The
Obasanjo Enigma: Absolutely No Third-Term Ambition
By
Chika
Onyeani
Afrstime@aol.com
(Snippett: In the 45-year history of Nigeria, the North has ruled the
country for 36 years out of that 45. Those 36 years have been years of
all kinds of turmoil in the country, of incredible wastage of the
country’s resources, specifically the billions of oil revenue generated by
the country’s oil sector, of one northern military man taking over from
another northern military man. In any sane society, the leaders of the
north rather than clamoring for a return of the presidency back to the
north as President Obasanjo’s last four-year term comes to an end in 2007,
should say to themselves - listen we made a mess of the country for 36
years. Nigeria stagnated for 36 years, we didn’t create any
infrastructure and those infrastructure that were in existence were
allowed to rut. In effect, we wasted the billions of dollars generated in
another part of the country - the South-South - which is bearing the brunt
of our mismanagement. We need to give up our quest for the presidency in
2007. When it comes to third-terms any way, the north should do the math:
Tafawa Balewa 6 years, Yakubu Gowon 9 years, Shehu Shagari 4 years,
Ibrahim Babangida 8 years, Sani Abacha 5 years, plus short years and
period of Muhammadu Buhari and Murtala Mohammed - 36 years for the north,
9 years for the south. Come on now, doesn't the south deserve at least a
modicum of balance in this equation?).
In the last few weeks, a lot has been going on in Nigeria to warrant keen
observers of the country to either roll their eyes or proclaim, what's new
or what did you expect anyway. Nigeria is Africa's most populous country,
with the population approaching almost 135 million people. The country
gained its independence from Britain in 1960, and since then it has been
ruled mostly by military despots for 29 years out of the 45 years of its
independent existence. In the last six years, Nigeria has been
experimenting with a civilian democratic governance under a former
military leader, President Olusegun Obasanjo. Since winning a second
four-year term, Obasanjo has made the fight against corruption a priority
of his administration; whether he is winning the fight is purely a
different matter though there are few indications to argue for pro or con
as to how successful he has been at it.
Nigeria has recently been riveted by the escape of a governor of one of
the states in Nigeria, from London, Britain, who was under surveillance by
the British Metropolitan Police. The governor, Chief Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha, had been charged in Britain with money laundering on
September 15, but after 67 days in London, escaped disguised as a woman
and returned to Nigeria, where he promptly resumed his office as Governor
of the oil-rich Bayelsa State of Nigeria. "As he drove into town, the
streets were lined with crowds of people waving white handkerchiefs and
jubilating," said reports that emanated from the State. The British had
alleged that they caught Chief Alamieyeseigha with £1.2 million. With his
escape, Alamieyeseigha stands to forfeit not only this amount but as well
as the £10 million in assets he had pledged as collateral for his bail.
Of course, this is not the first time that a Nigerian governor has escaped
from Britain, after also being charged with money laundering. Governor
Joshua Dariye from the Plateau State of Nigeria, was originally quizzed by
police for money laundering allegations involving another £1 million. He
returned to Nigeria and resumed his gubernatorial duties as well. The
Nigerian constitution guarantees immunity to governors while in office.
With Governor Alamieyeseigha's return, the Obasanjo government's hands are
tied as they cannot prosecute him, as he enjoys immunity.
Then, there is the case of the country's former police chief Tafa Balogun,
who was arrested and charged with stealing more than $300 million. Last
week, he pleaded guilty to eight counts of corruption. He was sentenced
to only six months in prison and asked to pay $30,000 fine.
You would have thought that with all these, that President Obasanjo has a
full load on his plate. But the more explosive issue of whether Obasanjo
is to run for a third-term has gripped the nation. Constitutionally,
Obasanjo is restricted to two four-year terms. This issue first caught
Nigerians by surprise when Obasanjo spoke at Transparency International in
Berlin, in which he hinted that some unknown individuals in Nigeria were
pressuring him to run for a third-term. Since then, the movement towards
allowing him to run for a third-term has been gathering momentum, with a
cacophony of the usual sycophantic Nigerians leading the way, especially
members of the Igbo national group in Nigeria.
The shameless and despicable role being played by the Igbo in being in the
forefront of championing this cause has become a unique role for them;
they don’t seem to believe there is any serving president who should not
perpetually continue in office, whether it was Babangida, Abacha, and now
President Obasanjo. The Igbo seem to have lost all manners of self
dignity since the end of the Biafran-Nigerian war, becoming the most
sycophantic group in the history of Nigeria.
