior citizens like Dr Datti Ahmed, Alhaji Mammud Waziri, Dr. Onyemobi Onuoha and General Adeyinka Adebayo, reportedly consulted widely with various interest groups and individuals, seeking ways to resolve the crisis, and concluded that after three hours of meeting with Abiola, members ‘left with the impression that the only solution acceptable to the president-elect is his installation on August 27.’

  However, on Monday, 26th July 1993, Obasanjo added a twist to the committee’s position. While addressing reporters at his Ota Farm, he gave a clear impression that he would not mind the jettisoning of the June 12 mandate so long as Babangida was made to quit on 27th August. His words: ‘Ninety-nine per cent of Nigerians who voted on June 12 voted for a change and if they are denied that personality, they should not be denied a change.’

  Never one to shy away from confrontation, Abiola returned Obasanjo’s salvo with equal measure. Receiving a delegation of supporters from Ondo, Edo and Lagos states at his Ikeja, Lagos residence the following day, precisely on Tuesday, 27th July 1993,

Abiola downplayed the weight of Obasanjo’s voice, with Abiola’s innuendo, which also enjoyed wide publicity, that ‘the beauty of democracy is that it puts an end to the magic circle. A former head of state is the same as everybody else.’

  In the heat of the June 12 annulment fiasco, when Nigeria was in a turmoil over what could become of the nation if Babangida did not hand over power on the landmark date of 27th August, came the news from faraway Zimbabwe that Obasanjo, on a visit to that country, had told reporters that Abiola was not the messiah Nigerians had been waiting

for, a comment which provoked nation-wide bursts of outrage back home, with many commentators insisting Nigerians did not expect a messiah and did not vote for one.

  Responding to the outrage his comment generated, Obasanjo, in an opinion piece he sent to The Guardian, explained that he was asked if indeed Nigeria could explode if Abiola was not sworn in, and he had only responded that such a scenario was unlikely because Abiola was not a messiah. But despite this explanation, most Nigerians remained aghast that Obasanjo could be so obtuse about the mood of the nation

regarding the June 12 annulment.

  However, not a few Nigerians could trace Obasanjo’s comments to his old subtle rivalry with Abiola. For Abiola, at that time, commanded more respect and following than Obasanjo, both in their native Egba homeland and across Yorubaland, because Abiola’s life symbolised the ideal Yoruba aristocrat: a first class degree from a UK university, an

admirable working career as an administrator who rose to become the Chief Executive of the Nigerian subsidiary and the International Vice President heading the African and Middle-East operations of International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) Inc., a multi-billion dollar multi-national company, not to mention Abiola’s revered reputation as Nigeria’s richest man and Africa’s leading investor, with investments spread across the globe like octopus. Abiola had crowned all these with the award of the highest chieftaincy title in Yorubaland, Aare OnaKakanfo (Field Marshal) of Yorubaland, to him. And now he was set to attain the highest office in the land; not the soldier who rose to the highest office not by any exceptional brilliance, calculation or scheming, but by mere fluke.

  Apparently, Obasanjo would rather he be seen as the messiah by his support of an interim government. Yet again, he achieved personal agenda under the guise of nationalism.

  But if Shagari, Buhari and Babangida did not see or pretend not to see through Obasanjo’s facade, not Abacha. Reflective of the similar position he took immediately Buhari overthrew the Shagari government in 1983, Obasanjo, in his first major comment after Abacha took over, became Abacha’s hero with his (Obasanjo’s) rationalisation of Abacha’s emergence with Obasanjo’s ruling out of an early disengagement of the military from politics. Speaking at a seminar organised in Lagos by the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) on 17th March 1994, precisely four months after Abacha took over, Obasanjo deliberately did not specifically put the blame on Abacha, but on the high level of politicisation of the military and officers’ love of the perquisites of office; his blame also went to the civil society which, he claimed, provided the enabling environment and leverage for the success of military participation in politics, because, as he put it, ‘No military government can thrive without the collaborative support of

the civil society.’

