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Babatunde Adenodi
Pharmacist

East Orange,
New Jersey
USA

Obasanjo’s Burden
by Tunde Adenodi.

President Olusegun Obasanjo became Nigeria’s Head of State in 1976 at a period of grave national disaster following the assassination of his boss, General Murtala Muhammed. He took over the office “against his personal wish and desire”. Gingerly, he trudged on through the minefield of political intrigue and chicanery of his intensely ambitious immediate lieutenants. He trudged on, executing to the letter, all the political plans of Gen Muhammed.. Then he handed over power to Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari who was elected the President of the Federal Republic. And there- after, he retired to his Otta farm, minding his own business as a private citizen.

Almost 20 years later, after Babangida’s reckless annulment of Abiola’s election and after General Sani Abacha dropped dead, literally and General Abdusalami had just presided over the sudden death of the winner of what was considered the freest and fairest election in the history of Nigeria, Obasanjo was approached again and urged to run for the highest office in the land, this time as President. Again, he took up the challenge reluctantly, believing that the almighty God might have had a hand in it. So he literally moved from Abacha’s jail house in Maiduguri to the presidential palace in Abuja. It was also during a period of self-inflicted national crisis of catastrophic proportions.

This time it was not because of the benevolence of those power brokers. It was not from the goodness of their hearts that they asked Obasanjo to run for president. The presidency was their exclusive preserve. No Nigerian from the wrong side of the divide was qualified to run for that office. They and they alone were “born to rule”. Others were born into slavery! So, nominating him for president had to come with a price. He had to sign an undertaking to hand over to them after 4 years in office. Four years was too long to be out of power for a group that considers themselves as the crown prince of Nigeria’s presidency. All they wanted Obasanjo to do was to hold power in trust for only 4 years after which they had hoped to continue their political brigandage. Obasanjo’s ambivalence to Babangida’s annulment of Abiola’s election to the office of president and his record of apparent malleability and apparent deference to their whims and caprices were his qualifications for the post the second time around. Besides, for demonstrating a dislike or perhaps lack of ambition for power by handing over when he did in 1979, he had earned for himself their trust and could be counted on to do their bidding every time. Or so they thought.

After 7 years in office as president, General Olusegun Obasanjo has come full cycle! He is now his own man. He is nobody’s puppet. He thumbed his nose at them daring them to stop him. He ran for re-election and “won” a landslide like Shagari “did” in 1983. He took the game to them and beat them in their own game on their own turf. And he is so emboldened by his new found confidence that he is even acting like them! Apparently, he wants the constitution changed to accommodate him for a 3^rd term in office! What took the Hausa/Fulani 40 years to achieve, he (the Yoruba) did in only seven!. And this is the source of my concern. And this is the burden he is now carrying!

Is there a potion there in the state house which every occupant in the office drinks of that makes them so arrogant after only a few years in office? As humble as I would consider Tafawa Balewa, Shehu Shagari, Yakubu Gowon and Olusegun Obasanjo, they ended up or he (Obasanjo) is potentially ending up like Buhari, Babangida and Sani Abacha! What in the world would make Babangida who was literally chased out of Aso Rock in 1992 want to come back to that office in 2007? And even Buhari? If Buhari and Babangida were thought unfit to continue in office during their time, what makes them now qualified?

The burden to change this phenomenon and stop it from affecting all their successors is now on General Olusegun Obasanjo. He must put a stop to the charade that makes political succession a nightmare, no, may be even a “daymare” on the African continent, especially Nigeria. He must spend the rest of his term setting up the mechanism for peaceful succession of political office especially at the federal level.. He must focus his attention on conducting free and fair elections just like he did in 1979. He must be interested in who succeeds him and refrain from handing over to those who would like to continue from where they paused to “step aside”. He must not hand over those billions of dollars he had worked so assiduously to save in foreign reserves to those who will squander it in only 2 years. He must not hand over to those who tyrannized us. He must not hand over to those who consider the Delta’s legitimate aspiration as a mere irritant that must be done away with.

Indeed, I dare say that he must hand over to only a democrat from the Delta region of the country!

And one more thing: He must ensure, within the last lap of his presidency, that NEPA or Power (with)Holdings, as they now prefer to be called, provide the nation with electricity as their function demands. It is just right to do that. Otherwise, this will be the one of the biggest burdens of all in his legacy.

"Is there a potion there in the state house which every occupant in the office drinks of that makes them so arrogant after only a few years in office? As humble as I would consider Tafawa Balewa, Shehu Shagari, Yakubu Gowon and Olusegun Obasanjo, they ended up or he (Obasanjo) is potentially ending up like Buhari, Babangida and Sani Abacha! What in the world would make Babangida who was literally chased out of Aso Rock in 1992 want to come back to that office in 2007? And even Buhari? If Buhari and Babangida were thought unfit to continue in office during their time, what makes them now qualified? "