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The race for leadership credibility
By Levi Obijiofor
THERE is a sudden
rush by just about every former Nigerian leader to take credit for any
progress the country may have achieved in recent times. It started with
Ibrahim Babangida's uncharitable comparison of his government with that
of Olusegun Obasanjo. In late January this year, Obasanjo himself,
smarting from recent official and unofficial but disgusting public
exposure of his personal and public life, claimed also to have done his
best for Nigeria. There must be an international prize awaiting
collection by Nigeria's former military dictators, including Babangida
and Obasanjo. Unfortunately, both Obasanjo and Babangida belong to the
club of Nigeria's most despised former leaders.
Obasanjo must be particularly worried about his
declining image. Everywhere he goes, he is trailed by protesters and
placards, nearly one year after he left office. This is a clear message
that people have not forgotten the abuses his government committed,
including Obasanjo's failed economic policies and his legendary
political blunders. It is said that time heals all wounds. In
Obasanjo's case, time seems to be opening new wounds and reopening the
scars of old wounds.
At the national level, Obasanjo has watched as
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua rolled his tractor over the sham institutions that
Obasanjo built, including some dodgy contracts awarded by Obasanjo's
government. Just about everyone who worked with Obasanjo has abandoned
the man. No sooner did Obasanjo hand over government to Yar'Adua than
the party's hierarchy began to distance itself from Obasanjo's
legacies. Ahmadu Ali, immediate past chairperson of the People's
Democratic Party (PDP), was quick to point out how the party's fortunes
had changed positively since the installation of Yar'Adua.
During a one-day visit to Ekiti State in late
January this year, Obasanjo was confronted by a crowd of hecklers. In
predictable fashion, Obasanjo directed his anger at the protesters. Not
only did Obasanjo insult the crowd when he claimed that he left the
economy in better state than what was bequeathed to his government in
May 1999 during his first term as an elected president, he also used
strong language to reply his enemies. That's vintage Obasanjo.
As president and as an ordinary person,
Obasanjo has never subscribed to the values of etiquette. The language
he uses in private discussion is the same language he uses in public
discourse. Obasanjo does not believe that there is a difference between
the public sphere and the private domain. His philosophy is that
whatever is worth saying at all should be said in private and in
public. It is the kind of view commonly associated with tyrants.
In Ekiti, Obasanjo responded to provocative
chants by his critics: He said: "People can say what they like. We
went, we saw and we performed to the best of our ability and we thank
God. But some may not hear of our performance because they are deaf,
some may say they do not see because they are blind."
Not only was the language disrespectful of all
those who suffer from hearing or visual impairment, it was also
unbefitting of a former president. If the crowd was offended, Obasanjo
didn't want to know and he was in no mood for an apology. But the
restive youths in the crowd pressed on with their demand - it was
inappropriate, they chanted, for Obasanjo to visit and be received in a
state he didn't care about when he was president.
With particular reference to Obasanjo's
assertion that he left the country in a better shape than he met it,
his critics countered that Obasanjo indeed left Ekiti in a more
depressing condition than he met it.
To Segun Oni, Ekiti State governor, Obasanjo
delivered a late afternoon sermon. He said: "In governance and in
politics, once you are in position of authority, all the citizens are
your subjects. You must not discriminate against anybody. All must
benefit from your government. Accountability must be your watchword...
You must be transparent, honest and keep your integrity intact. The
economy of the state must receive all the attention it deserves so as
to improve the lot of your people."
It is odd that Obasanjo should prescribe for a
state governor the values that he scorned when he was president.
Obasanjo's government was neither accountable nor was it transparent,
as various committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives
are currently finding out. The ambiguous side of Obasanjo is that he
never lived up to the standards he was prescribing for other leaders.
For eight years, Obasanjo abused the high
office of president. He showed total contempt for the judiciary and
judicial decisions. He intimidated the National Assembly. He bullied
his vice president. He showed utter disregard for university students,
teachers and administrators. He treated labour leaders as a bunch of
rabble rousers. He tormented the executive members of the PDP and he
saw to it that previous chairpersons who criticised him or his
government were cast into political wilderness. If in doubt, ask
Solomon Lar and Audu Ogbeh about Obasanjo's dictatorial grip on PDP
politics.
For eight years, Obasanjo meddled arbitrarily
in state affairs. He encouraged secretly the reign of terror unleashed
by political thugs in Anambra State under the supervision of a
political scamp known as Chris Uba. For the eight years that Obasanjo
was president, the people of Anambra State were held hostage by the
combined force of Obasanjo's mobile police and Chris Uba's political
gangsters. Not only did Obasanjo encourage Chris Uba to wreck Anambra -
Uba's state of origin -- Obasanjo also planned to install Andy Uba as
Anambra governor, against the wishes of voters.
Obasanjo's meddlesomeness did not end in
Anambra. In Oyo State, Obasanjo idolised Lamidi Adedibu, the stormy
petrel of Ibadan politics, who consistently wrestled for political
pre-eminence with the duly elected Governor Ladoja. In Ekiti State,
Obasanjo played his dubious political card as he encouraged Ayo Fayose
and at the same time fanned the opposition that eventually succeeded in
toppling Fayose. That's Obasanjo, the self-proclaimed born-again
politician.
With such an unenviable track record, it is
difficult to understand how Obasanjo could make a hollow claim that he
left the country in a better state than he found it when he took over
national leadership in 1999.
Obasanjo even told Governor Segun Oni of Ekiti
State: "In government and in politics, all the citizens are your
subjects and you should be like God who listens to everybody." How many
people did Obasanjo listen to and how many people did he allow to get
close to him during his eight-year tenure? It's all very good to stand
aside and offer advice for public consumption. Clearly, Obasanjo should
not prescribe what he could not achieve when he was in government. To
do so is to play to the gallery.
When next Obasanjo decides to contest the race
for leadership credibility with Ibrahim Babangida or any of those
discredited dictators, he must reflect on the years he sat wastefully
in his imperious kingdom in Aso Rock and looked down on the nation as
his personal property. Obasanjo and Babangida can continue their public
war of words as to who did more and better for Nigeria. In the court of
public opinion, both of them represent the effigies of failed leaders
who have been consigned to the bin of those who undermined the progress
of the nation. Here are two men to whom so much was given but who
squandered excellent opportunities to transform the country and to make
a difference in the lives of the people.
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Posted by Robot| 21.03.2008 06:10