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**This article was first published exactly a year ago.
By tomorrow (May 29 2007), all things being equal, Obasanjo will hand over to Umaru Yar’Adua as our next President. That really is the only good news for quite a while now – certainly since the tenure elongation endeavour was mercifully shot down. History, in its own inimitable way, and historians, with time, will pronounce more authoritatively on what was the General Olusegun Obasanjo’s “presidency”. But for me, right now, I’m just too glad to see his back. Please think back to mid 1999 and the hope and expectations we all had then, and you’ll see where I’m going with this. The last eight years has been a hard kick in the teeth. Obasanjo - all on his own – contrived to fail from an almost impossible position. To make anybody become wishful and think anything at all positive about the murderous and lunatic Abacha takes some doing. OBJ managed it.
A thoroughly perfidious mind, abutted by a countrified disposition and a stubbornly masked incompetence conspired to ensure that everything he touched turned to mud. And to imagine he wanted more time to continue pissing on us and calling it rain! He set the tone for his administration very early by promptly sacking his first Auditor General because the chap did his job well and transparently by exposing large scale fraud in the federal establishment, including the presidency. In terms of earnings, Nigeria in its entire history never had it so good. During the early 1970s when General Gowon declared that there was much money about, we certainly saw what he did with it. The nation’s current infrastructures were largely put in place then - especially in Lagos with its impressive network of roads and bridges. (Even Babangida managed to let go of some money and help develop Abuja). But those infrastructures put up then are crumbling and are barely useable. In eight whole years of unprecedented petro-dollar earnings, where are the infrastructures? There are no replacements or improved anything. Continuity my foot!
His management style – if you can call it that – is shambolic and wicked. There was never any attempt to present a superior or convincing argument; the preferred method was to steamroll everything and everyone. He somehow managed to alienate just about everybody. How do you lead well when many of your citizens are not on the same path as you? People are not convinced, and there is no great affection for the leader. It could only lead to a situation where the leader thinks ill of his own people and takes decisions from that perspective. Perhaps he thinks that we are not enlightened enough to know or see what he is doing or trying to do. If we are not, then it is his fault. He did not present clearly to us where he was going – if indeed he was headed anywhere in particular. Like his “war” on corruption, the evidence did not square with his puffed-up sermons. It was under his leadership that bribed federal legislators publicly provided the money with which they were bribed by the executive. No denial whatsoever came from our born again preacher man. Instead, what obtained was the constant resort to manhandling the people and mistaking that for leadership. Even within his own Party, he wasn’t persuasive and effective enough to be able to prevail on individuals and factions within as to why certain personal or group compromises should be made. Again, he resorted to maligning his own people; effortlessly employing his favourite tools: blackmail and intimidation. Recall his diatribe and open threat against the excellent Mimiko in Ondo State. Look at the unseemly way the political opponents of Iyabo Obasanjo were dismantled to ensure her nomination. Crudely, people’s careers and lives were ruined for that singular project. Iyabo obviously could not stand on the combined reputations of herself and her father - even in their home State. As a sitting president, if your own ward remained unconvinced right to the very end and voted overwhelmingly for your daughter’s political opponent, that surely should give you pause for some serious introspection.
Apart from his very poor management style, the blatant disregard for the peoples’ feelings and propriety is just repugnant. The Transcorp shares, and the Presidential Library extortion project whilst in office are just a couple of examples. You don’t necessarily have to break the law; however as a leader, you must know that doing certain things that “sail too close to the edge” leaves a bad taste in the peoples’ mouth. The mere suggestion of inappropriateness ought to be enough disincentive. In addition, possessing an undignified aggressive tendency and unnecessary pettiness; excoriating people and officials in public, Obasanjo cuts the picture of a President whom, if not physically restrained, would take off his agbada and actually engage in fisticuffs. An unrefined President that said tackily, “who born monkey” in a public forum because he was being taken to task to talk more specifically about helping out the desperately dispossessed peoples of the Niger Delta; he also cruelly said to his countrymen, “I am not supposed to be here” as they rightly looked up to him on the back of a monumental human tragedy when the Ikeja Ammunitions Depot exploded. You know you’ve lost the country when you and your officials regularly issue “shoot-on-sight” orders on your own citizens at peacetime.
