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Obasanjo has grown so unpresidential that one of his abiding characteristics now is to abuse those who disagree with him and those whose intellectual sagacity he cannot withstand.


Monday, December 17, 2001
Laolu Akande
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OBASANJO'S AVOIDABLE SHAME



on't mind the one in Ibadan who chose to name his poor new baby Osama bin Laden. Only if he knew what he was doing. But bother about a lost life in Kano where a poor driver who allegedly drove on a copy of the Quran was murdered, just like that!

And then you hear about those ones at the Osun state house of assembly who took on the battle of the Governor and his deputy as if that was their lawmaking function. Don't worry that the elders who forced the Governor and the deputy together for their own selfish reasons are not talking about the disaster they helped entrench.

Don't worry about those who tried to import religious violence in the name of Islam to Osogbo and Ibadan. Or those who gave Mustapha and Bamaiyi the time and chance to turn their trials before a Lagos High Court Judge into some circus. Nor should you loose a sleep over Sokoto state government Sharia mess that threatens to kill Safiya for adultery, even when the man who did the act allegedly raped her.

Nor shall we worry about the Jigawa and Bayelsa state governors, who spend so much time abroad, that they give Obasanjo's frequent flyer mile status a threat. In their cases, their people and state moved close to declaring them missing on occasions when no one knew where they were. One of them spent over 40 days out of country in a sojourn no one knew about.

What about the National Assembly leaders, speaker and senate president who colluded with Obasanjo to forge, effectively, an Electoral Bill and tell the world it's from the Legislature-a clear game of 'wuruwuru' to stall opposition to Obasanjo's second term ambitions even before he tells the world about it.

Worry less that the dictator, who we thought would retire from his khaki uniform instincts, cannot seem to help himself. He continues to threaten the people whom he cannot even provide simple security, telling them that he would continue to deploy soldiers to quell their protestations of his ignorance and incompetence in handling ethnic conflagrations. Those who still remember should recall that this guy is not a respecter of human beings some of who he regularly shoots at his chicken farm for allegedly stealing his eggs!

Safe Darego Agbani's victory in the Miss World pageant, what news out of Nigeria lately is redeeming?

They say Obasanjo is angry about talks of secession and talks of a Biafra Embassy in Washington DC. Well he can be as angry as he wants to be. Does he know how many people are angry at his disservice as Nigeria's president today and all the bungling that has been going on? Does he know those who are really worried that he lacks a simple understanding of the Nigerian problem and yet has refused to educate himself about proper solutions?

The man sits pretty in Abuja and makes no attempt to support, let alone advocate for serious institutional reforms and continues to take Nigeria as if it were a settled matter that the peoples that composed Nigeria are happy and glad about the ramshackle colonial configuration we call a country?

Obasanjo has grown so unpresidential that one of his abiding characteristics now is to abuse those who disagree with him and those whose intellectual sagacity he cannot withstand. But then remember how he simply dishonored the invitation to a public debate with Falae during the 1999 presidential electioneering campaign. Both candidates were staying at the Hilton and had accepted to attend the NTA debate. When it was time, Falae made to leave for the debate and just checked Obasanjo out in his suite on his way out.

To his chagrin, Obasanjo was spread out comfortably on his bed and told Falae he was not attending any debate. Falae still showed up to face the live cameras and as the whole nation waited Obasanjo was no show.

He says those thinking of secession needs their heads examined. Can you imagine that coming from an elected civilian president? I am happy that ace columnist Rudolf Okonkwo has given an adequate response to that. But let me add that Obasanjo should have had enough presence of mind to figure out that almost all the issues that preceded the civil war of 1967-70 are still unsettled. Whether he likes it or not, we are still a long way removed from a federal system that we lie to the world that we run.

That is the same man leading a federation where some units are threatening to kill a woman who was said to have been raped and leaving the rapist scot-free. They say that is Sharia, the victim should die for adultery but the aggressor cannot be apprehended. All we hear is that this is political Sharia. Not once have we heard the Nigerian federal government say authoritatively that it would do what is needed to assert the woman's fundamental human right to life which is being wantonly threatened by Sokoto state.

Right now, the 4th republic is based on a constitution written by some generals and imposed on the people and if Obasanjo cannot figure out that we need constitutional reforms at the least, he can do well keeping quiet.

Let me make this abundantly clear, I number among those who had wished Obasanjo well and offered to support his administration at the beginning. And I was not alone. I remember when Wole Soyinka told me in New Jersey at Rutgers University in 1999, that what we have in Obasanjo is better that the military. It made a lot of sense then and I really hoped that Obasanjo himself knew this was his second chance.

The last time I spoke with WS in Washington he simply told me we are in serious trouble!

I hate to say this, but I think the time has come when we have to abandon support for this guy and take on our activist garb again and begin to wager against Obasanjo and all his pretenders. We need to try something new if we still hope to see that country transform. And those who can see well ahead are beginning to ask, after Obasanjo what next?

For many, like me, a talk of a second term for Obasanjo does not arise. The man should simply just take his exit as happily as he can in 2003, but should summon a Sovereign National Conference before then. There is still time. And that would enable him a reputable retirement from power. I hope those who said Obasanjo might just do this are proved right. Otherwise what is happening now in Nigeria all over the place and the catastrophe that may follow if he fails to take this right steps would be his shame.

He would have lost the chance to be a statesman in the mould of Mandela.

Obasanjo is acquiring new foes by the day and still he fails to see the handwriting on the wall. He is driving Nigeria towards its last stages of existence, as we know today, if we do not stop him democratically, should he fail to stop himself.