The Nigerian Village Square - Why he needed a third term

Why he needed a third term

Written by Okey Ndibe

Monday, 07 April 2008

Why he needed a third term

By Okey Ndibe

Slightly more than two years ago, I wrote a column titled “Why Obasanjo needs a third term.” Two days ago, a friend who had just reread categorized it prophetic. He told me he had looked again at the column in light of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s evolution into Nigeria’s villain-in-chief.

Prodded by my friend, I too stole a peek at the said column, which was originally published in the Guardian of Thursday, March 2, 2006 and here on NVS. Given that ours is a country in which memory is often weak and fleeting, it seemed to me apt to begin today’s reflections by sharing some of the insights from two years ago.

In the essay’s opening paragraph, I submitted: “It is now no longer a secret that President Olusegun Obasanjo needs a third term, indeed a life term, in office. Despite the disingenuous attempts at obfuscation by aides like Onyema Ugochukwu and Femi Fani-Kayode, the truth is out, and it is rather bald. Obasanjo needs a third term, and he needs it desperately. No sophist, however gifted, can mask the fact that what is now termed third term agenda is real. So the question: Why does the president need to prolong his stay in office?”

Here’s how I began to answer the question I posed: “You could say that Obasanjo’s personal fortunes depend on his securing a new lease on Aso Rock. Anybody with the president’s recent history won’t commit the incaution of loosening his grasp on power. Not if he can help it. Obasanjo can tell, I am sure, that his post-power days will prove tumultuous. Too much is personally at stake for the man. And I stress, personally.”

Once out of office, the former president would “enter and operate in the Nigerian society as Citizen Obasanjo.” He would be “divested of much of the trappings and accoutrements of office, including his awesome army guards. In a word, he’d come down from the Olympian heights of gods inhabited by Nigerian presidents and governors and be compelled, literally, to rub shoulders with mere mortals. That’s a forbidding prospect for a former deity (sorry, president).”

Truth is, most psychologically well-adjusted men and women are able to manage the transition from the zenith of power to the awesome ordinariness of citizenship. But Obasanjo struck me then as a man fitted out with an inflated ego, a sort of megalomaniacal freak. He behaved as if he were a god, nothing less. He came across as that strange being that one of my professors had described as “a self-created man in love with his creator.” Obasanjo mistook his vulgar passions for the public good. It was no puzzle that such a man dreaded the prospect of exiting from power. What’s worse, he had compounded his oversized ego with grave illicit acts during his two-term tenure that was a reign of criminality.

Given his self-created predicament, Obasanjo’s pursuit of a third term agenda made (perverse) sense. As I wrote two years ago, “As soon as Nigerians discover that a god had toppled from the spheres and landed in the dust, trust them to begin to ask questions. And I mean hard, rude, searing questions. Some would demand that the ex-president give full accounting of his stewardship of Nigeria’s oil sector. They’d want to know how much of the revenue earned by their nation in a season of skyrocketing oil prices was duly entered in the books. They’d sniff and snoop, asking if any chunk of their oil wealth had taken on wings and flown away. If anything suspicious were found, they’d demand answers. They’d ask the new god to empanel a commission to investigate where their money went. A man like Obasanjo won't like to stomach this manner of insolence. If his advisors and he can pull off a rape on the constitution, then he won’t ever have to worry. He will retain his address at Aso Rock until death do them part, retaining his seat in the pantheon of gods.”

In pondering our emperor’s claim to indispensability, I stated that “Men possessed of commonsense have the prudence not to question gods. And if godless men like Wole Soyinka breach protocol and dare to ask questions of deities, well, there is already an effective solution, thanks to the sheer sagacity of the president’s ever-faithful amanuensis, Femi Fani-Kayode. A few weeks ago, Mr. Fani-Kayode enunciated the government’s sound policy of not speaking to Soyinka and other atheists. Firmly entrenched as godhead, Obasanjo would be guaranteed at least a four-year deferral on rude questions. Rather than suffer uncouth critics pointing fingers at him or putting his name and corruption in the same sentence, he’d continue to enjoy his monopoly as the one who issues certificates of damnation and wholesomeness.”