  But Obasanjo’s support for the Abacha regime did not stop there. When Abiola was arrested following his declaring himself President on the first anniversary of the June 12 election, in 1994, Obasanjo stood behind Abacha. On Wednesday, 13th July 1994 came the news that Obasanjo had sent fax messages to Yoruba obas requesting they beg Abacha to free Abiola. To also facilitate their journey to Abuja, he had also made moves for flight and accommodation arrangements for the meeting billed to take place on Saturday, 16th July 1994. However, this call was turned down by some prominent Yoruba obas, especially Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, who was said to have told Obasanjo that he (Obasanjo) had no such mandate to organise such a

meeting between Yoruba obas and Abacha. The position of the Yoruba obas was that they would not beg Abacha to release Abiola.

  This position by the obas, and the public outcry against Abiola’s arrest and detention, no doubt, caused Obasanjo to change his own position about the Abacha regime, especially considering Abacha’s broadcast of Wednesday, 17th August 1994, where he announced the dissolution of the executive councils of the Nigerian Labour Congress

(NLC), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), unions which had become a pain in the neck of the regime following the nationwide strikes and protests these bodies had called to protest the June 12 annulment on the first anniversary of the election, and Abacha’s refusal to reverse the annulment.

Obasanjo’s reaction was an eight-page statement on Sunday, 21st August 1994, where he raised the alarm on the Abacha government, warning that the country was continuously moving towards the edge of the precipice. Titled Moving Away from the Precipice, he took on the Abacha government, declaring that ‘the current phase of our national crisis and its attendant consequences and implications may remain with us for

a while.’

  There was no restraint on Obasanjo’s side as he lamented that ‘the main parties are still entrenched in their original positions, with the hardening of their stands.’ His most memorable barb in that statement was his insistence that ‘Abiola should not have been

arrested in the first place, let alone being charged to court.’

  And Abacha who had been literally watching with squinted eyes at Obasanjo with his initial support for his government, brought his full focus on his former commander-in-chief. When therefore there came the news on the 3rd of November 1994, that Obasanjo had formed a political organisation, the National Unity Organisation (NUO), and that he had concluded arrangements to embark on a nationwide political campaign

tour to drum up support for the organisation, the purpose of which was to enhance Obasanjo’s commitment to the restoration of virile and enduring democracy in Nigeria, Abacha had had enough. Addressing a group of eminent politicians at his Ota farm the following day, Obasanjo disclosed that he, in concert with other eminent Nigerians,

had decided to form a political party that would heal the wounds of the past and build a stronger and more united Nigeria.

  And the dark-goggled general did not waste time in arresting him

three months later, in late February 1995, and framing him up on a

phantom coup plot that consummated in a chilling 30 years for treason.

(The sentence was later commuted to 15 years following international

outcry and local skepticism of the coup story.)

  It was not well known, and it remains perplexing to many political

historians, why Obasanjo initially supported the Abacha regime, but it

certainly could be that having supported the Interim National

Government (ING) option against the much more popular insistence on

June 12, a position that, no doubt, contributed to the emergence of

Abacha’s regime, Obasanjo needed to support the Abacha regime to

succeed, especially with his clear assumption that Abacha would engage

in a genuine democratic transition, as a successful democratic

transition by Abacha would support and strengthen Obasanjo’s position

on the ING option and weaken public antagonism towards his ignoble

role, yet another action in Obasanjo’s nationalisation of his personal

agenda.

  Virtually snatched from the jaws of death by Abacha’s mysterious

passing in 1998, it was an emaciated Obasanjo who emerged from prison

and was repackaged and bankrolled by his Northern military colleagues,

including Babangida, for the presidency as compensation to the

South-West for the denial of the office to Abiola.

    1999–2007 was therefore an opportunity for Messiah Obasanjo to

re-enact what he had been claiming for 20 years, with the expectations

of Nigerians very high on a repeat of the non-existent glorious years

of his first outing he had proudly used as reference point. An

unforgettable measure of how much he could not deny his grand failure

was his response following barrage of criticism after he left office,

that he was not brought from retirement to fix Nigeria’s multifarious

problems, but to hold the country together from imminent break-up,

which he was able to achieve. Now, what was that again!

