Some are born great,
 some  achieve greatness
and  some have  it  thrust  upon  them
William Shakespeare

I am not qualified to write President Obasanjo’s memoirs, so this piece is not. It’s also not a campaign material.

 I am just an ordinary Nigerian who will like to share with you some of the things that you will not likely read or hear about OBJ since his assumption of office in 1999.

Let me also state clearly that any reference to any part of our recent history is not meant to cast aspersions on any tribe or group in our beloved country; I will appreciate it if I am corrected on the basis of the actual events that took place rather than “what my intentions are”.

It is true that Nigeria is not yet a nation. However, since the advent of democracy in 1999, efforts are being made to ensure that each zone, each ethnic group is properly represented and heard in matters affecting them and the country.

According to Fred Allen “ a celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become known and then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized”

In order to fully unmask OBJ one has to go down memory lane to unearth what was indeed Nigeria, our Nigeria

There was a time in this country that if you do not have a member or two from certain ethnic group/s   on your board of directors, you cannot get anything from the center. Indeed at a point in time failure to toe that line will also deny you the opportunity of accessing business opportunities in your own state! Nigeria was the personal estate of some people and others were mere citizens. The Federal Character Commission was rendered comatose as quotas were filled indiscriminately and with impunity. Indeed that is changing now and you don’t have to court the friendship of any tribe to get things done in Nigeria.

Today I challenge anyone to claim that he/she needs to know a Yoruba man before he/she can be patronized at the center.  This they will not tell you about OBJ and this administration.

Secondly, leading lights of   this administration – Prof.Soludo, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Oby Ezekwesili, Nasir El-Rufai, Dora Akunliyi, Adamu Bello (Minister for Agric) – and so many others are not from OBJ’s ethnic group.

We are yet to be told by any of these brilliant administrators that they are proxies or being remotely controlled by OBJ’s kinsmen.  This they will not tell you about OBJ.

Thirdly and thanks to the establishment of the six geo-political zones prior to 1999 the idea of majority and minority is dead.  Every group now has equal opportunity to be heard.  The increase in the derivation amount, the establishment of NDDC and other measures were aimed towards ensuring equal opportunities for growth especially for those regions which were abandoned before 1999.

There was a time when people from the south south   had less than 30minutes(my estimate) a week on Radio Nigeria. In fact, infrastructure including radio and television were largely concentrated in the southwest and the northern regions.

Today all of that has changed.  Thanks to OBJ and democracy (50/50).

Fourthly, I thank God that President Obasanjo is in the saddle at this point in our national life.

If the president has never been a soldier, he would have been hounded out of office, as was the case with Alhaji Sheu Shagari. I sometimes wonder if it was not a mistake to have sacked the government of Alhaji Shagari the way it was done! The subsequent governments have not only been worse than his regime, the nation was denied the opportunity of nurturing a democratic culture.
We have had this vicious cycle of criticize any government in power, cause trouble, coup, then and new leaders.

 History has shown that what we have had over the years is the replacement of one set of leaders by others without any positive change in our economy, infrastructure, the lives of the people or national cohesion. It may interest you to note that apart from Abuja a large proportion of the infrastructure and economic landmarks that are available in the country before 1999 were either established during the rule of Gowon, Muritala or Shagari.

The country became rotten a long time ago! 

The press, the people indeed everybody shouted that Shagari was bad. 

 Tribune, Punch, and our “activists” did not give the man any breathing space. We were looking at Shagari and not at democracy and we, Nigerians killed democracy in 1983.

It is amazing that even those convicted by the succeeding administration were appointed as ministers while Alhaji Sheu Shagari is yet to be pronounced guilty of any offence

We were very glad to welcome Buhari\Idiagbon only to pursue them, pressurized them, attacked them in the press as too hard, “they don’t laugh”, “they frown too much” etc.

So IBB came and everyone welcomed him. With his smiles, Nigerians said, "our messiah has come" " a man we can do business with has come". And indeed dirty businesses and dirty monies flourished.  That was the time when only about 20% of the money in circulation passed through the banking system.

My people’s verdict on IBB is now history.

Personally I have come to the conclusion that Nigerians, as represented in the public media don’t know what they want. And the only leader that is acceptable to them is the one that will make them live all the negative things in their minds and hearts. In a way the people love lawlessness and will chase away any leader especially one that encourages them to thread the path of honor, integrity etc.  Chasing away our leaders has, unfortunately become a habit.  I concur however, that anyone who has served his term must leave, but in this dispensation, the constitution allows for amendments that can lead to elongation.  Isn’t it time we changed the ground rules first.  Fortunately for the pro-third term campaigners that is too late now as opposition went to sleep over such serious matters and were contented with attacking the person of OBJ.  Curiously they did not even attempt to attack his programs!

