wo days after the coup in Anambra, my e-mail box was jammed and swarmed with letters from across the political divide asking for my opinion. In fact, some of the notes were like in your face castigation of the political happenings in "Your Igbo land." Then I had explained to one of the writers that I do not comment on any subject I do not understand thoroughly. That the abduction of Governor Ngige was the first of its kind. That he should wait because in due course I will have a grasp of what happened and then be able to give my candid opinion. This, now is my candid response.

I remember replying to one of the inquirers' to something to this effect: that: "If it is true that AIG Sylvester Ige had, as had been reported, said that he acted in obedience to orders from Abuja, what else does any one have to know that this is vintage OBJ and his brand of politics." Abuja here meant from his (Ige's) boss Inspector General Tofa Balogun and Tofa's boss, every one knows is, our able OBJ; our able commander in chief of political topsy-turvy and novelties

Ever since, events and subsequent revelations have helped vindicate me. Our leader OBJ and his party, the PDP, have a way of living a life of political turbulence, usually created by him or those he appointed. It is a pity that since 1999 OBJ without let or hindrance has focused his energy more on putting out political fires he deliberately created while the economy of the nation is on a daily slide to the dogs. He has been enmeshed in one controversy after another - each controversy in itself, fit and able to derail a tottering democracy such as ours. The Anambra crises, I must then submit from the onset is the political making of our able commander in chief. If you looked carefully, you will see his finger prints everywhere on it.

The trend is similar for our OBJ. Today, he is manipulating the electoral bill while heaping the blame on his subordinates. The next day, his cronies (mind you, not him) are caught in embarrassing/compromising political situations that thoroughly belie his avowed claim of a God's appointed agent of change and political stability for Nigeria. It could be Odi, Zakibiam, it could be labor crises, it could be the purchase of 900 BMWs, it could be the death of opponents or interest in who becomes the senate president, the way Mr. President has gone about the performance of his duties smacks of total lack of consideration for the feelings of the electorate which he claims to be catering for its collective interests. But the Anambra one is a controversy too many. If not properly handled, it may be the genesis of the fall of his regime and the total collapse of the Nigerian nation which he (OBJ) has spent more than half his life time fighting for its unity.

After the April 2003 questionable but acceptable landslide electoral victories of the People Destructive Party of Nigeria, (PDP) and their representatives across the land, I have come to believe that OBJ was a man with a mission. To be sure, my belief was not anchored on any known facts of electoral decency. Nor was I suddenly sold the dummy that a leopard would suddenly change spots. No. It was based on my understanding of the complex Nigerian situation and the need for a man or woman with an iron clad determination to straighten the floundering nation state. I had believed that now that OBJ had acquired complete and total control, he would settle down to work; to deploy his next four years in office towards the creating of a lasting positive socio economic impact on the Nigerian nation. I was beginning to believe that he was a nationalist to the core. That he could be the one (with all his military attributes and mastery of the Nigerian political landscape,) destined to at least to implement lasting and enduring changes in Nigeria's political landscape. That he could be the one to stabilize Nigeria to enable its competing parts have the much needed road map to stability and progress and reclaim our still vacant position in the ranks of great nations on earth.

However, what I have seen and heard of Obasanjo (both those shrouded in secrecy and those let out in the open) are combining to make me do a rethink. OBJ may not after all be the messiah we are expecting. Instead he has been busy implementing programs, raising troubles here and there that suggest that he is billed to achieve the opposite effect of all genuine expectations. This is definitely is going to be sad for Nigeria.

The coup in Anambra and his reactions or inactions to the fall outs are ready cases in point. If OBJ's finger prints could not be associated with what happened in Anambra as they are usually associated with other political tragedies of recent times, why did he not act swiftly by ordering the arrest and prosecution of the crisis' major dramatis personae? Why did he not with a military fiat (which he is used to) replace Tofa Balogun the IG or subtly ask him to resign? Why has the only victim of this rape on our democracy been the scapegoat, AIG Sylvester Ige? Or has Mr. President not replaced IG Balogun because he does not have the higher moral ground on which to stand to push the man down? Why has he kept quiet to insinuations from some prominent quarters of his administration that the Anambra crisis is a PDP family affair?

What OBJ has not done as is done in other civil societies is to openly wash his hands clean by taking decisive actions that will exculpate him. Instead, like his usual self, he has slothfully cooperated with potential murderers, treasonable felons as is the case in Anambra. No wonder, playwright Soyinka has dubbed OBJ and his party as a nest of killers with OBJ as a collaborating associate. Could his silence in the Anambra drama be attributed to insinuations in many quarters that the coup was hatched and executed with the presidency in know? Is it true that working for OBJ in the presidency is Uba's elder brother? Is it true that in the senate as a newly elected senator before his victory was nullified by an electoral tribunal was Uba's brother? Is it true that married to Stella Obasanjo's younger sister is Uba's brother? With all these revelations, why does any one need to bother himself to look for the sources of Uba's power and his brazen utilization of it in the manipulations of the politics of Anambra state?

What happened in Anambra is a political novel. Nigeria's brand of democracy, too, as any one can see is a political novel. Was it not our able president, General Olusegun Obasanjo that first sold the novelty to the people of the world? Soon after the last (s)elections, some puzzled western media outfits had confronted him to find out his opinion on what happened in Nigeria on 419 (April nineteen 2003). The head of state had explained the brazen moon slide this way: "Nigeria's democracy is different. People, who vote, vote according to the conscience and dictates of their community leaders. The community leader(s) may decide on whom to vote for come Election Day and the rest is history. That is the reason why there were 110 per cent votes for the PDP in most villages, towns, cities and states across the land."

Needless to say, it was after this ingenious explanation that The US and Britain congratulated Mr. President-elect with little or no reservations. Could it not then be reasonable to rationalize that what happened in Anambra should be categorized within the family of Nigeria's political firsts? Why does our able president keep producing political firsts?