Crowners Of Obasanjo Get Bloody

By

Farouk Martins Aresa

faroukomartins@aim.com

Most political alliances with the North always work out well for our unity mainly from the time of Tafawa Balewa. The Northerners were then known for their modesty and very little greed compared to Southerners. So it was not surprising that during the NPC and NCNC alliance the position of Minister of Finance went to NCNC. So far, our South-south still prefers that alliance with our North. This has served our Country well. Therefore, the North as the South, when in power, has the responsibility to treat those who defy the mainstream politics in their regions and ally with them very well. We may work on this for total agreement on the Niger Delta problem.

When the almighty Ali Baba gave up power after his dance with the 40 thieves, it made way for ants including his son to climb up and bury him alive. Obasanjo first coming was on the back of Murtala Mohamed as a second in command. It was said that he “reluctantly” succeeded him after Dimka coup. There were a series of these reluctant climbs before the Third Term Agenda fizzled.  But like Pakistan, our other dictators know that every dog has its day and their time will come.

Those in the Western part of the Country may be laughing at Obasanjo and wagging fingers that: we told you so. The old North has to be cautious on Obasanjo as some far sighted Northerners have already indicated. Brig. Baban went as far as saying it was cowardly to have given and to strip Obasanjo of his Zuru title only after leaving office. But more important than Obasanjo, is the perception that most of the young Northerners who worked for him have to be dealt with. Some of them have been demoted and others chased out of professional Government positions.

Hastily, it must be added that there is nothing wrong with correcting unusual promotions to be fair to colleagues but there has to be a point of reference. We can go as far back as that of Jack Gowon who Emeka Ojukwu rightly refused to obey or as recently as Okiro, the Chief of Police who once got double promotion and was appointed Chief over the Acting Chief, his senior. The point here is, if we want to apply the rule of law, let us respect the masses’ intelligence. Nobody is indispensable and no position is permanent alright, but blatant arrogance displayed in the days of military is now repeated in Yar’Adua Government positions. Old military vultures are back!

If it was left for the Yoruba, there would be no Obasanjo in the first place. He was crucified and resurrected by many of his friends in the North. That some of the old leaders in the North saw his two terms in office as a sell out and now condemn him after protecting them makes one wonder about what else they wanted from him. There is no sympathy for Obasanjo in the West unless you want to be fooled by the call from some Oba to leave him alone. It might be an exaggeration that nobody from his household voted for him in 1999 Election but the poll in Ota indicated that.

What may bother many of us is if the only good Yoruba is a dead Yoruba. Ademulegun was very loyal to the Sir Ahmadu Bello until he met his death during the first coup in which the Sardauna also lost his life. In other words he was loyal to the North until his death. Unfortunately, so were Akintola and Abiola at the risk of the wrath of Yoruba main stream that were loyal to Awolowo. If we look at these loyalties positively, we could say they unified Nigeria. In retrospect, many Yoruba are now saying Akintola was right in his stand with the North. To buttress that, our own brothers from the old Eastern part of the Country now adore Akintola rather than Awolowo.

Nigerians are not very tolerant of those who joined parties or alliance formed outside their region. We are all guilty of this as any Southerner or Northerner. For this reason, the only god confirmed Saint from Nigeria, Aminu Kano was not treated well by NPC, neither was Joseph Tarka. It was all politics we can say today but many talikawa and bearer of bad news paid with their lives in the North and in the South. We are no more in that century; we should leave those animosities as ancient history. The reality is that these old habits are still rearing their ugly heads.

There are cries from some old guards that Obasanjo used some Northerners against them as if this was not the same man Yoruba consider a Northerner for all intent and purposes. He did not get to be elected President by the Yoruba, the rest of the Country elected him President in 1999 in spite of the objection of the Yoruba. He could not have served the agenda or interest he was not branded for. There is nothing Yoruba want outside the West; if it is oil Ondo and Lagos have enough and more. If anything, Obasanjo has attracted disrepute to people who survived very well in opposition. Are Yoruba better off now than they were as the only progressive Opposition?

To use Obasanjo years as Yoruba years which the Yoruba see as a wasted opportunity is nothing short of fraud. So whatever it is you see as his lack of delivery, settle it with him and leave others out of it. It was not surprising to Yoruba that Obasanjo always fell out with his friends since he went to formal school up to secondary level at home. What we find unusual are the reasons some of his friends gave for falling out with him in Government. Selfish Avarice!

Danjuma was one of his best friends and has admitted they failed the North as leaders. The South at least, felt disappointed given our potentials. They, just like many others fell out in Government out of greed and oil contracts not out of patriotism. He refused to probe many of them including Babangida and those he probed hated him no less. Many people would see that as a plus that he could allow the probe of those that were so close to him, deny some of them the opportunity to come back as old wrecked politicians or sell privileged oil blocks to foreigners. Reward probers of Obasanjo as well as those of Babangida and Abubarka terms with well deserved promotions.

We all have ethnic cultures in Nigeria and the Yoruba have a saying that no matter how bad a child is, you do not sacrifice him to a lion. Those who want to come in the skin of a lion asking for the head of Obasanjo may be surprised that as much as he is ignored in Yorubaland, he may not be ripe for a sacrifice. The amount of hate pile on him which he deserves is now overflowing grudgingly to his people. They had never been the rulers of Nigeria and Obasanjo’s rule has been an embarrassment to them. Much more was expected from anyone from his neighborhood.

Of course his kinsmen now ridicule him for not learning from his near death sentence in prison and coming back to prove that he was still more Nigerian than anyone else. He wasted his place in history by loosing every constituency he can take comfort in. Indeed, some people contrast him to Babangida who was cunning enough to germinate some business followers, creating some constituencies in his own selfish interest. Where are OBJ beneficiaries hiding?

The behavior of many of us is to get the opportunity to rape the Country as much as we can as reflected in our attitude to our collective, not our individual, children. Coming for Obasanjo in lion’s clothing is like seeking selective capital punishment while the forty thieves go scot free.