FEATURE ARTICLE

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu MmohSunday, January 28, 2018
[email protected]
Jos, Nigeria

THE MANY RESPONSE TO FORMER PRESIDENT OBASANJO'S LETTER


ver since the Nigerian public became aware of a certain letter purportedly written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, the many response to the gesture has not only exposed the fact that Nigerians are a people who had willingly surrendered their time, talent and future to be directed on their behalf by just about anyone but has equally revealed the fact that THE REAL INCOMPETENCE OF LEADERSHIP ORIGINATED FROM THE CITIZENS!

Ordinarily, one expected to have had a situation where the citizens - whose voices do not ever count in the decision-making processes of governance - will rise and rally behind the ex-President just for the sake of even coming out to speak on the people's behalf. If anything went wrong with the country today, I can bet that the likes of Obasanjo, Babangida, Abdulsalami, T.Y. Danjuma and co. would have nothing to really lose.

To say that the Nigerian masses do not know what they truly wanted at every point in time is to have to sound derogatory but realistic. Imagine someone having to remind us about how Obasanjo callously moved for a Third Term Agenda while in office as if to say that that affected the nation in anyway? Come to think of it, among the many past leaders Obasanjo is still rated the best after Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. But at the moment, Nigeria was faced with an annihilator as far as leadership was concerned.

Take the case of Nepotism for instance, what other factor encourages corruption like nepotism? From the moment Mr. President decided to become sectional in his appointments, what has he been able to accomplish? Are the other section of the federation not resorting to sabotage just so they could get his attention? Are the fulani marauders not sabotaging the administrations efforts in the name of grazing; if this government was to be truly adjudged?

And talking about the recent killings, how has that helped this government's image in the eyes of public relations? The sectional appointments, the unrealistic corruption fight, the very shattered economy or the malicious manner in which the IPOB was branded a terrorist gang and proscribed; how has all those enhanced the government's image? Did they tell that the man Buhari 'belonged to nobody or belonged to everybody' as he told the nation during his inauguration speech in 2015?

Divide and rule has continued to be effective in the administration of Nigeria because people's bellies dictated for them instead of their head. And that is why when issues are treated some folks continue to understand the message from the point of what their belly got or did not get. It is unfortunate and, the principal reason why leadership may never become accountable now or in the nearest future. That is one. The second is the timing of ex-President Obasanjo's letter.

Like some folks pointed out, Chief Obasanjo was one of those whose open support for Mr. President got us into this mess. Therefore, to them, the timing of his letter to President Buhari was not more than another giant step of self-interest. I agree with them and thus had questioned the rationale behind writing the letter now. Why did it not come when IPOB was maliciously proscribed? Why did it not come when Nigeria witnessed the wicked massacre of folks from southern Kaduna?

Why did it not come when 1 billion Dollars was withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) in the name of fighting Boko Haram? If those folks had raised these questions, it would have made sense for timing rather than having to question an ex-President for talking on the basis of a long forgotten Third Term Agenda. Letter or no letter, the fact remains that Nigerians have got to wake up to the responsibility of becoming involved in how governance fared instead of playing the idle spectator.

This generation should be ashamed that an ex-President - a man who was not more than 20 years away to his grave - did the talking while they had the luxury to comment for or against him. The 'idle spectator' lifestyle is primarily the reason why we shouted down the likes of Late Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu and the Late Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu respectively when they attempted to expose the sinister plan of the Fulani supremacist in the mid-sixties. This is why I salute ex-President Obasanjo for choosing to differ from the 'idle spectator' mindset.

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