"The highest proof of virtue is to posses boundless power without abusing it."

Thomas Balington Macaulay.

 

"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you are scared to death."

Harold Wilson.

 

"The main success is that the march happened. It would pave the way for large crowd in the future."

Garry Kasparov, former World Chess Champion. Presently leader of an opposition party.
 Excerpt of a telephone interview after leading a 7000 man protest march against the Kremlin in March 2007.

"If anybody dies nothing will happen, afterall, Abiola died and nothing happened."

 Olusegun Obasanjo.
 excerpt of address to Deputy Police Officers.

 "They are the robbers. They cannot cancel the election, unless the unthinkable happens."

  Gani Fawehinmi.  

 "... My people sef dey fear too much.

 We fear for the thing we no see.

 We fear for the air around us.

 We fear to fight for freedom.

 We fear to fight for liberty.

 We fear to fight for Justice.

 We fear to fight for Happiness.

 We always get one reason to fear.

 We no won die.

 We no won wound.

 We no won quench.

 We no won go.

 I won enjoy.

 I won build house.

 I don build house.

 I get one child.

 Papa dey house.

 Mama dey house.

 Policeman go slap your face.

 You no go talk.

 Army man go whip your yansh.

 You go dey look like donkey..."

Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

    

 After the gubernatorial, house of representatives, Senatorial and Presidential elections that took place  on April 14 and 21 2007, respectively, an unprecedented cases of rigging was recorded in the political history of Nigeria. At last, the thug formerly in military uniform, and now in agbada has fulfilled his "do or die" electoral promise. At last, the monster has taken off the mask completely and showed us his real face and colour. We have seen the monster that has led us for 8 terrible years.

 Infact, Obasanjo over fulfilled his promise. He not only personally supervised the worst election in Nigeria's democratic history, but a countless number of innocent Nigerians  lost their lives. It is very sad and disappointing to admit that even ibb alias omo esu did not go this far. Yoruba ni "Kaka ki eku m'aje sese, a fi s'awada nu. This is exactly what Obasanjo has done. He has decided to turn the country upside down for being denied the opportunity or right to rule us till death. He has decided to revenge for not being allowed to own and run Nigeria like his private property; just like his Otta farm. It is not yet clear the cost in human lives and properties the attrocities of one arrogant man will cost the country when the dust settles down.

 Undoubtedly, the purpose of any genuine democratic system in any society is not only to ensure that people of high caliber are presented to a well informed  elctorates, but must as well ensure that the peoples' will or choice through the ballot box is respected. Thus, election is an integral part of building a viable democratic society that will  not only stand the test of time, but will as well lead to economic prosperity.  It is the culmination of democracy. Obasanjo by mass rigging the elections has not only committed the greatest crime, but has as well made a total mockery of our constitution and democracy. He has denied Nigerians the opportunity to be represented or led by their chosen leaders.

 Having said these, the question we should ask ourselves is: Why did it take us 8 good? years to fathom that we have a monster in human image as a President? Why didn't we see the clear hand-writing on the wall, right from the beginning? Why couln't we read between the lines all along? Why are we now crying over a split milk? Yoruba ni: Aso o ba omoye, omoye ti rin ihoho w'oja.

 Unfortunately, without any intention of sounding sarcastic or insulting the sense of reasoning of the readers of this article, nevertheless, I strongly believe that Obasanjo is NOT to be blamed. It is sad to admit that we, Nigerians and our constitution are to be blamed. I have highlighted these points  practically in all my articles, most especially in the multi parts article titled: "Nigeria's 419 Constitution," and "Leadership, Decision Making, The Military, The North and development." We are now reaping the fruits of our labour and dubious constitution respectively.