We are often forced to sleep overnight close to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport because armed robbers and darkness would not let us into town. Where was our Chief Security Officer and what has he done about it? But when Mr Adedibu and his gang want to embark on another barbaric rampage through the streets of Ibadan, State security might is suddenly made available to lend support. Where are the real killers of Chief Bola Ige, Funsho Williams, etc, etc? Chris Uba confessed a crime – rigging of an election - to Obasanjo; OBJ did nothing. Emboldened, he committed treason by the audacious attempt to remove a sitting State governor. The man who swore to uphold the constitution of the land did not move a muscle. In fact, Uba got moved up the hierarchy of the PDP. Andy Uba, taking a cue from his brother, used the President’s official aircraft to illegally smuggle a large amount of dollars into the USA and he too got promoted to the governorship of his State. To put the icing on this malodorous cake, he stood up and gave a ringing public endorsement of Mr Adedibu and his criminally shocking campaign against good and progressive governance in Oyo State. These are the people that work very closely with OBJ, so they know what makes him tick and understand how to get on his favoured side. Perhaps, the State governors and other members of his Party who wanted to dump him after one term in office knew what they were doing after all.
Atiku has stated repeatedly that he recommended the appointments of people like Nuhu Ribadu and El Rufai. He also claimed to have personally put together the current economic team that has performed well in Obasanjo’s second term. I am beginning to believe it. That would explain why OBJ was always in conflict with most of these people on matters of principle and often takes steps to curb their enthusiasm and good work. His preferred types are the Evan Enwerems, Fani-Kayodes, Ehinderos, and Frank Nweke Jnrs of this world. Basically, he surrounded himself with morally depraved and blackmailable misfits. The dizzying rate friends and acquaintances (both old and new) falls out with him is very telling. Are we to assume that all these people are bad and he only is the good person? No one that knows him has a good story to tell. Everyone that has ever had some close association with him came away bruised. Remember General Danjuma? Osoba? Fasawe? Prof Soyinka? The list is very long. Practically everyone fell away disillusioned. Thankfully, at least he eventually dropped the born-again act. The legislative probe of the PTDF scandal and the last elections took care of that.
The man actually said after the recent bastardised elections that “…flawed elections is our culture and we must accept it”. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse!! What an embarrassment. His threshold for logic is lower than a snake’s belly. In a classic case of upside-down but all too familiar warped reasoning, he went on a campaign run in Lagos and told its citizens to blame the underdevelopment of their State on their Governor, Tinubu. Rising from a meeting with some “area boys” and the likes, he claimed the State governor’s refusal to enter into some nebulous partnership arrangement with his federal government is the reason the State hasn’t performed well. Meanwhile the savvy people of Lagos see him still illegally withholding their local governments’ subventions and rightly held him responsible. The message was later reinforced at the polls.
The human memory is very short. It tends to retain only the most significant events occurring during particular time phases. What is Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe remembered for these days? You would be hard-pressed to find many people that remember the very important role he played in the liberation of that country. Today, he is seen as the sorry old man that continues to bankrupt a once vibrant country. And for what do we remember Babangida in Nigeria today? June 12. For Obasanjo; he’s the author of two unspeakably filthy elections. On both occasions the security forces were put on election duties not to help secure the process but to help undermine it. In a clumsy and futile attempt to burnish the 2007 episode, he went on CNN and declared that Nigerians would miss him and his administration. How is that for effrontery! Maybe we should tell him: Whilst we are very disappointed and unhappy about the conduct and manipulation of the last polls, it is 1998/99 all over again. We are not stupid; we are just prepared to have another person – anybody – as President instead of him. Internationally, we are back to being a laughing stock. But for oil, I doubt if the rest of the world would give two hoots about Nigeria. What happened to our petroleum refineries? We’ll miss him indeed!
Oh, he got a few things right; but he got the major ones wrong – always. Through his disingenuous interference and short-sighted way of doing things, he ensured Yar’Adua’s presidency wears the garb of illegitimacy. I don’t know much about Yar’Adua as yet. Perhaps, he is sincere enough. However, I feel that since he was hand-picked by OBJ (the evil non-genius), something must be wrong somewhere. We all know that OBJ – a thoroughly diabolic midwife - only delivers that which is dubious at best. We’ll find out soon enough; though Yar’Adua will not be forgiven if he wimps out and allow OBJ to continue to have any real influence in our lives. Whatever the case may be however, some needed dignity will be restored to the office of the president. At least in Yar’Adua, we’ll get a President that is a gentleman, refined, decorous and less boorish. We’ll get someone who doesn’t have an “area boy” persona, who doesn’t abuse people so much, and who certainly doesn’t talk “anyhow”.
Finally, I do wish him a happy retirement. For a spry man of 72 or so, he deserves one. As regards his stewardship over the last eight years, my own verdict (for whatever it’s worth) is: not good enough. Exit stage left please!
May 28 2007
Dr Michael Egbejumi-David
demdem@hotmail.co.uk
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Posted by Robot| 28.05.2008 17:23