Contrary to  popular  opinion,  the  constitution is  not  being  manipulated,  the  ruling party is  simply invoking  the  section  that  provides  for  amendment

I will not be surprised if in 2008 the people singing anti-third term today change their tunes 360degrees.

Lastly, I often wondered why a 70year old man would want to continue to rule this complex country called Nigeria.  I dismissed such reasons as ego, lust for power, greed etc.  This is because OBJ had become an Institution and a respectable world acclaimed statesman long before 1999.

If one is to apply Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs one will discover that OBJ, whether you like it or not had even attained the highest, which is self-actualization long before 1999.

I have come to the conclusion that he must have set for himself some super ordinate goals that he is pursuing. From  his  performance so  far, the  atttainment of  these goals  will be to the  benefit  of  Nigeria and Nigerians.

However, our  “normal expectations” from and our  “normal reactions” to those in power will not make us see and appreciate the re-engineering process that is going on in Nigeria.

That he is not frustrated yet, in spite of the daily abuses and curses also shows that he is a strong willed and determined leader.  I respect his courage.

•   How many of our past leaders have exhibited so much courage?
•   What is the level of effectiveness and relevance of the traditional power blocs?
•  Do the buying and selling of paper money, 419 proceeds, proceeds from drugs, irregularities in exchange controls and international trade, multiple payments on contracts not executed, characterize this economy?
• What are the benefits arising from the establishment of due process?
• What manner of treatment is now meted to Nigerians in overseas countries?
• Is there any multiplier effect of economic policies on the ordinary people?  Is the level of achievement acceptable?
• In what ways have the activities of local and state governments affected the welfare of our people.
• Is anyone paying attention at all to governance and resource management at these levels? Or is attention mainly focused on the federal government?
• Does the federal government have any right to ensure judicious use of resources at the state and local government levels?  Or are these levels of government not essential in our economic calculus?
• Is it possible for the progressives to  “capture” power at the grassroots level to showcase or live their dreams thereby making available for our benefit the model that they desire?
• Are the progressives represented only on the pages of newspapers and television stations? Do they have structures nationally?

Let us ponder over these issues and more as raised by others and leave the comfort zone of PHD (pull him down) for once.

I am not saying that this administration is without faults.  No. They are human and so cannot be perfect.

 But going by our history if we do not start to think outside the box our country may never develop.  According to Albert Einstein the level of reasoning that is required at the problem solving stage should be higher than that at the level of creating the problems. 

Let me leave you with the words of Horace Walpole, 4^th Earl of Oxford  “they who cannot perform great things themselves may yet have a satisfaction in doing justice to those who can”

Thanks for having read this article but before you shout  “sycophant” pause and think.

Taslim Anibaba (FCA) 1st May 2006

Comments are welcome and can be forwarded to tanibaba@yahoo.com or tanibaba@nigeriavillagesquare.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 Some are born great,some achi...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 30.04.2006 22:20

Crapola

# 2 As they say in New York, this is another sh.tload of craps! Posted by Crapola| 30.04.2006 22:49

New Thinking

# 3 Mr. Anibaba, You wrote: _________________________________________________________________________ But going by our history if we do not start to think outside the box our country may never develop. According to Albert Einstein the level of reasoning that is required at the problem solving stage should be higher than that at the level of creating the problems. ________________________________________________________________ Thinking outside the box (box) OBJ's coffin, what happens if he dies? Surely at 70 he must need sometimes think of the grave. My senior pastor at 62 just died in the USA where things are bettter. What would he say to his maker; that in order to help, he was bribing (through agents- of course!) everyone to extend his tenure because he was the best? By IQ, antecedents, acts of bravery or schemes, OBJ is not and cannot be First Among Equals. By his military record, you cannot substantiate that he was or is the best General Nigeria ever had. He even got to his position be the deliberate ochestration of others. The only reason for his acclaim internationally was not his achievements, political or economic, but what he did not do; ie. hang unto power when it was fashionable to do so. Some military sources claim that he handed over because it was "Not His Will" to rule in the first place. His C-in-C Murtala Mohammed, of blessed memory, was the main initiator of all that we call his legacy of 1979. His other co-laborers as we all know were: Danjuma and Yar 'Adua. For guts, planning and strategy, you must give credit where credit is due. The so-called recent army purge or balance was achieved by - you know who - who was used and dumped, royally. We await his memoires Now, I have always supported OBJ among all the rogues that have pillaged our country and may still support him if he prepares his handover notes, looks among his kitchen cabinet for a successor and leaves the stage now instead of being taken out in ignominy. Murtala whom he adores is a hero today not for the things he physically achieved but for the direction everyone percieved clearly and without equivocation that he was leading to. MM hurt a lot of families whose bread winners were weeded out of the civil service, but the pain was tolerable and tolerated because people saw purpose and selflessness as a national ethic being espoused across the board. Can we say the same of the anti-curruption fight? Why has Uba not been tried on his confession made public by the President? If OBJ was a loyal deputy to MM, he should have learned that to take the moral high road to cleanse Nigeria, you must be seen to be fair to all. Even if misunderstood, OBJ and his goons do not help their case by shouting down at the people they were meant to be serving. Surely using the SSS to shut down private meetings whether in hotels or Abia is not democracy. I still think OBJ better than most, but right is right. Posted by New Thinking| 30.04.2006 23:31