 In 1999, when it was agreed that a Yoruba man would be the next President, the Yorubas unanimously agreed that Falae, a civilian, and not Obasanjo a retired military officer and bankrupt entrepreneur, would represent us. Afterall, we knew better. But, the north,  because of its own selfish interests  was against the candidacy of Falae. They didn't need a President that would conduct genuine, irreversible, effecttive, poltical, economic and social reforms. They wanted a President with a Yoruba name de jure, but  de facto would represent the interests of the north, to the detriment of other Nigerians. They wanted a President that would dance to their whims and caprices. They wanted a figure head President that they could easyly manipulate. They wanted a man that would hand over power to the north under any political and economic circumstances. They wanted their own man, and they got it. Afterall the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. They wanted a man loated by his own people so that he would have no guilty conscience for betraying them at the end of the day. They needed a retired military officer who does not believe in democracy. Obasanjo more than fitted all their parameters. However, of all these parameters or criteria, the most important to the north was that he already has a record of organising a fraudulent Presidential election that ensured the victory of Shagari in 1979. Obasanjo, with the aid of ibb, was eventually lobbied by the North into the Presidential race. They supported him overwhemingly with their money and votes. The rest, as they say is now history. Indeed, Obasanjo has performed far above their expectations. In the just concluded fraudulant Presidential election, the 3 leading candidates were all from the north! This is an unprecedented development in the political history of Nigeria!

 It is a known fact that Obasanjo is so much hated and unpolular in Yorubaland to the extent that he is not capable of winning even a local government election, if a free and fair election is conducted. However, the Nigerian 419 constitution and political system made it possible for such a man to become the President easyly. In addition, suffice to also say that every Nigerian that cast his vote for Obasanjo in 1999 or/and 2003 is guilty of voting for a monster. We are all now suffering from our inability to carry out  correct analysis.

 Yes, it is true that Obasanjo is a Yoruba man (perhaps this assertion needs a thorough investigation.) He may be a Yoruba man de jure, but de facto, he never shares those democratic values, that we are known for. In Yorubaland, unlike in other regions of the country, neither retired nor serving military officers have a place among political elites. In Yorubaland, we respect brains, intellectuals, and not people with guns or sitting inside tanks. Why is this so? I will try to explain. If you ask a Yoruba boy (or girl) 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago whom he wanted to become in the future, you will most likely hear the following: doctors, lawyers, engineers, writers, lecturers, pharmacists, accountants e.t.c., but definitely not a soldier. In most cases, in Yorubaland, majority of the people that enroll in the army are "drop-outs" or those who  were not brilliant enough to gain admission into the university. The army was the last place of resort for them. In actual fact, a typical Nigerian soldier or officer has inferiority complex compared to his age mates who have excelled in their chosen professions. So, in order to compensate for this intellectual gap, he always tries to use force.

 Have the Yorubas, in actual fact produced Nigeria's President. The answer is capital NO! Dejure, Obasanjo is a Yoruba man ( I want to repeat here again that this assertion needs to be thoroughly investigated) but he was not our candidate. Therefore the Yorubas are yet to produce the President of Nigeria. Moreover, the Yorubas were denied the golden opportunity to produce quality leadership for Nigeria and millions. People like Obasanjo in Yorubaland are referred to as "Omoale."

 There is a Russian proverb that goes thus: "Вышее голова не пригнеешь." Translation: "You can't jump above your head." Literally, it means you can't give what you don't have. Or, it can also be translated to mean that "You can't perform above your capability."  In otherwords, it is very naive of us to have expected Obasanjo to behave like a democrat, taking into consideration his military background. This man had a military training. He was taught all his life to kill, shout at people , give orders  that must be obeyed. Why did we naively expect that the fact that he now  dons agbada instead of his old military khaki, automatically means that he has become a real democrat? How long will it take us to understand or come to the sad but correct conclusion that The Nigerian Army is not a place where democratic and competent leaders are trained? They are not even trained to protect us. The bitter truth is that The Nigerian Army and Police are trained to kill fellow Nigerians. Imagine bringing an old lion that has lived all his life in the jungle attacking sheep, goats, cows e.t.c. home, and expecting him to behave like a tamed and obedient house dog, that will help his owner, who is a farmer to look after his poultry, goats, cows and sheep. How realistic is that? Is that not self deceit or wishful thinking? Obasanjo is a typical example of what we call GIGO - Garbage in Garbage Out - in computer science. The garbage was put in him in the army and he is giving the garbage out as a civilian  President. The garbage is in his blood, and it is impossible and too late to get them out. The same statement that Obasanjo made as regards to Adedibu - that it is too late to change him or teach him (new things) can be applied to Obasanjo too. It is in the society's interest to get rid of such people as soon as possible. By openly rigging the elections in broad- day-light, Obasanjo has openly demonstrated his total lack of respect for Nigerians. Obasanjo has not only spat on our faces, but  he is also laughing at us, and dears us to do our worse! And we are all looking like mumus.