Obasanjo, I argued two years ago, “has no wish to be hounded with…irreverent questions. A third term, or more, is the surest way of keeping himself inoculated from such rudeness. Who in his right mind would willfully subject himself to the vulgar questions of an ignorant mob?” As one foresaw it, the questions would cover quite wide ground. “Why, Sir, many Nigerians would ask, were several corrupt governors close to you shielded from exposure and embarrassment? Where, Sir, did all the billions voted to "eradicate" poverty go? After squandering billions of naira on your technical board, tell us what became of that presidential promise of ‘regular, uninterrupted power supply.’ How did your championing of Lamidi Adedibu’s rapacious designs in Oyo advance your vaunted program of social, political and economic reforms?” I predicted that “the questions will come fast and furious.”

Lest anybody accuse me of gloating about possession of prophetic insight, let me quickly confess that I predicted several scenarios that have not come to pass. My column was a mixed bag of good, bad and indifferent “predictions.” I wrote: “The day Obasanjo leaves office, count on some troublesome ‘stake holders’ from Anambra state dragging him to court. They may petition the courts to compel the ex-president to tell all he knows about the hired hoodlums who in late 2004 rampaged through their state, accompanied by hailing police officers, to burn public buildings and cars. Trust many Nigerians to re-open the issue of why a governor’s abductor was not tried for treason, but was instead rewarded with an oil block and elevated to the highest chambers of the president’s party. Trust the few survivors of the Odi massacres to ask their own questions. They may want to know whether it was the ghosts of their slain brethren that had arisen to give the president ninety-six percent of votes cast in Bayelsa state in 2003. I’d be surprised if somebody didn’t dust up the genocide that occurred in Zaki-Biam under the president’s watch. The people of Oyo state may be emboldened to question how police under Obasanjo's control were used to ransack Agodi and to throw out the duly elected governor. The president’s kinsmen, especially Owu kingmakers, may have a thing or two to say about their humiliation at the hands of a fallen god.”

One thing was clear to me two years ago: the third term agenda was driven by a criminal impulse, a desperation on the part of Obasanjo and his closest associates to put a curious, confounded citizenry with lots of questions on mute control. The third term gambit had nothing whatsoever to do with sustaining Obasanjo’s ostensible reforms. My concluding paragraph of that 2006 column bears reproduction here. I wrote: “The president's handlers appear determined to stake everything on an odious quest for a third term (which, if wangled, will be quickly turned into an indefinite term). Why? The president, I suggest, is in no hurry to answer the questions many Nigerians will ask, in parliament as well as in and out of court. He desperately needs an indefinite postponement of reckoning, but Nigerians strike me as equally determined in their pursuit of reckoning. Obasanjo may angle all he wants for a life presidency, but his needs in this regard are at odds with the nation's larger interests.”

Nigerians won the day the National Assembly sentenced the scam of third term to the trashcan where it belonged. Since then, we have come to realize that Obasanjo’s so-called economic reforms were a cloak for his, and his minions’, gluttony, lawlessness, and rank hypocrisy. We now know that, while Obasanjo and his ministers sang us to distraction with the lullaby of due process, they contrived to waive the rules for their friends, fronts and cronies and to transfer billions of dollars of the collective treasury into their private pockets.

Thanks to the vigilance and tenacity of Nigerians, Obasanjo’s efforts to hoodwink the nation into a tragic third term adventure met with woeful failure. With the same vigilance, tenacity and insistence, Nigerians—labor unions, intellectuals, students, peasants, the bulging army of the unemployed, the famished and the rendered-hopeless—must rise now and demand that the former president be put to trial for investing eight years in his nation’s pauperization. If he is found guilty, then he should get a richly deserved second term in jail.