  Obasanjo’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the

anti-corruption agency he set up and headed by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, was

a tool in his hand to persecute and hound political opponents, with no

question asked about his own government, and with Ribadu later

admitting that Obasanjo was more corrupt than Abacha. With fronts,

Obasanjo bought into corporate Nigeria, becoming the largest

shareholder in Transcorp, a company heavily favoured by his government

with questionable concessions and juicy contracts from his government.

What about the $16 billion wasted on electricity without corresponding

results? Obasanjo’s government redefined electoral fraud, economic

sabotage, corruption and political witch-hunting. No question is being

asked about his new and sudden wealth that made him to build a

multi-billion naira private university after leaving office. Today,

staggered gubernatorial elections are held across the country courtesy

of Obasanjo’s manipulation of the election process that brought about

judiciary nullification of electoral victories and sacking of

incumbent governors. Political killings rose to an unprecedented level

under Obasanjo, with countless unresolved, including that of Chief

Bola Ige, his Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. It was during

Obasanjo’s government Nigerians witnessed the unprecedented massacre

of defenseless civilians in Odi, Bayelsa State, and Zaki-Biam, Benue

State, allegedly ordered by Obasanjo, and which drew the condemnation

of the international community. How can Nigerians ever forget the

televised display of Ghana-must-go bags of dollar bills on the floor

of the National Assembly, as ‘financial motivation’ offered them by

Obasanjo to support his failed third term agenda?

  Like the unimpressive results in most socio-political fronts, the

economic front witnessed no appreciable poverty reduction during

Obasanjo’s eight years as Nigeria rated poor in the Global Human

Capital Development Index.

  The crowning of Obasanjo’s inglorious second coming was the 2007

presidential election where he hounded out or witch-hunted leading

aspirants like General Babangida and Atiku Abubakar, Obasanjo’s Vice –

two forces that stood against his third term ambition – and

hand-picked Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Obasanjo’s reasons being that

they were corrupt, insinuating that his choice was based on national

interest, when in reality, it was simply based on his desire for a

president he could manipulate and who would guarantee his immunity

while he savoured his ill-gotten wealth in retirement. His hand-picked

winner would later confess that the election that brought him to power

was fraudulent, and promised to reform the electoral process.

  By the time Yar’Adua instigated a legislative probe of Obasanjo’s

government on power, where it eventually emerged that his government

wasted $16 billion on his power project, and Obasanjo kept at arm’s

length, his old grudges against sitting presidents had resurfaced, but

not again any more reference to a non-existent first glorious outing,

for new generation Nigerians had come to recognise his hypocrisy and

administrative limitations.

  Yar’Adua’s worsening ill-health gave a restless Obasanjo an

opportunity to ensure the exit of a puppet who was going out of

control, with Obasanjo as the first to call on Yar’Adua to resign if

his health could no longer stand the rigours of his office. When

Yar’Adua eventually passed on, Obasanjo was again at the forefront for

Vice President Jonathan, who had taken over from his late boss, to

contest, against their party’s zoning policy. Both Yar’Adua and

Jonathan are acknowledged reluctant presidential materials whom

Obasanjo forced on Nigerians for selfish reasons.

  Jonathan’s final victory in 2011 brought back to relevance an

Obasanjo whose political influence had drastically waned. Not only had

Obasanjo, at that time, come to be recognised as the African statesman

who willingly handed over power to civilians in 1979, the African

elder statesman who set agenda for his successors for 20 years with

guiding criticism, and the returnee president who held his country

together for eight years, saving it from the brink of disintegration,

he had come to be known as the nationalist godfather of Nigerian

politics who hand-picked his democratic successor and determined this

new successor. What a perfect manipulation of public perception!