Certainly, President Obasanjo hasn’t done anything to encourage this
third-term movement, except keep quiet. He needs to come out forcefully
and douse the fire. He hasn’t anything to gain by running for a
third-term; in fact, he has a lot to loose in the sense of the legacy he
may want to leave. Obasanjo understands the role he has come to embody in
the international arena, first as a leader of the Africa group, having
been re-elected to the chairmanship of the African Union, a feat only he
has achieved. He is one of the architects of the new Africa, and the
constitutive charter of the Union, which not only encourages good
governance, but abhors and frowns on those leaders who twist the arms of
their legislators or people to amend constitutions to allow them run for
more terms than their constitutions would allow, in the mode of Compaore
of Burkina Faso and Museveni of Uganda. Obasanjo should do everything to
distance himself from such renegade leaders, who believe without them
their countries would go to the dogs or that Africa would no longer be
Africa, though their countries as well as Africa were in existence before
they were born and Africa would be in existence after they have gone. The
Idi Amins, the Sergeant Does, the Mobutu Sese Sekos, the Emperor Bokassas,
the Sani Abachas, all have gone down this ignoble road of history, but
guess what, their respective countries are still functioning, which should
give some food for thought for people like Museveni of Uganda.
A legacy which is always constantly mentioned as unique to Obasanjo is
that of having been the first military man in the history of Nigeria, to
have handed power peacefully to a democratically-elected civilian
government in 1979. General Abdulsalami Abubakar paved the way for a
transition from military to a democratically elected government - that of
Obasanjo in 1999 - and the legacy President Obasanjo should want to be
known in the world should be that of the President who engineered the
first-ever peaceful transition from a civilian administration to another
democractically elected civilian administration.
Mind you, the sycophants who are clamoring for an Obasanjo third-term
presidency are not totally without merit in seeking for the third-term.
We are always afraid of the unknown, but a country should not be paralysed
into making a wrong decision because of fear. Just imagine how Americans
felt after the assassination of President John Kennedy. Just imagine the
fear expressed by the North in Nigeria about not leading the country,
that’s being the Head of State/President of Nigeria. Yet, America
continued to function after Kennedy, and Nigeria has not gone to the dogs
or disappeared because the north doesn’t have an individual as President
of the country. While Nigeria hasn’t progressed much from being the ideal
country we would all like for her to be, there is no doubt that there are
areas which Obasanjo’s actions have been quite impactful. Of course,
Nigeria still has a long way to go, so is the United States, the Soviet
Union, China, India and even the European countries. We have to learn to
take the baby steps at a time.
So, what is this enigma that is President Olusegun Obasanjo that’s keeping
everybody on their toes, guessing as to what he really wants to do despite
all those clamoring for him to run for a third-term? To my knowledge,
Obasanjo hasn’t come out to say, yes, I am running for a third term.
Now, if we were to take into consideration the 45-year history of Nigeria,
we can understand President Obasanjo’s reticence in leaving everybody as
to his actions.
In the 45-year history of Nigeria, the North has ruled the country for 36
years out of that 45. Those 36 years have been years of all kinds of
turmoil in the country, of incredible wastage of the country’s resources,
specifically the billions of oil revenue generated by the country’s oil
sector, of one northern military man taking over from another northern
military man. In any sane society, the leaders of the north rather than
clamoring for a return of the presidency back to the north as President
Obasanjo’s last four-year term comes to an end in 2007, should say to
themselves - listen we made a mess of the country for 36 years. Nigeria
stagnated for 36 years, we didn’t create any infrastructure and those
infrastructure that were in existence were allowed to rut. In effect, we
wasted the billions of dollars generated in another part of the country -
the South-South - which is bearing the brunt of our mismanagement. We
need to give up our quest for the presidency in 2007. When it comes to
third-terms any way, the north should do the math: Tafawa Balewa 6 years,
Yakubu Gowon 9 years, Shehu Shagari 4 years, Ibrahim Babangida 8 years,
Sani Abacha 5 years, plus short years and period of Muhammadu Buhari and
Murtala Mohammed - 36 years for the north, 9 years for the south. Come on
now, doesn't the south deserve at least a modicum of balance in this
equation?
