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The
Obasanjo U-Turn-By
Reuben Abati
The Guardian Sun March 6,2011
General Obasanjo (pix Guardian)
FORMER Nigerian President, General Olusegun Obasanjo gathered
journalists together at his Hilltop Abeokuta residence on
Friday, to disown the claim that he had called for a fresh round
of do or die politics in 2011. According to him, he merely sang
a song in Yoruba which the reporters translated wrongly. “You
people in the press, you must be deliberately ignorant,
misinformed, uneducated or mischievous,” the old man who turned
74 (!) yesterday thundered. Obasanjo is probably the most
reported Nigerian alive today. He owes the popularity of his
persona to the Nigerian mass media whose editors and reporters
love to quote him at him every turn, in and out of office.
Obasanjo himself knows how to tickle the media with his unending
repertoire of wise cracks and antics.
But hardly has he ever shown due respect for the contributions
of the media to the making of the Obasanjo persona, or even to
the country’s development process, rather at every possible
opportunity, he abuses journalists: he either says we are worse
than dogs or that we are “ignorant, misinformed, uneducated or
mischievous”. Well, to borrow an Obasanjo expression, “I dey
laugh o.” It is noteworthy however, that Obasanjo did not
deny being the author of the phrase, if not the concept, of “do
or die” Nigerian politics. He certainly did not disown his
copyright of the phrase. He only said “I didn’t say so this
time: I sang a Yoruba song.” It would be interesting to have a
full text of that song and to deconstruct its literal and
embodied meanings, just to determine who between Obasanjo and
the reporters who attended the Lagos PDP Presidential campaign
is misleading the public. Obasanjo said he sang “lau erebe..”,
a popular Yoruba folk song but which version? Did he modify it?
“I still dey laugh o.” Hei he hei…
More rib-cracking laughter is to be further extracted from
President Obasanjo’s claim at the Hilltop press conference that
he was tricked into attending the now controversial welcome
church service for the PDP prison-returnee, Chief Olabode
George. Who tricked him? Chief Bode George. How? Hear him: “He
(George) sent a passionate message to me from prison, urging me
to attend a family church thanksgiving and I believe that
whatever reason any family is giving thanks in church or in
mosque and he invites me and I am able to go there, whether it
is for marriage, burial, housewarming, christening of a child, I
will go.” But when Obasanjo got to the church, he suddenly
“found that the atmosphere was more than a family affair.” I
can’t but laugh. Obasanjo found an atmosphere that “was more
than a family affair” when he got to the Cathedral Church of
Christ, Marina? And he expects anyone to believe him? Obasanjo
travelled from Abeokuta all the way to Marina, in the heart of
Lagos to attend a church service for a man who was returning
from prison that every day, and he expected that the ceremony
will be a simple family affair? Oh, Baba, come off it.
Bode George is not an ordinary citizen, but a Very Important
(ex-)Prisoner, just released, a party chieftain who had been
jailed for corruption. Still, he had been holding court in
prison and Obasanjo himself says he knows this to be so. To have
attended a reception for such a man amounts to an expression of
support for him, and an endorsement of his conduct. There is no
beating about the bush about this. In fact, Obasanjo sat
directly behind George at the church service. And yet he says he
was tricked? Obasanjo is 74, and very agile, and active. He
could not have forgotten so soon that when he himself returned
from prison a few years ago, he had a family thanksgiving at the
Baptist Church Owu, Abeokuta, and although that was also a
family thanksgiving, the church was jam-packed. So, there is no
prescribed shape for a family thanksgiving, even if Obasanjo was
a different kind of prisoner, and in any case, the Bode George
event took place at the Cathedral not in a small, family church
or chapel. Tricked? Let us even assume that Obasanjo was
tricked; when he got to the church and he discovered that the
Thanksgiving “was more than a family affair”, why didn’t he
leave the church immediately? Why didn’t he register his
displeasure on the spot? It has taken him a whole week to disown
the event! This is an afterthought, surely, and it is very much
unlike Obasanjo who is so readily talkative when incensed.
