As the letter writer from Ibogu continues to ‘watch and prey’ on us
Finally, the long awaited letter from the perennial letter-writer has arrived, and it was all we expected. In his blunt style, Obasanjo scored Buhari’s administration very low urging him to honourably “dismount from the horse” to join the league of the country’s former leaders whose “experience, influence, wisdom and outreach can be deployed on the sideline for the good of the country.” Specifically, Mr Obasanjo mention three areas where he thought Mr Buhari’s weaknesses have been more glaring. First is “nepotic deployment bordering on clannishness and inability to bring discipline to bear on errant members of his nepotic court.” “The second is his poor understanding of the dynamics of internal politics and the third is passing the buck…” He therefore urged Buhari to “step down at the end of his first term with honour and dignity and attend to his health and should not listen to his ‘self-serving so-called advisers who would claim that they love him more than God loves him.”
Obasanjo has always likened himself to Ezekiel in the scriptures, “…a man who has been destined with the watch, with the vigilance, with the responsibility to his people to speak up and speak out.” And who, during that watch, has no sleep and no respite. Therefore since leaving office as military Head of State in 1979, Obasanjo has taken it as his duty to write and criticise virtually all the Heads of States and Presidents that have governed this country bar himself.
One particular failure however, in his performance of his watchman role, according to Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, is that Obasanjo not only watches, but also preys on others’ achievements, names, characters, motivations, and true lives. He preys on gossip and preys on facts, preys on contributions to collective undertakings…even preys on their identities, substituting his own where possible.
Well, I’m not here to write on the quarrel between Obasanjo and his kinsman, Wole Soyinka that has been raging for decades and which many of their mutual friends, kinsmen and acquaintances have tried unsuccessfully to mediate. My particular concern is Obasanjo’s role in the ascension to power of most of the leaders he had been criticising and his infantile attempt to deny responsibility or any wrong doing in helping them to power. Those conversant with Nigerian history know to what role Obasanjo played in frustrating the presidential ambition of Obafemi Awolowo. Well, Obasanjo started his letter-writing career with the winner of that election – Shehu Shagari.
We were all witnesses to how Obasanjo drafted a terminally ill and unwilling Yar’adua, out of so many healthy, urbane and competent governors, ministers and aides, to run for president even when it was clear to discerning minds that Yar’adua was medically unfit to run for the office. It even showed during the campaigns when he was evacuated to Germany for treatment and Obasanjo had to take over the campaign himself. We saw the outcome of Obasanjo’s choice. The country was almost torn apart by the crisis of the ill health of Yar’adua. But the wily old man still refused to accept any responsibility for his choice arguing that Yar’adua presented him a medical report which certified that he was healthy and fit to run for president. But what happened to Obasanjo’s eyes? Even I could clearly see the man was sick!
What about the emergence of Goodluck Jonathan as Yar’adua’s deputy and later acting president, president, and elected president? All bore Obasanjo’s imprimatur. But while accepting the praises for these, he equally failed to accept blame for choosing someone with a weak moral fibre and without leadership exposure to govern a complex country like Nigeria.
But those with insider knowledge, like his minister of the FCT, Nasir el Rufai, affirm that Obasanjo particularly chose a terminally ill Yar’adua and a docile and loyal Goodluck Jonathan because he hoped to continue to govern from Oke Mosan in Abeokuta.
Equally, Obasanjo described General Mohammadu Buhari in his memoires, My Watch, as not being sound on matters of the economy. However, he was one of the cheerleaders of Buhari’s election in 2015. Justifying his endorsement of candidate Buhari, Obasanjo surmised: “He’s smart enough. He’s educated enough. He’s experienced enough. Why shouldn’t I support him?”
But in his recent letter to Buhari, he brought up the issue again, this time justifying his endorsement on the need to get Jonathan out of government at any cost. He also said he thought Mr Buhari would appoint qualified Nigerians to help out in other areas especially the economy. Of course this is just puerile justifications, but even if we take it as face value, it means Obasanjo is quite naive about the nature of politics and how power is exercised in Nigeria. But we know how smart Obasanjo is.
Truth is, Obasanjo has been complicit in the misgovernance of Nigeria since 1979 but much more explicitly since 2007. If all the candidates he has supported for the Nigerian presidency failed woefully, why is he again offering to lead a movement or Coalition for Nigeria to salvage a redeem our country? What assurance is he giving us that the person he will support for the presidency in 2019 will not be a failure like the others?
Obasanjo and his gang have deceived Nigerians for a long time and they are particularly determined to continue that deception into 2019. He has been masquerading as a watchman to advance personal, selfish and elite interest and mediate their contestation for power. It will be unfortunate if Nigerians, particularly the youth, allow themselves to be deceived yet again by this true but self-serving letter. The mercurial General need to take his own advice and retire to a life of peaceful and splendid life on the farm and allow the youth to chart a new future for themselves in 2019.
Christopher Akor