 I have said it, in my articles, many times over and over that if we want quality leadership in Nigeria, we must distant ourselves from any candidate either from the north or/and with military background. These people not only do not  share democratic values, but they actually have nothing to offer the country, simply because they are not prepared intellectually for quality leadership roles. Details of my arguements for making such a bold assertion is in one of my articles titled "Leadership, Decision Making, The North, The Military and Development in Nigeria. (Part 1)" Other parts will follow with time.

 If the north for one reason or the other was not satisfied with Falae's candidacy, they could at least had backed a Yoruba candidate without a military background.


 WHO IS THE MOST POWERFUL PRESIDENT IN THE WORLD?

 So, who do you think is the most powerful President in the world? Please try to answer this question before reading on. It is very important. According to the reknowned Nigerian lawyer, Femi Falana, constitutionally, the President of Nigeria is the most powerful President in the world. He is even more powerful than George Bush, the President of the United States. Femi Falana made this revealation during his radio interview with NVS. The interview is highly recommended to be listened to. Our 419 constitution drawn up by the Military has purposely entrusted the President with so much power that Obasanjo came to the conclusion that he could do and undo without any repercussion, moreso in a society notorious for corruption. Instead of using the power bestowed on him to establish a solid foundation for democracy, improve the standard of living of the populace, conduct irreversible political reforms; most especially organizing a Sovereign National Conference, and improve the global image or perception of the country, unfortunately, Obasanjo became power drunk and completely abused the power bestowed on him for his own grandiosm and selfish interests. He started behaving like a mad and wounded Bull like in the Spanish Corida.

  The bitter truth; which we all unfortunately must admit to is that we have allowed Obasanjo to commit quiet a number of attrocities  - including the abuse of power - within the 8 years of his dictatorial rule that he came to the wrong (or, perhaps the right conclusion) conclusion that he could do anything to Nigeria and Nigerians, and go scott free. Due to  our weak, or in some cases, total absence of protests, we have given Obasanjo the wrong impression and confidence that Nigeria and Nigerians are his properties that he could treat as he wished. By not challenging him boldly and forcefully all along, we have given him the carte blanche to treat his chickens at his Otta farm much better than us.  And he did exactly that, and he is going scott free; at least for now. He has challenged us to do our worse, and we are unable to do anything to him.

 There is a Russian proverb that goes thus:  "Если дащь ему один палец, он руку сьещ." Translation: " If you give him a finger,  he will eventually eat up your hand." Through our nonchalant attitudes, inadequate resistance, we have given Obasanjo our fingers to eat, and now, he has eaten up not just our hands, but all parts of our bodies! And, he is still hungry! He is not contended yet! He has not finished with us yet. Only Almighty God know his plans for us in 2007 - 2011.  He didn't spend his energy, time and Nigeria's money to impose Yar'adua on us, and then go to eternal pension. Since we have denied him the opportunity of realising his Third Term Agenda ambition, he will definitely try to complete his devilish and anti-progress programmes indirectly through his political protege. It is now too late to cry wolf and shout.

 In order to buttress my point, the writer will like to take the readers along the memory lane of political events  within the past 8 years of Obasanjo's military dictatorial rule - camouflaged as civilian rule.


PRESIDENT OF FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AND HONOURABLE MINISTER OF PETROLEUM COMBINED.

