A few days ago, I read the publication where former President Olusegun Obasanjo called for the removal of the current Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu and I began to ask myself what the former president could have forgotten at the Aso Rock after spending his time during the military regime as the head of state and another eight years of being a democratically elected President of Nigeria.
The former head of state and president of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Matthew Aremu Obasanjo GCFR, while in government tried his best in wrestling for the unity of the nation but we should not be gullible to be carried away by his many calls after leaving the government.
I make bold to say that most of the problems we are facing today as a nation started since the period of Obasanjo, who was expected to have championed the role of stakeholder amidst those that succeeded after him being the lead democratic elected President of the fourth republic in Nigeria.
We still have the records of how the former President performed. When he was in office as the President, he ordered the military to kill hundreds of people in Bayelsa State. The order came after the people of the state claimed rights over the oil resources. At that period, the people of Bayelsa killed not less than twelve men of the Nigeria Police Force. That was the reason why the then President made use of brute force by ordering the military to attack the people of the particular village where the issue emanated.
Sometimes in the year 2001, there was a crisis between the Jukun and Tiv tribes and President Obasanjo ordered the deployment of soldiers to restore law and order. During that time, some soldiers were abducted while some were killed.
The former President Olusegun Obasanjo, like two months ago was at a program in Ibadan, Oyo State, where he said the Operation Feed the Nation he initiated as Nigeria’s military head of state in the 70s would have further enhanced the nation’s food sufficiency if his successors sustained it. That’s not an excuse to cover his failure on the OFN sudden death. Why did Pa Obasanjo not reinitiate the project when he returned as a democratic President in 1999, a position he held for two consecutive terms before he left the office in the year 2007.
We are well informed of how he appropriated Operation Feed the Nation and converted the same into Obasanjo Farms Nigeria ( both having the same acronym, OFN). It was later metamorphosed into his current Ota Farm headquarters. A former President that converted Federal Government property into his personal asset can today criticize the government.
President Olusegun Obasanjo lost his vigilance and couldn’t notice the numerous atrocities perpetrated by Atiku Abubakar who happened to be his Vice then.
Atiku probably admitted to his corruptible character when he shared on his social media handle some time ago. In his post, he said “no politician in Nigeria is 100% clean, so any party that campaigns on the basis of fighting corruption is deceiving you. Instead of fighting corruption we can make corruption work for us and show the way to the Nigeria of our dreams. America did it, China is doing it.”
The former VP equally agreed to the fact that he performed below expectations, stating that the constitution doesn’t give him the power to execute projects as the Vice President, yet he claimed to be awarded some projects. The same Atiku said he wasn’t desperate for position and has continuously remained a perpetual customer of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Back to the issue of former President Obasanjo, a few years after the retirement of Baba from Aso Villa, he turned into a nationalist activist. It’s not funny how Obasanjo who spent eight years as a democratic President was unable to make provision for State Policing nor restructuring even when the Afenifere Yoruba Group agitated for it, but when he left the office he was profusely agitating for what he couldn’t achieve.
Obasanjo was reportedly accused of having stolen $500 million to fund the incumbent’s efforts to amend the constitution so that he could run for a third term. It was revealed in the Chidi Odinkalu and Ayisha Osori’s book titled “Too Good To Die: Third Term And The Myth Of The Indispensable Man In Africa.
Probably we wouldn’t have experienced any increase in pump price until Obasanjo spent the money from the excess crude oil account. The Excess Crude Account was where he illegally removed the $500 million to sponsor his unfulfilled third term agenda. It is said to be a natural resource fund in Nigeria that was established in 2004 by President Olusegun Obasanjo. The purpose of the Excess Crude Account is to stabilize the economy, protect the budget from shortfalls caused by oil price volatility, and smooth out the impact of price volatility in oil exports.
Meanwhile, the Excess Crude Account is funded by the difference between the market price of crude oil and the budgeted price. The account is jointly operated by the federal, state, and local governments, and withdrawals require approval from all three levels of government. That’s tantamount to agree that the former President Obasanjo already has a plan before establishing the ECA. To later satisfy his selfishness, he accessed the fund and lavished amidst stakeholders across the nation,
The former president doesn’t respect the rule of law. There was a time when OBJ bullied Lagos and few other states, he seized their local government allocations. The intervention of the Supreme Court should solve the matter but Aremu refused to pay the money and refused to obey the judgment of the highest court in the country, that is nothing but lawlessness. This same man will be preaching to those in government today to respect the rule of law.
At that time when he, General Olusegun Obasanjo was the military head, he instructed his soldiers to invade the home of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Fela’s Mother, Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti was assaulted by the soldiers and violently thrown down from the balcony upstairs. She never fully recovered from the injuries she sustained during that unfortunate encounter, and she died about fourteen months after the incident.
Obasanjo doesn’t welcome political competition during his tenure. That particularly made him install machinery instruments to achieve his democratic consolidation such as INEC, EFCC and state agents of force. A lot of people thought he liked us so well to have created the anti graft agency, EFCC but they all acted from his pocket.
The man who encouraged commercialization in the education sector. While in office as the President, he established a private university. He sorts a profit from the weakness of our education system. Instead of devising all means to make our education system the best, he abandoned them with poor funding and other things that rotten the system.
What was the condition of our electricity when Baba Obasanjo left Aso Rock after spending $16 billion on it? Obasanjo by now, should be begging for forgiveness from all Nigerians. The failure of his administration has a greater influence on the present conditions of our nation.
One thing I have got to realize about Chief Obasanjo is that he’s always quick to take advantage of whatever situation to gain public attention. He will speak like a saviour when it’s obvious that he couldn’t save when he has the opportunity.
We have our rights to make assessment of our government and evaluate them, to commend and condemn where necessary. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is not in the league of people that should criticize any decision of the government. Whatever the issues we are facing in Nigeria now, he should not be exempted as a stakeholder but regarded as an architect who played a major role in the present position of the country.
Comrade Adedokun Sunday Harshasha
otunbaharshasha@gmail.com
