“RE: BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” OBASANJO WROTE TO PRESIDENT JONATHAN

April 5, 2013

SubTopic: THAT’S INCREDIBLE FROM OBASANJO!

Greetings, folks!
Somebody please wake me up and tell me that I have been dreaming! Please tell me that Obasanjo did not actually write the contents of “The Letter” to President Jonathan. Please tell me that it is all in my dream, and I will wake up to realize that Obasanjo didn’t give that sermon. Is it just me, or does anybody else in Nigeria feel what I feel? Do we agree that there are people in this world who have no moral right to criticize or condemn the deeds of others?

Now, please don’t get me wrong; the intent of this piece is not to defend President Jonathan against Obasanjo’s onslaught, or advice as he portrays it. The truth of the matter is that many of the contents of Obasanjo’s letter are correct. But Obasanjo himself did worse when he was president. So, we can call this a matter of a pot calling a kettle black, right? I mean, we all know that Obasanjo committed every offence that he accuses President Jonathan of, and much more! I could understand it if the legendary Nelson Mandela chastised an errant leader in the matter of leadership and morality. But, from Obasanjo, too? That’s incredible!

Whatever you do, please note that this treatise is not about the veracity of Obasanjo’s observations about President Jonathan; no, sir! I am saying that, veracious or not, I am getting sick and tired of listening to bad Nigerian leaders, who turn around to criticize other leaders of misrule. What makes it worse is that the culprits do not even bother to apologize to us for their misdeeds, before they get into their holier-than-though bullshit. Everybody knows that Obasanjo has no moral right to criticize the governing style and morality of any leader anywhere in the whole wide world.

However, I do want to be mindful to be respectful to Obasanjo. He deserves it for his few attributes that benefited Nigeria. Many critics may not necessarily disagree with Obasanjo’s accusations against, or advice to President Jonathan, because it does have some merits. The problem is that the character of the author of the message is very inconsistent with the message.

So, I ask; is Obasanjo asking other leaders not to follow his unpopular footsteps—as in “do as I say and not as I do”? Honestly, Nigerians would take it more seriously if Obasanjo’s letter had come from any other Nigerian. But, coming from Obasanjo, I hear many Nigerians saying “How do we know that Obasanjo is not up to his old vindictive tricks again?” He is probably after Jonathan’s throat because Jonathan refuses to be his surrogate or puppet. Maybe Obasanjo is pissed off because Jonathan refuses to take his opinion on every issue to be sacrosanct. We all know that examples of Obasanjo’s vindictive nature abound? The man actually believes that he is the only wise Nigerian. So whosoever that fails to follow his opinion on any issue is doomed in his book.

Obasanjo had the opportunity to be another Mandela of Africa. If he judiciously used our oil money, he would have transformed Nigeria to the pride of Nigerians and the envy of the world. He could have easily instituted from 1999, a new Nigeria that most Nigerians and the world at large would have loved him for. But he lost and wasted the chance. He did quite a number of non-states-manly things that obviously worked against national interests. Unlike Nelson Mandela of South Africa, he was often vindictive, meeeeeeeeen!!!

Indeed, Obasanjo simply ran the country like his private company. And now he is complaining about Jonathan’s leadership style?! He bullied Nigerians to submission. From the ordinary citizens, he suppressed all the way to our supposed representatives in the National Assembly. Every adult in Nigeria still remembers some of the most un-states-manly intrigues of Obasanjo during what some critics have described as his “reign of terror.” I will limit myself to just few that were very similar to, or worse than some of the deeds that Obasanjo is now accusing President Jonathan of:

(1) Obasanjo ordered the military massacres of un-armed innocent villagers in Odi in 1999, and Zaki Biam in 2001; (2) Obasanjo’s complicity was apparent in the treasonable abduction of a sitting governor in Anambra State. (3) Not to forget his self-confessed complicity in the confirmed, confessed atrocities of the late Lamidi Adedibu in the Southwest. (4) I could not help but laugh out loud when I read the part in Obasanjo’s letter about failure of Jonathan in the fight against corruption. Are we talking about the same Obasanjo? The one who actually confessed his diversion of the EFCC from its noble mandate to his personal witch-hunting tool against real and perceived opposition?