 Obasanjo's attrocities and abuse of power started by appointing himself the Minister of Petroleum. From my understanding, what this meant was that the Otta farmer turned President over night could not find a qualified
candidate among the numerous Nigerian Professors and experts in oil and gas for this post, therefore, he decided to appoint himself the Honourable Minister of Petroleum. Nigeria's 419 Constitution has bestowed on the President the power to combine the post of President and Minister of Petroleum, irrespective of the fact that Obasanjo is not even capable of writing correctly the chemical equation or formula of ordinary water that he drinks everyday.

 Could somebody please tell me why Obasanjo decided to combine the Petroleum portfolio with his job as the President? Does it mean that the job of the President is so boring or not that demanding enough? Why didn't Obasanjo combine the Power Ministry with his job as the President, so that by the end of his tenure, Nigerians could boast of cheap and regular electricity supply? Or, why couldn't Obasanjo take up the big challenge in the Ministry of Health, so that by now, diseases like polioa nd other long curable diseases - in the west - that claim the lives of millions of Nigerians yearly will not only be  a thing of the past, but an effective and affordable medical insurance programme will as well be available to most Nigerians by now. Obasanjo, instead, decided to go for the Ministry that lays Nigeria's golden eggs. The official excuse given was that he wanted to bring sanitation into the Ministry, however, it's a known secret that the bankrupt Otta farmer who had just #200,000 in his account in 1999, was going into the Ministry of Petroleum not for any sanitation or reforms, but to steal money.



THE COLD MURDER OF BOLA IGE.

 Definitely, you will agree with me that one of the main responsibilities of any reliable government is the provision of security for its citizens. Moreover, the ability of a country to provide adequate security for senior government officials is not only of utmost importance, but is one of the attributes that distinguish a serious country from a Banana republic. The post of Minister of Justice, undoubtedly, is one of the key positions in any country, including Nigeria. Bola Ige was the Minister of Justice in Obasanjo's government during his first tenure in office. Chief Bola Ige was not just an ordinary Minister and politician. He was a very experienced administrator and a heavy weight in Nigerian politics. It is no exxageration to say that in Yorubaland, despite the emergence of Falae as the Presidential flag bearer of the Yorubas in 1999, nevertheless, Ige was the foremost politician, and unofficially regarded as the successor to Papa Awo. As will be recalled, despite the fact that he did not belong to the ruling PDP, nevertheless, Ige was invited to join the government, and he was offered the Ministry of Justice to head. In addition, it will also be recalled that Ige was the only Minister who did not have a signed letter of resignation  on Obasanjo's table.

 The death of Ige, most especially the manner that it was carried out shocked not only Nigerians, but the whole world. It was an unprecedented murder. If hired assasins could easyly work into the official residence of the Minister of Justice, and ridule his body with bullets, how safe then are ordinary Nigerians in their abodes? If the government is not capable of protecting the live of the Minister of Justice, can we entrust him with our lives to protect? The answer is obvious. The murder of Ige, was not only a big tragedy, but also an embarrassment and disgrace for the country.

 When the death of Ige, and the manner in which it occured was revealed, how many of us took to the streets to demand an independent investigation that will ensure that the culprits or perpetrators of this heinous crime are arrested, and consequently brought to justice? Did The House of Representatives or Senate call any emergency meeting to discuss the murder, talkless of voting unanimously for an independent investigation? As far as I know, none of these took place. According to some  information from reliable sources, the opposition party was planning to field in Ige as its Presidential flag bearer in the 2003 Presidential election against Obasanjo. Could we conclude then that Obasanjo murdered in cold blood a formidabble political opponent. We folded our hands, and allowed Obasanjo to get away with this high profile murder. 
 
 abm1900@mail.ru   TO BE CONTINUED ...

P.S. It's good that the Niger Deltan Militants are taking foreign hostages. Believe me, it's a very good strategy. The last part of my article about the Niger Delta crisis will be devoted to the action plan. There should be no sympathy for foreign hostages. Due to some technical problem, the part 3 of my article about the Niger Delta crisis was not accessible to NVS readers. It can be read on the site of nigeriansinamerica.com. Finally, incase anybody knows the mail address of MEND or any of the Niger Delta militants, I will be grateful if all parts of my articles about the Niger delta could be sent to them.