Seventy two hours after the same church service that he now
deplores, the same Obasanjo was sitting in the same VIP stand at
the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos with the same Bode George, both
attending the PDP Presidential Rally! Walahi, I dey laugh too
much...
Instead of claiming that he was tricked and taking out his anger
on hapless reporters, Baba should just have confessed that he
made a mistake attending the Bode George church rally,
apologise, and state his position on the matter. Following the
Feb. 26 reception, there had been serious outrage in the media,
with concerned Nigerians insisting that the loud celebration of
Bode George’s return from prison amounted to a disregard for
values, and a show of contempt for the Nigerian state,
particularly the justice administration system. Obasanjo was a
special target of the criticisms: he who had claimed to be an
anti-corruption campaigner and indeed a Board member of
Transparency International, dancing with Bode George with the
prison stink still glued to his robes. Was Obasanjo advised by
his friends at Transparency International to disown Bode George,
a week after joining others to thank God on his behalf? Wherever
the impetus came from, we should take special notice of
Obasanjo’s U-Turn on the Bode George case: He says “Bode George
did not comport himself properly in the task (port authority
assignment) given to him.” That should be comforting to the
trial judge who was being made to look like a villain.
Obasanjo adds: “And when he was in prison, he was conducting
himself like the Lord of the Manor. I called him and told him
that the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the original founder of
the Action Group but when he (Awo) was in Calabar, he was not
running the Action Group and for Bode George to be in Kirikiri
prison and still run the Lagos PDP was not the right thing.”
Indeed, the conduct of the PDP chieftain while in prison has
been a recurrent theme in his story. There may well be a need to
order a probe into how the Kirikiri maximum prison became an
extension of the PDP Lagos secretariat with Bode George holding
court with the party faithful who thronged the prison on a daily
basis, and what role exactly the prison authorities played in
making such mockery of the justice system. If the latter are
found guilty of complicity, they should be sanctioned
accordingly. We cannot afford to have a prison system which can
be compromised by the highest bidder at will. Obasanjo says he
“called him.” Called him? How? I am not aware that the Nigerian
prison system allows prisoners to use phones while in custody.
And Obasanjo does not know that? Any statement that the
ex-President makes a posteriori does not absolve him. He is
guilty by association.
Obasanjo also added: “I don’t see why PDP as a national party
that is trying to form a national government and in 27 states in
the federation would be celebrating criminality because whatever
we may say, the reason Bode George went to prison should be
condemned by everybody and I have condemned it because he did
not go to prison for political offence. PDP as a party must
dissociate itself from celebrating criminality.” How nice it
would have been if Obasanjo had said exactly this at the Bode
George event on February 26. But even as an afterthought, it is
very well articulated. Obasanjo is Chairman of the PDP Board of
Trustees.
His condemnation of criminality within the PDP is well taken,
particularly as this is coming at a time when the party is fast
developing a reputation as a party of bomb throwers, kidnappers
and ex-convicts. For the PDP to dissociate itself from
criminality, its leaders and foot-soldiers must resolve to go to
the 2011 polls to play fair politics, not do or die politics,
and they must dissociate themselves from Bode George’s promise
of “tsunami politics”. Obasanjo has disclaimed Bode George, so
who is next? Perhaps the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina,
which lent its premises and pulpit to the Bode George jamboree?
And still on the Obasanjo attack on journalists, has anyone
noticed the ironic fact that Baba may also soon enrol as a
member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists? He now writes a
weekly column titled Global Connection, for the Saturday Mirror
newspaper. In a sense, Obasanjo is in fact, one of us – “people
in the press.” I kuku ma still dey laugh o…
Politicians And Their Campaign Methods
THAT the campaigns for the 2011 elections have started in
earnest is no longer news. Across the country, at state, ward,
and national levels, the politicians are practically on the
road, trying to catch the attention of the voter. But the same
electorate appears to be the victim of the methods being adopted
by the politicians, raising questions about the need to monitor
campaign methods closely and to ensure adequate security at
campaign venues, and by extension to protect the larger
community.
