Why Nigeria is on the Rebound

Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo

What will become of us? We, the reporters, and “the litany of Obasanjo bashers”, who delight in casting vitriolic aspersions at the “numero uno” citizen of our beloved country Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo, a.k.a Baba Iyabo? Where are we going to deploy our vitriol, our anger, our discontent, our desperation and the poison on our tongues? As reporters, for no special reason at all other than the nature of our jobs, we get to be the chosen ones to be afforded the ringside seat as human history unfolds in all its colour and drama. For this vantage position alone, our lives become interwoven with the destiny of men, great and small because we are witnesses to their deeds fair and foul.

Who is to know why, but the hand of fate, how for now or for posterity our country is suddenly becoming a loveable abode all over again for one and all. We can ponder if it was courage or cowardice, intrigue or excitement, tragedy or triumph that a nascent nation and a people are towing an uncertain path after all hope is lost.

There is a joke about a certain Hausa businessman – the type that once saw his mobile phone as a status symbol - prior to the mobile phone revolution introduced by the current Obasanjo government that enables every Tom, Dick and Harry to flaunt a handset at the slightest gathering of on-lookers in Nigeria. It goes thus: “Mallam Bahaushe” was notified of the impending mobile revolution by an acquaintance. He was told of how common and how readily available, not to talk of how affordable the mobile phone was coming to be in the Nigerian public space. The man sunk back in his chair, in what was an obvious personal retreat to introspection and burst out in frustration, a reaction that stunned his listener. “What about us? What will become of us?” he wondered aloud.

If you don’t get this joke, get a Hausa acquaintance to explain it to you.

The long and short of this short joke is that it captures the corruptive aphrodisiac in power. In this case, the corruptive power of the mobile phone. It shows how much little things mean to little minds. Just like a child and his toys. If you truly want to know a man, put him in a position of power which they say corrupts, just as absolute power corrupts absolutely..

A friend of mine once took time to analyse our power elite that we refer to as politicians thus: “When they need our votes, they come, cap-in-hand and cajole us,” he explained. He described that as the stage of “politricks.” After getting what they need and acquiring the power they craved “they start playing games.” That stage he referred to as the stage of politics and that is, he enthused, when they become “ticks” because of the way they suck the blood of everything in their way.

For the past years, since 1999 to be precise, we can include President Obasanjo among this clan of “ticks.” He came, as expected, cap-in-hand with an enticing slogan calling himself “the man we can trust”. His first term down the line, we became completely disenchanted and some of us began to look up the meaning of the word “trust” in our lexicon. Those who were not disappointed with Obasanjo at the time were either heretics or blind fanatics. It would, at the time, take a seer to know that Obasanjo was choosing his battles. His closest confidantes were simply draining the national purse. The identity card project scandal was able to expose Sunday Afolabi but the powers of our president could not penalise him. A group of dastardly tribal bandits snuffed life out of the nation’s Attorney General but the president’s temper remained cool as Lagbaja’s song, even allowing one of the accused to contest election and go to the senate. At a point he could not even access his home by car because of unmotorable roads, but he remained calm. He seemed then to be a man whose hands were inflicted by a frightening leprosy which forbade him from any kind of punitive action against wrongdoers.

That has now changed. With the arrest of Tafa “Al Capone with a badge” Balogun,it seemed as if Obasanjo has got his bark back and is very willing to bite. Fabian Osuji and Mobolaji Osomo have already joined the ranks of discredited ministers. More and more criminally minded “ticks” are emerging by the day because Obasanjo has turned a new leaf. It is not a question of how the mighty are falling but how many more are going to fall. Obasanjo is shaking off the “ticks” on his back and is, just as he promised, becoming the leader we can trust.

Courtesy of Obasanjo, our nation is on the rebound even though some people are urging us to congratulate Obasanjo with cautious introspection. To my mind encouragement is what we should be talking about at this moment. Any other thing is an unnecessary distraction from the path of truth and social justice because the national treasury is no longer the privileged patrimony of a selected few any more. Anybody that respects our rights and democracy should and has an obligation to help Obasanjo in this renewed war against graft. He is taking steps to disown his kith, kin and hangers-on even in a situation where their offences are lighter than those of the past where they blatantly abused the Nigerian psyche, and did so with impunity. Obasanjo is taking on the “ticks” in our society today and Nigerians must now help Obasanjo in sifting his grain from the chaff. Nigerians have been fed enough gobbledegook.

There are of course those who adduce this fight to pressure from the west. For the avoidance of doubt their views need be highlighted as well. The salt of fairness in the assumption may not be too much even if not too far from the truth but if it makes our society better and cleaner, the better for us all. They say it is a combination of biting poverty at home and pressure from the international community that is twisting Obasanjo’s arm into becoming an anti-corruption Czar. In courting the west before gaining their confidence to back his presidential bid, this school of thought insists, Obasanjo had made promises that endeared him to the international community. But his first term of office turned out to be a total fiasco. He did not deliver as promised. He could not deliver because he had misjudged the political sagacity of those on whom he relied. The array of contending forces angling to succeed him were erasing the few gains he was making sooner than he expected. Their actions were exposing Obasanjo to the harsh realities of history, which does not suffer fools gladly. Knowing Obasanjo’s penchant for wanting posterity to judge him favourably, he felt thoroughly disappointed and enraged and opted for plan B. That, it is understood, explains his refusal to accede to the Mandela option which many thought was his natural target.

By the end of his first term, western interests abroad were becoming too shaky and pressure at home on western leaders excruciating, they say. The western world has virtually privatised every aspect of its life. Its financial sector, its agricultural institutions, social services, utilities and even its wars are entirely in private hands. The west, they say is in dire need of outlets because its sparse population cannot sustain the services and neither can the leaders contain their “Ka-ching” population, whom they fear could decide to revolt if bogged down by overbearing conditions. The reputation of western countries in the Middle-east, once a voluptuous consumer of their goods is also not helping matters. It is waning fast. The rest of the third world is either decimated by poverty or war or other problems that impede quick profitability for conglomerates. Where else can they turn to and exert pressure? The answer is in Nigeria. Here is a population of over a hundred million people, most of whom prefer to consume foreign-made goods but where a few greedy government officials are taking the money and keeping in accounts that probably may never be touched. The other part of the loot that they are keeping at home, they use in building high walls to shield local people from knowing their atrocities. And then comes the catch: If Obasanjo can live up to expectation and reduce corruption, he can make the money go round. The west can swoop in on this potential market and dissipate the pressure at home. Already, Nigerians’ reputation as shopaholics is global. The country is the fastest growing mobile phones market in the world. If Obasanjo acts the west wins and history beckons on him with a warm embrace. For Obasanjo, according to his critics, this is a win-win situation.