Most Nigerians now suffer from both long and short term memory loss. With the nature of media ownership and control in our country, I don’t know what to believe any longer. The frenzy and daily reportage on corruption has really gone haywire. The Nigerian press is doing a good job and it is their social responsibility to educate, inform and enlightened the people. But it is time to go beyond these functional clichés. The flaks on Obasanjo has reached an unacceptable level. All the Nigerian newspapers now virtually rely on OBJ and his family, to sell their papers.

For the sake of history, what were those things that OBJ did that were strange to us? Nothing, as far I am concerned! Was it corruption and rigging of elections? Was it his attempt to extend his tenure or the way he ran the economy? Was it his hypocritical and selective fight against corruption? What was it that was specifically strange in his method? We are all now shouting hoax where there is none. We are blaming the person and not addressing the system. OBJ, like all our previous leaders, is a victim of a system. A system that appears jinxed and unchangeable while in actual fact, is changeable.

Obasanjo, if we may all recall, was chosen by a cabal in 1999. The northern cabal, bemoaned by the annulment of the 12^th June 1993 election, met and asked who to rely on in the West in order to appease this same West {not Nigerians}, for the criminal annulment of that election. Because this cabal {T.Y Danjuma and coy} had imposed and used OBJ between 1976 and 1979 as a military Head of state, and was found reliable in protecting northern interest {not Nigeria’s interest}, it was decided ones more to impose him on us. At least, they must have argued among themselves, that the devil you know is better than the one you do not know. But unknown to them too “that a snake in the house is more dangerous than the one in the bush,” ala professor Omafume Onoge.

Now, the battle for who will succeed General Abdulsallami Abubakar, who took over in mysterious circumstances after the demise of Abacha and MKO Abiola, became a straight one between Obasanjo and Chief Olu Falae. The West, {his own people}, knowing OBJ’s antecedents, denied him at the polls in 1999. He could not {even} win his home state of Ogun. That was a warning signal from the Yorubas, to other Nigerians, that OBJ would not perform. They knew he was a chosen lackey. Today, his people have been vindicated. Funny enough, the ever righteous T. Y Danjuma, one of the cabals that imposed OBJ on us, had told Nigerians in 1999 that if OBJ did not win, he would flee the country. Today, he is singing a different tone because OBJ seized his oil blocs. OBJ then ended up winning that election because the East and the North ‘voted’ for him. Chief Olu Falae, who failed to call for the use of the transparent Option A4, lost out to the cabals.

Now, on the 15^th of April 2000, senator Arthur Nzeribe brought 15 motion impeachable charges against OBJ on the floor of the senate, what happened? Town criers, experts on tribal fission, religious bigots and media manipulators had a field day on the person and character of Nzeribe. He became a personae non grata. Of course, knowing Nzeribe’s antecedents, especially his role in the annulment of the June 12^th, 1993 election, people have the right to detest him. To me, all Nigerians betrayed Abiola and that June 12^th excellent election. Anyway, because of that oversight, most privileged Nigerian commentators refused to deeply ’see through’ the issues raised by Nzeribe and address it. Well, it is aimless now to analyse them because all is now history. When Nzeribe read the hand writing on the wall, and knowing Nigerians for what they are, he smartly switched allegiance to OBJ. He became OBJ’s most ardent supporter until he left the senate. After that, subsequent attempts to impeach OBJ failed, because what Nzeribe saw by April 2000, others saw too late. That is why in bourgeois politics, there is no permanent friend but permanent interest.

In 1967, during the genocide that people wrongly called civil war, the Biafran soldiers made daring incursion into the Midwestern region and over- ran it, the leader of that Biafran assault was the late Col. Victor Banjo {a Yoruba man}. Part of the implied instructions from Ojukwu to Banjo was to move on with the speed of lightning and capture Lagos. Banjo on getting to Ore slowed down the move. Why? Well, it was alleged he was having a series of nocturnal meetings with top Yoruba officers of the Nigerian army and their political counterpart, among them was Obasanjo. It was presumed that one of the issues raised by Banjo at that meeting was that Yoruba officers should join him to push the northerners out of Yoruba land. Obasanjo, as one of the most senior Yoruba officers present, stoutly refused Banjo’s offer and purportedly said that he was not trained as a Yoruba or tribal soldier but as a Nigerian. Now, may I pose these posers: What would have been the lot of the North or Nigeria if OBJ and other officers present had supported Banjo? What would have happened if Banjo had swiftly entered Lagos? Again, perhaps the war would have either ended as quickly as it had started {with Biafra and Oduduwa republics becoming independent realities} or, would have continued only to end the way it eventually did.

