A President And
His Ambitious Daughter
samndaisaiah@yahoo.com
For about a year now, the president’s kids have graced the front pages
of Nigeria’s newspapers, and for all the wrong reasons for that matter.
Since the First Republic of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, there has been
no president that allowed the intrusion into our lives by his children
like President Obasanjo. Not even General Abacha’s children who till
date are still haunted by the president. It is either some of them are
accompanying a presidential aspirant to pick up presidential nomination
forms, or some of them actually picking Goodluck Jonathan as the PDP
vice presidential candidate in return for some favours.
Abacha’s children may have been involved in multibillion naira
businesses, but none of them dared nominate a presidential or vice
presidential candidate in the days of their father. And even in big
business, the president’s children are not doing badly at all, as they
can match the Abacha kids dollar for dollar, pound for pound and yen for
yen. It is either they own oil blocks as partners in some businesses, or
they are purchasing high-profile properties in the United States or they
are “helping” to bring Virgin into Nigeria. Unlike their father, these
presidential kids know that time is against them and they, therefore,
must make hay while the sun shines.
But today, I am particularly concerned about Dr Iyabo Obasanjo, the
president’s politician eldest daughter. She became a commissioner in
Governor Gbenga Daniel’s government in 2003 by the grace of her father.
Gov. Daniel saw the appointment of Iyabo as commissioner as a fitting
appreciation to the man who rigged him into the Ogun State Governor’s
Lodge. It was after this that Iyabo started seeing herself as somewhat
invincible. Suddenly she started visualising herself as a senator of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. If her father, with whom she has a striking
resemblance, could make someone else who didn’t win his senatorial
election the Senate president, how easy it would be to make his own
daughter a senator. And If he zones the Senate presidency to the South
West, then, she could in fact become Nigeria’s next No. 3, the Senate
president. It doesn’t matter that he had zoned the chairmanship of the
board of trustees of his party to himself permanently. As First
Daughter, Iyabo has sneaked into a few Federal Executive Council (FEC)
meetings just to have a feel of power. Nothing qualifies her to sit in a
FEC meeting. Abacha’s kids didn’t go that far.
While nurturing her senatorial ambition, rumours started making the
rounds that Fola Adeola, the founder and moving spirit behind the very
highly successful Guaranty Trust Bank, was making moves to contest the
same senatorial seat with her. Suddenly, Iyabo lost her balance and
started talking like someone with a high fever. In an interview she
granted the Daily Sun sometime last year, she said (in reference to
Fola) that nobody could take the Senate seat from her. She said she was
the one that worked so hard for the office and therefore the only one
that would get it. She spoke throughout the interview in a threatening
language that was meant to send a message to Fola. She spoke like a
spoilt brat baby about to be deprived of a valued toy. One thing led to
the other and, before anyone knew it, the president had sacked Fola as
the group managing director of Transcorp and the chairman of Pensions
Commission of Nigeria (PenCom). Unfortunately, that was all that was
required to frighten the former Guaranty Trust Bank boss out of the
senatorial race.
Of course, Iyabo got the PDP ticket easily, on her way to becoming the
Senate president since her father had zoned the office to her and there
was no chance that her name would ever appear on any EFCC list, and even
if it did, like the case of Gov. Segun Agagu, Senator Ibrahim Mantu,
and others in Baba’s favour books, the president would have quickly
expunged it. All her opponents were politely advised to step down for
her. In any case, every aspirant no matter how qualified or ambitious
kept off the Ogun Central senatorial seat anyway. It is rude to want an
office coveted by the First Daughter.
But one stubborn man refused to step down. He is Lanre Tejuoso, the
urbane prince of Egbaland, who considers himself more thoroughbred than
Iyabo. Tejuoso is the ANPP senatorial candidate for Ogun Central, the
same seat that Iyabo wants, but the prince is more popular than her.
About a fortnight ago, some guests paid an unscheduled visit to the
hotel he was staying in Abeokuta. They bore automatic rifles and they
introduced themselves as assassins. They spoke the Yoruba language
throughout. In fright, he offered them the N2 million cash that was with
him, mistaking them for armed robbers. They told the candidate that they
were not armed robbers and that they belonged to the nobler profession
of assassins. Nonetheless, they took N200,000 out of the money, shot him
in the head and left him for dead. But as I said, this Tejuoso is very
stubborn. Just like he refused to step down when every other person was
stepping down with their tails between their legs, he has also
stubbornly refused to die. He is currently overseas undergoing
treatment, where he remains till date instead of campaigning. Obviously,
his adversaries are not happy he has cheated death, so his name found
its way into the EFCC list of discredited candidates. And one wonders
why, since the prince has never worked in the public sector within
Nigeria and is not even a government contractor. He earns his money
outside Nigeria and he has never been found wanting by any government.
I am not fingering anyone as responsible for the attempted assassination
but it is obvious that it is that “nest of killers within the ruling
party”, as asserted by Wole Soyinka that is responsible. It is the same
nest of killers that killed Marshal Harry, Bola Ige, Aminasoari Dikibo,
and possibly Funso Williams that now desires to eliminate Tejuoso. And
as we all know, none of these deaths has been resolved; and for Tejuoso,
I am not even sure anyone is currently investigating the assassination
attempt.
The president might have successfully rigged the 2003 elections, but
this year he faces the greatest rigging challenge of his life. He might
just be about finding out that famous grit and resilience that the
Nigerian is known for!
**********
Earshot:
No, Mr. President,
You Don’t Have Such Powers…
Last week, a list purported to be from the EFCC containing names of
those who should not be allowed to contest elections was released to the
press. But for those who know better, that list is more the president’s
list than EFCC’s list. If not, how is it possible that Adebayo
Alao-Akala’s name is missing in the list after Nuhu Ribadu had, barely a
week ago, openly called him a thief? How on earth will names like
Senator Ibrahim Mantu be missing when the FCT minister, Nasiru el-Rufai,
has incontrovertibly proven that he demanded bribes from him in 2003 and
the entire world knows he was involved in sharing third term bribes? Why
should Gov. Agagu’s name be missing? But what is interesting about the
list is that it looks more like a roll call of the president’s enemy
list: Gov. Bola Tinubu, Orji Kalu, Lanre Tejuoso, Ahmed Aruwa, etc all
made the list. The only Action Congress governor, and all ANPP serving
governors, except of course Gov. Adamu Aliero who recently decamped to
the PDP, are listed.
A serving governor like Ali Modu Sheriff was accused of buying thousands
of motorcycles for himself when everyone in the state knows that the
motorcycles are meant to be distributed to civil servants. The governor
had even announced that they would be distributed in the coming days.
Tinubu’s crime is that he has consistently stopped the president from
rigging elections in Lagos. Former Governor Chris Ngige’s name was there
but not those that kidnapped him. But Obasanjo needs to know that the
1999 constitution, which is still subsisting, is a federal constitution
and not a unitary constitution. He or any of his agencies cannot stop
anyone from any other party from contesting. His party can decide whom
to field as candidates, but they can’t do that for other parties. In
fact, only a court or a State House of Assembly can stop a serving
governor from contesting for any office.
No, Mr. President, you don’t have the power to disqualify anyone.