Haba! Baba OBJ

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is a study in statesmanship, political brinkmanship, adept traditionalism, vitriolic yet salutory oratory and sometimes, unsettling candour. He is perhaps the only Nigerian who may ever rule Nigeria twice, first as military head of state and only recently, two-term president.
By my reckoning, only three desires have eluded him in his quest to break all political records concerning power and politics: These are being President for 12 consecutive years or at least a little longer than eight years; failure of his party to win Lagos State and Life Chairmanship of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),. All others, he desired, he got.
In 1999, for instance when he was first elected President, he did so without the support of his immediate kith and kin – the Yoruba States, all of which voted for the Alliance for Democracy (AD). In several respects, it presented Obasanjo either as a statesman who’s above ethnic politics, a detribalized Nigerian with immense national acceptance or simply an example of “charity beginning abroad.” The first two may be most likely, but nearly four year later, Obasanjo apparently proved many wrong when, he showed that there was no place better than home, And that living perpetually off one’s home even in politics, amounted to being either in self-exile or political asylum in some strange land.
For fear of that, Obasanjo sought to and succeeded in claiming his immediate political base, except Lagos State, where, a ‘troublesome’ Bola Tinubu dashed his dream of 100 percent success.
As it was in the West, OBJ, as leader of his party and President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria towered the nation’s political landscape like a colossus, deciding who got what. In nearly all cases, he had his way.
For instance, after the governorship primary elections were duly held by the PDP in Rivers State and a flag bearer chosen in the mould of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the ‘gbate fate of Nigeria’ (an Ijaw coinage meaning one whose word is law) decided otherwise. Flagging off the South-South geo-political zone’s governorship campaign in Port Harcourt, and which, as planned peaked with the presentation of flags to the party’s armour bearers, OBJ told a shocked rally that the Rivers flag bearer would receive no flag, because according to him, the outcome of the primaries and issues which arose therefrom had, in his exact words “K-leg’ which needed to be straightened.  There too, OBJ had his way, and accepted Sir Celestine Omehia as flagbearer, even if the man had no reason to buy the Governorship form, and so didn’t, instead of Rotimi Amaechi who did and won.
 Again, only a stubborn Judiciary over-turned his decision, albeit months later, after his allowed eight years in the saddle, the next four or even two having been denied by another set of ‘stubborn’ National Assembly members, who, like OBJ, suddenly became too statesmanly and nationalistic.
Obasanjo’s next desire was to have in office as President, then Katsina State Governor Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who, months earlier had undergone a successful kidney transplant, at least, so OBJ said, and should naturally need a long rest far away from the familiar heartaches of Nigerian politics and power intrigues’.
But no, OBJ launched a robust campaign, with a vow that his party would win the Presidency, “at all cost”, an allusion which Obasanjo apologists repeatedly refuted without success against ready recordings by stubborn news hounds. So determined, when, in the wake of the campaigns, Yar’Adua’s health became a concern to many, OBJ, it was who organized a televised telephone conversation with the ailing candidate Yar’Adua, and later told Nigerians that the ‘President-in-waiting’ was hail and hearty, safe and sound, assuring that the campaigns would continue afterwards with the flag-bearer leading.
Again, OBJ got what he wanted as he introduced the duo of Yar’Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, now Vice President, to Nigerians at every stop, zone after zone and state after state, with a flawless oratory grounded in ancient Yoruba language and near frequently laced with disturbing diatribe against opposing political parties.
In the end, Yar’Adua became President, and Jonathan, his vice, in an election which was roundly criticised even by Yar’Adua himself, but in clear fulfillment of OBJ’s whims. However, within he limits of available resources, competing national and international challenges and more importantly, life threatening health concerns to contend with, Mr. President had tarried on well.
Now, there is a repeat the same debate over whether or not President Yar’Adua was healthy enough to be president in the first place or now, strong enough to remain President and if not, whether or not the Vice President Goodluck Jonathan should be sworn-in as President.
In all these, OBJ kept a studied silence until last week, when at a media forum in Lagos, the chairman, BOT of the President’s party said: “Yar’Adua should toe the path of honour, if he feels incapable of performing his duties as President.” Not only that, he went further to deny knowledge of Yar’Adua’s pre-election medical condition except that, “I learnt that as governor of Katsina State, he had a successful kidney transplant. Haba! Baba! Should we believe that?
Sadly enough, the former President’s comments came at a time, when, unable to contain the growing protests against the President’s long absence, the PDP was slaving to assure Nigerians that the President was out of hospital, even if they didn’t say where he was and how much longer Nigerians must wait in limbo.
Obasanjo, methinks should know, that the so-called BBC interview with the ailing President was not as effective as the televised telephone interview he had with candidate Yar’Adua on National Television. That being so, one would have expected the BOT chairman to visit his successor; talk with his doctors and with him personally; know his state and advise him on what steps to follow thereafter.
This is because, asking an ailing President to take the kind of decision OBJ willed he took, is a tall order, without good knowledge of the President’s medical condition. How, for instance, can anyone battling to save own life decide whether to resign or hand-over to a vice? What if the ailment is such that is beyond the ailing President’s consciousness and strength.
Instead, OBJ should have liaised properly with his party leadership, the National Assembly, the BOT, the Presidency and indeed the President’s physicians with a view to coming up with a decision hat would halt the shameful politicking with the President’s ill-health.
My Agony is that OBJ’s comments depict political distance from the power source and that makes me fear that my view on him may also be a tall order. However, let it be said and known that while, we join all well-meaning Nigerians, particularly, the President’s family to pray for his quick recovery, now is the time to end the many rumours concerning Yar’Adua’s health and take the bold and honourable step as OBJ implied-swear-in Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President. Even while, we continue to pray. Isn’t that the path of Honour, OBJ mused about?