  Buhari’s historic victory was well received by most Nigerians, but

admittedly, his performance so far has not met the general high public

expectations of a drastic change. The President admitted much when he

said he had underestimated the extent of damage done to the system by

16 years of PDP misrule. The President could be accused of a few

shortcomings, but nobody can accuse him of corruption, one of the

major banes of our political leadership, and the major cause of our

present national backwardness. His incorruptibility is his major

selling point, the enviable parameter with which his main opponent

shall be judged and faulted, considering the antecedents of Alhaji

Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and presidential candidate of

the PDP.

  It must be admitted that if Obasanjo had been given similar

treatment like the ones he meted out to Buhari when Obasanjo came to

power in 1999 and throughout his eight-year rule, Obasanjo, in

Buhari’s shoes, would have ensured same or worse treatment were

returned, support or no support of the tormentor towards his eventual

victory. Immediately Obasanjo came to office in 1999, he scrapped the

Petroleum Trust Fund (PDF), the intervention agency established by

Abacha and headed by Buhari, and retained by Abubakar; an action

Buhari read as a move against him, a view which he later voiced out.

When Buhari stood against Obasanjo under the defunct ANPP in 2003, the

latter, confident of the ignoble and evil strategies mapped out to rig

his way back to office, sent military tanks to strategic locations

across the North, including Buhari’s Daura hometown in Katsina State,

to prevent popular uprising against the abominable and unconscionable

rigging that election eventually became. In 2007, Obasanjo supported

fellow Katsina candidate Yar’Adua against Buhari for the office, and

in 2011, an emotionally laden Buhari could not hold back tears as he

rounded off his campaign tour with a promise that it would be his last

attempt at the office.

  A restless Obasanjo, therefore, had been itching to exact himself

and prove a point but had been clearly scared of Buhari’s response to

any negative comment from him. It was therefore understandable when in

late 2016, an Obasanjo overzealous aide, Alex Nwokedi, revealed that

his boss had insisted on Buhari not seeking re-election in 2019.

Obviously scared of the possibility of the ‘Abacha treatment’, a

furious Obasanjo had quickly ordered a public statement denying it,

and even added that he had not spoken with Nwokedi in three years! At

that time, Obasanjo could not look it beyond Buhari to give him the

Abacha treatment, a Buhari who, in his first outing as military head

of state, arrested all former public office holders and put them on

trial before military tribunals that handed out stiff prison sentences

to those found guilty, with some sentences running to over a hundred

years.

  Babangida it was who ironically came to Obasanjo’s rescue when he

called a meeting between himself, Obasanjo and Abubakar at his Minna

Hilltop home in early May 2018. The agenda of which was said to

be their fears of the rudderless state of national affairs with Buhari

on a protracted UK medical trip that had given rise to speculations

that the President was critically ill and might be unable to complete

the remaining years of his first term. The story continued that the

three former military colleagues of the President were considering

requesting he resigned on 29th May, the 2nd anniversary of his

inauguration, and hand over to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, to take

charge for the remaining two years. A Northerner was said to being

selected to be sworn in as Vice, pending his election in 2019, to

complete Buhari’s Northern slot.

  If Obasanjo’s critical voice was not expected to be loud during a

Buhari civilian government, that of Babangida was not expected to be

heard. Not a few well-informed and observant Nigerians had considered

the probability of Babangida going on exile in the event of a Buhari

come-back, considering how much animosity the President was believed

to habour against his trusted former Chief of Army Staff, for

Babangida it was who orchestrated the coup that led to Buhari’s

downfall, and which earned Babangida the enduring enmity of his former

commander-in-chief thereby.

  So, Obasanjo’s initial caution in openly criticising Buhari’s

government could be juxtaposed against how much harm Buhari could do

him if the President so wished. But when the President did not respond

to the Babangida-led meeting for him to step down on health grounds,

clearly because he could definitely not fathom a Babangida leading

such meeting for no other reason other than genuine patriotism,

especially together with the two other former heads of state, Obasanjo

took the cue on the President’s new democratic credential of

accommodating divergent views, to lead his own call with his January 2018

broader ‘special statement’, which the President did not also respond

to. And Obasanjo was back in his old game of political rehabilitation

and relevance via pseudo-nationalism. The latest being the fusion of

his CNM with the African Democratic Congress (ADC), one of the

registered but little known political parties, the purpose of which is

said to drive out of power the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)

and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Congress (PDP) at all

levels of government to rescue Nigeria.