In all, Biafra still had to surrender to this same man, Obasanjo. The Black scorpion, Brigadier Adekunle has always mourn in his book and interviews that he did the actually fighting while OBJ came to take over his commando unit, {only} to reap where he did not sow. But Adekunle was raw, ruthless and too blood thirsty a soldier, while OBJ was more organised, sober and diplomatic. Adekunle shoots anything that moves during that war including the leaves of plants. If Adekunle was left to his whims and caprices, he would wipe the Igbos off, from the face of the earth. Despite his heroism, he was used and dumped by Gowon and compulsorily retired from the Nigerian army. He was so humiliated that up till date he is still venting his spleen. Today, virtually all those southern officers who fought Biafra have regretted their role in that war. The reality had dawn on them that they were used by the North to protect, not Nigeria‘s interest, but northern interest. That interest is still been protected to this day. So, Nigerians should be grateful to OBJ.

In 1979, OBJ handed over 35 Nigerian aircrafts to Alhaji Shehu Shagari. By 1999 {20 years later} when OBJ came back, none was flying. What happened to them? What did the governments who were in power between 1980 and 1998 do to maintain the airline? All the aircrafts have gone with the winds of corruption under the ‘able’ leadership of northern dominated Managing-Directors of the Nigerian Airways. The shame of it all is that today, Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon and Egypt airlines are still flying to and fro, London. Again, in 1983, Buhari and Idiagbon told us that telephone is not for the poor. By 1999, OBJ opened the telephony market to all and sundry. Today every Reuben, Nath, Obijiofor, Rowland, Popoola, and Akume has a mobile phone. I can call my mum anytime from anywhere-all thanks to OBJ. It also generated a lot of self-employment and jobs for the people.

In 1979, OBJ conducted an election and handed over to Shehu Shagari. In 1983, Shehu Shagari, despite his abysmal performance in office, could not summon the courage to hand over to another. Instead, he boasted that “there are {only} two political parties in Nigeria“, namely, “the NPN and the army“. Thus after the usual shambled elections of 1983 and its attendant landslide victory for the NPN, Shagari, in a slippery manner, betwixt and between, beckoned on the military to come and take over. What OBJ gave to him in 1979 with little or no hiccups, he could not pass on to another in 1983. He handed over {under the pretence of a coup}, to soldiers.

In 2007, the same OBJ handed over to Shehu Musa Yaradua. I am not interested in the circumstances of the hand over, all I am interested in, was that he handed over. The circumstances had to do with the system bequeathed on us, including OBJ. After all, Ibrahim Babangida did not handover in 1993 despite the fact that an electoral system conducted a perfect election, the best in the annals of our history. Instead, he hung on to power, with his alter ego, Abacha, consulting all manner of marabouts. Now, I want Nigerians to answer this queer question: to conduct a perfect election {1993}and refuse to hand over to the winner and to conduct a bad election {2007} and decide to hand over to a purported winner, which one is better? Of course, both are bad, but which one is better? Well, let’s wait and see who Yaradua will hand over to. So, it is quite clear that the only person, and I repeat it, THE ONLY PERSON, that has handed over power twice, from one government to another, is OBJ. That is a fact of our history that nobody can deny or fault.

In 1979 when the same OBJ handed over to Shehu Shagari, our foreign debt and obligation was about $4.6 billion, but by 1999 {20 years later}, it was $36 billion. OBJ cancelled those debts with his economic team of experts and, transformed our commercial banks. His government’s fight against fake drugs is unparallel coupled with his fight against corruption. Today, everyone wants corruption checked but are, the ruling cabals, the invisible hands behind the power equation in Nigeria, ready to fight with us? Will the fight not simmer down one of these days? I hope not.

There is a rotten system in place in Nigeria and it is that system that has roped in an innocent-looking woman and a professor of paediatric medicine, Adenike Grange, into trouble. Virtually every ministry stinks to high heavens and the stench is unbearable. What happened in the Health Ministry has been happening in others but no leader have had the courage to deal with it. This is because all ministries are involved in the sleaze. Thus writes late Professor Mike Onwuejeogwu in the GUARDIAN of 6^th Sept 1985 in his article entitled, BECOMING A VICE-CHANCELLOR IN A NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY: “In a society riddled with colonial contradictions, the resolving of one contradiction creates new ones because colonial contradiction is better resolved more by elimination than by substitution.” Colonial contradiction is the same as capitalist contradiction and all that it requires is to uproot it for good. Unfortunately, the contradictions in the Nigerian system have funny roots and tap roots that are so intertwined and interwoven. OBJ therefore, is not our problem, it is the system. 

