As Nigerians continue to toil under the excruciating yoke of an inept and corrupt regime, they are being forced to come to grips with the fact that their collective survival as a law-abiding nation, at least in the short-term, may depend on how they confront a dictator who seems to be increasingly mistaking his dangerous fantasies for national leadership and governance. In his desperation to hang on to power, His Majesty, Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo, has, since 1999, shown only the most casual contempt for legality and constitutional authority. In the past four years, Obasanjo and his henchmen have been living in a surreal world of reckless impunity by deluding themselves that they have completely subjugated the Nigerian people and thus, can get away with any act of political rascality and corruption. Yet, amazingly, the president’s delusions of imperial invincibility and mayhem have so far largely gone unchallenged. One reason for this is a dishonest discourse which has sought, through the agency of a largely servile media as well as docile civil society outfits and their representatives, to associate criticisms or other public manifestations of displeasure with the current tyranny in Abuja with attempts by “undemocratic” forces to truncate our so-called “nascent democracy”! Even when there has been grudging acknowledgement by strategic segments of the society of the regime’s incompetence and overall malevolent posture, this has almost always been accompanied by a worrisome tendency to resign oneself to a life of precarity occasioned by years of governmental paralysis. It is no wonder that those most responsible for the rot in our polity are gleefully twisting the knife of treachery which they have planted in our bent backs! And so, like a zombie, the average Nigerian remains badly bruised and cowed – or pretends that he is doing something about his predicament - in the face of the collective danger which Obasanjo and his allies have become today. As Nigerians sleepwalk through the administrative decay and havoc now ravaging the society, those responsible for their suffering, we are reminded, seem to be busy doing what they do best, that is plotting to impose on the nation the mercenary schemes of a self-serving cabal and their collaborators - both local and foreign. It is noteworthy that some of these dangerous schemes or fantasies have, of late, been the subject of extensive discussions in the media. Featuring prominently in public debates are such issues like the deliberate neglect of the Nigerian army and its professional and logistical needs. The former Army Chief, General Malu, and the erstwhile Defence minister, Danjuma, have both confirmed the existence of a short-sighted scheme by Obasanjo and a nebulous clique around him to starve the military of funds. The unstated objective , it would seem, is to systematically weaken the military. The army and the police are today largely seen as mere extensions of the president’s determination to hang on to power at all cost. The ‘419’ elections of last year were an eloquent testimony of just how these two strategic institutions have been reduced to what I have elsewhere referred to as a ‘praetorian guard’ in the service of Mr. President and his personal agenda of political survival and revanchism. Of course, the now familiar ruse is that, the army, for instance, needed ‘restructuring’ to make it more democracy-friendly, while at the same time maintaining its efficiency as a viable fighting force for the defence of the country from external aggression. It doesn’t seem to bother Obasanjo that, as presently constituted, the army can only act as a killing machine used by the president for murderous expeditions against Nigerian communities in places like Zaki-Biam, Odi and other Niger-Delta localities. Like the army and the judiciary, the police force under Tafa Balogun has become a willing tool, ready to do the bidding of the president and his roguish PDP. The yet unresolved Ngige-Uba/Obasanjo saga of shame and the ‘419’ elections of 2003 are reminders of some of the unsavory roles the police have played under the current Obasanjo kleptocracy. In the perverse obstinacy to have a “democratic” Nigeria in his own image, or more appropriately, a Nigeria that is a reflection of the bizarre but dangerous fantasies of our imperial president and the gang he represents, Obasanjo has ‘worked hard’ to have a National Assembly which is dominated by his PDP. That feat was achieved through a multi-pronged approach. Firstly, the PDP itself was ‘conquered’ and a figurehead imposed on it as chiarman through the usual skulduggery and corrupt practices. This conquest of the PDP was consolidated by a purge whose purpose was to rid “Africa’s largest political party” of credible opponents of the Messiah of Aso Rock Temple. Secondly, came the ‘419’ elections. Then the appointment – through a ‘black market’ judicial process - , of Wabara as senate president! Emboldened by the fruits of their