Obasanjo was sitting in that same presidential seat just a few years ago. So, common questions on the lips of many critics include—Why the fuck didn’t he apply all his present criticism to himself then? Why did he forget to apply all the morality and leadership wisdom that he so dutifully wants to impart now? Why did Obasanjo not show us all this outburst of patriotism and love for Nigeria in practice when he had the chance? Why is Obasanjo now condemning every wrong thing that he did in his own tenure? Is this his way of apologizing to Nigerians?

Well, I don’t know about anybody else. But for me, if Obasanjo needs to apologize to us about the things that he did wrongly as president. And, this is not the way to do it at all! He should come off his high horse and openly apologize to us first. Then, we all have a clear understanding that he has decided to repent. And then, he can now advise other leaders to learn from his own confessed errors. I feel my intelligence being insulted by Obasanjo in his present approach, meeeeeeeeeeen!!!

To crown it all, Obasanjo actually thinks that he has the moral standing to condemn Jonathan’s ambition for reelection in 2015. We are talking about the same Obasanjo who fought tooth-and-nail to perpetuate himself in office with obsessive alacrity! The same Obasanjo who committed untold irregularities in pursuit of his evil “Third Term Agenda” Thanks to exposés of privileged citizens, such as El Rufai, everybody now knows the facts. We now know for sure that Obasanjo really concocted and vigorously pursued the infamous “Third Term Agenda.” At least it has not been established that Jonathan’s 2015 bid for reelection is illegal or unconstitutional. Let’s talk about the so-called gentleman’s agreement that Jonathan purportedly shook hands to. Obasanjo certainly has no moral stand to comment on that. He was popularly accused of reneging on such agreement more times than one in his days of terror as president, meeeeeeeeeen!!!

Sure, Obasanjo did a few good things, too; no question about that. I don’t know about you, but my most favorite of his attributes is his courage. The man was doggone courageous as he bullied all Nigerians to submission! You’ve got to give him that. And, of course, he made few economic decisions that were/are good for Nigeria. But he would have done much better, if only he had controlled his evil attributes just a little.

Obasanjo mentioned that many Nigerians would “attack” him for writing “The Letter.” Of course, he knows that the attacks are warranted. He was a very unpopular leader who bullied Nigerians to accept his many unpopular decisions and uncouth behaviors. Even his own daughter has openly spoken out against him. Indeed, Jonathan did make a huge error, which Obasanjo should have mentioned first in his letter. Jonathan made the error of failure to arrest and prosecute Obasanjo for his atrocities. Let’s face it, in a civilized democracy, Obasanjo would be in prison now for many of the illegalities that he committed while in power.

They might fail to convict him on other charges due to some mumbo-jumbo techno-legal manipulations. But he would definitely be convicted for atrocious self-enrichment through public office. The entire world knows about this. In a civilized democracy where the judiciary is not very corrupt, there would be no need for a legal giant as trial lawyer. It is so easy to get Obasanjo and other Nigerian leaders on charges of self-enrichment in public office. Indeed, I can easily get a conviction against Obasanjo for self-enrichment as a trial lawyer, even with my zero legal training. The body of evidence is too obvious to fail me.

It is only in Nigeria that a man enters a public office, not worth one million naira, only to leave office in four or eight years as a trillionaire. Everybody was aware of Obasanjo’s sorry economic status when he came out of prison in 1998, and was made president in 1999. Compare that to his humongous wealth today! Even if he was president for five hundred years, he could not get legitimately this wealthy. His salaries and perks would not even come anywhere near his fortunes today, after just eight years as our president.

In a civilized democracy it does not really matter what the sources of his present humongous estate were, to nail him. If the sources were looting, graft, and even ‘honest investment’ and gifts, it doesn’t really matter. It is still considered illegal, as long as the acquisition initiated while he was in office. Why? Because a president, and state governor, and other political leaders, are not supposed to do any business on the side to make money. It is called “Conflict of Interests,” and it is illegal. So, the least charge against crooks like Obasanjo would be “Conflict-of-Interests” law violation. And, it is punishable by imprisonment, meeeeeeeeeen!!!

I have a dream today—that someday before I leave this world, people will be prosecuted in Nigeria just for planning to loot public funds. Indeed, I want them prosecuted just for talking about it. It happened recently in a truer democracy near us…No Bullshitting!

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