---

Obasanjo
has cleared a smooth road for his godson, Yar’Adua. What would a mere
diploma holder...Read the full article.

---

Whats so bad in having 'a mere diploma in Law'
What should be the proper qaulification? The woman was elected, and sworn in..thats all the qualification required to be Speaker of the House!

---

---

I find it ridiculous that a beautician with a diploma in Law would be the choice of a House of Representative with so much qualified outspoken individuals.

---

Fela sang,

---

Different different fever na him dey...
.............
Yellow fever nko,
e dey, ori-gi-nal and ar-ti-fi-ci-yal e dey....
.............

---

---

Obasanjo’s Last Days And Deceit In Public Office

July 4th, 2007

By Ugonna Eme

Now that the situation in our country has degenerated to this extent, we may have no alternative than to review some of the cases involving former president Obasanjo and other stakeholders in the Nigerian democracy project. The fact still remains that Nigeria and the Nigerian people are still suffering from the hangover of the Obasanjo years of heartless rulership of free citizens. There are indications that the strike caused by the increase in the pump price of petroleum products , the flagrant increase in Value Added Tax , sale of Port-Harcourt and Kaduna refineries, and the failure to increase the salary of Nigerian workers by 15 percent as had been agreed between Labour Congress and Federal government arose from insincerity on the part of the Federal government which Olusegun Obasanjo is still largely controlling from Otta Farm. Was President Umar Yar’Dua privy to these orchestrations made by the ruling PDP to keep Nigerians down?

The Nigerian people have been hoodwinked. This is sad! But, I have cause to refer to the implications of lies and deceit in our national affairs and how some of us were brought up. If this nation does not survive, then everyone must know certainly that insincerity is at the heart of the matter. As kids, our parents taught us the cardinal values of honesty and sincerity in child upbringing and life generally. Families that did not hold these values were not respected among their communities. The bible says that the truth shall set us free and most people agree with these because most people who stand on the truth do not suffer humiliation and degradations for long. The good Lord always comes to the aid of his people. He never allows them to be put to shame. In the original African societies, elders were not meant to tell lies and those who told lies never lived long. We pray for long life, not only for ourselves but also for our leaders like Chief Olusegun Mathew Aremu Okikiola Aremu Obasanjo, the Balogun of Owu, whose inglorious era as Nigeria’s President has mercifully ended - he rode to power with so much goodwill but squandered it all on the altar of greed and pettiness. Obasanjo is greedy, petty, vindictive and loose. That is why even as we pray for our leaders, we wonder whether some of them pray for themselves because the way and manner Obasanjo ended his tenure does not suggest he prays to God for forgiveness for all the ungodly acts and decisions he had taken during his tenure in office. With so many political killings, political bickering and deceit, one wonders why the man still insisted on adding insult to injury by making useless and careless statements that made it seem he is all-knowing. This did not go down well with his targets like the families of late Chief Bola Ige and former vice-president Atiku Abubakar. How would a sane mind consider statements made by Obasanjo that Bola Ige did not know "his left from his right" in the Power and Steel ministry?

How presidential are words like allegations from Obasanjo that Atiku Abubakar was predicting his death because his marabouts told him Obasanjo would soon die? Allusions to witchcraft and juju are words that are not supposed to proceed from the mind of any worthy individual leading his people. It is sad that ex-president Obasanjo, with only days to the end of his administration, chose to be vulgar; instead of being sober, meditative and conciliatory. Honestly, when one remembers that Obasanjo, in retirement from the military and as a member of the Commonwealth Eminent group that worked to help bring apartheid in South Africa to an end, had recommended that juju be used as an instrument for the dismantling of apartheid one cannot but believe that he indeed has a juju mindset ! Both Atiku and Naaba have given convincing accounts to show that the beginning of Ghana -Must –Go in Nigerian politics and the National Assembly could be traced to Obasanjo and his inordinate quest to stop Dr Chuba Okadigbo from becoming the Senate President. According toAtiku Abubakar, he had never bribed anyone to remove anybody from office; rather Obasanjo had worked hard to eliminate him both politically and physically. Reference was made by the former Vice-president of cases where and when Obasanjo bribed the legislators to have his way and how he funded third term project only to distance himself when it failed.