For more on Okey Ndibe, please visit: www.okeyndibe.com

Robot Robot is offline
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	# 1 Why he needed a third term By Okey Ndibe Slightly more than two y...Read the full article. Posted by Robot\| 07.04.2008 13:39

datuouwadaberechi datuouwadaberechi is offline
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	# 2 Bey-ni as d yorubas would say. Posted by datuouwadaberechi\| 07.04.2008 14:51

10Kobo 10Kobo is offline
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	# 3 According to the Nigerian Police, when they come to "arrest" you in your house, its nothing but "an invitation" to explain your own side of the story; that citizens are made to pay for "release" from such invitation is curious and undemocratic. But Obasanjo was our great democratic leader and we thus, must extend the courtesy of democracy to him. Infact, as someone who ensured that we all benefited and had our own fair-share of the "dividends of democracy", its time for Baba Iyabo to also benefit from such a large and kind heart. *Its time to extend this INVITATION to Are-mm* (Chief-uu!), to have a chat with us and show us more love :D And we solemnly promise not to extract any BAIL-MONEY from him, we are more descent than those crooks-in-black uniform! BABA MUST BE MADE TO SING.:mad: 10Kobo Posted by 10Kobo**\| 07.04.2008 16:56

PAPIG PAPIG is offline
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	# 4 From my own little corner and inspite of ongoing vituperation on his person, i strongly believe Olusegun Obasanjo has managed his third term project very well. Simple. He has successfully enthroned his own (i mean OWN) surrogate as president. He single handedly picked Yar'Adua as president of the federal republic of Nigeria. Any talk of defeat of this project is pyrrhic. He has walked away from scandals before and if i remember correctly, we Nigerians have very and i repeat very short memory and the man Obasanjo knows it. That is why he has proclaimed 'i dey kampe'. Posted by PAPIG\| 07.04.2008 17:05

NWANZA NWANZA is offline
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	# 5 =PAPIG;4295002700>From my own little corner and inspite of ongoing vituperation on his person, i strongly believe Olusegun Obasanjo has managed his third term project very well. Simple. He has successfully enthroned his own (i mean OWN) surrogate as president. He single handedly picked Yar'Adua as president of the federal republic of Nigeria. Any talk of defeat of this project is pyrrhic. He has walked away from scandals before and if i remember correctly, we Nigerians have very and i repeat very short memory and the man Obasanjo knows it. That is why he has proclaimed 'i dey kampe'. It is better to have the so called 3rd term through Yar'Adua than for Obasanjo himself in ASO Rock with his kitchen cabinet destroying the country. The North will not allow Yar'Adua to sell out completely to OBJ's agenda. There are people to guide and direct him in this very perilous sail boat called "Nigeria". God almighty, who heard the crying of the people and through his saving grace thwarted the plans of the Cabal. I have renewed my vows with my GOD after saving us from him, and we will glorify his majesty forever and ever. I want to take this opportunity to thank all the wounded fighters that battled and defeated the Obasanjo plot. Atiku Abubakar for sounding the alarms, and fighting for his right to contest the past election. Winning court battles to stop Obasanjo from removing him from office. People like Orji Kalu who refuse to be intimidated by the numerous actions of the Cabal. Ex-Senate President Mr. Ken Nnamani, for using wisdom to defeat it in the senate after all the dirty dealing that went on in broad daylight. After all the monumental bribery that passed through thr corridors of power, common sense ruled. Wole Soyinka and the civil society groups who went overseas to raise the alarm level, and warn our allies. History will be kind to the professor for all the dangers he goes through for the ordinary folks. We will never forget him and Chinua Achebe for denouncing the Cabal. The Justices of the supreme court that made it obvious that our rights are being trampled upon by Obasanjo, and making some key rulings in the process. I SAW A VISION OF ONE BIG MALE LION BEING CHASED AWAY BY A GROUP OF FIVE YOUNG LIONS. IT WAS ROUGH, TOUGH, AND DANGEROUS, BUT THE CABAL WAS CHASED AWAY FROM HIS KINGDOM. HE WILL SOON BE TRUST INTO THE HANDS OF THE WILD HYENAS. Posted by NWANZA\| 07.04.2008 19:53

