Politics
Obasanjo: Riding In The Tide Of History
Former President
Olusegun Obasanjo, February 17, 2015 made world news as usual, when he finally dumped the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with an unprecedented party membership card-tearing act before the full glare of journalists at his Abeokuta home. Baba’s bidding farewell to PDP was long over-due, but the way and manner of his exit, many believe, was rather absurd and dishonourable.
At the visit of party leaders from his Ward II of Abeokuta North local government area of Ogun State, Obasanjo directed his ward chairman, Alhaji Sunmonu Oladunjoye to tear his party membership card, apparently to demonstrate his final decision to quit PDP and prefer to remain a statesman.
Some had celebrated Obasanjo’s severance from the PDP, especially the opposition – All Progressives Congress (APC), yet many others took the ex-president’s act to the cleaners for “displaying act that are contradictory to his status as a statesman of international repute and ex-leader of this country.”
Rightly, the ex-president deserves a place in the history of PDP and he cannot run away from its shadow – the good and the bad of the party. After his incarceration on the allegation of plot to overthrow General Sani Abacha regime, Obasanjo was offered the PDP presidential ticket on a platter of gold as a “settled issue between the military and political establishments to pacify the South West that was angered by the annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election widely acknowledged to have been won by Chief Moshood Abiola,” whose death in custody remains a mystery.
Throughout the eight-year rule of Nigeria, the words of Obasanjo were laws and he demonstrated this, among others, with the seizure of federal allocation to Lagos local government councils even when the Supreme Court described such seizure as illegal. Those who had differences with him were not spared. PDP governors including Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti), Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo) and Joshua Dariye (Plateau) were impeached, using federal and state agents.
His influence at the National Assembly was over-bearing such that the leadership of the two legislative chambers became the barber’s chair. It was not surprising that the senate alone produced five presidents in Obasanjo’s eight years tenure. The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) was alleged to be a tool in the hands of Obasanjo and perceived enemies were nailed or chased about, while others were forced out of the PDP.
The sun, however, set for the ex-president when he failed to stage-manage his third term bid in office. Even his mastermind in the amendment of the PDP constitution that only former president would be eligible to chair the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) did not last long in the power chess game and when he realised that there were plans to amend the party’s constitution, he quickly resigned as BoT chairman in 2012 which made his political ally, Chief Tony Anenih to regain his position in 2013.
More than these, Obasanjo’s stay in the PDP had been eventual. He militarized the party to the extent that internal democracy became an aberration, one of which is the K-leg saga in Rivers State. The former president however became the worst critic of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, whose ascension to the highest office in the land was almost single-handedly orchestrated by Obasanjo.
If Obasanjo was not accusing Jonathan of corruption, the former president attacked the latter of training snipers, fanning the ember of ethnicity and plotting to cling to power at all means. President Jonathan’s response to the accusation of his former boss exposed Obasanjo as a man playing the gods in the wake of national woes of which he is part of.
There was no love lost between Obasanjo and his political godson, Jonathan and every attempt at reconciling the differences always, ended in widening the gap even as the ex-president’s loyalists in the PDP national working committee (NWC) were gradually phased out.
Going by political details, it was obvious that Obasanjo, who gradually withdrew from the party activities, had lost bearing in PDP power house, coupled with the fact that Jonathan was no longer ready to take orders any more from him.
Pre-emptive of a planned expulsion, Obasanjo decided to walk out of PDP before being disgraced. Political analysts say Obasanjo’s exit from the PDP “is the climax to the irreconcilable differences between him and Jonathan.” According to the New Telegraph of February 17, 2015, Now that the bull is finally out of the China’s shop, “the PDP may be ready to get the peace it craves for taming the power of its leader in the party affairs.”
While it may not be possible to get rid of one’s history, Abimbola Adelakun (The Punch February 19, 2015), said Obasanjo’s reason for quitting his erstwhile party only reflects his nature: self-righteous, self vindicating and zero reflection. But more than that, the self-righteousness of Baba also betrays his inglorious indispensable nature that the world revolves around him.
Though, the Ogun State PDP said the party would not miss the exit of the former president whom it described as “lacking electoral value,” the national leadership of the party wondered “what manner of provocation would have led a former president to lose his composure and go to the extent of tearing the membership card of the party that he once led.” However, the PDP leadership has not forgotten that “it was the PDP’s political machinery that rescued Obasanjo after his incarceration and made a prince out of him.”
Statesmanship is earned by a person after years of noble acts to the nation, and “Obasanjo’s hyper-critical attitude to President Jonathan in recent times contradicts the clout and influence that a person of his standing should wield. It speaks volumes of personal animosity and hatred to the person of Nigeria’s current leader” (New Telegraph, February 17, 2015).
