FEATURE ARTICLE

Leburah GanagoMonday, April 17, 2006
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Atlanta, GA, USA

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MR. OBASANJO, STILL, WE WILL NOT TOLERATE A KAMUZU BANDA IN NIGERIA


"Greed will kill this democracy" -Ikeddy Isiguzo (Vanguard, May 13, 2002).

hen Mr. Isiguzo wrote this caption some four years ago, it looked like a casual remark. But how prophetic it has turned out to be, as President Obasanjo's demonic ambition to become Nigeria's life president and the danger it portends for the continuous existence of the country as one entity become increasingly real by the day! However, the Nigeria democracy Mr. Isiguzo was talking about was dead on arrival in 1999. Perhaps, what is left to be salvaged today is the fragile entity called Nigeria.


By the time a retired General Olusegun Obasanjo staged a second coming to the leadership of Nigeria in 1999, twenty years after he was largely perceived to have voluntarily vacated the seat of power, his return was greeted with high expectations . This is partly because the Nigerian people including the international community were still living with the spell of the con General's false image- that of a super hero, a patriot who had to go to jail and risking possible death, for confronting a Stone Age tyrant who had murdered democracy and turned a whole country into one huge jail house. True, Obasanjo had hypnotized the international community, particularly the West, by becoming one of the few military dictators in African history to have "voluntarily" handed over power to an elected civilian government. That was what we were made to believe then, but the current behaviour of the man tend to reveal something different; Obasanjo may have reluctantly( under pressure) handed over to an elected civilian government in 1979.

The depth of public misreading of Obasanjo's mind in those days is epitomized in the following remarks by the defunct African Guardian magazine:

"A thorough bred soldier, he kept faith when it was time to handover power. He did not stay one day longer and has never looked back at the seat since then. He has wept at what has become of soldiering today and, playing the perfect rearguard master, he has staked everything to hold his country from tipping into abyss. Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, since retirement has developed immense credibility and has nurtured a fine sense of legitimacy and civil order. Like a fine soldier who never speaks with half of his mouth, he recently told the ruling military government that it can NEVER happen, we can't have a Kamuzu Banda here, that we have set certain tradition of civil existence and we are not about to break them" (African Guardian, May 18 1993).

The smart guy himself exploited this pseudo credential to the fullest, in plotting his return to power. Shortly after his release from jail by General Abubakar in 1998, Obasanjo traveled abroad and returned to Nigeria to unabashedly announced that he is the choice of the international community, reads the West, to rule Nigeria, again!

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Another source of hope the Nigerian people had in Obasanjo's second coming was his perceived experience in prison. It was reckoned that having gone to prison and in fact had a brush with death, his experience would humble and harness him for the onerous task of running a battered and fractious multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country like Nigeria

But the Hausa/Fulani conspiracy at the 1998 PDP Jos convention which gave the party's ticket to Obasanjo instead of more credible candidates like former vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme among others, heralded the Obasanjo disaster. Obasanjo was the obvious choice of the Northern power establishment who had to appease the Yorubas over the denial of Bashorun MKO Abiola the presidency in 1993 and his subsequent murder in prison. They thought Obasanjo was the guy they could trust to protect their political interest. However, they must be biting their fingers now, having known the true colour of the man. They had believed that he would hand over to them after four years or at worst, after eight years. One hard lesson here: In politics what you have is only a gentleman agreement; nothing is cast in stone.

Leader of the Advanced Congress of Democracy (ACD) Alhaji Lawal Kaita expressed this sentiment when he recently remarked "Yes, we regret that we allowed Obasanjo a second chance. We would have stopped him then had it been we knew his hidden agenda called third term".( Vanguard, March 26, 2006). Although all sections of the country are now disappointed in Obasanjo for engaging in this dangerous game of hanging on to power, the North is understandably more frustrated with him. Yes, they had the capacity to stop him both in 1999 and in 2003. We were told of how the now persecuted vice President, Abubakar Atiku, rallied the Northern governors behind his boss at the Abuja show of shame called, the 2003 PDP National Convention, when the former threatened to ditch him. Atiku must be the most frustrated politician in Nigeria today. He had probably expected a "well done" pay back from his boss by way of helping to install him as the next president. However, when it comes to Atiku Obasanjo is at his treacherous worst.