In Port Harcourt recently, a rally by the presidential candidate
of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) resulted in a stampede
which left scores of persons dead and injured. The gates to the
stadium had been locked, leaving only one exit point open, a
clever way of detaining the crowd to avoid having empty stands
when an audience is needed most. A careless security agent fired
into the air and the people rushed for the exit. In Suleja,
Niger state, hand-held explosives were reportedly thrown into
the venue of the Niger East PDP senatorial campaign flag off by
unidentified persons on Thursday, March 3.
Two weeks ago in Enugu state, Governor Sullivan Chime narrowly
escaped death when an explosive device which had been planted
under his seat was discovered by the police, before the
commencement of his flag off campaign for a second term in
office. In Plateau state, the flag off of the Labour party
Gubernatorial campaign, led by Pauline Tallen was almost marred
by the involvement of twelve of the party’s supporters in a
ghastly motor accident on their way to Jos. They died on the
spot. Others are in hospital with injuries. The police suspect
foul play. In Benue, an on-coming vehicle also ran into Governor
Gabriel Suswam’s convoy; three of the journalists who had
accompanied the Governor to distribute relief materials, were
injured. The Governors’ convoy sped off immediately, and
the journalists were abandoned for a while at the scene of the
accident.
When Chief Bode George returned from prison, the thanksgiving
service according to Obasanjo was almost taken over by “area
boys,” that is thugs. No political event is complete these days
without the presence of thugs, and the likelihood of raw
violence. Decent debate is so difficult to organize among the
politicians. There is too much desperation in the air. In Abia
State, the State Governor stormed out of a debate organized by
the Catholic Secretariat insisting that the Catholic Church
conference hall had become “a hostile environment” hijacked by
“a partisan crowd.” Indeed, the entire campaign process is
defined by sheer hostility. Newspapers refer to the campaigns as
“the battle front” (ThisDay, March 4 at page 20).
In Ihiala, Anambra state, on February 26, an event organized by
the Ihiala Leaders of Thought was disrupted when gunmen suddenly
stormed the venue brandishing dangerous weapons, and started
shooting. The big men in attendance had to flee. In Uyo,
Akwa Ibom state, the state government reportedly organized a
cash donation of N3.1 million to unemployed graduates and
students in the state, to be distributed to the beneficiaries at
Ibom Hall. The stampede that followed resulted in the death of
two persons, with others injured. The police had to unleash
canisters of tear gas, and their gun butts and batons as the
youths scrambled for N3. 1 million! What a way to empower
unemployed youths! In Benue state, the ACN alleged that
its offices in Adikpo, Zaki Biam, Sankera and Katsina-Ala were
burnt down by the opposition. A House of Reps member,
Mzenda Iho also reported that an attempt was made on his life by
opponents.
The politicians’ campaign methods make or less no sense to
decent people. In Lagos, whenever either the ACN or the
PDP holds a rally at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Central Lagos
simply shuts down, and the politicians really do not care about
the discomfort that they bring to the people and the insecurity
that their poorly organized rallies encourage. The ACN may
soon cause a scarcity of brooms in the market, and force prices
of the commodity to rise. Sheer madness will ensue if PDP
members also decide to start parading umbrellas at their
rallies! In every regard, the campaigns have not been different
from the party primaries which were also marred by violence and
irregularities. The big challenge however is in ensuring that
the security agencies are more pro-active in checking the reign
of impunity in the land. Last month, the Inspector General of
Police admitted that his command had been given N50 billion to
prepare for the 2011 polls. Hopefully, that will be measurable
in terms of efficient performance.
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