  It however will be the height of intellectual dishonesty to deny

the wild enthusiasm that greeted the Obasanjo last January intervention, as

the Nigerian masses across the country had since lost the euphoria

with which they anticipated the promised change sold to them by the

President and his APC party. The ambiguity and complexity of the

Obasanjo invention cannot miss the eyes of the discerning, however.

From a popular and thrilling and invigorating perception, his January

intervention has come to be seen as singularly aimed at hoodwinking

the undiscerning into seeing him as the symbol of a better Nigeria.

The intervention has since found itself in a state of flux, the

crowning of which is Obasanjo’s declared support for his well-known

arch-enemy, Atiku Abubakar – whose ambition Obasanjo had vehemently

vouched to truncate – against Buhari’s second term ambition.

  First, the question of who would constitute members of the reformed

and energised ADC arose. While Obasanjo conceded that with the

securing of a political platform, ‘in line with my clear position,

which I have often repeated, the first phase of my job is done’, he

had also said he would ‘not be a member of the party but pledge to

keep alive and active on Nigerian and African issues and interests,

and offer advice to any individual for the unity and development of

the country.’ And party Chairman Chief Ralph Nwosu had said the merger

inspired by Obasanjo would ensure a new leadership that would be

value-driven and a role model to Nigerians, and had added that the ADC

was open to new engagements and alliances with more political parties,

assuring that the party would use the 2019 polls to tackle the problem

of failed leadership.

  Essentially, even disgruntled APC and PDP members were invited and

expected to join this reformed ADC. Not only had Obasanjo, during his

letter announcing the formation of the CNM last January, said the

Movement needed not necessarily become a political party but rather

that it should be a movement for democracy, good governance, and

progress, he had also promised that he would break link with the

Movement if it decided to become a political party because of his

avowed non-partisanship. But now the Movement is a party, partisan and

seeking ‘new engagements and alliances’ with more political parties.

Obasanjo who had claimed he broke off with his old party, the PDP

because it derailed from the ideals of its foundation leaders like

himself, has also recently claimed to have forgiven those who had

offended him in his former party. But following the clear vision that

all Obasanjo desires is to be seen as the rallying point to unseat

President Buhari, he is back to embracing his old party with his

pardon, if only the party will be useful in achieving his goal. The

height of his hypocrisy is his endorsement of Atiku Abubakar, as he has

clearly come to realise that the ADC lacks the structure and national

strength required to unseat a sitting president, not to mention

flushing out the two major parties from federal and state executive

and legislative offices.

  Subsequently, the President has had to break off his dignified

silence to cast aspersions on Obasanjo’s credibility to criticise him,

with the President’s allusion in late May, to a certain former head of

state who bragged that he had spent $16 billion on power, with nothing

to show for it. Obasanjo has since responded that he is ready for

probe. But of course he is only playing to the gallery with the new

populism his latest intervention has garnered for him.

  Any enlightened Nigerian ought to know that, in the present

circumstances, the Buhari government will never initiate nor instigate

any form of probe of Obasanjo’s government. Not really because the

President is incapable of that, but because it will cause too much bad

blood in the South, especially in Obasanjo’s South-West, a region that

played a significant role in the President’s election and is

undoubtedly very strategic to his re-election calculations; probing

Obasanjo will therefore only result in political deficits for the

President’s re-election bid, as a probe will only aim at the singular

objective of sending Obasanjo to jail, to shut him up and to

incapacitate him. Which Southerner will campaign let alone vote for

the President’s re-election with Obasanjo in jail, especially with a

large number of Southerners already disenchanted with the President

whose performance, so far, is taking long to be fully felt by the

people? Obasanjo realises this, and not exactly because he is not fit

for jail or that he is beyond jail.