The euphoria of a messianic Obasanjo soon evaporated some three if not two years into his reign of first four year's tenure. When it became clear to all that Obasanjo was not the "Messiah" Nigeria needed as his administration continued to drift and awash in monumental corruption and maladministration, the opposition became vibrant and awakened the Nigerian masses to their plight. There were attempts even if half-hearted, at times, by the civil society led by the NLC, Nigeria Labour Congress, to mobilize the people to protest the harsh economic policies of the administration such as the incessant hiking of prices of petroleum products. Opposition figures became trident in denouncing the policy thrust of the PDP administration. And within the ruling party there began to exist rifts that led to decampment of some party stalwarts. A key example is Dr. Marshall Harry, a one time vice Chairman of the party in the South-South, who was later murdered.

As opposition to Obasanjo's reign of terror and treasury looting became intense, the tyrant became increasingly deadly. He became very desperate and ruthless in dealing with real and imaginary opposition and "threat" to his strangle –hold on the country and his diabolical political ambition. The country began to witness an orgy of blood-letting as one political bigwig is murdered after the other.

While the Nigerian government tried to explain away those obvious politically motivated murders as cases of "armed robbery" a common thread runs through those cases- the victims happened to be individuals who are known to have been ( patriotically) opposed to Obasanjo's diabolical plans to become a life president. They include former Attorney general and Minister for Justice, Chief Bola Ige, who reportedly vowed to stop the ruling PDP from stealing election victories in the progressive enclave of the South-West (Yoruba land) before be was brutally murdered at his home, a few days to Christmas in December 2001. Dr. Marshall Harry, the fiery political opposition icon and former vice chairman (South –South) of the PDP who fell out with the ruling party and decamped to the ANPP like Chief Ige , was assassinated in his bedroom in the nation's capital of Abuja in March 2002. The late Dr. Harry had also vowed to stop the PDP's victory run in the South-South, especially in his native Rivers State, where Obasanjo's adopted political son, Dr. Peter Odili hold sway as the state governor.

Then came the turn of Chief A.K. Dikibo , the late Dr. Harry's replacement as the PDP vice Chairman in the South-South. Chief Dikibo was assassinated on his way to a party meeting in Asaba Delta State in February 2003. President Obasanjo did not help matters in making the Dikibo assassination look every bit suspicious as the abrasive dictator in less than 48 hours without any investigation, went on national television and declared the murder an "armed robbery" case. The late Chief Dikibo was said to have insisted on the South-South producing the next president of the country in 2007 and so may not have been favorably disposed to Obasanjo's third term agenda. His principled determination to seek political justice for his people may have posed a threat to the political ambition of some very dubious people, so he had to be crushed out of the way.

Yet, another key opposition figure, former Senate President and vice presidential candidate of the ANPP, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo was tear-gased to death by the Nigeria police in Kano, during a rally organized by the opposition to protest Obasanjo's fraudulent re-election victory in April 2003 .

By the time his first four year tenure was up, it became obvious that he did not deserve a second term. And he was dully advised by well-meaning Nigerians including the Patriots, an organization made up of the cream of Nigerian intelligentsia headed by the late dean of the country's legal practice, Chief Rotimi "the law" Williams, to forget it but Obasanjo stubbornly insisted on running for a second term. He did. In other parts of the world where the peoples vote matter ( it does not matter that there is no perfect democracy anywhere in the world) Obasanjo would have met his waterloo at the polls but he understandably "earned" a landslide victory in a re-election. To be fair to Obasanjo, in recent history, it is hard to point to any incumbent president in the third world who has presided over the conduct of his re-election and lost . How can they lose when the entire treasury of their countries are in their pockets and they are virtually unaccountable to anybody. They also have the entire security apparatus of their countries at their beck and call. They could decide to empty the treasury to bribe the entire chain of command of the electoral commission. And whoever they cannot bribe they send out the security forces to terrorize out of the way or even eliminate, in extreme cases.

