OBJ: Does This Old Dog Have Any New Trick?
Did anyone read about former President Abasanjo writing the current President, giving him a bucket list of what to do? That was nauseating! When the Former president Obansanjo wrote President Buhari after his election victory with a wish list of what to do, I thought that he may have had a senior moment or simply put, he was shameless! If the former President had any shame he would have known that that was not the right thing for him to do (anyone but him), given that he ruled Nigeria for solid eight years without lifting Nigeria from the chasm it found itself in.
One should not forget the Presidency of Chief Obasanjo in a hurry, his reign was a reign of terror riddled with corruption. According to the Premium times Obasanjo said in his letter to President Buhari, “With so much harm already done to many national institutions, in lauding the military, which proudly nurtured you and me, you will have a lot to do on institution reform, education, healthcare, economy, infrastructure, power, youth employment, agribusiness, oil and gas, external affairs, cohesiveness of our nation and ridding our land of corruption. Your varied and wide experience will undoubtedly stand you in good stead.”
The questions that Obansanjo should have been asked is: did not this same person have the chance to tackle these problems before now? And why did he fail to take them on when he was the President of Nigeria for 8 years? Eight years is enough for any serious minded person to build or reform a country.Or he is saying that President Jonathan undid all these, right?
President Barack Obama took his county out of a recession (the worst recession since the 1929 to 1930s) in less than eight years. It’s recalled that when the President of the United States, President Barack Obama took office the average job loss at the time was 738,000 per month. With precision and sound economic policies the United State had been adding an average of 200.000 jobs per month, and for straight 24 months there were job growths. Consumers’ confidence is back into the economy. A lot of chatter had been made about the state of out power generation, which is one of the things that Obasanjo wants the President to tackle.
Under the reign of Ex-president Obasanjo a mammoth $16 billion was voted into the
Power sector but that money disappeared and went with the wind. Who is going to probe this shameless man by the name of Obasanjo? No Country can achieve any economic growth without any adequate power supply, and the smartest guy in the room does not know this? His reign was a reign of terror and discord. The former President could not unravel the mystery behind the killing of Chief Bola Ige, Marshall Harry and other prominent Nigerians who died under his watch.
Do you remember Odi community? On the order of the then president Obasanjo, Odi, a predominantly Ijaw community was decimated due to oil interest and scores of people killed. So, to Obasanjo oil and petrodollar was more valuable and important than human lives. As his minister of defense rightly pointed out, the order was Obasanjo’s and was to defend lives and properties, especially oil platforms. At the end of the massacre more than 2000 people lay dead in their community. Even if compensation had been paid to the people of Odi, Obasanjo deserves a day in court for human rights abuses and to send a message that impunity in the Niger Delta is not welcomed.
The fall out of Chief Obasanjo and the then President Jonathan was not as a result of bad leadership; rather it was as a result of President Jonathan not wanting his hand in the same pot with Obasanjo’s. And when that was the case, Obasanjo threw tantrum like a four years old and alleged that Jonathan has trained snippers for his political enemies. It is a known fact that many people died under the watch of chief Obasanjo directly than under President Jonathan. If Chief Obasanjo is peeved that the Country is going in the wrong direction he should look in the mirror.
Jonathan was not ready for any presidency but the Mister know it all in the name of Obasanjo foisted him on us and left us to lick our wounds.If politics were played the way he knows it, MuhamuduBuhari would never have won his election. Under his watch it was business as usual, the Petroluem industry was riddle with massive corruption, the Eleme petrochemical sold, Ajaokuta Steel, Aladja Steel, Itakpe Steel all wrecked and so was Nitel.
Chief Obasanjo claimed that he is the only Nigerian leader that is a saint and that he is not tainted when it comes to corruption until there was a tape of Ann Welsh, a lady who was supposedly Obasanjo’s front lady for his money laundry scheme. Ann said that she had to undergo a discreet training under the saint for one year before she was certified. Obasabjo’s corruption czar said that the man was more corrupt and knew how to cover his tracks. If anyone believed that Obasanjo was innocent that person must be a chump.
The Harlliburton scandal also implicated chief Obasanjo as a co-conspirator in the infamous Halliburton bribery scandal. It was said that Chief Obasanjo shared $74 million. Don’t forget that Chief Obasanjo was the president cum the minister if petroleum who he alone knew the movement of the monies or revenues from the sales of petroleum at the time he was president.
Chief Obasanjo knew that UmaroYaradua would not survive the stress of office and planted him any way to make way for his political son, Jonathan to control him from behind the scene and when Jonathan wanted to be his own man he kicked and screamed.
While I am not a fan of President Jonathan, his government was not tainted the way the Government of Obasanjo was. At least Jonathan paved few roads; Obasanjo was fighting his purported political enemies. While Obansanjo would compliment himself as the best thing that has ever happened to Nigeria, people who can see and read between the lines would know that he is a hypocrite: a promoter of good governance by day and a destroyer by night. Was it not President Obasanjo who attempted to change the constitution to do a third term? Did we not know how money changed hands in the process? By the way, Jonathan’s failed presidency was his attempted third term which he did not get again as he wished.
Who is the real Obasanjo? Is it the one whose speech or keynote in Addis Ababa, on February 27, 2015, at the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences in honor of late Professor Ali Al’Amin Mazrui I read? Or the one who is giving Nigeria problems? Because the Obasanjo who read that piece or keynote address is a person who almost everyone would like to have as at his dinner table but the one at home with us, if it were a gift someone would have sent it back to the giver or put him on EBay for auction.
If President Buhari would succeed he should ignore the nightmare called Obasanjo. When he drives him into a ditch he would come out to say that the new President did not adhere to his sound and proven policies which would have helped him run a smooth government. It appears that the former President is having a senior moment and not feeling any bit of shame. With all due respect, Chief Obasanjo is the big elephant in the room and should know that. He is like an old dog and does not have any new ideas. I only hope he finds God before it’s too late for him.
ToateGanago is a Pastor and resides in AZ, USA.