  Then the President came with the sucker punch: the official

recognition of Abiola as the winner of the controversial June 12

presidential election, declaring the date in replacement of May 29 as

the official Democracy Day and making it a national holiday, and also

awarding the nation’s highest national honour, Grand Commander of the

Federal Republic (GCFR) on Abiola.

  With this singular action, the President has wormed his way into

the heart of the South-West, a region very strategic to his

re-election bid. Expectedly, the action has received wild and

nation-wide appreciation, but particularly in the South-West.

Obasanjo, the eventual major beneficiary of the annulment had not only

markedly avoided the June 12 subject, but had outrightly ensured its

relevance was stationed at the back burner of national political

gimmickry throughout his eight-year reign. Many Nigerians could trace

Obasanjo’s lukewarm attitude towards the June 12 issue to his subtle

rivalry with Abiola, at the expense of patriotism and nationalism.

  Second, to remember Obasanjo’s interventions in Nigeria’s checkered

political history since October 1979, is to remember how far and how

much a man can go to nationalise personal interests, with his

advancing of personal agenda through nationalism pretensions. Obasanjo

is only exploiting the moment to try to secure his reputation as an

elder statesman and to erase memories of his past dismal performance,

especially between 1999 and 2007. Considering his well-known

antagonism towards his former Vice, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who was

then the leading contestant for the PDP presidential ticket, and whom

he had consistently accused of being corrupt and unfit for high public

office, Obasanjo, not surprisingly, in early August, insisted that his

former deputy should not count on him for support, and added that God

would never forgive him if he supported Atiku Abubakar for president.

That was in early August last year. But when Atiku Abubakar won the

PDP ticket and paid him a visit at his Abeokuta residence mid October,

Obasanjo did a volteface. His position has changed because he has

reviewed his stance on not backing his former deputy for the

presidency of Nigeria. Yes! he exclaims, Atiku Abubakar has

‘re-discovered and re-positioned himself’ and is now good enough to

enjoy his support in the next election! And how did Atiku Abubakar

‘re-discover and re-position himself? Hear Messiah Obasanjo: “From

what transpired in the last couple of hours or so, you have shown

remorse; you have asked for forgiveness and you have indicated that

you have learnt some good lessons and you will mend fences and make

amends as necessary and as desirable.’  Pray, this is the same man

Obasanjo has described thus in his book, My Watch: ‘What I did not

know, which came out glaringly later, was his (Atiku Abubakar’s)

parental background which was somewhat shadowy, his propensity to

corruption, his tendency to disloyalty, his inability to say and stick

to the truth all the time, a propensity for poor judgment, his belief

and reliance on marabouts, his lack of transparency, his trust in

money to buy his way out of all issues and his readiness to sacrifice

morality, integrity, propriety truth and national interest for self

and selfish interest.’ That was in 2014. But now, Obasnjo’s position

has suddenly changed. ‘It is not so much what you did against me that

was the issue but what you did against the Party, the Government and

the country’, were his words when Atiku Abubakar visited him!

  The truth is that the Obasanjo intervention is nothing but a

treacherous contrivance. Faced with the stark reality that the present

generation Nigerians has seen through his facade, Obasanjo continues

to resort to unrestrained indulgence in playing Father of Modern

Nigeria, instead of restraining himself to savouring his ill-gotten

wealth at his Ota farmstead.

  No, sir, that is too smooth! Atiku Abubakar will not be elected to

be your personal President. It is as President of the Federal Republic

of Nigeria! Let other Nigerians judge as well! If Nigeria were to be a

decent society, Atiku Abubakar, along with Obasanjo, ought to be

languishing in jail by now! Yes, these two were both indicted by the

Nigerian Senate in March 2007 over their mismanagement of the

Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) funds during their reign,

and which ran into hundreds of millions of dollars. However, Obasanjo

could not follow to the next stage by ordering his own trial as well

as that of his deputy. Neither could Yar’Adua, his immediate

successor, muster the political will, nor could Jonathan, nor now

Buhari. That is the more reason why Obasanjo has the effrontery to

endorse Atiku Abubarkar, his partner in crime.