Abraxas  Villager

# 4 Hi, folks! It is glaring that the Megalomaniac of Aso Rock Villa, Asokoro, Abuja, is getting gittery and pretty desperate! Please save yourselves the havoc of having to go through this massive drivel of freeze-dried cow dung, generously laced with pure gibberish and smoking hot horse radish from a well-known, incorrigible, die-hard, intransigent, super-hard-core OBJ arsehole hair-licking, and official Aso Rock Villa-assisted praise-singing sycophant, Mr. Taslim Anibaba (FCA). I believe NOW is the right time to appeal to our good friend, Mr. Taslim Anibaba (FCA) to please quickly take a cue from his “paddy man” and co-Aso Rocker, Mr. Paul Adujie (Esq. /IT Professional), and quietly proceed on a long over-due 100-month (minimum) self-exile in the Bahamas, or Southern Chile, of Falkland Islands, or Fernando Po, or even the Bermuda Triangle, for his own good, and for the general sanity of the Nigerian Village Square! For the records, below is a quick summary of some of the very obvious hard-boiled lies that Mr. Taslim Anibaba (FCA) told himself in this piece. Please endure the pain of having to read them: 1. Since the advent of democracy in 1999, efforts are being made to ensure that each geopolitical zone, each ethnic group is properly represented and heard in matters affecting them and the country. 2. I challenge anyone to claim that he or she needs to know a Yoruba man before he or she can be patronised at Abuja. 3. The idea of majority and minority is dead. Every group now has equal opportunity to be heard. The increase in the derivation amount, the establishment of NDDC and other measures were aimed towards ensuring equal opportunities for growth especially for those regions which were abandoned before 1999. 4. If the president has never been a soldier, he would have been hounded out of office, as was the case with Alhaji Shehu Shagari. 5. In this dispensation, the constitution allows for amendments that can lead to elongation. 6. Contrary to popular opinion, the constitution is not being manipulated; the ruling party is simply invoking the section that provides for amendment. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Muchas gracias. Posted by Abraxas| 01.05.2006 02:31