It is ridiculous for people to also call for OBJ’s arrest and trial. How many of our past Heads of state have ever been arrested and tried? Did Babangida, when summoned, appear before the Oputa panel? Was IBB arrested and tried on the late Pius Okigbo report for the accrued $12 billion crude oil windfall during his regime? Was he charged for the annulment of the 12^th June 1993 election? I think we should be grateful to OBJ for keeping Nigeria-ONE. I rest my case!

 
Ephraim Emenanjo Adinlofu is a member of Champions For Nigeria organisation, an organisation that is out to promote excellence and good governance in Nigeria. He has his B.Sc {1987}and M.Sc {1993} in Sociology from the university of Jos, Nigeria, and is resident and working in London. 

Robot  Villager

# 1 Most Nigerians now suffer from both long and short term memory loss. With the nature of media own...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 25.04.2008 08:34

philipikita  Villager

# 2 Innocent… (Clear throat….) Innocent. You have not really said anything much between 1999 and 2007, that OBJ should be praised for. Sad that you are not "interested in the circumstances of the hand over, all I am interested in, was that he handed over (in 2007)". This is like telling me you would not mind if your son cheats through his examinations in secondary school, the boy should just pass out. Shame on a fellow Josite! Omafume Onoge (Prof) would weep if he reads this! Note that OBJ was a darling of the media up to 1999 and beyond, before he started his 3rd term misadventure. The media stoutly defended the man OBJ, when he faced persecution in the hands of dictator Abacha. That the media has turned against OBJ is not without reason. The sin of hypocrisy is the worst, according to Hebert W. Armstrong. OBJ, who proudly claimed absolute wisdom and knowledge, piety and acsetism, is the biggest and loudest hypocrite Nigeria has ever produced. That is the price he is paying. Posted by philipikita| 25.04.2008 09:01

Kabikala  Villager

# 3 According to Prof. Patrick Okedinachi Utomi, "discussing Obasanjo does not add value to anything". I rest my case. Posted by Kabikala| 25.04.2008 09:09

kingsleyodiete  JJC

# 4 Well, i think innocent is partly right but i think the tragedy of OBJ is the price to be paid by those who choose not to live by principless. Here was a man the country had given so much only to at the last minute seek a third term, wasting billlions of money on an election people were not allowed to vote, so what do you expect from the same people? He had his chance to write his name in gold but he chose petty political gains, now he must live with the consequences! Posted by kingsleyodiete| 25.04.2008 09:14

ariteni  Villager

# 5 EXCELLENT PIECE! Obasanjo in prison? Its a joke! The only Nigerian who could jail anybody - Sanni Abacha - has been eliminated. The other one, Buhari is in the cooler. So, its still business as usual! (People wey no fit jail Governor how dem go jail President?) NIGERIA STILL NEEDS A LEVIATHAN! Obasanjo is NOT the issue. Indeed you hit the nail on the head - he has successfully managed (with good help from Prof Maurice Iwu) another TRANSITION, this time, civilian to civilian. The sponsors of all the noise are the losers in the succession game but they should not personalise Nigeria's problems. And they should find somewhere more constructive to direct their energies because the relentless pursuit of Baba Iyabo is inimical to their mental health. Posted by ariteni| 25.04.2008 09:25

cdimkpa  Villager

# 6 Obasanjo, more than all the past leaders combined, did a lot to better the economy of Nigeria. That is an indisputable fact. Nevertheless, it seems (I say ''seems'' because various ongoing probes will proove one right or wrong) that by his own hand, he spoilt all that he laboured for. He comes across as a hypocrite of unimaginable proportion. How could alleged corruption of such magnitude have taken place under ObJ's (of all people) watch? Posted by cdimkpa| 25.04.2008 09:34

peterclaver2006  Villager

# 7 =Robot;4295009797>Most Nigerians now suffer from both long and short term memory loss. With the nature of media own...Read the full article. And here goes another white-wash job. The task before every Nigerian is to ensure that Obasanjo ends up in prison where he belongs. He is a disaster to Nigeria and in a situation where we believ that any person could come and destroy as much as he can and we can struggle to put up vacuous defences for him whenever a little audit is carried out, will rather deepen the rot these vampires have planted in Nigeria. Posted by peterclaver2006| 25.04.2008 10:11

