Obasanjo's Cross for Democracy

By

Nduka Uzuakpundu

Now that the unblinking opponents of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s alleged third term bid would seem, in the interim, to have carried the day, it is still quite intriguing just what the real import of the failed bid is. When the Ken Nnamani-led Senate voted, recently, against the constitutional amendment bill, the popular refrain was that it was a vote for democracy. The Senators, including their ring-leader, Nnamani, felt that their feat was, doubtless, historical - and could be likened to a Shakespearean asphyxiation of a Tarquinian ambition to wear the crown for the first time, and cling on to it for life, thus, making it, by an indirection, though, a national institution. By one curious thought on a presidential ambition, Nnamani was seen, by an army of admirers, as having defeated Obasanjo - in a mock presidential race. You might just be dead right that Nnamani - with the unflinching support of the anti-third term senators, and every other Nigerian voter and tax-payer - is about the most honourable Igbo - in the Nigerian political firmament - well deserving of leading the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2007 president race. And why not! Nnamani - in an honest recognition of his polished democratic credentials - preferred honour and integrity, in sticking, rigidly, as a principled man, to the demands of his exalted office. Otherwise, if he were to be the unprincipled and unclean kind, he would have, gladly, rooted, inexorably, in for a certain non-governmental organisation called "Senators Earnestly Yearn for Obasanjo".

The flip side - with no less appealing brightness - is Obasanjo conceding victory to democracy in the manner the bill was buried - and not, necessarily, to the band of constitutional rascals and political neophytes in the Senate. Well before the bill was buried, Obasanjo’s aides - including Mrs Remi Oyo, Fani-Kayode, and Information Minister, Frank Nweke Jnr, were, visibly, well at pains, on the BBC, at measured intervals, explaining the unwillingness of Obasanjo to run for a third term. Still, it is meet that Obasanjo be congratulated on his uncharacteristically gracious admission of defeat. That was an Obasanjo - were he to have, stubbornly, let the typical Nigerian character to consume his sense of reason and vision, even at the pains of offending his anti-corruption profile - with near bottomless resources at his disposal, who’d have bribed all the Senators to back the bill. That, again, was an Obasanjo, who’d have taken a cue from the diastema years - thanks to Operation Desert Storm, and thanks, today, to the Niger Delta crisis, China, India and Iraq - by opting for the brazenly wasteful and unclean policy of ‘settlement.’ And, that, with all the harshness of a spineless naira and an astronomical inflationary rate.

As Obasanjo may have realised, the democratic lesson of the failed third term bid lies, in large part, with his abiding with the anti-corruption campaign, as a comprehensive index of his political rectitude.

Nnamani, can equally claim, with a persuasive streak, that he, too, as Mr. President, can fight corruption - perhaps better than Obasanjo has done so far; that, truly, he’s incorruptible. It would have been dirty, had Obasanjo insisted, with the gusto of incumbency, on securing a constitutionally-backed third term - in spite of palpably crushing public opposition. But, it’s becoming, increasingly, doubtful, in retrospect, whether, despite his admission, Obasanjo’s was really interested in a third term. Suppose, on a hypothetical note, that Obasanjo, merely triggered a bogus - even if time-wasting - debate for a bid that couldn’t be substantiated. Suppose, still, that the apparent “victory for democracy” was Obasanjo’s conscious ploy to give Ndigbo - amidst Nnamani’s proven democratic leadership at the Senate - a sorely sought-after, if winning, shot at the presidency, come 2007 - nearly four decades after the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. Was the same “victory for democracy” a pointer to Nnamani’s fervent thinking that there comes a tide in the affairs of men . . . , and so the death of the bill was an opportunity break years of political and democratic injustice, to which the Ndigbo have been subjected, and so rekindle their sense of belonging and belief in the Nigerian nation-state? If it is, care must be taken by Nnamani, the rest of Ndigbo - and other Nigerians, who’ve cheered the eclipse of the third term bill, not to twist the true reading of the “victory for democracy” as a tribal affair. If anything, a concerted effort ought to be made - while thanking Obasanjo for it - to see how best democracy remains a rally point for national cohesion on the basis of social justice. Besides, does it sound persuasive that, the same Obasanjo, who willingly relinquished power in 1979, would have meant all the brouhaha that was the third term bid? If Obasanjo weren’t a true African democrat, would he have allowed the military in him to bulldoze robust local opposition, ignore the demands of the African Peer Review Mechanism (PRM) - and wise counsel from the Bush administration and the New York Times, so as to secure a dubious, constitutional third term? Whatever the response, truth is that Obasanjo, by the “victory for democracy”, is fast polishing his image as one of an institution in the study of leadership and democracy in Africa. By it, he may have gained an insight into the depth of readiness for democracy by Nigerian voters, tax-payers and their elected deputies. More than that, he has brought about a practice: respect for public opinion and rule of law; never to be taken lightly - a gargantuan cross, by Nigeria standard - if democracy is to thrive.

This Obasanjo saying, somewhat indirectly, that he’d have nothing to do with excessive political dribbling and irresponsible electoral chicanery that could not only besmirch his spotless name, but, also, cause massive destruction and erode the country’s credibility - as did the events that led to the June 12 debacle. As far as Obasanjo is concerned, you don’t expect to be taken seriously if you were to link him with excessive political dribbling. That would be most uncharacteristic, and well out of tune. In any case, suppose Obasanjo were to engage all other politicians in a dribbling match, which one of them would take the led? Would their wonky limbs be a match to Obasanjo’s, which are as heavily-muscled like those of a crab? The issue of excessive political dribbling - whichever way Obasanjo would have gone about it - never existed. Truth is that Obasanjo has long lost - during his unprophesied, first coming - the golden opportunity to so do. It was sheer idiocy - for which no apology would now be accepted - on his part, that, in place of handing over power to the Shagari administration, he, stubbornly, refused to say 1979 “is unrealistic.” A clever character; he has suddenly realised, for obvious selfish reasons, that he has to break ranks with the Northern military camp.

Still, it’s arguably, true, that, in all it’s hypothetical and bogus nature, the “victory for democracy” was Obasanjo’s conscious ploy to fatten his profile, as a democrat, who has cheerfully dissociated himself from some East and Southern African leaders, who, tapped deeply into the incumbency factor, and succeeded in amending their countries’ constitutions, thus enabling them to contest for another unmerited term.

Barring the unforeseen, Obasanjo would, willing, leave office in 2007. He may do so, with an indulgent knowing chuckle, that, as it was in post-1979 - when he gladly handed over power to civilians, who, for their mismanagement of an already bad economic situation, made their overthrow by the military rogues inevitable - so shall it be in post-2007. That would be preceded by a near conflagration, structured on multiple ethnic clashes and worsening crisis in the Niger Delta. By then - about June 2012 - Obasanjo would have grown, understandably, too cynical about his democratic legacy. He would be less inclined to take what may appear as his unprophesied, but tantalising, ‘third coming’ seriously - on account of the consuming rot that sees in almost every aspect of the country’s affairs. In his wisdom, as a crafty statesman, he would rather advise his political associates to adopt his ebullient daughter - Iyabo - as the next presidential candidate of their party; in the honest expectation that the fixed, easily-recognised alchemist ‘Obasanjo factor’ would do the trick. And so shall Nigeria have caught up with fleet-footed, record-setting Liberia.