Why Obasanjo Deserves More Years

By 

Abdullahi Usman

usmanabd@yahoo.com

“A pint can’t hold a quart; if it holds a pint, it is doing all that can be expected of it”--Margaret Deland  

Nothing lends more credibility to Margaret Deland’s enduring and factual statement better than Ambassador Greg Mbadiwe’s above titled unconvincing article in support of an extension of the current presidential mandate, which appeared on page 23 of THISDAY, The Saturday Newspaper of September 3, 2005. Indeed, the former Nigerian envoy to the Republic of Congo did not have to bother reminding his readers about his two previous articles in which tried “… to situate President Obasanjo’s vision within the context of some immediate challenges he had faced both at home and abroad”, as most of us are only fully aware of his self-appointed ungodly role of pushing through this unique, yet all the more familiar agenda that is totally alien to all known democratic tenets. What would, therefore, have shocked us all would have been a situation whereby his write ups would carry any other message to the contrary. Blessed, indeed, in the words of George Elliot, is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact!

One easily recalls the ignominious role Greg Mbadiwe played, along with a few others - including arguably the most deceitful individual Nigeria has produced to date, the inimitable Professor Jerry Gana - in the botched attempt at smuggling the Third Term Project into the Agenda of the just-concluded National Political Reform Conference. This plot could easily have succeeded but for the commendable eagle-eyed vigilance of the delegates, who insisted that it was not part of their mandate and thus rejected it wholesale. It was, therefore, laughable to read somewhere in Mbadiwe’s article that the President has, “… by what we saw at the conference, demonstrated an uncommon ability to resist the temptation of using the conference to feather his personal political interest”. His Excellency, Mbadiwe surely deserves to be commended and appropriately recognised for this revolutionary and innovative equation of a manifestly failed attempt at realising an illicit ambition with an extraordinary capacity of resisting the temptation to pursue that same ambition. After reading that nauseating portion of the article, one could only wonder whether his more illustrious father, the great man of “timber and callibre”, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, the late Chief K. O. Mbadiwe, would indeed be proud of this brazen attempt at twisting history by one of his very own!

Ambassador Mbadiwe expectedly dedicated the greater part of his patently futile effort at selling his pet Third Term/Tenure Extension Project in singing the praise of his benefactor for setting up the conference, which he incidentally participated in as a representative of the youths at the ‘youthful age’ of 50 years! In another interview on the same subject in the Saturday Sun, also of September 3, he went ahead to inform a ‘grateful’ nation of the personal sacrifice he made in canceling his 50^th birthday party after making “beautiful plans to celebrate it”, in order to enable him be a part of the “heat of arguments” at the Confab, presumably on the issue of their failed agenda. How commendable and patriotic! One sincerely hopes that the Committee on Nigerian National Honours will not only include his name on their recently released short-list of those recommended for the 2005 National Honours, but also waive the mandatory screening exercise by automatically conferring on him an appropriate award for this singular selfless gesture he exhibited.

Responding to the accusation that he was merely seeking relevance by those opposed to his unpopular position in support of “constitutional changes that would strengthen our democracy” (a euphemism for achieving the main objective of extending the tenure of his boss), Mbadiwe retorted that most of them were unknown “until they found accommodation in Chief Obasanjo’s huge presidential umbrella”. It is indeed utterly sickening that serious national issues such as this should be treated with such levity by no less an individual than someone who had once represented the nation’s interests in another country at the highest level possible. All the hollow pro-extension or third term gibberish about the need to allow this government to complete the ‘good job’ it has started, as well as the deliberate attempt to instill the fear of a possible reversal of its economic policies by another leader, are mere smokescreens beyond which we must be able to see if we must expose the self-serving motives of the likes of Greg Mbadiwe for what they really are.

In the words of Frederick Langbridge, “two men look out through the same bars; one sees the mud and one the stars”. In stark contrast with the likes of Greg Mbadiwe and his privileged few colleagues who are fortunate enough to be sheltered under either Chief Obasanjo’s gigantic presidential canopy, or the less protective leaky umbrella of the PDP, the vast majority of us are fully exposed to the elements and thus have a much clearer view of the blue sky. As a result, we are in a more vantage position to confirm Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s resolute proclamation that as the evening twilight fades away, the sky is indeed filled with stars, which are usually invisible during the day. Nobody will, therefore, succeed in using the President’s over-flogged international goodwill or in taking undue advantage of his unfortunate incarceration during the Abacha regime to hoodwink us into tying his own destiny with that of the country, all in a determined effort to push for the acceptance of this unconstitutional viewpoint. After all, in the recent history of Africa and indeed the World at large, no one has sacrificed more for his country, and earned greater international respect and recognition in the process, than Nelson Mandela. By virtue of this, it would not be an exaggeration to state that the Madiba could conveniently have been excused if he had chosen to adopt the once popular African egoistic title of life president of his country. However, this man still went ahead to bow out gracefully after only one term in office, with no negative consequences befalling his dear South Africa following his departure. One can only marvel at the probable reasons why this breed of rare individuals with such exceptional qualities is impossible to find in this part of the world!

