THIS KING IS  STARK NAKED 

That the persona of the current tyrant at Aso Rock has been one big lie is no longer in doubt. As a matter of fact, amongst members of the intellectual class at least, only those who chose to ignore the ample and incontrovertible evidence as to the profoundly corrupt identity of  Kabiyesi and his sinister regime can now express surprise regarding the latest revelations about the immoral and criminal activities associated with the doomed Nigerian presidency of Matthew Okikiolakan  Olusegun Obasanjo and his confederates. Today, in the aftermath of the deserved collapse of the fraud aimed at ensuring the perpetuation, beyond May 2007, of his imposition as supreme dictator, it is safe to say that this king is not only naked but also mad.  

Madness and a resort to puerile, if violent tactics would seem to be informing the conduct of the Abuja ogre in his unedifying spectacle of revanchist persecution against the person of the vice-president, Atiku Abubakar. The abduction by the Gestapo-like SSS of Atiku’s media consultant, Garba Shehu, though hardly surprising, has underlined once more the pedestrian recklessness of the Aso Rock tin god. It has also served to reiterate the deeply troubling notion that the Nigerian presidency is peopled by unimaginative and grotesque types who are increasingly relying on brute force and coercion as a weapon for political ascendancy and relevance. The desperation of these Cro-Magnon men is frightening, to say the least, and Nigerians must rise and confront these beasts in order to help  restore sanity to the polity. The unconscionable use and abuse of state resources by Obasanjo and his thugs in the likes of Nuhu Ribadu cannot be allowed to continue without a riposte. Col. (Rtd.) Dangiwa Umar has rightly indicted the witch-hunting of the dictator’s perceived enemies by Ribadu’s EFCC. Says he, inter alia: “As we move closer to the 2007 polls date, the EFCC seemed to have mobilized all its resources for just one objective: arresting, investigating, indicting and prosecuting Chief Obasanjo’s political opponents… 

The assault being inflicted on the President’s opponents by the EFCC seems directly proportional to their capacity to win the seat if a free and fair election is allowed. The way the Commission has scampered into the wholesale arrest, investigation and indictment of opposition politicians, gives an impression that no crimes are being or have been committed by the president or his cronies and appointees. Yet, even the blind could see or at least smell the stench of billions of naira that are disappearing without trace through the president.”  
 
Importantly also, those who  seem to have only tardily woken up to the violent and unconstitutional ways of  the dictator from Otta should be reminded that the sustained debasement of the Nigerian presidency by Obasanjo  has been taking place since 1999, except that those who should have known better and fought against the lunacy preferred to seek refuge in the intoxicating regimentation of born-again apostasy and sectarian schisms actively canvassed by the profligate potentate and his henchmen. I will say it again. Obasanjo’s atrocities are many and varied: The massacres of innocent civilians in Odi, Zaki-Biam, etc, the ‘419’ elections of 2003, the attempted coup in Anambra, the coup in Oyo, the destitution, at gunpoint of Chairman Audu Ogbeh, the erstwhile PDP chief, the rampant corruption at the presidency as revealed by the former Acting Auditor-General, Azie, the illegal transfer of state-owned assets into private hands through shady or questionable means like in the case of the outfit called Transcorp, unauthorized expenditures by the government, inflated contracts, dubious withdrawals from the sale of oil under the watchful eyes of the de facto oil minister, the born-again Messiah, etc.  

It is one of those ironies that this usurper and wrecker of the Nigerian constitution (as well as its commonweal) should be trying to use national institutional structures in his sleaze-exposing duel with Atiku. As I have said elsewhere, Obasanjo’s actions are rarely imbued with a sense of rationality and the common good. In his single-minded obsession to avoid the day of reckoning which is fast approaching for him, the sadistic dictator is apparently hoping to use both his praetorian guard - the police, the SSS, the EFCC and perhaps the army – and the National Assembly to cage those he perceives as formidable foes in his ambition to either stay in power beyond May 29 2007 or at the very least impose a surrogate who will be willing to shield him from richly deserved retribution which should come sooner than later.  What this means is that Obasanjo and his fellow bandits cannot be trusted with the organization of the forthcoming elections. The National Assembly should immediately enact a law to insulate INEC from the temptation of executive tyranny and suggestion. Whether or not this happens prior to the elections, Nigerians must be vigilant this time around and refuse to succumb to the kind of unabashed rigging perpetrated by the likes of  Obasanjo and his PDP in 2003. In the meantime, as has been suggested in other quarters, citizens should insist that Corruption Inc., that is to say the Obasanjo presidency, be thoroughly probed. The regime’s skeletons must be exposed. There will be a re-visiting , for instance, of the Pentascope scandal and the questionable sale of NITEL and other national assets. Also, Bode George’s tenure as chairman of the corruption-plagued Ports Authority as well as that of Anenih as Works minister must be thoroughly investigated. Above all, the books on the sale of Nigerian oil and gas must be opened in a transparent way.  

A few months ago, Vice-President Atiku took a courageous stand against a deeply troubled despot who seems willing to further endanger the welfare of Nigerians in his immoral bid to hang on to power by hook or by crook. The National Assembly  (and eventually the courts) should initiate a dispassionate probe of the presidency, more on account of the latter’s track record as an abode of sleaze than on the basis of the dubious report submitted to it by the Obasanjo side-kick called Ribadu. Should the findings of the National Assembly irreparably impugn Atiku, he will consider that as a sacrifice worth making for Nigerian democracy. That said, the pointless call by some individuals that Atiku resign even before any thorough and impartial investigation by the National Assembly is concluded should be seen for what it is, namely, an eccentric attempt at mischief. If anyone should resign, it is the dictator whose catalogue of crimes has been in the public domain for some time now. Obasanjo and his acolytes cannot be allowed to once again truncate the sovereign will of the people to choose their leaders.  

In the same vein, it is absurd to claim that the vice-president is showing disrespect for the presidency in his response to the unwarranted humiliations Obasanjo has been inflicting on him in the last few years. Obasanjo further debases the Nigerian presidency with his crude hounding of the vice-president. Atiku’s belated counter-offensive against the coarse skulduggery of an unpatriotic and vindictive tyrant should be hailed as a necessary rampart against evil. Obasanjo has continued to desecrate the Nigerian presidency and he deserves a robust response from citizens. That the vice-president is at last standing up to Kabiyesi’s cowardly antics should be seen as a welcome development. Poltroons in the mould of the Aso Rock monster cannot be allowed to impose a reign of terror on the nation unchallenged. A word of caution: It is misguided for rival contenders to the presidency to want to capitalize on the dictator’s illegal tactics against the vice-president. The critical objective at this point should be to get rid of corrupt garrison-style politics as symbolized by the leviathan and his followers or allies in the likes of Adedibu, Chris Uba, Bode George and Ribadu. And as I did mention in my commentary entitled “Chief Ogbeh: Exit at Gunpoint”, there should be consequences, not just for Obasanjo , but also for his subalterns actively participating in the tyrant’s atrocities against the people. The dictator has committed treasonable offences and deserves to be impeached. 

Aonduna Tondu. 

New York.