Why Obasanjo Must Be Kicked Out of Aso Villa

By

Babayola Toungo

babayolatoungo@yahoo.co.uk

 

The recently concluded population census that never was must convince all remaining doubting Thomases as to the desirability of shoving Obasanjo out of Aso Villa even if it means using all the available earth moving equipment at the disposal of Julius Berger. Left to me, the Villa should be razed down, using the excuse of “restoring Abuja masterplan”, for us to do away with any residual bad karma that may linger after we might have succeeded in dragging Obasanjo away from our national life.  This is somebody who has messed up almost everything he touched from 1999, including the fragile unity of the country.  The 2006 population and housing census is a replica of the 2003 presidential election in every material sense, with all the attendant fraud and rigging never seen in the annals of the country’s history.

 

The same Obasanjo that was foisted on a nation brutally scarred by the vagaries of military dictatorship; who was touted as a candidate you can “trust”, has done everything humanly possible to tear the country apart just to satisfy his personal vendetta on some sections of the country; the same man that was rammed down our throats by people that lost out from May 29th, 1999, with the hope and the prayer of the country to help knit back the country to a semblance of a nation before it was  nearly torn apart by the annulment of the June 12th, 1993 elections, turn out to be the same man that is willing and ready to superintend the dissolution of the union of disparate component parts of the Nigerian federation.  The same man that most Nigerians will play our own Mandela by helping to heal the wounds inflicted on our collective psyche by the military ruling class; turn out to be no better than P. W. Botha, that arch racist.

 

Obasanjo has bungled almost everything that he came into contact with; name it the Electoral Act of 2002 that was forged; his vaunted anti-corruption that has turned into a witch-hunt; even the much trumpeted success in the telecommunication industry that has turned out to be a monumental rip-off for poor Nigerians; or the privatisation exercise that looks like a blueprint of the most despicable form of nepotism and abuse of office anywhere in the world.  Nigeria’s privatisation is simply the transfer of our national patrimony to those that wine and dine with Obasanjo, all the so-called ‘Due Process’ to the contrary.  The very amorphous Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) which is neither national nor trans-national is the vehicle that Obasanjo is using to perpetrate this day light robbery on Nigerians.

 

Obasanjo is scared that the atrocities he commits with increasing frequency will hound him back to jail, so the escalating desperation to muzzle out all remnants of opposition to his scam called constitutional amendment.  The recent wave of police stopping political rallies and public lectures is taking a very dangerous dimension.  It happened at the ABU Zaria to Chief Sunday Awoniyi and Umar Ghali Na’Abba; it happened to ACD members who congregated in Dutse to launch their party in the state – the gathering included top politicians like Abubakar Rimi, Bashir Dalhatu, etc.; it happened to Katsina elders with General Muhammadu Buhari in attendance; it again happened at the Ladi Kwali hall when another meeting of like minds like General Buhari, two former Inspectors General of Police and some members of the national assembly tried to meet and brainstorm on how to move the nation forward and nurture democracy to fruition.  The likes of Mantu are ever free to come together to wine, dine and plot on the best ways to destroy the nation, but not those who should come together with the expressed intention of moving the country forward.

 

The tactics of Obasanjo reminds one of the late, lamented General Sani Abacha, who in his desire to transmute to a civilian president ensured the emasculation of any form of opposition no matter how insignificant it was.  A am sure the Abacha political locust years are too recent for us to forget and allow a would be despot take us back to the stone age because his mind still functions like that of a twelve century Brazilian hunter.  The Frankensteinisation of our democracy to resemble a half-baked military rule should be resisted to the last drop of blood from all those who love Nigeria.  Obasanjo and his foot soldiers shouldn’t be allowed to drag us into their nether world.  These same people that are egging Obasanjo to continue were at the forefront of pushing Abacha to his grave because of the undue pressure they were piling on the late Infantry General – men like Tony Anenih, Ojo Maduekwe and the rest of the crowd minus Daniel Kanu, who it appears has lost out in the power struggle within the group.

 

The so-called organised private sector – our modern day robber barons - is another group that has a lot to lose should Obasanjo cease to be the president of Nigeria.  These people have so raided our collective patrimony with aplomb that they are beginning to think Nigeria belongs to them and that they can do with as they deem fit and to hell with us the mere mortals.  The Fani Kayodes of the Presidency have been giving the standard excuse that Obasanjo at no time ever told anybody he was going to stay beyond 2007 – Abacha never did but it was the same people now denying that Obasanjo has any hidden agenda that cried the loudest about Abacha’s imputed transmutation ambition.

 

For the first time in seven years Atiku Abubakar chose to be on the side of the people of Nigeria, even though I believe it is a survival strategy.  He is therefore fair game to the loud mouth of the Villa, who believed all Nigerians are illiterates and therefore susceptible to semantics.  The guy with the funny cap and the other one with the Hitler moustache are getting to repeat themselves and their excuses worn out.

 

I know Atiku might be exploiting the anti-third term sentiments sweeping across the nation, particularly the northern part of the country, to regain his lost ground.  Atiku has succeeded in alienating all shades of people and interests group on behalf of Obasanjo in the last seven years.  He has lost out virtually everywhere including his immediate backyard – Adamawa State.  The current struggle to stop Obasanjo plunging the country into chaos and anarchy in his mad desire to die in office is a God given opportunity for Atiku to regain his grip on the PDM structure that he lost in his ill-advised desire to make his colleagues in the movement irrelevant.  Today many believe he is a rallying point for the anti-third term crusaders.  I don’t begrudge him - for now.  But two people earned my respect in this regard – Governors Boni Haruna and Abdullahi Kure for their firm stand against this infamy.  Somebody tried to belittle Boni’s loyalty to Atiku but I don’t see it that way.  To some people, loyalty can only go so far – Boni is to be a beneficiary to any tenure elongation or extension, but he decided to fight it for reasons best known to him.  What we see is a concerted effort to checkmate the likes of Paul Wampana and other jokers from the North East sub-region who are hell bent on seeing to the emergence of Obasanjo in 2007 as President of Nigeria.

 

For Senator Paul Wampana, an otherwise distinguished and honourable man, to allow his political disagreement with Atiku and Boni to spill on to the national scene, must be the nadir of his illustrious political career spanning almost three decades.  Whatever the faults of the duo, they are now on the side of the political, be it for selfish or altruistic reasons, particularly Boni Haruna who came out forcefully to condemn Obasanjo’s cowardly sleight of hand political shenanigans.   I have repeatedly said at different fora that I would never be on the same side of the fence with either of the two – but am forced to for the moment.  Whatever political differences we may have in Adamawa should be subsumed in this wider political warfare.

 

The fascists bent Obasanjo and his nincompoops are taking should be of a subject for concern to be addressed by Senator Wampana and his group.  A meeting that was attended by a former Head of State, two former Inspectors General of Police and members of the National Assembly should in no way constitute public nuisance or disturbance.  So for any sane person in a democratic dispensation to stop such a meeting will be the zenith of irresponsibility.  Obasanjo and his cohorts are baring their fascists and dictatorial fangs by stopping all activities and activists that are against the grain of his third term ambition.  But they should be rest assured that this is a moving train that may mow all those foolhardy enough to stand on its path.  GO OBASANJO, YOU MUST!!!