FRIDAY DISCOURSE BY DR. ALIYU TILDE

We Want You Alive, Mr. President

aliyutilde@yahoo.com

 

 

Two weeks ago, in a cartoon that appeared on this page, when the President was challenged over his third term, he said “over my dead body” when challenged on his third term. I trust this newspaper, so I took the cartoon seriously. Again, this week, virtually all our Wednesday papers reported him saying that he is ready to die in protection of our interest: “Everything I do now”, the President declared, “is to protect Nigeria’s interest, and if that will cost me my life, so be it.” Chineke.

 

I am deeply worried that these days Obasanjo is frequently mentioning death. Though there is nothing wrong in contemplating death as a reminder of our inescapable mortality, hearing it frequently from the old man smacks something of premonition, especially an old man who believes he is the wisest and most competent Nigerian. (He claims to be in his sixties, but despite the comfort of Aso Rock, he can be placed well over seventy, though only a certificate of birth could have settled this dispute. Unfortunately, being a villager like myself and born surely in the 1930s, the President may not have any).

 

I am also worried that with the binoculars of age and his position at the base of Aso Rock, the President might be seeing something that other Nigerians who are less endowed cannot see even if they were to climb Aso Mountain and attempt to see what is happening at the Presidential Palace. Is any body threatening the life of the President, for example? We must confess that at least on this matter, Baba knows better than any of us.

 

I do not give much credence to the prophecy of a Bishop in Lagos who said the President will die this year until the Bishop cannot tell us his own death date. But you see, Abacha was many times reported in various ways to swear that only death will make him vacate Aso Rock. And it happened. Leaders do not lie. Ko? And to hear the same words from his successor reawakens our memories and ignites the fear of losing a father who can never be replaced. T his is especially true given the growing similarities between Obasanjo and Abacha, especially on his third term ambition. More importantly, however, is the fact that Obasanjo’s third term architects were the same people who pushed Abacha from ambition, to anxiety, to fear, and – finally – to death. Obasanjo is at stage of fear now. He should please not allow them push him to the last stage.

 

The President must stop this kind of jokes; they could be expensive, not only to Nigeria but also to his chickens at Otta Farm, which are reported to be dying in thousands. (Do not suspect the bird flu virus, though South Africa and Kenya have already banned Otta farm chickens from entering their countries.)

 

If we may ask, what type of Nigeria is the President ready to die for? Is it the Nigeria that he went to war for forty years ago when he was a Major in the military seeking to climb the ladder of his career or the Nigeria of today of which he is a President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces? (Mind you, we must concede here that there are today many forces that are armed in Nigeria and the President, without exception, commands all!). In addition, he is also the chief commande r of PDP, privatisation, oil block allocation, and too many other things.

 

And for God’s sake what type of service is the President talking about? Is it the same service which he rendered forty-five years ago when he joined the military, looking for three square meals, a good canvas, a motorcycle or the benevolent service he is rendering now as the President for seven years, of four circular meals, flowing agbadas and numerous presidential jets, a service for which we must show gratitude and reward with another four years again?

 

I absolutely agree that we can hardly find a Nigerian like the President. There can never be any to whom God has been so benevolent, yet he rewarded God with ingratitude by growing an impervious skin to the suffering of his people, by perpetuating corruption, aggravating poverty, and breaking the oath he took to protect the Constitution.

 

But our concern here is that premature death or assassination may deny us the benefit of some crucial answers to the questions we may ask about his stewardship. It may also turn the President into a hero that he is not. Here too, he will be like Abacha, who suddenly left without tasting the juice of post-presidential life. Obasanjo must survive, to once more taste the sweet life of ex-President. Then, the President will afford to know really what hell Nigerians are living in, with devaluation of their currency to N150 per dollar and in many places petrol sold at N75 per litre in an OPEC country where over 80% of its population are living on less than a dollar per day.

 

In his post-presidential life, Obasanjo will also learn more about the excesses committed after him. When he was calling for a probe last year, we said he should please be patient. Nigerians are not in a hurry to know whether he is corrupt or not. He will read shocking revelations about his government as soon as he leaves office. We Nigerians are very good at that. He will learn how his party, his ministers, his governors and his legislators squandered the wealth of this nation without attracting the sanctions of EFCC.