Obasanjo employed the twin crude tools of bribery and coercion to snatch the PDP ticket at the National Convention. The local tabloids reported how the convention venue , Eagle Square, Abuja was invaded by (Ghana Must Go) sack bags of both local and foreign currencies. Those who have been bought were reportedly monitored and trailed by agents to ensure that they complied.

How Obasanjo and the PDP candidates –from state Governors to Senators, House of Representatives, Members of Houses of Assembly, Local Government Chairmen, and even Councilors went on to "win" the general elections in 2003has been well documented by local and foreign election monitors- as one of the worst cases of election fraud in history. And for the records, president Obasanjo was so desperate to win in his home state of Ogun that he topped the votes with 600,000 ghost ballots. Again, to be fair to the all-conquering Aremu Obasanjo, he has not made history in election rigging in Nigeria. Recall, in 1983 the ruling NPN (National Party of Nigeria) created a record in election rigging when the votes purportedly cast for the party in Marokko, a Lagos suburb outnumbered the entire population of the area, during that year's general election which returned President Shehu Shagari for a second term.

The African Guardian magazine which wrote that beautiful piece on Obasanjo in 1993 would surely have reversed itself had it been around today. Obasanjo the shameless hypocrite in that write-up said the Nigerian people would not tolerate a Kamuzu Banda (the late Malawian despotic life President ) but today, he is trying to be Kamuzu Banda, Idi Amin , Mobutu Sesseseko and Adolf Hitler, all rolled into one. It is also on record how Obasanjo derided former Head of State Retired General Yakubu Gowon, asking him what he had forgotten at Doddan Barracks' closet ( the seat of power) when the latter indicated his intention to contest for the presidency during Babangida's perfidious transition program in the 1990s.

Obasanjo has since laid out a grand design to perpetuate himself in power and possibly become Nigeria's life president. After rigging his way to power in the 2003 sham election, he then set out to take control of the ruling party, the PDP. A brutal and ruthless dictator, he physically and politically eliminated all perceived and imaginary opposition to his evil plots from the party. He then installed his stooges and ardent loyalists in the party leadership positions. Of special note is the installation of Retired Col. Ahmadu Ali, who brutally quelled the 1978 students demonstrations in which several students were killed, as the party chairman in place of a liberal Chief Audu Ogbeh who was forced to resign at gun point after security forces laid siege in his premises to ensure that he resigned. The new party chairman on assumption of office immediately raised the tempo of the third term campaign, shamelessly arguing that Obasanjo has to continue in office because since he handed over power in 1979 no development has taking place in the country.

After failing to use his ill-fated misnomer of a national conference to achieve the review of the country's constitution to give him a third term, Obasanjo went back to the drawing board, reactivating the National Assembly Constitution Review Committee, headed by his lap dog, in the Senate, Ibrahim Mantu. And in a manipulated so-called national hearing Ibrahim Mantu committed a grand felony by defrauding the Nigerian people amidst protest from well-meaning members of the committee who could not be bought, went ahead to doctor the Nigerian constitution, giving Obasanjo a third term ticket and an a possible blank cheek to a life presidency.

Obasanjo has characteristically employed every dirty trick in the books –intimidation, blackmail (using the EFCC) and bribery and physical elimination of opponents to desperately pursue his third term agenda. While anti-third term campaigners have their gatherings incessantly broken into, brutalized and arrested by security agents pro-third term campaigners have a field day selling their bad good unhindered. Obasanjo himself is reported to have openly danced with a group of pro third term campaigners. Nothing is hidden anymore and there is no pretense about it even as some of his aides miserably attempt to misled the public by saying that since the president has not opened his mouth to say that he will run for a third term no one should allege that. Of course, he has said if the constitution allows that…… And the constitution according to Ibrahim Mantu has already allowed that!

While Obasanjo and his supporters are using the EFCC, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to blackmail and indeed terrorize those who oppose his third term agenda, they are busy looting the national treasury and bribing people to support their unholy project. We are daily fed with stories of financial inducement offered to members of the National Assembly to endorse the amendment of the constitution which would allow Obasanjo to run for a third term. Very recently, a member of the House of Representatives Hon. Wunmi Bewaji who is the leader of the Advance for Democracy, AD, in the House alleged that members of the House were offered $1 million each and oil bloc among others, to support a third term for Obasanjo. We urge Western governments now applauding the phony anti-corruption campaign of the Obasanjo regime to investigate these cases of bribery allegation against the regime. The Ogoni and other oppressed and deprived minority ethnic groups of the oil rich Niger Delta can longer tolerate the plundering of our oil wealth by those who have no drop of oil on their land. To this end, there will be no compromise in our Resource Control battle. No amount of blackmail and military campaigns will deter us. The battle is our lives.