Robot  # 1 | 13.05.2007 18:41

It is very naive of us to have expected Obasanjo to behave like a democrat, taking into considera...Read the full article.

Oghre  # 2 | 14.05.2007 04:33

Can I ask the writer what he or Nigerians did about these so called atrocities OBJ is alleged to commit; apart from writing this article, what democratic actions did the writer take? If OBJ is guilty of these then Nigerians democracy is also guilty, the people of the country who allowed morality to decay in the face abuse while writing big-grammar articles are also as guilty as hell. The people make the democracy and not the Government; if the people of Britain and America are prepared to keep their mouths shut and lock themselves away in their houses writing articles I am sure democracies like Britain and America will have gone to the dogs too. It is the collective efforts of the people and their resolve not to withstand illegal and unjust regimes that keep those democracies in check. If OBJ is the most powerful unchallenged president in the world, has a hand in bola Ige’s death and makes himself the Minister of Petroleum then it is because NIGERIANS WANT these things to happen. The Romanians woke up one morning and removed Nicolae Ceausescu at the drop of a hat, no man is an island. OBJ or any other Nigerian dictators are no more powerful than Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralín Marcos of the Philippines. What did a Lebanese man tell me in a restaurant in west London? I went to Nigeria and told them I was white, they believed me. I applied for a contract and got it because I am foreign although I had no penny to execute it I even rented a flat in Apapa and the landlord was afraid to ask for the rent for 4 months because he saw me as a white connected person who could make life difficult for him. I slept with over 100 Nigerian women because the perception is that I am important by my looks. I then got an engineers job with no qualification and was called an expatriate, whatever that means. "My friend, am I white? so why do Nigerians think I am?" He summed up by saying “my friends, you are different I know … but sorry to say Nigerians are the biggest fools I ever met in my travels”

Johntina  # 3 | 14.05.2007 05:12

Lazy rambling! This sounds to me like a bigot struggling to criticise his own!! This is like a biased mother saying to those who complain about what her troublesome child has done to them, “you should have known that he is ill-tempered all along” Those who find excuse for Obasanjo's arrogance and wickedness in his military background, to my mind are being economical with the truth because Nigerians are not unfamiliar to both serving and retired military officers. We have had military presidents other than Obasanjo's of 1976-79 and not even the worst military ruler we can imagine is as wicked and arrogant as Obasanjo. Assuming, this writer and many others who have reasoned like him are implying that there is a kind of post-military service disorder, we also have people like Buhari who headed the PTF like a civilian and we never heard him threaten to flog anyone who challenged him. We are also aware that Generals Ojukwu and Gowon who led a divided Nigeria through the most turbulent times do not suffer any symptoms of madness. Of course, Babangida is well know as a gentlemen and we are equally aware of a number of retired generals who are senators and who have comported themselves in the most civilised manners. There has never been any report of either Senator David Mark or Ike Nwachukwu getting up and slapping or even shouting at their fellow senators because of their inherent post-military madness. Lets stop fooling ourselves because we do not want to criticise our own so hard. I cannot understand how the same Nigerians who condemned Abacha who had full military powers to rule Nigeria (and was never this arrogant ) are biting their tongues about Obasanjo. I believe the Yoruba are probably the most civilised and organised people in Nigeria, but educated Yorubas (including this writer and people like Wole Soyinka who has clearly criticised Obasanjo far less than he criticised Abacha) must understand that they owe a duty to the whole Black race not just their kinsmen... It may sound unfair to blame the Yorubas for not criticising Obasanjo’s evil government as hard as they had in the past criticised other governments headed by the Northerners(after all they had paid their dues for democracy and other Nigerian groups like the Igbos ought to do their parts too), but the fact is that other Nigerians looked up to AD (believing it to be a child and grand child of the UPN and AG) and other respectable civil right activists to help establish democracy in Nigeria. It is also a fact that Obasanjo is by far the worst thing that ever happened to Nigeria and this should be a disgrace to the Yoruba and the Nigeria Christian community. I must add that educated Nigerians in general, not just the Yorubas are the main cause of our backwardness. We must begin to use our education to encourage sanity and good governance in the society rather than to twist facts or manipulate minds for our selfish ends. John Iteshi