 

Obasanjo will learn how money has been swindled from states to Otta Farm, as Dariye was saying the other day. Kalu will also come forward remind him of the money that changed hands between them. And so we will he learn from every governor or the public servants who worked under him what contributions they have been making to the people at the centre, what percentages they have been paying back on every federal project executed in their states, and so on.

 

The President himself may wish to know or explain to Nigerians how over N300billion could not be accounted for by the NNPC; how during his first tenure over N400billion allegedly spent on roads disappeared under Tony Anenih; how additional billions were siphoned out of states in the name of his third term project; etc. I am not saying that Baba is guilty o. No at all. As a born-again, he is very innocent. These actions are simply the breach of trust of his subordinates and which he knew nothing about. We are only interested in his survival to see the truth, hear it and tell it, if he has th e courage. The only personal thing we would like to hear from him is how his Otta Farm, which was virtually in state of abandon by 1998 when he came out of prison, turned out to be the most successful agricultural enterprise in Africa immediately after he became President.

 

The worst for Baba will come if he decides to remain alive and fail to shut his mouth, attempting to once again play the role of an elder or statesman. He will soon realise the frustration that leaders in this country, no thanks to the bad examples of their predecessors, have grown ears impervious to advice, a thick skin to our suffering, a fat head for arrogance, a penchant to squander, contempt for merit and a disdain for public. After realising this, he will speak but nobody up there will listen; he will advise but nobody will take it. He will then taste the bitter pi ll we are already used to. As if that is not enough, a special assistant will simply ask him to shut up, as Kayode told Gowon, saying, what has he forgotten at Aso Rock? Another will call him a frustrated person, as his Goubadia told Buhari. And the then President will simply pat him on the back, saying, “You are doing a good job, my son!”

Another frustration to Obasanjo will come if one day we are lucky to have a truly anti-corruption president. Otta farm will be on the probe list and I doubt if it will pass the ethical test of Schedule V of our Constitution. There is no way how multi-billion naira development on that farm could be accounted for by the legitimate earnings of the President in the past seven years or even before then. Remember the library issue? Some vets may also be bold enough then to tell us the miracle that prevented the inf ection of his chickens by the bird flu virus.

 

Then another shocker will come to the President when he tries to exercise his constitutional rights to freedom of association and movement. By dying early, Abacha saved himself the difficulty which surviving corrupt ex-presidents are suffering from. They cannot move freely, neither can they associate at will. They are forced by their evil records to live in confinement. Whenever they have to travel, that must be done in utmost secrecy; they are pelted with stones and abuses at every social gathering. They are living in perpetual fear that their lives are at risk: the fear of what they did to others when they were cruising the jet of leadership. They hired at will and fired with impunity. The same fate awaits Obasanjo. He will be surprised at how he will be treated after his presidency. His past recor d aside; even in the Southwest the ghost of Bola Ige will rise to cause him enough pain. Perhaps, he will only confine himself to Otta farm or that portion of it which remain his. That is under the assumption that he is not returned to prison to share apartments with Bamaiyi and al-Mustapha.

 

He may not find succour overseas for another ambush will be in the waiting there. He is likely to be abandoned by his Anglo-American masters, the way they traditionally abandon the agents who served their neo-colonial interest for life time. They are too many to count here and I doubt very much if Obasanjo will not be an exception. In their logic, three people can keep a secret only when two of them are dead. They guard their secrets very well, if I will assure the President. The casualty in this relationship is pretty obvious.

 

For this and many other reasons, we want Obasanjo alive. So, long live the President and Commander in Chief of all the different kinds of armed forces in Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

 

Sorry I forgot two other possibilities: sudden natural death or suicide. While we pray to God to prevent the former, we will urge the President never to contemplate the latter. No matter the stress of office or the anxiety of a third term, suicide is not the best. Besides and especially for a born-again, it is criminal. Life is sacred. We want you alive, Mr. President.

 

Bauchi

3 March 2006