The truth and veracity of these things and issues make one sad and wonder why a man who had wasted eight good years in the lives of his people would instead of saying mea culpa! mea culpa! in repentance for his sins will rather proclaim to roof tops how he has "no regrets." Honestly, I have not found the real reason why a man whom God has helped so much will choose to still tell childish lies. However in all these, I seek solace in the fact that there is a God who sees the affairs of men. With the benefit of hindsight it is so glaring that Obasanjo’s problem with late Dr Chuba Okadigbo then was nothing but "inferiority complex" which overwhelmed Obasanjo because of the intellectual capacity, political erudition and colourful disposition of the Oyi of Oyi. Chief Obasanjo, the Balogun of Owu, never had a decent formal or western education .His brand of education was more of what intellectuals will regard as "cut and join." From a very humble beginning as a motor-mechanic, he joined the Nigerian Army as a recruit and served in the Engineering Corps of the military, which is the appropriate section for technicians of the young Olusegun’s level. The mis-adventure of his friend, Chukwuma Nzeogwu and company, who killed most of the first breed of Nigerian leaders and politicians Nigeria, made way for the likes of Olusegun Obasanjo to benefit and reap from where they did not sow.

The passion with which the military oligarchy in the north of Nigeria, represented by the likes of Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar, went about the whole idea of enthroning a former military man as president to protect their vested interests and do their bidding made matters worse for Nigeria. Otherwise, among Alex Ekwueme, Bola Ige and Olu Falae, one would have been Nigeria’s President in 1999. The story of Nigeria’s democracy would have been different today. The alarmingly high incidence of political killings that took place between 1999 and 2007 would have been averted. There were no doubts that these killings were done with high military precision. It is very dangerous for any society to leave its political and military power in the hands of poorly educated breeds. That was what Plato, the great philosopher, meant when he said that the Philosopher-King should rule. By every standard, Obasanjo’s role in our political history is an aberration. He debased our values in several ways and created disharmony among peoples of different regions of our country where nothing but peace had previously existed. The destruction of Odi in Bayelsa State and creation rebellious groups who are today terrorizing innocent people are all the immoral results of Obasanjo’s approach to resolution of conflicts. The Zaki-Ibiam massacre and the several riots in the country are the legacies of the Balogun of Owu, who the Arewa People among us considered "The Leader We Can Trust" in 1999. No prize for guessing their opinion now! The Balogun of Owu has a high anti-intellectual attitude - that is why he does not talk good of people like Bola Ige, Obafemi Awolowo, Wole Soyinka and others who berate his high mental aridity and spiritual emptiness. I wonder where the new leaders he has created for the Yoruba race will take them to. Under Chief Obafemi Awolowo, that is before Obasanjo bestrode the Yoruba political landscape like a colossus, governors, ministers, senators and political leaders from that part of the country used to be models for other parts of the country. But now, the reverse is the case.

Obasanjo has elevated charlatans and street urchins to the level of political leaders of the hitherto most politically sophisticated part of the Nigerian nation. With the likes of Lamidi Adedibu and Bode George as garrison commanders of Nigerian politics calling the shots in Yoruba politics, the political degeneration of the people may have commenced. Yes! Obasanjo worked to destroy the legacies of Obafemi Awolowo in Yorubaland so that in the new era, the Yoruba race would look up to him for leadership. It is a pity that he went this far to ridicule the legacies of a man through whose public policies, he was able to learn how to read and write. History will tell between Obasanjo and Awolowo who was the greater person in the affairs and welfare of their people. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is facing its greatest challenge: reversing the odious signposts of Obasanjo’s misrule. God will help us!

•Ugonna Eme wrote in from Owerri, Imo State
http://www.independentngonline.com/?c=92&a=29809