A serving governor once gave a vivid eyewitness account of the meeting at which the idea of promoting the current presidency was first muted in 1998, during which Mr. President, who had just been released from jail, stoutly rejected any idea of getting him to contest for the exalted position. Following strident appeals by his promoters, who pledged to provide him with the necessary political platform and also bankroll both his nomination and electioneering expenses, he reluctantly agreed to contest but on the condition that he would go for only one term. The rest, as the saying goes, is history in the sense that Mr. President has not only gone ahead to eat his own words and secured (or, to use his own party’s preferred military-inspired terminology, captured) his second term mandate, but is indeed smarting for an unprecedented third term mandate.

Whereas Mr. President’s personal decision to renege on his promise by going ahead to secure a second term was entirely legal, as provided for in the nation’s constitution, the current hideous third term or tenure extension project, for which people like Greg Mbadiwe and some otherwise respected captains of the industry are being used as foot soldiers, is patently unconstitutional and must thus be resisted at all costs. It is really appalling that some people can go to any extent to achieve their selfish motives even at the expense of our collective wellbeing. This becomes all the more saddening when viewed against the fact that just a few years back, Mr. President would undoubtedly be expected to be at forefront of those that would be expected to line up against such blatant illegality. All the current unnecessary heat being generated within the polity, which recently snowballed into the present disgraceful impasse between the President and his Deputy can, in reality, be traced to the scramble for the 2007 presidency. A friend of mine jokingly told me that he had already started suspecting a possible re-enactment of what happened recently in South Africa, but whether or not Chief Obasanjo will be interested, or ultimately succeed, in dishing out the Jacob Zuma treatment on his Vice President remains a matter of conjecture.

Publilius Syrus has sensibly cautioned that you must always “learn to see in another’s calamity the ills which you should avoid”. Therefore, rather than indulging in the fantasy rhetoric that Nigeria cannot forge ahead at the expiration of the current administration’s constitutionally approved mandate in 2007, the former Ambassador should be more concerned with how he can convince his boss on the need to avoid the ignominious fate that has befallen those before him who have towed a similar line in the past. Indeed, history has shown time and again that even if we may, on the surface, appear grossly incapable of halting this seemingly unstoppable third term train, we can still take solace in the fact that whenever God desires to terminate the earthly sojourn of any individual, no matter how highly placed, millions of Greg Mbadiwes will not be in a position to extend it by a millisecond.

An example that readily comes to mind is the late General Sani Abacha, who suddenly departed even before he realized his mortal obsession. Others, such as Houphouet Boigny of Cote D’Ivoire and Gnassinbge Eyadema of Togo, whose names became synonymous with their respective countries at one stage, also had to leave the scene eventually despite a series of seemingly endless extensions of their presidential mandates via illegal constitutional amendments. Even absolute monarchs such as the late Kings Hassan and Hussein of Morocco and Jordan respectively, and recognised nation builders like King Sa’ud, who not only founded his country, Saudi Arabia, but also lent his own name to it, had to answer the divine call in the end, and their various countries are still marching on to their respective manifest destinies without them. Ambassador Mbadiwe should thus save his breath and stop wasting his precious time in crafting empty justifications for his unjustifiable position. He must also bear in mind that the nation has survived the likes of Daniel Kanu of the Youth Earnestly Ask for Abacha (YEAA) fame who, just like he is trying to do now, was also guilty of what the renowned leadership expert and celebrated author of the international bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey, described as being buried in the thick of thin things, as the self-styled arrow head of the botched Abacha self-succession project.

In conclusion, one could not help being amused at Mbadiwe’s funny argument in the Saturday Sun to the effect that the interest of the polity would be better served if a minimum of two additional years was added to Obasanjo’s tenure to enable him lay the foundation (emphasis mine) for the effective take-off of a new constitution. My immediate reaction to that would be to ask this ‘distinguished’ politician of rare intellect to kindly explain to the entire nation in simple terms whether the last six years were spent in clearing the forest and sand-filling the spot on which this so-called solid foundation will now be laid. If, as Dele Sobowale surmised in his Sunday Vanguard column, Frankly Speaking, Mr. President had chosen, out of his own free will, to spend the greater part of his two-term mandate some “40,000 feet above; where he has been living since 1999” and, in the process, conveniently forgot to tackle important domestic issues, is it too much then to insist that he leaves the scene to allow Nigerians elect someone with more interest in local issues to govern us at the expiration of his final mandate? My closing words to Ambassador Mbadiwe, in addition to requesting him to assist us in conveying our collective gratitude to his boss for the landmark debt cancellation his often criticized frequent trips abroad and painful economic reform programme have secured for the nation, would be to plead with him to also help us get Mr. President’s response this all-important question: If we all promise to miss him, will he please go away after May 29, 2007?

Abdullahi Usman

(September 5, 2005)