25 May 2007 |
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Obasanjo's legacy (3) Also see: Obasanjo's Legacy (2) In the first two parts of this on-going commentary on the Obasanjo years, I had raised two posers: I argued, for example, that "General Obasanjo's problems began the moment he made the transition, too early in the day, and too surprisingly, from statesman to politician..." (Friday, May 18). I later asked: "But what happened to the goodwill that the Obasanjo government enjoyed in its early years?" (Sunday, May 20). I had proposed to explore these two affirmations further in pursuit of a detailed critique of the Obasanjo years, but something terrible has now happened in Ibadan, Oyo state, by way of distraction which deserves immediate and urgent attention. Thematically, it presents a useful illustration of an aspect of the Obasanjo years: namely the wilful embrace of impunity by the ruling party, the triumph of thuggery and the flowering of misconduct under the banner of power and influence. This should be taken as an expression of the manner in which too much politics came to define the Obasanjo era. Indeed a key problem with this period is the emphasis on too much politics and the criminal discounting of values, manifest in form of the bloody conscience of the professional political class. General Obasanjo did little to check the spread of impunity. If the political purposes considered useful to the PDP were served he looked the other way, if power was at stake and it would be helpful for him to assert his might as President, he encouraged even the violation of the rule of law. His tenure was therefore marked by the sad spectacle of government, deliberately breaking the law. Rogue elements in society felt encouraged, inspired even, and hence in parts of the country: Ibadan, Odi, Plateau, Warri, Osun, Anambra, they took the law into their hands. These rogues, if they were close to the centre and they were favourites of the President or the ruling party, simply did as they wished and no one called them to order afterwards. The latest case study in this regard was recorded in Ibadan, Oyo state, two days ago, when thugs belonging to the anti-Ladoja, pro-Adedibu, pro-Akala wing of the Oyo state PDP attacked the premises of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo state (BCOS), and unleashed mayhem. There had been problems in Oyo state between the impeached and reinstated Governor Rashidi Ladoja and the Godfather of Oyo state politics, the amala-eating Lamidi Adedibu who is now in the same camp with Ladoja's Deputy now Governor-elect Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala. This power tussle has since been taken over and amplified by a radically divided band of opportunistic Ibadan thugs. In the last elections, Alao-Akala, who has now been classified an enemy by Ladoja, not only won the PDP ticket, he eventually emerged as winner of the Governorship elections in Oyo state. Ladoja has not hidden the fact that he is unhappy about this, in fact his government had probed the few months that Akala spent as Governor. A white paper was issued indicting Alao-Akala for offences ranging from mismanagement of public funds to whatever. In the April elections, Governor Rashidi Ladoja, still a member of the PDP had openly supported the candidate of the rival ANPP, Senator Isiaka Ajimobi who in the fullness of the process, lost to Alao-Akala, the Godfather's candidate. But Ladoja who has now found the fighting side of his spirit so late in the day, was determined to continue the battle on other fronts and so as sitting Governor, he dissolved the local councils and fixed local council elections for Thursday, May 24. The Adedibu/Akala camp saw this as an attempt to set up a local council system for the incoming administration and to push Ladoja's loyalists into the system since in any case, local council elections are conducted by the state Electoral Commission. It is not only in Oyo state that this has led to conflict between an out-going government and loyalists of the in-coming Governor, and there can be no doubt that Ladoja had an ulterior motive. This was also an invitation to crisis. Oyo state politics is dominated by the 70-something year old Adedibu who has repeated ad nauseam that only he is in a position to determine the present and future directions of Oyo state politics. And so he dictates who wins elections, who gets appointed and how government should be run. He is a bold old man, who is used to having his way. Before the April elections, his agents reportedly issued a warning that whoever was planning to vote for any political party or candidate other than the PDP and its candidates should stay away from the polling stations or dare to be stubborn and end up in the cemetery. Adedibu's will not only prevailed, he got his son, his daughter and his wife into elective positions. And he got Alao-Akala elected as Governor. When Ladoja, the sitting Governor proposed to organise local council elections, before the hand-over date of May 29, he was warned to perish the thought. The Adedibu camp also warned the public not to test its patience. Their argument which was the official PDP position was further strengthened when the Chairman of the National Electoral Commission directed that no state government should contemplate holding council elections before May 29, because INEC's voters register for the exercise was not yet ready. What register then did INEC use for the April elections? Two Governors: Joshua Dariye of Plateau and Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo state vowed to defy both INEC and local PDP