Between Obasanjo and Gbenga, Who is Insane? By Alhaji Abdallah Mailafia Sha’ibu
A very long time ago I read an interesting
article in which the writer tried to dissect the problems of Nigeria. He
opined that bad leadership is the bane of Nigeria’s woes and that good
leadership will continue to elude us so long as we continue to have
madmen in positions of authority. He concluded the piece by suggesting
that our leaders be subjected to psychiatric test before they are
allowed to assume the mantle of leadership.
That writer was of the view that most of
our leaders are insane but either because we are preoccupied with
worshipping them for material benefits or we can not own up and tell
them to their faces, we continue to behave as if everything is ok.
Honestly speaking, I cannot but agree with the writer in totality. Most
of our leaders are not in their right frame of minds. Insanity or
madness as it is popularly known in this part of the continent is not
only when a man dangles his JT in stark nakedness, in a marketplace with
dreadlock and eating from dustbins. Far from it! Madness can manifest
itself in different forms.
When the sex scandal of Obasanjo broke
out, two things came to my mind. One, some people are going to say that
is a family affair which must be settled at Otta. Two, others are going
to label Gbenga as insane who must be taken to Aro Mental Hospital for
immediate treatment. True to my prediction, those things came to pass.
The PDP Garrison Commander depicted the mess as a family affair. General
Adeyinka Adebayo (retd) captured my thoughts in his reaction to the
scandal rocking the Obasanjo family. He concluded that it is Obasanjo,
and not Gbenga who should be asking for a DNA test to determine Gbenga’s
paternity. It must be said here that there are some people who do not
require DNA to determine their paternity. Gbenga Obasanjo is one of such
rare gems just as can be said of Kola Abiola. And Iyabo too.
It can also be said that Gbenga does not
appear as someone who is not mentally stable. Obasanjo would have
behaved the same way, or worse, if he had caught his father pants down
with his wife. Gbenga is merely behaving as a true son of his father. It
would be recalled that when, in the rage of feud between Obasanjo and
his erstwhile deputy Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Gbenga took on the latter
and instead of rebuking him, Obasanjo proudly announced that Gbenga had
proved that he was his true son. No son or wife of Atiku, not even his
distant family members got involved in the fight throughout the time it
lasted. And no one accused Gbenga of insanity then.
Certain things can not be overlooked.
Obasanjo has not denied in strong terms the allegations of incest
leveled against him. Gbenga’s father-in-law has also not denied the part
of the story that concerned him. Moji did not deny the allegations
initially. Those that are making the denials on behalf of the Obasanjo
family are those that would have retired to their bedrooms when in those
good days Obasanjo, wrapped in his evening gown, torchlight in hand,
caressing Moji’s private garden in one of his numerous guest chalets at
Aso Rock. If it’s such an easy thing to defend a culprit, then Obasanjo
can go to sleep as many of his apologists would rise up to his defence.
For those who know the man Obasanjo very
well, they can almost not vouch for him in certain things. If your wife
or daughter, no matter the age, is allowed to go near him, you may have
more than you bargained for. During the same Obasanjo/Atiku debacle
Nigerians were made to understand that some women got car gifts and
other material benefits from Obasanjo for undisclosed reasons. A
notable female minister was said to have been showed the gate out of Aso
Rock for her refusal to bulge to Baba’s animalistic demands. That was
the one we heard of. Only God knows what other ‘recalcitrant’ women
suffered in his hands.
A man who was alleged to have slept with
most of the female ministers and aides, married or widowed, young or
old, that served under his government can be said to be insane. A man
who gesticulated publicly and told his wife that he had sacked her boy
friend from his cabinet can be said to be insane. What can we say of a
man who loses count of his children, wives and mistresses? Insanity may
not be far from him. The same can be said of a man who would drive his
son’s car and intentionally bashed it on the wall of his residence just
to make the young chap feel what he (the father) felt car years back
when his son dented his car.
And to be fair to Gbenga, the ‘incest’ was
not manufactured by him. Even though it is totally abhorred in the
African society, it is common knowledge that this ugly trend continues
to rear its head in some parts of our land. There is even a Yoruba word
i.e. aure used to describe the reason for this ignoble act. It is
associated with cultists and Baba has at various times been accused of
belonging to one secret society or the other. One sincerely hopes that
the little girl was not charmed into doing all these things.
To me, Gbenga is sane but I can not say
the same about Obasanjo. Even if certain behaviours of Gbenga portray
him as insane, methinks he is merely behaving true to type. He is what
can truly be referred to as ‘the son of his father.’ If at the end of
the day Gbenga is able to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt, it is
the accused, and not the accuser, that should be considered insane.
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