igwe igwe is offline
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	# 6 Before now, each time Okey wrote about Obj, he was accused of seeing nothing good in the man, some even accused him of working for the man's enemies. Now we know better. From all the mind boggling amounts Obj and his cronies, including many foreigners, are being accused of squandering, one can actually say that Okey was very generous to the man, compared to WS who publicly called him an idoit. Obj will have his day in court, no doubt about that. But as I keep saying, that wouldn't solve much by way of stemming the endemic corruption in our hapless country. Something really radical needs to be done. And such a thing cannot be done by jokers like Mallam Ribadu or the guy who replaced him. When Nigeria begins to fight corruption, Nigerians will know. It has to be something close, but infinitely better and more civil and impartial than what Buhari and Idiagbon did in the mid-eighties. Ka Chineke mezie okwu! Posted by igwe\| 08.04.2008 01:13

Johnmoor Johnmoor is offline
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	# 7 THINGS ARE CHANGING The Evil That Men Do Is Now Living Side-by-Side With Them. A True David Will Be Given The Throne soON! May This Happen While Them and We Are Still Alive!! :cool: Posted by Johnmoor\| 08.04.2008 02:53

ozion ozumba ozion ozumba is offline
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	# 8 OBJ's 8years was a disaster foretold. Thanks ON for reminding us of the worst in us all...greed Posted by ozion ozumba\| 08.04.2008 08:06