Afeni  # 4 | 14.05.2007 05:27

Johntina, let me make one thing absolutly clear. Obasonjo is not the worst leader leader Nigeria has had. I'm sure we can all agree that even a road side beggar can heap insults on Baba and still walk away with his life. During the time of Abacha, assasins were sent to take-out people that refused to sing praise for the madman. If you look at Abacha's and Ibb's tenure, you will find that nothing good came of it. Obasonjo has been able to halt the economic decline of Nigeria. An economic decline that was close to its third decade. The only reason degenerates like IBB and Abacha can go around reciting figures like 1 dollar to 80 dollars is because the average Nigerian at the time was not making enough money to cause inflation in the system. With Obj's economic policies, people have more money than they had before, and when people have to compete with other people for goods, prices go up. Its as simple as that. We just have to wait for production to kick-in in order to bring prices down. Obasonjo's behaviour has nothing to do with his millitary past. Obasonjo feels that the country is corrupted to such an extent that the will of the people can no longer be trusted. So, his goal is to set a foundation for Nigeria, over the next 30 or so years, in order for a new order to arise. Where I fault this vision is that Obasonjo, with the aide of EFCC reports, has to seek out clean characters from other political parties so that they too can win elections. Because if you have a case where 90 percent of the seats of NASS go to the ruling party despite failure to deliver basic services like power and portable water, you only succeed in creating conditions that promote coups.

Johntina  # 5 | 14.05.2007 06:58

Afeni, How many ordinary innocent Nigerians did Abacha kill? How many Odi's or Zakibiams did Abacha order masacre? How much of our monies were wasted or stolen under Abacha's regime of 4 years plus, compared to just six months of Obasanjo's evil regime? How much was the price of oil during Abacha's regime compared to Obasanjo's period 1999-date. We must rise above ethnic or religious sentiments as educated people if we really want to see meaningful development in Nigeria. NIgeria has never had it so bad! Obasanjo is the worst of the worst!! John Iteshi

Afeni  # 6 | 14.05.2007 09:41

=Johntina;175752>Afeni, How many ordinary innocent Nigerians did Abacha kill? How many Odi's or Zakibiams did Abacha order masacre? How much of our monies were wasted or stolen under Abacha's regime of 4 years plus, compared to just six months of Obasanjo's evil regime? How much was the price of oil during Abacha's regime compared to Obasanjo's period 1999-date. We must rise above ethnic or religious sentiments as educated people if we really want to see meaningful development in Nigeria. NIgeria has never had it so bad! Obasanjo is the worst of the worst!! John Iteshi Abacha killed hundreds of people. And he would have killed more was it not for the fact that everyone knew that standing up against Abacha meant certain death. The issue of Odi could very well have been a failure of communication. The Nigerian military could have overstepped its orders e.t.c. If I remember correctly, did some of the villagers not ambush Nigerian troops? However, with the case of Abacha, there was no such thing. When something went down, it was because of orders from Abacha. Conditions were worse in the Niger Delta under Abacha's rule. But still there were no protests. In fact, all these protests we are seeing now is testament to the milder nature of Obj. Abacha would have massacred millions if he thought they were planning against him. Just so Nigerians know. The worst leaders in Nigeria are: 1) Abacha 2) Ibb 3) Shonekan 4) Gowon 5) Obasonjo 6) Shagari The rest are too hard to judge because they didn't last long enough. Btw, don't even think about changing the first 3 on that list.

Johntina  # 7 | 14.05.2007 12:44

Afeni, You do not deserve further response because you have shown your true colours, but I just want to express my concern about how ethnic sentiments could becloud one's judgement! I would like to assure you that only ethnic bigots and psychophants would agree with you. Psychophants would only say he is good for now, but post-may 29 2007, their views will change.