Furthermore, the newspaper wrote that the tearing act desecrates the statesmanship Obaanjo has garnered as a man of history. Lest we forget, it was Obasanjo that received the instrument of surrender by the former secessionist Biafra. He is the first Nigeria military leader to handover to a democratically-elected president and the only Nigerian to become a president after serving a prison term.
The way and manner the ex-president went about his severance from the PDP prompted Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State to describe “Obasanjo’s behavior as a manifestation of old age.” The Ijaw leader and elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark equally berated the former president for acting irresponsibly by tearing PDP membership card – a document that brought him into power and sustained him in office.
Expectedly, the APC lauded Obasanjo’s action, saying that his dramatic exit from PDP signaled the end of the party’s influence in the Nigerian political landscape. In a statement in Akure, the Ondo APC Publicity Secretary, Omo’ba Adesanya, said Obasanjo’s action was symbolic of freedom from the PDP that Nigerians had been craving for.
But the PDP would not see anything the party stands to lose with the exit of Obasanjo from the ruling party essentially because “Obasanjo’s exit is a good riddance to bad rubbish,” as Governor Fayose said. According to him, Obasanjo shouldn’t just tear his PDP membership card; he should also relinquish the ownership of Bell University, Obasanjo Farms, Obasanjo Presidential Library and other financial benefits he got during his presidency.
It may not be for nothing that the Balogun of Owu has always dramatized his criticisms of Jonathan administration, but the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu said Obasanjo’s accusation against President Jonathan administration smacks of hypocrisy. The Lagos monarch said “all the accusations the ex-president is making now, he (Obsanjo) initiated them, nurtured them and masterminded them and now he is complaining,” adding that Nigerians cannot be fooled again by Obasanjo’s holier-than-thou attitude.
No doubt, Obasanjo worked so hard in the military to earn him an honour, but when he decided to drag the military into the country’s political waters, he got what he did not bargain for. The authorities of Defence Headquarters (DHQ) described Obasanjo as an embarrassment to the military institution. The ex-president was credited with a statement that the general elections were shifted on security excuse in order to perfect plan by the Presidency to secure tenure extension.
“Obasanjo’s utterances lately indicate an attitude of playing to the gallery or indulging in politicization of serious national security or military affairs,” the DHQ said in reaction to Obasanjo’s comments. It added that the military personnel have moved beyond the parochial and self-adulating reasoning and mindset of Obasanjo’s era in the military to today’s appreciation of the essence of democracy and its indispensability for the stable and prosperous society Nigerians cherish. (The Punch, February 17, 2015).
Whether or not ex-president Obasanjo is new to dramatising events, he is riding in the tide of history. But what is not certain, however, is whether the honour Baba is trying to protect to relish will appreciate in course of time, especially in the light of his recent actions and inactions only time will tell.
Samuel Eleonu
Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has begun deploying non-sensitive materials to the zones as it prepares for the 2027 general election.
Acting Chairman of the commission, Prof. Rhoda Gumus, disclosed this in Abuja, yesterday at a bench-marking meeting with a delegation of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
“Right now, all non-sensitive materials are almost ready. In fact, today as we speak here, the non-sensitive materials have been lifted to some zones now,” Gumus said.
She said the commission had completed nine of its scheduled activities and was preparing for the next phase.
“We are preparing for the election next year and we have activities lined up. So far, we have been able to complete nine activities and we are still preparing for the next level of activities,” she said.
Gumus said the commission’s leadership had just concluded a tour of the country’s six zones to assess their level of preparedness.
“The purpose was to go round the zones to see how prepared we are, assess what the zones have put in place, their challenges and what to do. We concluded last week and we can see from our tour that we are really going towards the election proper,” she said.
On Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), the acting chairman said production had been completed and distribution to the states was well advanced.
“As of today, we can say that PVCs have been produced and the first, second batches, most of the states have received them. Their PVC collection is ongoing. All those who are supposed to be the voters are supposed to receive their PVCs, and if they don’t have them, it is also another challenge,” Gumus said.
She added that capacity building was under way for staff at the headquarters and in the states, and that the procurement and deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS devices were also ongoing.
On diaspora voting, Gumus said the commission could not proceed for now because the law did not provide for it.
“Here, because we go by the law, in our electoral law, it is not included there, so we cannot go on for the diaspora voting for now until we amend the electoral law,” she said.
The acting chairman said the commission had arranged for its directors to hold an interactive session with the Kenyan team and present papers on the work of their departments.
