Obasanjo's Mouth, False Alarms and the Reality of Democracy
By
The major shortcomings of
General Obasanjo are his mouth, his arrogance, his stubbornness and inability
to adapt to change since the transition to the office of a democratic
Presidency. The General has a penchant for talking before thinking and in most
cases his utterances later come back to haunt him. It is against this
background that one can assess the unending feud between the National Assembly
and his Presidency.
While talking to a foreign
journalist in a Press interview, the General referred to MPs as ‘boys and
girls’ and very recently he dismissed the MPS as jokers in view of the
ultimatum given him to resign or face impeachment. On his visit to the scene
of the Ikeja bomb explosion, he made remarks which were very unbecoming of a
President and also very distasteful. In the face of non-performance he claimed
he ‘dey kampe’ Therefore, gradually all the goodwill the President had, has
been totally squandered.
Substantial allegations of
misconduct has been leveled against President Obasanjo and all along one would
have thought that the President should have taken the allegations head on and
tried to defend himself. As he has a problem with his mouth, President Obasanjo
could have hired expert advisers to counsel him in the process of explaining
himself to Nigerians who have a right to know, and then to the National
Assembly. Instead of pursuing the path of decency, the sycophants around the
Presidency went on a spree of spreading false allegations of coup plots,
bribery and all sorts of frivolous and baseless allegations against the
National Assembly. In other words, the sycophants tried to switch the roles of
the National Assembly as if the legislature was about to be on trial. None of
the allegations made against the legislators has anything to do with the
truthfulness or otherwise of the allegations made against the President.
One development that is
troubling is the recent statement credited to the Chief of Defense Staff,
Admiral Ibrahim Ogohi to the effect that the armed forces were personally
loyal to Obasanjo. In any democracy, the armed forces is loyal to the
constitution of the sovereign nation. Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, a former
Commissioner of Police and former Director – General of the NSO was quick to
point to Ogohi that the armed forces should be loyal to the constitution and
not to Obasanjo. By implication, if Ogohi were right, what would happen if an
incumbent President failed an election and refused to cede power? The personal
loyalty of the armed forces would subvert the constitution?
Perhaps, Admiral Ogohi
still has the concept of the ‘Supreme’ Commander and may be unaware that
in a democracy the Constitution is SUPREME. One wonders therefore if our
service chiefs really appreciate the difference in the roles of a
Commander-in- Chief under a dictatorship and under a democracy. A safe guess
is that these Generals are unaware of the difference and this is an even
greater threat to this democratic experiment.
At this point, it is
pertinent to note that under the 1999 constitution, the President appoints the
Service Chiefs and heads of the various National Security agencies. In the
United States, for example, the Chairman Joint Chiefs and members of the Joint
Chiefs including the heads of the FBI, CIA etc are appointed by the President
but subject to senate confirmation.
Those that drafted the 1999
constitution unfortunately transferred the powers of a Military Dictator to a
Civilian President.
When therefore, the
President and his sycophants try to whip up fears of an unfounded threat to
national security or rumors of a coup in the face of a possible impeachment,
one can understand the background.
Instead of preparing a
defense, the President is busy playing on sentiments calling meetings of
Governors and legislators and trying to appeal to those with weak minds.
Accusing the legislators of graft or receiving bribes to impeach him sounds
good, but one can also assume that the alleged defection of some legislators
after a meeting with the President was as a result of a bigger bribe offer. We
were told legislators were bribed to impeach Okadigbo so perhaps the
President’s method is haunting him and this may be a back lash from karmic
justice.
Also, troubling is the wild
allegation by Governor Adesina that some legislators did meet with Military
personnel to discuss a coup. What a childish allegation coming from a
responsible Executive. Why would the National Assembly call for a coup if it
had the powers to impeach the President?
As at today, Politicians of
the south west are threatening to raise hell should Obasanjo be impeached. The
same hell they raised when since
It is doubtful that any
Nigerian would take them seriously after being mouthy like the General. Chief
Bola Ige was a pillar in national politics, with strong democratic values and
principles and a powerful Yoruba voice. If these southwest leaders could not
help in finding the killers of their departed colleague how on earth can they
be useful or of any help to General Obasanjo whose Political sun is about to
set?
The Presidency is zoned to
the southwest, True; but at what cost should
Obviously President
Obasanjo is selfish and is not thinking about a southwest mandate otherwise
the National Conscience Party should have been registered. When Abiola had the
people’s mandate, the same General made uncharitable remarks against the
people’s choice.
To back General Obasanjo
against all odds is like putting all political eggs in one basket.
The implication of the
ongoing sectional defense of Obasanjo is that it might never be possible to
impeach any President for misconduct for all the President has to do is to
pull the usual strings. The south east must be regretting giving in to the
removal of Enwerem and then Okadigbo.
Perhaps, if the President
is impeached, Atiku should succeed him and then appoint a VP from the South
West. Afterwards, Atiku should resign so that the VP can take over – that is
the absurd and ridiculous situation Nigerians have created for themselves. Had
Obasanjo agreed with a sovereign national conference, such and similar
scenarios would have been discussed and trashed out.
Another source of concern
is the meddlesome ness of greedy and unprincipled Christian church leaders.
They are quick to side with the President without considering the merits or
otherwise of the allegations. The same church leaders have pretended to be
deaf when a very considerable number of Nigerians have not been paid salaries
for upwards of seven or more months and pensioners have not been paid
pensions. These church leaders preside over flourishing church businesses at
the expense of the masses and live ostentatious lives. They accept
‘donations’ from Politicians in the face of unpaid workers salaries which
is the same as bribery to keep silent in the face of mismanagement. It is time
for them to keep quiet and face the business of their ministry.
In the final analysis, all
that is happening is a test for our democracy and Obasanjo can swim out of
troubled waters with proper counseling. Instead of employing tactics reserved
for political neophytes, the General should make use of the abundance of legal
resources at his disposal. Constitutional experts are pointing out his
constitutional breaches, and his best bet is to accept his mistakes, apologize
using the RIGHT words, make amends and
Nigerians must then begin
to avoid the word ‘coup’ for perhaps only once have service chiefs had
knowledge of coups. The rank and file is part of the agonizing millions of
Nigerians who see no difference between the President, the National Assembly
and the Politicians. If they were to strike, it would be a revolt, a
revolution that has never been witnessed on this continent.
The best that can be done is for all parties concerned to give credibility and decency to our democracy by following due process. The President has a great burden and responsibility on his shoulders.