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The Measure Of The Man: Obasanjo Nigerians probably know the real Obasanjo by now. The same Obasanjo who it seems voluntarily handed over power in 1979,is now desperately scheming for a third, possibly fourth and fifth terms in power. The fact remains that a modification of the constitution would in actual sense make it possible for President Obasanjo to run for three fresh terms of four years each. So many people had argued that Obasanjo’s seeming voluntary handover in 1979 was not actually voluntary, that in reality he actually had no choice as Generals Yar’dua and Theophilus Danjuma were breathing down his neck.
The third term cinema currently on play has confirmed beyond all reasonable doubts, that President Obasanjo just like most other inept,corrupt,unconscionable,and destructive African rulers would cling to power at all cost if he has his way.
Nigeria seems to be a very unlucky nation. Right after independence she was enmeshed in a needless political crisis, which culminated in a coup and a civil war occasioned by a wide and glaring ethnic hatred, distrust and divide, which has remained to date and in some cases even worsened.
Since the end of that genocidal war, Nigeria has been saddled with unpatriotic dictatorial rulers mostly from the North who have done nothing but deepen Nigeria’s ethnic suspicion, and distrust by their penchant to hang on to power, and their marginalisation of other ethnic groups. The single greatest tragedy of leadership to befall Nigeria came in the person of General Sanni Abacha an unusually evil, and corrupt, dictator who had perfected the art of repression,assasinations,
coercion,intimidation,and brute force in his bid for life presidency. Nigerians waged a relentless war of opposition against Gen. Sanni Abacha until providence intervened, and the dictator expired.
Abacha’s demise and Obasanjo’s ascendance became a token of hope for many Nigerians, especially given that President Obasanjo himself had been a victim of the many injustices in the stillborn nation. Nigerians had among other things hoped for a speedy convocation of a “Sovereign national conference” to address the ethnic question,restructure the nation, enthrone true federalism, resolve the many contradictions of the stillborn nation, and craft a true and representative peoples constitution.
It didn’t take too long for the real Obasanjo, a hard-line status quo Nigerian, an agent of the caliphate and stubbornly unprogressive North which has held Nigeria down for decades, to be unmasked. President Obasanjo against all superior arguments and logic has refused to date to convene a “Sovereign national conference” and or restructure the nation.
Once again in the chequered history of this unfortunate Lugardist contraption called Nigeria, we are again saddled with a brutal and status quo dictator in the person of President Obasanjo.Corruption has continued unabated in spite of the pretences dished out by sycophant presidential agents. Seven years after,roads,healthcare,education, electricity,water supply and other basic infrastructure are in shambles.There is a total absence of the rule of law, and godfatherism has recently become a grand feature of Nigeria’s political system. The third term imbroglio at a time when there is a greater need to deepen democracy, and rotate power among Nigeria’s disparate ethnic groups, in order to give each group a sense of belonging, is bound to cause more ethnic distrust, political crisis, and even disintegration.
President Obasanjo like other dictators before him is a nightmare, and might possibly be Nigeria’s nemesis. As Nigerians wait out the unfolding third term drama, being supervised and implemented by recycled Abacha era life presidency consultants and experts, it is increasingly possible that there might be no Nigeria after President Obasanjo. Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu
County Louth
Dundalk.
Republic Of Ireland
Tel:353874131329
Email: lawrencenwobu@yahoo.com
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Posted by Robot| 27.03.2006 17:38