gwobezentashi  Villager

# 5 There was a time in this country that if you do not have a member or two from certain ethnic group/s on your board of directors, you cannot get anything from the center. Indeed at a point in time failure to toe that line will also deny you the opportunity of accessing business opportunities in your own state! Nigeria was the personal estate of some people and others were mere citizens. The Federal Character Commission was rendered comatose as quotas were filled indiscriminately and with impunity. Indeed that is changing now and you don’t have to court the friendship of any tribe to get things done in Nigeria. For his professional qualifications which this author has generously appended to his name, one can only believe that the racism behind such fatuous statements must be deeply ingrained in his psyche and that no amount of exposure to reality or rationale thoughts and processes can erase such ingrained irredentism. Statements such as the above helped in no small measure to undermine the June 12 struggle which the vast majority of Nigerians saw as a democratic struggle while a group of yoruba irredentists perhaps including this author saw as a struggle for Oduduwa emancipation. By so doing Mr Anibaba's friends and co travellers disenfranchised the other nationalities who had rallied to the democratic cause that was June 12. He again confronts us with this duplicity and does his 3rd term cause a great disservice by parrotting this OPC propaganda. Governance in Nigeria has always reflected the parochialism of the vested interests that support that government and this government is no different. There is no denying that today Obasanjo favours his own and his friends when it suits him. Due process is only a slogan that is mouthed when it suits the government and discarded when it doesn't. Even laws of the land and Court judgements are ignored talk less of due process. Corruption has not retreated in Nigeria, transparency has not been enthroned in government business or of their ruling PDP. Reasonable questions are answered by obfuscation and outright falsehoods - "elongation of tenure is not on the cards for now". Can you see the pigs flying past? "The humility of that great President is evident in his admission that other Americans can do the job as well, if not better, than himself. He did not insult his fellow countrymen by assuming that he is the only one with the solutions to his country’s problems. Truman also left two major unfinished projects as president of “God’s own country”. He left an unfinished war in Korea and his uncompleted economic agenda. So the notion of God not being a “God of abandoned projects” is just the sort of self-serving doctrine which have belittled Obasanjo as president. The Nigerian president is simply incapable of thinking of a great idea from which he does not benefit personally. And self-centredness has been a personal trait right from the first time he was dragged reluctantly from Chief S.B. Bakare’s house to become head of state in 1976. When his boss, Murtala Mohammed, was assassinated, he ran from the scene of the slaughter, not to organise repulsion, but to hide until Danjuma, Babangida and Akinrinade, who was then GOC of 1st Division in Kaduna, mounted the counter attack. While others stood resolutely and risked their lives, the beneficiary of their bravery thought only of his own safety; not even Nigeria’s own. Right now, he does not seem to care if the country goes up in flames; as long as he secures the third term. Well, if that happens, I hope he will not run away again as he did on Friday, February 13, 1976. While Truman respected his fellow countrymen, Obasanjo has an unhealthy disdain for his own. And he has surrounded himself with people who enjoy being insulted. Unfortunately for him, the vast majority of intelligent Nigerians resent being treated like *****s. Colonel Ali, might want to respond to orders from above in zombie fashion but there are millions of Nigerians like me who won’t have it. We insist that the president is our servant, not our master. He will go home when we want him to and not when it pleases him. And as far as we are concerned, his time to go home is May 2007 or before." DELE SHOBOWALE VANGUARD 30/04/2006 Bottom line is that this government has not delivered for the vast majority of Nigerians else 85% of us cannot be wrong of what we see in front of us-A monster who is trying to impose himself on us but who does not know that the battle is already lost. No matter what he says or does, we do not want to be lead by him no more. If he goes today, we will rejoice but we will tolerate him until 29 May 2007. After this date, he will be unwelcome in power and Mr Anibaba and his friends can sing all the praises they wish and they are welcome to have him for their virtual paradise island well away from Nigeria where he can continue to perform his "wonders" exclusively for them. If Obasanjo has done Nigeria one favour, it is in showing us a type of leader we could do without. For us, it will be good riddance to bad rubbish. Aluta! Gwobezentashi Posted by gwobezentashi| 01.05.2006 06:03

oluye  Villager

# 6 Personally, I am contented with Obasanjo's presidency. I hear you shout in disbelief! I am contented because it would have been wicked for anyone to expect more. I am glad that we can actually point out individuals that have performed well- and they all happen to be at the Federal level. Granted, anyone who gets involved with a task and begins to unravel the pieces and get a hang of the game will be pained if he must abandon it all. I think this is Obasanjo's present position. A bit of authocracy is good. A good autocrat is a blessing. Democracy assumes that the larger majority are informed and positively oriented. Until a time when the larger majority actually begin to appreciate order and respect good performance, it may be necessary to have a mild autocrat in place. Is bush a democrat or an autocrat? Did he invade Iraq on constitutionally sound grounds? Was chairman Mao, who closed China's doors until they regained their vision a democrat? If you are asked to lead a group of spoil children, do you tell them "let us vote to determine what we should eat?" Of course they will not ask for what will do them good! I believe in several forms of governance, each only works under certain assumptions. For this reason, transition from autocracy to democracy takes time and demands a stable but focused government. Really, I don't care who is there, but I see a lot of potentials in Nigeria presently and I feel for our collective good we should all tame our greed for the goodies at the centre and allow those who seem to be figuring it out to do more work. I know some people will want to crucify me for this but if it took Obasanjo seven years to start unravelling things, it will take his replacement another six years or so to learn on the job unless things things become standardized in every area of governance. Has it ever occured to you anti third term agents that it is fear of the unknown, of rebound of the darkness that is at the root of the third term agenda? Posted by oluye| 01.05.2006 06:51

chocho  Villager

# 7 Gwobe, call it racism or whatever name you chose to call it. Yes, there was a time in Nigeria that you had to have a northerner on your board of directors.A vivid example was my father's company, which had to invite Alhaji Ibrahim Damcida(a very decent man) before it was able to get a contract that it was in the best position to carry out. Abraxas......you have resorted to your puerile name calling again...It is tiresome and assinine. Posted by chocho| 01.05.2006 07:29

salstep  Villager

# 8 Just wasted another 5mins of my life reading this rubbish. This forum have now become the favourite of OBJ and Atiku paid agents. Posted by salstep| 01.05.2006 07:40