brigandage and the stranglehold their criminality has allowed them to have over the nation’s structures and resources, Obasanjo and his allies have continued to defy the sovereign will of the Nigerian people. It is an open secret today that these scoundrels of the Nigerian polity are hoping to perpetuate themselves in power by, amongst other things, wanting to be the ones who will decide who governs Nigeria after the current incompetent dictatorship. Surely, the silent majority who love this country and would want it to succeed as a thriving democracy should not fold their arms and allow a predatory pack of rapacious wolves the leeway to pursue their selfish agenda at the expense of the masses of the people. If the grim picture I have tried to paint so far is not sufficient warning, one only needs to listen to the regime to ascertain just how smug – some would say reckless – the president and his henchmen have become in their determination to impose their strange ways on us, no matter what. This is both scary and dangerous. It was Fani-Kayode, President Obasanjo’s special assistant on public affairs, who, in a bigoted reaction to Col. Dangiwa Umar’s open letter to Obasanjo, did state in a matter-of -fact way that “...Umar and his ‘small group’ and the group they represent will never smell power in Nigeria again”! Beyond the puerile attempt on the part of the presidency to divert attention away from the substantive issues raised by Umar by trying to whip up ethno-religious divisions in the bid to present Umar as a champion of sectarian causes – a dangerous ploy which has become the staple of this rotten regime’s public posturing - , Fani-Kayode’s reaction has provided the first formal articulation by the Obasanjo dictatorship of its desire to impose itself or a clone on the polity in 2007. It is interesting that much of the Nigerian media seems to have remained silent regarding this aspect of the presidency’s reaction to Umar’s letter. A few commentators have pointed out that President Obasanjo’s spokesperson was alluding to the so-called Hausa/Fulani when he said that “Umar and his ‘small group and the group they represent will never smell power in Nigeria again”. Whether this is true or not, is of secondary significance. I believe that what should concern us primarily is the fact that a bunch of imposters in Aso Rock Villa has the temerity to presume that it can, at any given moment, impose its reckless fantasies or will on the Nigerian people without running the risk of a decisive opposition from the masses. This in itself should be seen as a further challenge to the progressive forces of the nation. Nigeria is neither the private property of President Obasanjo nor that of his éminence grise. That point must be made abundantly clear to the dictator and his allies. One of the abiding lessons of the 2003 electoral charade, and to some extent, of the 1999 military ‘coronation’, should be the need to salvage what is left of our national institutions after almost four decades of largely obscurantist misrule. This will be a deliberate process of rejuvenation involving the rebuilding of the various democratic structures, parties included, in order to insulate them from the vagaries of tyranny and greed. It is worth reiterating here that a logical outcome of the ‘419’ elections – or ‘simply ‘419’ in popular parlance - is the fact that competence and good governance will continue to elude the ‘dominant’ PDP administration. As for Obasanjo, his days of imperial pretensions are numbered. If he is not already acutely aware of his lame duck status, as 2007 draws nearer, he will most certainly realize that many of those who are still jostling to belong to his Mickey Mouse brigade of sycophants and turncoats will jump ship, probably in search of other pastures. Besides mouthing platitudes about support for the president, it is curious that very few of Obasanjo’s ministers have shown the enthusiasm to defend the regime’s callous policies.If they still want to remain politically relevant, key figures within the PDP must start working now to neutralize the president and the stench of his sad legacy. Agreed, getting rid of Nigeria’s current leviathan may not instantly lead us to the promised land, but it will be a start. As for the means to realizing the much desired change in our present circumstances, there are indications that Nigerians are increasingly losing faith in constitutionally sanctioned processes. The reasons for this are not too hard to find.History has taught us that the future belongs to those who, confronted with the scourge of an indolent and outlaw national leadership, did muster the courage to take matters in their own hands by resolving to be masters of their collective destiny. Nigerians should rise and take a stand. They should consider the on-going post-‘419’ brigandage by President Obasanjo and his henchmen as, to quote from Chief Ojukwu, “the last provocation”.Aonduna Tondu.New York
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