felix  Villager

# 8 Most Nigerians now suffer from both long and short term memory loss. With the nature of media ownership and control in our country, I don’t know what to believe any longer. The frenzy and daily reportage on corruption has really gone haywire. The Nigerian press is doing a good job and it is their social responsibility to educate, inform and enlightened the people. But it is time to go beyond these functional clichés. The flaks on Obasanjo has reached an unacceptable level. All the Nigerian newspapers now virtually rely on OBJ and his family, to sell their papers. For the sake of history, what were those things that OBJ did that were strange to us? Nothing, as far I am concerned! Was it corruption and rigging of elections? Was it his attempt to extend his tenure or the way he ran the economy? Was it his hypocritical and selective fight against corruption? What was it that was specifically strange in his method? We are all now shouting hoax where there is none. We are blaming the person and not addressing the system. OBJ, like all our previous leaders, is a victim of a system. A system that appears jinxed and unchangeable while in actual fact, is changeable. Ephraim! You are free to join the "Obasanjo is a saint brigade" but please dont insult hard suffering Nigerians to make your hapless point. we dont have "short memory", on the contrary, every reasonable Nigerian knows and still remember that Obasanjo is the father of weird corruption in Nigeria. All you need to do to acsertain this is to look at the performances of the governements that were in place before him and the corruption profile of the leaders of those previous governments to make your judgement. Is it Zik or Balewa who died humble people??? Is it Ironsi whose family suffered in abject poverty until recently??? Is it Gowon who after nine years in power has to be supported by the governemnt to pay for his education in Britain??? Is it Murtala whom inspite of his blood thirsty nature still managed to fight corruption as a president??? Which of them owns endless estates across the universe??? Enter Obasanjo and the real embezzlement started! Untill the disappearance of billions of naira in the petroleum ministry after he left office in 1979, the highest level of corruption witnessed in Nigeria was the "normal" ten percent! None of the presidents before him had a personal investment as large as Otta farm immediately after they left office! None was accused of outrightly empting a whole petroleum ministry! It was his ability to do so and get away with it, with the support of a clanish press that potrayed him as a gentleman that gave the likes of IBB and Abacha the impetus to erect all kinds of mansions here and there and taunt same in our faces. He it was that supervised "Ali must go" murders. The "unknown soldier that threw Felas mother to death was under his command, Zaki Biam lost tens of thousands when a diabolical Obasanjo bombarded old men in their village huts for simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Odi was emptied under the behest of this irritating tyrant. The highest level of extra judicial political murders pre or post Nigerian- Biafran war were carried out under Obasanjos watch; from Dokubo, Marshal, Ige, OGB or even the suspected poisoning of Okadigbo, Obasanjos government made political killing a safe sport! He supervised the worst elections in the history of Nigeria and unleashed the most brazenly corrupt government ever witnessed in that country. Yes; there is something wrong with the system but leaders assume power to make the system work better and not to corrupt it all the more. Your evil hero also threw a wedge between cross tribal/ethnic relations in Nigeria with his uncouth garullous outbursts. He was vindictive and was so unfit to be considered even a gardener in a presidential house. Under his watch,PTDF happened! Obasanjo spent billions of dollars on the power sector and what was the result? Politics of megawatts! He was incharge of the Oil and gas sector and very soon as investigations into that ministry begins, the world will finally summon enough courage to put this dieing tyrant where he rightly belongs; the notorious hall of the infamous.He recovered billions of dollars from the Abacha loot and simply looted the loot! Roads went from bad to worse. While international oil prices increased, Obasanjo simply embarked on prosecuting the economics of the brutal by increasing fuel pump prices in Nigeria! Such increases under a marooned Abacha led to PTF and its wonders, under Obasanjo, the extra earnings simply vanished! As clueless as he was, it might interest you to note that the living standarsd of Nigerians under IBB was way too better than it is under Obasanjo. Abacha was so inefficient and corrupt but atleast he gave Nigerians PTF. That board didnt do much in the east where I come from but atleats you can see the result in some other parts of the country..Where is Obasanjos results??? In the pockets of his henchmen??? So spare us the whining! It does not matter wether Nigerians have jailed any leader before or not. It does not matter wether he fought to keep Africa together with Antartica neither does it matter wether he repeatedly handed power over to Brrack Obama! The important point is that he founded corruption of the worst order in Nigeria and left an army and a set of politicians that are simply intoxicated with power when he could have easily cleansed the table. His inability to set the country on the right path led the country into the hands of many draconian dictators and in the process ruined the lives of a generation! For this, in my humble view he should pay with his ugly head!:rolleyes: Posted by felix| 25.04.2008 10:18