forces. Ladoja may be a politically damaged Governor but he still wields control over the organs of state. So, on Wednesday, May 23, officials of the state-owned Broadcasting station (BCOS), doing their job as obedient servants, started announcing to the public that "local government elections will be held tomorrow..." These were journalists obeying the directives of the "owner" of the station, but they had stirred the hornets nest. The announcer was still on air when thugs acting according to The Nation, allegedly on "the orders of controversial politician Lamidi Adedibu stormed the station to stop further announcement of the local government election..." the thugs were armed with guns, machetes and other dangerous weapons. They pulled down doors, shot at anything that moved, the female announcer fled the set and lost her headgear as her feet gathered speed. Senior officials hid under tables or the staircase, cars were sprayed with bullets and damaged; then the thugs went to the transmitting station, and destroyed the transmitter. Earlier, thugs had also gone to the offices of the Oyo state Electoral Commission to destroy computers and other machines. Governor Ladoja may have acted out of mischief by insisting on holding the local council elections, but he was perfectly within the bounds of the law. And does this justify the attack on BCOS and the offices of the State Electoral Commission and the madness that has now taken over Oyo state? At BCOS, 20 people were injured, five persons are on danger list in the hospital. Yesterday, in spite of this dress rehearsal at BCOS on Wednesday, the state government and OYSIEC still went ahead and organized the local council elections but they only managed to infuriate the Adedibu group more. PDP thugs took over the entire state, persons were abducted and taken to Adedibu's house at Molete, effectively for the past eight years, the alternate Government House, persons were killed and maimed. In Ibadan, yesterday, the most expensive item in the city was a cutlass! The attack on the Broadcasting station, BCOS, which is now off the air, is perhaps one of the worst cases of media repression in Nigerian history. What Adedibu's thugs launched was a coup against the media and a demonstration of intolerance. Under the military, media houses were fire-bombed, journalists were detained, jailed or murdered, one journalist had his head forcibly shaven on the orders of an angry Governor. Many others had to run into exile, but no single attack on a media establishment was as dramatic as what occurred in Ibadan on Wednesday. When yesterday, the same set of thugs took over the entire city of Ibadan and engaged the state-government in a show-down, they were playing out a familiar script. Of course, the police men in all instances stood aside and allowed the Godfather's thugs to have their way. General Obasanjo did not create the Adedibu phenomenon, but under his watch in the last eight years, the likes of Adedibu and their agents were given every form of encouragement. The first major drama had occurred in Anambra in 2003 and 2004 when thugs working for a self-styled Godfather, the Eastern equivalent of Adedibu sacked the state and destroyed public property. Nothing came out of it, nobody was tried or punished, because the thugs and their sponsor enjoyed Presidential protection and encouragement. Even when the matter is in court as is currently the case in Oyo state, PDP thugs, old and young, do not feel compelled to respect the courts. They do not need to, because even the Federal Government routinely disobeys the courts of law. President Obasanjo's obsession with power and politics has resulted in the last eight years in the creation of mini-tyrants within the PDP and outside of it. The current PDP Chairman, Ahmadu Ali, who is getting some comeuppance with the recent demolition of his houses in Abuja, once overruled a court of law in the Anambra case. One PDP leader is known as "Mr-Fix-It." At all levels of the party there is a royalist perception of power expressed in form of the conviction that the big man can do no wrong. For this power-besotted group, General Obasanjo is Chief Godfather, the father of all Godfathers. When the Adedibu nuisance in Ibadan politics became problematic, the public had expected the President to help clip Adedibu's wings. But what did the President do? He had a public dance with Adedibu. He held his hands and told the whole world that Adedibu is the "garrison commander of Oyo state politics", and that everyone should listen to him. With that high-level endorsement, Adedibu became more ungovernable. He had gone on television to say that he expected Ladoja to give him 15 per cent of the state security vote every month. He tells the people of Oyo state what he wants and he imposes his choice on every voter using thugs and violence. The police have not been able to arrest Adedibu or his agents because their hands are tied too. Yesterday, heinous crime was committed in Oyo state; but no one may be tried for it. As General Obasanjo leaves office in four days, he will be leaving behind a country where impunity has become a preferred style, where thuggery, cheating and the abuse of politics are in vogue. In the last elections, those who snatched ballot papers and rigged elections openly, did so knowing quite well, that this is in conformity with the spirit of the times. In Oyo state, we are beginning to see just how dangerous such a legacy could be. Who knows what the PDP thugs will do next? Don't be surprised if they smoke Ladoja out of Government House before Tuesday.
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