  Obasanjo’s description of Atiku Abubarkar in his book best captures

the essential Atiku Abubarkar. In a single word, a ‘criminal’. No

rebranding by Obasanjo can alter that public perception.  A man who,

only in 2017, questioned the crowning of Alhaji Aliko Dangote as

Africa’s richest man, wondering how Dangote could be the richest in

Nigeria just because he took his money to the stock market, is the

same man now telling Nigerians that he earned N60.2 million in three

years! So where did he get the billions of dollars with which he was

insinuating he was richer than Dangote? What business does he do to be

richer than Dangote? We leave that to Atiku Abubakar to answer!

  While it is clear to the discerning that all Obasanjo craves is

recognition, political rehabilitation and relevance, and

respectability, power-hungry politicians like Atiku Abubakar and his

gang are clinging to the tail of Obasanjo’s coat to climb to power. In

the process, Obasanjo’s true intentions are mixed up with their own

ambitions, which cannot blind the mind of the discerning to the true

reality. The fact that Obasanjo claims to have forgiven Atiku Abubakar

does not stop the former vice president from being a suitable

candidate for jail and not Aso Rock Presidential Villa. No

sane Nigerian would want to mortgage the future of Nigerians yet

unborn by entrusting their future in the hands of a certified – by

virtue of his indictment – criminal.

  Nigerians will definitely return President Muhammadu Buhari, who,

with his commendable foundation-laying performance in his first term,

will, in a second term, consolidate on the change he has promised.

Nigerians know and understand President Buhari. They recognise the man

whose government has impacted positively on their lives with its

three-point agenda of Economy Growth, Security and Fight Against

Corruption, and whose changes are taking time in reflecting due to the

deep level of decay bequeathed to it by 16 years of PDP misrule. They

have come to recognise his present challenges and the need for

continuation, continuation to complete the assignment they mandated

him in 2015, with a second term this year. It is the right of the

Nigerian people to decide against Buhari or against Atiku Abubakar and

co. this year. How much the Nigerian people decide on this right will

be the determinant of the outcome of the election next month.

  If today Chief Matthew Okikiola Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo is asked

what he hopes to achieve by his latest venture, his response, with

characteristic doggedness and determination, will definitely be that

he desires a better Nigeria than the one presently managed by the

President, based on his love and passion for his fatherland; his

patriotism and nationalism. But can he truly love Nigeria more than

General Yakubu Gowon, more than General Ibrahim Babangida, more than General Abdulsalami Abubakar, or more than Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, all living former Nigerian former leaders like himself? Or even more than any ordinary Nigerian in the

street?

  The truth is that Chief Matthew Okikiola Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo craves recognition for seeking a better Nigeria; he desires political rehabilitation and relevance for giving his best, which he erroneously assumes was good enough, and wishing same from the President; and he wishes respectability for all his efforts in preventing the President’s re-election. However, in his desperate attempts for recognition, for political rehabilitation and relevance, and for respectability, he has clearly failed to take into account the

Sophistication of the new generation Nigerians who form the bulk of the electorate and who will decide who will be elected and sworn in as elected president on Wednesday, 29th May 2019.

  This new generation Nigerians are very educated, well-informed, intelligent, knowledgeable and sophisticated. They are the social media generation who passionately follow and analyse every news and  latest development. They can take and stand by their decision.

  They have come to recognise Chief Matthew Okikiola Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo for the hypocrite that he truly is. They will not allow him to influence their choice of whom to elect to take charge of their affairs for the next four years. They will stand the President against Atiku Abubakar or against a coalition of both the PDP and the ADC. They shall weigh candidates, their antecedents, their track records, their potentials. And going by the calibre of the presidential candidates standing against the President, most Nigerians, no doubt, are of the firm belief that President Muhammadu Buhari shall be

re-elected for a second term, come next month.

*Ms. Anyadike is resident in Lagos.