To Mr. Tunji Oseni: "Often at Enormous Personal Inconvenience to the President"
By
Habu
Dauda Fika
August
27, 2002
In
his response to the resolution No. HR.22 passed by the House of Representatives
on August 13, 2002. As regards the charge by the National assembly as summarized
below,
Whereas, in spite of all the budgets passed by the National Assembly in the past three years, Mr. President has incurred a lot of extra budgetary expenditure i.e. ...spending more money than approved for his rampant trips abroad among others;
Mr. Tunji Oseni, the presidential spin-meister said, ”In fact, it is a disservice to characterize these trips as rampant as they were all undertaken in pursuit of the national interest, often at enormous personal inconvenience to the President who had, on many occasions, to leave the country at the wee hours of the morning only to return early or late evening of the same day…” Haba Mr. Oseni, Are you one of those advisers that Thisday referred to as a group of “courtiers who deceive him (Obasanjo) that he is doing a marvellous job? ... the ugly truth is that these are fat lies. Nigeria is going down the slope. The president is performing terribly below par.” How can you demonstrate such disregard for the conveniences of all Nigerians who suffer the daily inconveniences of things like electric power, water supply, medical care, educational and social infrastructural support, political violence, poor or non existent roads, crime and banditry, and on, and on, and then complain about ‘enormous personal inconvenience to the president’? If Mr. Obasanjo is inconvenienced by us, let him just say the word. I am sure we can find someone out there who will be more than happy to do the job. And next time the president wants to whine about waking up at the wee hours of the day to go on one of these burdensome trips, tell him that his employers will be just as content if he stays at home.
Very well Mr. Oseni Sir, we Nigerians had no intention of inconveniencing the president with such enormous burdens, i.e. traveling all over the world at our expense, especially if he can then turn around and fault us for asking him to stay at home when he is doing us a great favour by traveling so much. And also Mr. Oseni, I cannot vouch for the motives of the House of Reps’, but I can tell you that a lot of Nigerians who VOTE agree with them. I know you are sure that you don’t need their votes to get re-elected. Why else would you respond in such a callous manner. I am actually beginning to agree with you that Obasanjo perhaps does not need any votes to get re-elected since he was sent to us by celestial intercession.
If you were to ask me, I would have thought that the whole resolution as read was to inform Mr Obasanjo that he needs to stop worrying about what he thinks is best for Nigeria and instead listen to what the voters consider best for Nigeria and how he has performed so far. Need I remind you that some of the members of the House of Reps do speak for some of us. I also am not sure if you know, Mr. Oseni, but the trips that you call “in the pursuit of national interest” are truly the trip that put our whole nation in disrepute and make us the laughing stock of the diplomatic corps of all nations.
"Our" President has been known to arrive in the U.S. with suitcases full of dollars, just so that he can pay the Hotel bills in cash when most nations will have their embassies settle the bills through an acceptable and much secure form of transaction. It is like telling the whole world that we do not know how to use the banking system, or that we do not trust our banks. If by inference the president of Nigeria does not trust his own nation’s bank, show me the investors who will. Is that what you mean by “in the pursuit of national interest”?
He has been known to arrive at meetings murderously late for different forums with international audiences and dive into a tirade about how he knows what is best for Nigeria, and when others disagree with him, he either calls them stupid, ignorant, and/or ask them to get out of his face. The president of Nigeria commands the respect of all Nigerians, but Obasanjo is no better than any one of us. He must show all Nigerians a measure of respect equal to the one an employee shows to his employer. If he calls one of us stupid, by implication he is calling all of us Stupid! If he grabs a whip and strikes one of us, then by the same implication, we are all his whipping boys (and girls). Mr Oseni, do you still think this arrogant behavior is all “in the pursuit of national interest”.
He has been known to treat his own cabinet out abroad especially in the U.S. as horde of kids who have no portfolio and no one can speak for Nigeria but him. It is a sad commentary about our current leadership when most of these trips that you call “in the pursuit of national interest” are actually trips that the President stands at the gate of the departing plane – as in the case of the motor park ‘dan kamasho’ - and points out who can go on the trip, as if he is the teacher in a class of an elementary school going on a field trip. It is also during these trips that he haphazardly selects who can attend what meeting without any consideration for the expertise of the attendees. Why has the President failed to understand that he can get more accomplished by delegating responsibility and trusting his team. He insists on doing it alone. Unfortunately, he is not equipped with the requisite savvy and the command of the etiquette. What about the people who spent a lifetime learning how to implement policy, who are now sidelined by this so-called “pursuit of national interest”?