MrOneNaija MrOneNaija is offline
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	# 9 CORRUPTION INC: HOW THE OBASANJO CLAN LOOTED AJAOKUTA WITH THE HELP OF INDIAN ROGUES Here is yet another sad chapter in the kleptocratic mission of the Obasanjo clan and their confederates, foreign or local. Ajaokuta: How GINL siphoned N5.52bn — Panel report Written by Luka Binniyat Vanguard Online Monday, 07 April 2008 SHOCKING revelations have emerged after President Umaru Yar’Adua, last week, ordered the termination of the controversial sale of 80 per cent shares of the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL) and the National Mining Iron Ore Company (NIOMCO), Itakpe to an Indian firm, Global Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (GINL), one of them being that GINL has made not less than N5.52 billion from deals relating to ASCL, NIOMCO and Delta Steel Company Limited (DSCL). Yet it has not remitted a kobo as tax or any other statutory payment to the Federal Government, the Magaji Inua panel which nailed them has revealed. The report said the concession agreement signed by the two parties was designed to fail so that the Indians could make money to the detriment of Nigerians. 2 ex-aides to Obasanjo Directors of Delta Steel Vanguard has impeccable evidence which shows that two former aides of former President Olusegun Obasanjo are Directors of the DSCL, valued at N184 billion, but sold to GINL at N3.6 billion ($30 million) 2004. A letter written to the then President Obasanjo by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) on May 22, 2007, signed by Mrs Nenadi Usman, acting Chair of NCP and Minister of Finance at the time, stated on page 4 paragraph 5 that, “in the course of deliberations, some concerns were expressed as to whether a Joint Venture partnership between the BPE and GINL was legal especially that GINL was not making any cash payments to the Federal Government Treasury…” The letter went on to note that, “Your Excellency, it is against this background of doubts raised by some members of the Council as to whether the contemplated transaction (Share Sales Purchase Agreement –– SSPA) falls within the ambit of the powers of the Council that it was resolved that the matter be referred to you for your consideration.” Obasanjo approves deal despite Nenadi's memo Obasanjo approved the demand on the same letter. The approval, which was written in long hand and signed as O. O. on May 23, 2007, reads: “Approved,” but added that, “additional $11.6 million will be provided by the buyer to pay off the staff to sustain industrial peace.” The approval was conveyed to Mrs Nenadi Usman and the Director-General of the BPE, Dr Irene Chigbue, on May 24, 2008 in a letter reference: PRES/87/128 signed by Taiwo Ojo, Special Assistant to the President.His particular post as Special Assistant was not stated. GINL, acquired the two companies and has still not paid a kobo, as the panel found out. As it turned out, the Inua panel came out with a depressing finding that showed, among others, on page 40 article 6 (A) to (E) how GINL defrauded Nigeria through many schemes. Converting the entire sums into Naira shows that GINL has siphoned not less than N5.52 billion of the steel company’s resources as the panel said there was no evidence of any investment in the ASCL and NIOMCO by GINL since their takeover. Deal skewed against FG —Report The panel grimly noted on page 14 (1) of the report that: “The Concession Agreement between the Federal Government and GINL is a document crafted in a desperate hurry, carefully and purposefully skewed against the FGN, with open-ended obligations. “The obligations are impossible to achieve in the absence of built-in milestones in a Time-Scale Strategy. It was, therefore, designed to fail from the beginning: heaping blames and causing unquantifiable losses to the FGN and leaving GINL with monumental economic leverages. The FGN was short-changed by all those thought-out and configured the agreement,” the panel wrote. Vanguard investigation shows that the Concession agreement was written by the then Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Mines and Power, Dr. Grace Eyoma, who was then made the Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser of GINL, Mr. Love K. Sharma, an Indian, who has since been sacked by his company for reasons which would be revealed in subsequent reports. Senator Liyel Imoke, who as Minister of Power and Steel, and a lawyer, vetted the agreement and endorsed it on behalf of the FGN. Vanguard will tomorrow reveal how GINL has taken advantage of the weak concession agreement and dragged the FGN, last week, to a court in London. Already, President Yar’Adua has asked the EFCC to step into the case with a view to prosecuting both Federal Government and GINL officials found culpable for assets stripping. Table showing summary of items and sums removed from Nigeria by GINL in the Last 3 years No Item amount A Details of Statutory obligations outstanding (PAYE, VAT, Royalties etc) N350,6079210.11 B Conversion of Property 1 Sales of Iron Ore from NIOMCO $1,077,545.00 2 Sales of Premium Scraps from ASCL yard N203,371,260.27 3 Receipt from Prestige Inc. Compensation for Spares burnt N340,000,000.00 4 Bank Balance at Takeover N 89,143,718.00 5 NOTAP Approval illegally utilised $ 17,143,718.00 6 Quantity of billets met at ASCL utilised @ 285/tonne $ 79,372.50 7 Rent Received from non-ASCL staff N41.044,450.93 8 Rent from ASCL staff N21,905,750.00 C Spare parts fabricated for DSC valued at… N22,811,784.36 D Losses on sales of Iron Ore Concentrate produced since GINL takeover $14,872,039.00 E Spare parts and Consumables “borrowed” from NIOMCO Not priced Spare parts and Consumables borrowed from ASCL i From stores $596,979.08 ii GIHL stocks procured for ASCL but transferred to DSC $1,738,405.69. Total Naira Components N1,233,464,370 Total US$ Component $35,721,236.79 •Source: From Report of Administrative Panel of Enquiry Into the Operations of ASCL and NIOMCO, Decemeber 2007. Posted by MrOneNaija\| 08.04.2008 10:39

nijalaw nijalaw is offline
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	# 10 BREAKING NEWS!!!!!! OBJ's Wahala is extending to his daughter. Very soon he too will be charged. =Robot;4295002603>Govt charges ex-health ministers, Obasanjo-Bello The Federal Government on Tuesday slammed a 56-count charge against immediate former Minister of Health, Prof. Adenike Grange and her Minister of State, Mr. Gabriel Aduku. Also charged were the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and nine others. The charges, which were filed before an Abuja High Court include conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, forgery to withdraw money from Federal Government's treasury and fraud. Obasanjo-Bello was particularly charged with retention of proceeds of crime and was also said to be at large. The two former ministers resigned their appointments last month, after they were accused of receiving cuts from a deal involving proceeds of a N300 million unspent fund of the ministry for last year. Also accused of taking part of the money was the Senate Committee on Health under the chairmanship of Obasanjo-Bello. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the charges were filed by an official of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), James Binang.. Posted by nijalaw\| 08.04.2008 12:38

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