Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) is a household name in the nation’s political firmament, not just because he was a two-term democratically elected president, but because of his unparalleled criticisms of the presidents that came after him. His latest attack on President Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency was not the first of such by the soldier-turned politician. In most cases, Obasanjo’s public condemnation of presidents signals the beginning of the end of such administrations. ABDULRAHEEM AODU, TOPE SUNDAY and ABDULRAHMAN ZAKARIYAU in this report, take a look at the former president’s ceaseless attacks on the presidency; whether it is borne out of patriotism or a deliberate act of mischief.
His series of attacks
Former President Shehu Shagari, now late, who led the country from October 1, 1979, to December 31, 1983, was the first victim of Obasanjo’s public attack on the presidency. OBJ, as he is fondly called, attacked Shagari, who succeeded him in 1979, alleging poor management of the economy which, according to him, had subjected millions of Nigerians to untold hardship. He also complained about the level of corruption in the country. The attack gingered the military to strike and sacked the Shagari administration a few weeks after.
Obasanjo’s next victim was former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Babangida had introduced the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), which had escalated the sufferings of the poor masses. Without much ado, Obasanjo took up the role of the public defender when he called on the administration to ensure that SAP had “a human face and the milk of human kindness.”
The case of Gen. Sani Abacha was not different as Obasanjo also attacked his administration while delivering a keynote address at the famous Arewa House at Kaduna and he also granted an interview to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) where he accused the Abacha administration of massive corruption. However, unlike others, this did not go well with Abacha, so he allegedly implicated Obasanjo in a coup attempt. The military panel that was set up by Abacha found Obasanjo guilty and condemned him to prison till the end of the Abacha administration.
Upon his return from prison, Obasanjo was democratically elected as president; he was in office from May 29, 1999, till May 28, 2007. He was succeeded by late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Similarly, to register his dissatisfaction with Yar’Adua’s performance, Obasanjo launched an early attack on a government he helped enthroned. He that famous letter OBJ told Yar’Adua that, “As you know, for the next few months, perhaps years, your government will be regarded as being in the penumbra of the Obasanjo regime given the situation that brought you into office. Against this background, you must toil to carve out a unique identity for yourself and administration. To do this, you must choose wisely your vision and the folks in your cabinet to drive the vision.” This really affected the relationship between the duo.
Surprisingly, when Yar’Adua took ill, Obasanjo was one of those who visited him at Saudi Arabia Hospital. As expected, OBJ upon arrival addressed the press and revealed the deteriorating heath of Yar’Adua; this among others led to a series of protests witnessed while Yar’Adua was in his sick bed, before he eventually died.
After the death of Yar’Adua, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was sworn in, and subsequently contested and won the 2011 general elections with the support of Obasanjo. In less than three years, a cold war started between them. Initially, this was concealed from the public until Obasanjo wrote a letter titled “Before it is too late” to Jonathan on December 2, 2013.
OBJ claimed he made the letter public because he had earlier written four private ones which were neither acknowledged nor responded to.
In the letter, said emphatically that: “I could sense a semblance of the situation that we are gradually getting into and the situation we fell into as a nation during the Abacha era. Five, everything must be done to guard, protect and defend our fledgling democracy, nourish it and prevent bloodshed. We must move away from advertently or inadvertently dividing the country along weak seams of North-South and Christian-Muslim. Seven, nothing should be done to allow the country to degenerate into economic dormancy, stagnation or retrogression.”
The situation became so bad that the Presidency under Goodluck Jonathan described OBJ as a “motor park tout.” As a result of this, OBJ worked tirelessly against Jonathan and contributed immensely to ensure that Jonathan was never re-elected in 2015.
Obasanjo’s letters, comments
Curiously, Obasanjo supported the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari, in the 2015 general elections but, as usual, less than three years into Buhari’s administration, he fired the first shot. Sometime in January 2018, he wrote his first public letter to Buhari. In a letter titled “The Way Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria Movement,” he charged President Buhari not to seek second term on the grounds that he had performed below expectations.
Since that letter, Obasanjo had seized every opportunity to attack the Buhari’s presidency. This week, OBJ addressed a world Press Conference where he compared the Buhari’s presidency with the Abacha’s.
He said: “Today, another Abacha era is here. The security institutions are being misused to fight all critics and opponents of Buhari and to derail our fledgling democracy. EFCC, Police and Code of Conduct Tribunal are also being equally misused to deal with those Buhari sees as enemies for criticising him or as those who may not do his bidding in manipulating election results. Criticism, choice and being different are inherent trade mark of democracy. If democracy is derailed or aborted, anarchy and authoritarianism will automatically follow.