The only parts of the country which have not ruled Nigeria are the South
East and South South. I might be opening a ‘Pandora’s box’ here, as the
saying goes, but I have to say what is on my mind. The Igbo of the
South-East should not overly be enthusiastic about the presidency come
2007. It is not that we don’t deserve the presidency, but the Igbo need
to do a thorough soul-searching of themselves - why they are no longer the
Igbo that other Nigerians used to fear, why there is utter confusion in
the Igbo modus operandi. The Igbo lost the war, yes, but there has never
been a time the Igbo have sat down to reflect on what brought about the
war, why they lost the war, what has happened in the 35 years since the
end of the war, and the future for the Igbo in today’s Nigerian body
politic. We seem to be a totally confused people without an effective
leader. Mind you, I am a great admirer of and have the greatest and
deepest respect for General Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu, to me he’s a hero of
the Igbo. He led the Igbo at the most difficult time of their need. At
age 72, though, General Ojukwu is not the leader the Igbo need at the
present time to move the Igbo forward, that’s in terms of whether they
secure the presidency or not. But we must continue to accord him the
greatest respect as an icon and as a symbol of what the Igbo is all
about. He needs to continue to be the kingmaker. Of course, the legend
of Zik can never be surpassed.
The Igbo clamored for the creation of states - today, they have five
states. Yet, in the years since the creation of these states, the South
East remains as barren as it has been since the death of Dr. Michael
Okpara - marginalized by its own dubious leaders. The much vaunted
ingenuity of the Igbo is nowhere to be found in the states of the South
East. During the Biafran-Nigerian war, the Igbo knew how to build the
weapons they needed to fight Nigeria, they knew how to produce the food
they needed after being embargoed; the Igbo knew pride which they seem to
have forgotten, shouting marginalization every time, rather than looking
in the mirror and seeing who is marginalizing them.
Yes, we need to curb our 2007 presidential ambitions as a matter of our
magnanimity; it is not because we lost the war or that we are not
qualified or don’t deserve it, but out of the fact that we need to put our
house in order, and because right now even if an Igbo were to become
president of Nigeria, and because of our insecurity, the first thing
he/she would do is forget that he is Igbo. He would, as the Igbo is wont
to do, become more patriotic, more nationalistic and most anti-Igbo cause,
which would make that president a nobody to the Igbo. Of course, no no
area of the country is ever ready to produce a president; the north has
never been ready, the west was not ready, yet these two areas have
produced Nigeria's presidents. However, what I am saying here is that if
we started now putting our house in order, by the year 2015, we should be
more than ready to say to Nigeria with confidence devoid of insecurity,
yes, see what we have done with the five states, we need to translate the
same miracle of budgeoning economy, of having stopped the Igbo from being
the nomads of Nigeria and translate that to the rest of the country. At
that time, the Igbo can say to the rest of Nigeria, it is up to you
whether you want us to have an Igbo as President of Nigeria, but if not,
we are ready to continue to do what we are doing for ourselves.
I therefore have no doubt that the Obasanjo enigma can be seen from his
need to have an equitable society. I am sure today that President
Olusegun Obasanjo would do a somersault if the three main groups in
Nigeria - the Hausa-Fulanis, the Igbo, and the Yorubas, were to come to
him and say: Mr. President, we thank you for the great job you have done
for our country. We also want an equitable society. We want the group
that has never ruled Nigeria - the South-South - to produce the next
President of Nigeria. This group has not only suffered incredible
hardship but has been victimized and denied enjoying the resources of
their land. We need to correct that, it is only equitable, Mr. President
we the three megolomaniac groups want to step back and let the South South
produce the next President of Nigeria in 2007. That is the kind of
civilian to civilian democratically elected government Obasanjo would be
happy to leave as a legacy.
The North should as a matter of enlightenment forget the presidency come
2007; the South East should also do the same - afterall the South-South
is more or less part of the South East and the Igbo need to demonstrate to
their eastern brothers and sisters their commitment to equitable
justice. Obasanjo wants an equitable Nigeria. The South-South cannot
continue to provide more than 90% of Nigeria’s revnue and be denied the
rulership of the country, as represented by the presidency. Those who are
clamoring for Obasanjo’s third-term should forget it; they need to know
that he is not a fool, and wants to leave his legacy intact.
So the enigma that is President Olusegun Obasanjo is an equitable Nigeria
- a third-term does not figure in the equation.
Chika Onyeani is the author of the book, “Capitalist Nigger: The
Road to Success,” No.1 Bestselling Business Book in the whole of Africa,
as well as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the award-winning African Sun
Times. Onyeani is a Fellow of the New York Times Institute of
Journalists, and his new book, a novel - “The Broederbond Conspiracy,”
will come out before March, 2006. He is the host of the popular radio
program, "StraightTalk with Chika Onyeani on the AllAfricaRadio." Onyeani
is a sort after speaker, and is constantly interviewed by radio stations,
including recently Voice of America (11-29-05), BBC (British Broadcasting
Corporation - 12-4-04), Jim Blassingame's National Radio Show (12-6-05).
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