Today, Obasanjo's greed is not only threatening democracy in Nigeria but also under threat is the corporate existence of the country.

Ambassador Andy Young writing in Africa Today magazine of September/October 1995 remarked inter alia:"So Nigeria is a place of great glory and also, at present, a place of great tragedy. But in the midst of all this, it still manages to perform the leadership role on the African continent. It does this not through its government, but through its independent sons and daughters who still assert a strong leadership role in international organizations of every sort". Ambassador Young made those remarks during the hellish days of the General Abacha military dictatorship, but his remarks have become timeless as the situation he described eleven years ago still hold true in Nigeria today.

However, Ambassador Andy Young and other good friends of Nigeria in the West, should equally feel concerned about the present state of affairs in the world's most populous black nation. Incidentally, the man who is now steering the ship of the Nigerian state towards the precipice, President Olusegun Obasanjo, is very close to our big friends of the West. I strongly believe that he would listen to them if they make unambiguous efforts to call him to order. I feel it would be a little dishonest if they continue to look the other way or pretend that all is well with the country while Nigeria burns or tacitly approve of the rape of democracy now going on in Nigeria.

Meantime, I commend the Western media, especially the New York Times, in their determined efforts in highlighting and indeed warning of the imminent threat to the survival of Nigeria. But we urge Western governments to take more proactive steps in prevailing on the reigning bandits in Nigeria to change course and emphatically ask Obasanjo to quit at the end of his second term tenure on May 29, 2007.

On our part, the good people of Nigeria do not have to wait for outside help or the military wing of the present thieves to take over the reigns of power and continue the plundering of the Niger delta oil wealth. If we allow this to happen, we would be guilty of culpable negligence. We need a people's revolution to chase those rogues out of power now and now! A little dithering may be too late to save Nigeria. But if Nigeria must go, to atone for the sea of blood of the various prophets slain, and to save the few alive, so be it. But surely, not on Obasanjo's term.

However, I have a strong conviction that try the much they could, Obasanjo and his band of evil men will not succeed in staying in power beyond 2007. The people's hurricane will blow them away. They can intimidate and blackmail the state governors and other public office holders with Mallam Nuhu Ribadu's EFCC, bribe members of the National Assembly, States Assemblies, murder as many people as they can but they cannot bribe all the masses of the Nigerian people. Neither can they kill everybody.

We must brace up for the task of flushing out Obasanjo and his gang of bandits, in what ever way possible, no matter what it takes. And as we wait for 2007 to launch the battle of all battles to save Nigeria from disintegration , the civil society should start compiling charges against Obasanjo and his gang of bandits. They must face charges in regard to the multiple murders they have committed and the ruthless plundering of the Niger delta oil wealth. Obasanjo and his collaborator in Port Harcourt must in particularly be made to account for the murder of two high profile Rivers State political leaders- Dr. Marshall Harry and Chief A.K. Dikibo. This administration must also account for the murder of Chief Bola Ige.

I feel enough warnings have been issued and dire predictions made concerning Obasanjo's dangerous game of hanging on to power beyond 2007. But whom the gods want to destroy they first make mad. Obasanjo and his gang of bandits against all informed analysis of a disastrous outcome are hell-bent on going ahead with their evil plot of self perpetuation. The man may do himself a favour by looking back at history to see how all those evil souls he is now aspiring to be like ended . This is no wish; it is simply stating the inevitable, the cruel fate of those men awaits him. I understand he has already expressed his desire to die in office, but we, the people of Nigeria roundly reject this offer. He may do his family some good if he listens to sound advice and go home to die ( if he must die) at the end of his second disastrous term.

Mr. Obasanjo let Nigeria be; your own greed must not decree the country out of existence.