Alabi

# 9 "Gwobe, call it racism or whatever name you chose to call it. Yes, there was a time in Nigeria that you had to have a northerner on your board of directors.A vivid example was my father's company, which had to invite Alhaji Ibrahim Damcida(a very decent man) before it was able to get a contract that it was in the best position to carry out." Thank you Chocho for this comment. That guy Gwobe.... has vindicated those who accused him of championing Northern hegemony on this site. The guy is always gettng paranoid over every comment concerning the North and this to the extent of branding every comment as racism. And it does not matter if such comment is the plain truth. In this article, the writer merely referred us to those sad days in our nation when all you needed to advance your career, get import licence or a Fed govt contract was a Hausa/Fulani origin. It was worse in the military where no one could be assigned a sensitive command position unless he was from the core North. All these things happened from the end of the war till 1999 when Obasanjo assumed office and changed the status quo. Even a 10 year old Nigerian could still remember all these sad events. So, what was the racism in the article? And his habit quotating every disgruntled element is becoming irritating. Imagine the guy quoting Dele Shobowale (of all people)! Here was a journalist who (along with some others) since failing to secure govt patronage under the new dispensation in 1999 has been waging a war of attrition against Obj. Whereas, everyone cannot be in govt! In fact, what Dele wrote about Obj and the coup of 1976 was absolute nonsense! And even though he was never a military man, Dele knew better than that nonsense because he has been around those who knew the truth for such a long time to know better. He was only trying to be mischievous. But as for Gwobe... who quoted him so gleefully, I would endeavor to educate him here. Whenever there was a coup, the first act of defence by the loyal troops was to protect the arrow-heads of govt---except if they were really caught hands down as it happened against the Buhari govt. The principle behind this strategy was that once the major arrow-heads of govt were protected, the plotters would be demoralized while most neutral commanders would be wary of lending support to them. To this end, the Head of State, his Deputy and other core members of the SMC must be evacuated or restricted to different safe places until everything was brought under control. That was precisely why Obj was persuaded to go stay in a neutral location such as Chief S.B. Bakare's house in Feb 1976. The same thing happened to Danjuma who was persuaded to remain stuck in his office because he was already in the office that morning. These also were the precautions that IBB was made to take (even against his will) upon the Orkar's coup. At that same time of Orkar's coup, Abacha was kept in his official house which was immediately fortified by heavily armed soldiers. Call them names out of political brouhaha but when it comes to military matters, it runs against common sense to brand these men cowards. For heaven's sake, Obj voluntered for the front and fought as head of a division. And IBB and Abacha did not only fight in the war but also are (were) known for their valor. Posted by Alabi| 01.05.2006 08:15

gwobezentashi  Villager

# 10 @ Chocho, I find your statement very pregnant indeed. Why did you choose Damcida and not just anybody from the North if all you wanted on your board was a Northerner? The fact is that the person you chose had access to power not because he was a Northerner but because he "knew" the people who ran the junta? We continue to confuse issues and we need to be very careful what we are saying here. Today if Carl Masters or Andrew Young were on your board, do you not expect to gain access to the top echelons of power in Nigeria? Is it not instructive that Ispat found Gbenga Obasanjo useful in consumating business in Nigeria? Would that be because he was Yoruba, or No silly me, it was because he was smart, abi? Did Abiola need a Northerner on his board, did Arisekola, Adedibu, Adenuga and so many other people who have obtained work from the FG over the years? The fact is that a lot of businesses constitute their boards to give it a "national feel" to impress potential sundry stakeholders that they are a "national" business with "national" aspirations. Under the military regimes, some of the potential stakeholders would be state governments as well not just the FG. The question that you threw up but did not answer, was why did Damcida agree to come on your board? Was it because he was just a Northern rent seeker or because he had something of value to contribute to your business? Were you the only people that approached him and why did he not accept to sit on every board that he was asked? Let us also be clear, it is not just me calling what you and this author are doing as racism, that is what it is and you all ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Aluta! Gwobezentashi Posted by gwobezentashi| 01.05.2006 09:32

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