By Chido Onumah
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Goodluck
Jonathan (left) and Olusegun Obasanjo
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Olusegun Obasanjo’s damning
letter to President Goodluck Jonathan must rank as the most narcissistic (and
the narcissism of our rulers is legendary) action of any Nigerian ruler in
recent times.
In the 18-page diatribe,
Obasanjo took President Jonathan to task for his handling of corruption,
insecurity, and the crisis in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) among
other issues.
Like most Nigerians,
the former president expressed deep concern about the tragic consequences of
the current crisis. Unlike most Nigerians, however, Obasanjo has had two
glorious opportunities to help turn around the fortune of Nigeria and he
squandered both. Of course, it is easy to say we should focus on the message
rather than the messenger. But this is one instance in which the messenger
can’t be divorced from the message.
Obasanjo’s letter
dated December 2, 2013, and titled, “Before it is too late” had all the
telltale signs of a deeply troubled man. Rather than writing this particular letter,
Obasanjo should have committed hara-kiri for his many crimes
against Nigeria and Nigerians.
It was bad enough
that his eight years as president were a tragedy; to have imposed Umaru
Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan on the nation as a farewell gift is
unpardonable. Perhaps, it was payback for the trenchant opposition to his third
term agenda.
In his warped
thinking, Obasanjo must have reasoned that his only option was to foist on
Nigerians the very worst amongst us; people so inept and incapable that after a
while we’ll be hankering after Obasanjo. Looking back now, that theory has
worked well as Nigerians now look with nostalgia at the Obasanjo era.
All the things Obasanjo
said about President Jonathan and his administration may be true. But we can
say the same and even more about the two Obasanjo’s administrations, 1976-1979
and 1999-2007. Obasanjo seems to have forgotten too soon his squabble with his
deputy, Atiku Abubakar, that made nonsense of governance, the political
assassinations (including that of Bola Ige, his attorney general and minister
of justice) during his macabre rule, the massacres in Odi and Zaki Biam. The
less said about corruption (who could forget the wholesale pillage of our
patrimony in the name of privatization) the better. Obasanjo laid the
foundation on which President Jonathan is building and consolidating. He is acting
out the PDP playbook.
Obasanjo’s latest
intervention is no doubt anchored on the politics of 2015. In his messianic
posturing, he feels he has a divine right to determine or at least have a say
on who emerges as president in the 2015 election, an election that may sound
the death knell of Nigeria if we go by the postulations of Mujahid
Dokubo-Asari, Junaid Mohammed and Farouk Adamu Aliyu for
whom the election is a “do or die” affair, à la Obasanjo.
A few months ago, rather
than participating in activities marking Democracy Day (May 29) that he and his
military collaborators foisted on us, Obasanjo was in Jigawa State as guest of
Governor Sule Lamido. He literally made a case for Lamido as the next president
of Nigeria, the same Lamido whose sons have been indicted by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for laundering billions of Jigawa State fund
through companies owned by the governor.
That is the problem
with Nigeria: the feeling of entitlement which the likes of Obasanjo and
Ibrahim Babangida survive on. Obasanjo should realize that his “ethnic
balancing” theory is not the solution to “strengthening the unity and stability
of Nigeria.”
In the postscript to
his letter, Obasanjo referenced Generals
Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar as those
“who on a number of occasions in
recent times, have shared with me their
agonising thoughts, concerns and expressions
on most of the issues I have raised
in this letter concerning the situation
and future of our country.”
This simply shows that Nigeria and we (the 99 percent who ought to decide the
future of the country) are in big trouble. It’s like asking cats to help
improve the conditions of rats.
Suddenly, President
Jonathan has become the alibi of a ruling class fearful of its imminent implosion.
Earlier in the week, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu
Tambuwal, who superintends over a house that reeks of corruption accused
President Jonathan of paying lip service to the fight against corruption.
Many Nigerians know
the problems of the country, and if the likes of Obasanjo and Babangida will
allow, perhaps they can seriously begin the long and arduous task of fixing the
mess created by these rulers.
Obasanjo has outlived
his usefulness, if ever anyone found him useful. Now that he has confirmed
that the man he imposed on the country is not fit to rule, we shouldn’t grant
him the opportunity to decide the person to replace him. It is time we the
people rose in unison to decide that.
Let no one be in
doubt where I stand on the PDP, the Jonathan administration and our so-called democracy.
“This house has fallen.” There is no amount of letter writing or patchwork that
can fix it.
Obasanjo should know
that the train has left the station; that the problem he and his cohorts caused
can’t be solved by letter writing but by a complete restructuring of the
country.
Obasanjo, Babangida
and company have lost all moral right to dictate how to define the new Nigeria
we envisage.
conumah@hotmail.com; Follow me on Twitter @conumah
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