10Kobo  Villager

# 9 = Ephraim> There is a rotten system in place in Nigeria and it is that system that has roped in an innocent-looking woman and a professor of paediatric medicine, Adenike Grange, into trouble. In 1979 when the same OBJ handed over to Shehu Shagari, our foreign debt and obligation was about $4.6 billion, but by 1999 {20 years later}, it was $36 billion. OBJ cancelled those debts with his economic team of experts and, transformed our commercial banksHis government’s fight against fake drugs is unparallel coupled with his fight against corruption. l am confused about a few lines which l will like more enlightenment on. Every one has their good and bad side, not is an Angel but what we should all aspire to, is to limit and repress our bad side while amplifying our good works. On the balance, people will score us good if we can make 80% to 20%, in our good-to-bad ratio. Even God that created us said HE has second thought about us. Having said that, how would YOU rate OBJ? You have espoused all his good sides and that l am happy about but can you tell us a bit about... The scam that went along with that debt cancellation? Why a small country like Ireland or UK without oil or most of those natural resources at OBJ's beck and call, we have to use an "expensive toy" like GSM, to talk, when NITEL landlines could have done a better job and we would still have very cheap broadband internet to go along with it, as is obtainable elsewhere? Why somebody whose account was almost in the red before ascending to the Presidency, now competes with IBB on HillTOP mansion, not to mention the Library (:D even Universities under his regime dont have a good library!), the University, the stolen plots of land at choice places in Abuja, OTTA and all over the country? What about the PTF funds used for personal campaign and election rigging? Can you educate us on those somersault in oil block allocations and sale of government properties like Refineries, Steel plants, e.t.c We can go on but no need. = Ephraim> There is a rotten system in place in Nigeria and it is that system that has roped in an innocent-looking woman and a professor of paediatric medicine, Adenike Grange, into trouble. Has "leadership of our country" become so cheap, so much so that whatever evil, leaders commit in office have o be attributed to "THE SYSTEM"? Who or What is this system? If a professor, with all her education does not know that it is wrong to connive with others to loot Ministry funds (she's not the only one), then who should know? If a PHD degree holder does not know it is criminal to impersonate and use false identity to sign contracts.....l guess its the SYSTEM that makes her either dumb or a crook! When a Police I.G thinks its okay to steal funds meant to equip his boys who put their life on the line, day and night (only to vent their frustration on innocent civilians, at checkpoints), this SYSTEM must be a cruel ghost! When Money meant for equipping the hospitals disappear and as a result, we loose our loved ones, sometimes, innocent little babies, and YOU turn around to blame the SYSTEM! When people who cannot join two electric cables together bid and win contracts for Power Generating plants, only to disappear with the money. As a result, you and i and our yours truly get burnt in Generator explosion, our children are exposed to long term lung disease from inhaling carbon monoxide and polluted air, no one is responsible but its the same SYSTEM? Hmmmmm, na wa O. This "SYSTEM" must be an ALIEN from Mars or Jupiter. C'mmon, its time to unmask this invisible SYSTEM that has brought so much sorrow to our land. NAME, SHAME AND PUNISH (JAIL OR FIRING SQUAD) ALL ECONOMIC SABOTEURS Thats my take on this Shaggy-style "it wasn't me".....its the system :cool: Cheers Posted by 10Kobo| 25.04.2008 10:41

emenanjo  Villager

# 10 Circumstances of that 2007 election is system-generated ;circumstances of people cheating in Exams in Nigeria is system-generated and when you go down to the unijos and ask professor Onoge, he will still tell you that it is the system and not the persons. As at my time in UNIJOS,Professor Onoge was still a Marxist and a system analyst. So, my faceless critique, name dropping is not the solution and it will not stop me from writing or saying what I know. let us address the system and stop chasing shadows. PRONACO, and a lot of others have called for the system to be overhauled, yet certain interest groups would not let it be,so, the present system has no choice but to continue to reproduce itself. Thus the emergence and re-emergence of the OBJs. I hope I have re-made my point. I rest my case ones more! The debate and flow of ideas continue if you dont' mind please because I thrive on constructive controversy. Posted by emenanjo| 25.04.2008 10:53

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