“Today, as in the day of Abacha, Nigerians must rise up and do what they did in the time of Abacha. Churches and Mosques prayed. International community stood by us Nigerians. I was a beneficiary and my life was saved. Well-meaning Nigerians took appropriate actions and made sacrifices, some supreme, some less than supreme but God had the final say and He took the ultimate action.”
Though Obasanjo and Buhari were seen together at the National Council of State meeting this week at the Villa, the political relationship between the duo has gone sour. Obviously, Obasanjo has now declared his support for the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his former Vice President Atiku Abubakar against President Buhari in the forthcoming February 16, elections.
He’s entitled to his opinion – Ohaneze
The Igbo Social Cultural group, Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide has described the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s unending attacks on the presidency as his personal problem.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President-General Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Emeka Attamah, told Blueprint Weekend that what the former president said “is from his own perspective.”
“On our part, it is not in our capacity to judge the president; we endorsed Atiku Abubakar yesterday not because we hate Buhari, but because he has not answered to the needs of our people. We stand on restructuring of the country and from what we gathered, Atiku is going to restructure the country. So, we have to support a candidate that will bring about a government where Ndigbo will have a say.
“Obasanjo, as an individual, feels that Buhari has not performed, then that is his own opinion; and he is entitled to his opinion,” he said.
It’s patriotism – Afenifere
The Yoruba Social Cultural Group, Afenifere, in its reaction, cautioned those calling the former president names, saying that what he said was not mischief, but “what is expected of every patriotic citizen.”
The spokesman for the group, Yinka Odumakin, in a chat with Blueprint Weekend, said: “There is no mischief in what Obasanjo has said; Obasanjo has amplified what concerned Nigerians are saying and what they are currently going through.
“And I think one of the greatest mistakes of this government was launching attack on the person of Obasanjo. They left the message and went after the messenger.
“Who is not aware that they are distributing money? Who is not aware of Amina Zakariyau who the president wants to use to rig the elections? It is clear to all that these people are over-heating the polity. Most of the issues Obasanjo raised are known to most people. And as a statesman that he is, certainly he needs to speak out.”
It’s mischief – Constitutional lawyer
A constitutional lawyer, Ralph Agama, has described the recent attack on the presidency by Obasanjo as “mischief” and not an act patriotism that is expected of a statesman like him.
He said: “I don’t think is an act of patriotism at this time. Obasanjo is not the only statesman that we have. From 1999 to this present situation we find ourselves as a country, Obsanjo’s hands are not clean.
“You cannot lay something on nothing and expect it to stand; what foundation did Obasanjo lay? So, if we are not satisfied with where we are as a nation, what foundation did people like Obasanjo lay that the subsequent leaders did not build on?”
Agama added: “We are all aware that Obasanjo has a hand in all the subsequent governments that came after him, even the present one. Because they have one disagreement or the other, Obasanjo is now coming out this time around. If his third term agenda had succeeded, he wouldn’t have blessed Yar’Adua at that time.
“For me, I don’t think any weight should be attached to anything that Obasanjo has said or will even say because his hands are not clean; he who goes to equity, must go with clean hands.”
ACF speaks
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Secretary General, Col. Anthony Sani (retd), in his reaction, said the former president should not have dropped the toga of statesmanship, but rather join hands with other leaders to nurture Nigeria’s nascent democracy to maturity.
“Since the recent letter by the former President Obasanjo, ACF has not deliberated on the content of the letter. But I can say that because the former president has decided to be partisan, it is his constitutional right to promote his political party and the candidate in a multiparty democracy.
“In the letter, the former President has alluded to the fact that the sitting president Buhari has reached the zenith of wits in so far as his performance in provision of purposeful leadership and governance is concerned. To the former President, President Buhari is not fit mentally and physically, which account for the alleged feckless performance under the president’s watch.
“As a result, Obasanjo would rather prefer the president to retire to the village and leave the president to allow multiparty democracy play out by the voters who are capable of using the records of the president’s performance to inform their judgement records of performance of any candidate and vote according to their choice.
“What seems to me to be very disagreeable most in the letter is the5 tendency of the former president to cast aspersions on INEC’s ability to deliver on the promise of her mandate, to wit, credible, free and fair elections. As a statesman, Obasanjo’s roles in the order of things are not to slough off the garb of statesmanship, but to also help build and strengthen our democratic institutions, among which is INEC, for performance, and not to inspire public loss of confidence on INEC.”
“Most Nigerians look forward to a peaceful conduct of the coming elections expected to be credible, free and fair for the larger interest of our democracy that is premised on triple foundation of justice, liberty and common decency. This cannot be a day’s job but can result from consciously directed efforts by both the leaders and the led in order to make common designs.”