Mr. Oseni you were kind
enough to inform us, “All the trips undertaken so far have been financed
within approved Appropriations. Out of a total of 113 trips undertaken by the
President from 1999 to date, sixty-eight (68) of them were one-day return trips
which did not attract payment of any entitlements whatsoever to either Mr.
President or members of his entourage.” You will however concede that of
the 45 remaining trips, the president spent an average of six and a half days
(6.5) on each one of those trips, since we know that Obasanjo has been out of
the country for over 360 days. I am just curious; since you are certain that all
the trips were financed within approved appropriations, please feel free to let
us know how much was actually spent on all 113 trips. Are you silent on it
because you really don’t know, or is it because you are just ashamed to say?
May be we are not smart enough to understand it. Since we cannot, in all
probability, count that high anyway. Right? Mr. Oseni. Or may be we are better
off not knowing, due to the sensitive nature of “ the pursuit of
national interest”?
You also conveniently ignored the very important comparison (drawn by Thisday)
that showed that, “The president holds the dubious honour of being the most
traveled sitting president in the world. His record could only be rivaled by
that of Pope John Paul II. In 24 years, the Pope has traveled 91 times.
Perhaps this is understandable for a religious leader with flocks scattered all
over the globe”. IN 24 YEARS, THE POPE HAS TRAVELED 91 TIMES! That is about 4
trips a Year! Obasanjo has traveled an average of 35 trips per year. But Mr
Oseni sir, you are still convinced that all his trips were “in pursuit of
national interest.” What planet are you from. What national interest? Is it
the one that Obasanjo always claim to know better than the rest of us?
Let me attempt a rudimentary listing of items of national interest and if perchance you have seen this list somewhere before, then I am truly glad to know someone else feels the same way I do,
· A budget for fiscal yr 2002
· A legitimate and accurate voter registration
· Free and fair elections (local govts)
· Effective policing and crime control
· Effective solutions to stem ethnic riots and massacres
· Good and well maintained transportation network
· Stable power generation and distribution
· Stable water supply
· And, a real fight against corruption and mismanagement
How about it Mr. Oseni? Tell your boss to pay attention to these problems and see if the national assembly can pass a resolution to impeach. Let us see Obasanjo spend his last 300 days on these issues of national interest. Believe me, it will be worth his while. We are not asking him to pursue anything new, just handle the ones right under his nose. Like his political guru Mr Anenih said a few days ago, "Only a mad man runs when nobody is pursuing him." He should listen to his own paid advisers. I also like to remind you that you work for us too. Keep that in mind when you speak to us!
We know that the House of Reps, was probably shooting from hip when it issued its’ ultimatum, but I was more astounded when Obasanjo went on national TV and equated his presidency with the survival of democracy. He said, “Events of the last fortnight have proved that democracy, although not always the tidiest form of government remains the best form of government. The support shown for the survival and sustenance of our hard-won democracy cuts across ethnic, regional, religious and political barriers”. I humble correct Mr Obasanjo that the events of the last fortnight only threatened his presidency, not democracy itself. That “many brother African leaders expressed their concern for the situation in Nigeria, saying that whatever happens in Nigeria had implications beyond its borders,” is true but irrelevant so long as what happens inside Nigeria is what Nigerians desire to happen. I do not know that there are many countries out there that put off doing things because it might impact Nigeria or Africa in a negative way.
Obasanjo also drew this ridiculous analogy on leadership, he said “you can imagine what disaster will follow if, in the cockpit of an aircraft, the captain is pressing the throttle for the plane to take off with full power, the co-pilot is pressing the break and the engineer is switching off the engine.” Let me just say that Mr Obasanjo has been spending too much time in an airplane and now finds himself unable to relate to the real world. What happens in the cockpit of an airplane is likened to a team. Teamwork, which by and large is what fly’s the plane, is defined as work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole. Mr Oseni, please spend the bulk of your time beseeching your boss to learn and take to heart the benefits of a good team. Nigerians want a good team of legislators, judiciary, and the executive.
If the president is concerned about what the outside world has to say about Nigeria, here is a sample. Eric Sottas, director of the World Organization Against Torture, said the international community had been less critical of Nigeria because the country is trying to transform itself from a military regime. “But the grace period is over and we need to make people accountable for what has happened in the past three years,'' he said. Over three years, more than 10,000 have died in a country that is not at war. Yet no one says anything,'' said Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a London-based human rights lawyer and one of the report's authors. “It's almost a war situation that cannot be tolerated in a democratic country,'' he said. The report urged the United Nations to send investigators to probe violence and executions by security agents and consider sanctions for human rights violations.
My advise to the President. Stop 'weeping' about 'enormous personal inconvenience' and focus on Nigerians and the daily inconveniences that they face. It will be worth his while.