Leading the delegation, the Kenyan High Commissioner to Nigeria, Isaac Parashina, said the IEBC team was in Nigeria to benchmark ahead of Kenya’s general election in August 2027.
He said the team was studying how Nigeria handled its diaspora population and special voting groups, as Kenya sought to widen voting rights for citizens living abroad.
“Currently we have about 12 of them who voted in the last general election, but there is intention to expand to around, I think, 26,” Parashina said, referring to the countries where Kenyans abroad vote.
He said the expansion was a constitutional requirement backed by Kenyan court rulings, and would be enforced progressively.
Parashina said Nigeria’s election, which he noted would come in two rounds, would be closely watched across Africa.
“Everyone is looking at what Nigeria will do because it is the biggest democracy in Africa. The success of Nigeria remains a great success to Kenya and indeed to the continent,” he added.
The High Commissioner thanked INEC for receiving the team despite a tight schedule and wished the commission success.
Governor Douye Diri has set a target of at least one million votes for President Bola Tinubu in Bayelsa State in the 2027 presidential election, while charging the newly inaugurated All Progressives Congress (APC) State Campaign Council to prioritise reconciliation, party unity and collective electoral mobilisation.
Governor Diri gave the charge at the inauguration of the 20-member campaign council at the APC secretariat in Yenagoa, where he warned that internal divisions could undermine the party’s efforts to secure victory for President Tinubu and other candidates at the federal and state levels.
Governor Diri urged party members who were not appointed to the council to support its activities by taking the APC’s message to communities, wards and polling units across the state.
He specifically charged the campaign team to mobilise at least one million votes for President Tinubu, arguing that Bayelsa’s voting strength had increased and should be reflected in the 2027 election results.
“I give you a target that in Bayelsa, we must not bring less than one million votes for Mr President. You are going to campaign, and you have a lot to talk about the President. He has done so much for our people,” the governor said.
He listed the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the second phase of the Nembe-Brass Road, interventions in the power sector, federal appointments for Bayelsa indigenes and the establishment of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy among the achievements the campaign should present to voters.
The governor particularly praised President Tinubu for the coastal highway project, arguing that it reflected federal attention to the development needs of coastal communities.
“No president, alive or dead, has remembered the coastal people and coastal states to say let us do this signature project from Lagos to Calabar. The first president to think about it is Bola Tinubu, and those were the demands of the Ijaw people,” he said.
Governor Diri also expressed hope that a second term for President Tinubu would provide an opportunity to advance demands for fiscal federalism, greater resource control and state policing, which he described as longstanding aspirations of the Niger Delta.
He said the President had shown indications of addressing some of the demands of younger Nigerians and argued that re-election would allow the administration to consolidate its reforms.
The governor further cautioned campaigners against personal attacks and abusive exchanges with political opponents, insisting that the APC should focus its campaign on issues, policies and achievements.
The governor’s mobilisation directive comes amid criticism from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has questioned his commitment to President Tinubu’s re-election campaign, alleging that APC campaign billboards erected across Yenagoa promote other party candidates without featuring the President.
The PDP, through its Publicity Secretary, Mr Ikaebimo Mark, said the billboards showed Governor Diri urging voters to support APC candidates for the National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections without identifying President Tinubu as the party’s presidential candidate.
Mr Mark described the omission as an indication that the governor was not fully aligned with the APC’s national leadership.
“When we said that the governor, Senator Douye Diri, is not supporting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we knew exactly what we were saying. Now Governor Douye Diri has erected APC campaign billboards across Bayelsa State without Tinubu’s picture. He is even afraid to associate himself with the photograph of the presidential candidate of his own party. How can this governor claim to be supporting President Tinubu?” he said.
The PDP, however, maintained that the governor’s public campaign posture raised questions about his commitment to the President’s re-election bid. Its allegation over the billboards now places the issue of the relationship between the state APC leadership and the party’s national campaign among the political questions likely to feature in Bayelsa’s preparations for 2027.
The PDP’s allegation has introduced a fresh political dimension to the APC’s preparations in Bayelsa, even as Governor Diri publicly called on party leaders and members to close ranks and mobilise support for all its candidates.
“Every person picked as a member of this campaign council was carefully scrutinised. I want to tell you that our campaign team is loaded. We parade the best candidates among all the parties in Bayelsa State, and there is no doubt about that,” he said.
He urged members to remain focused and united, warning that political opponents could exploit any divisions within the party.
“Our unity is very important because they would want to feast on our disunity. We will not give them that opportunity. Please, as you carry out this assignment, do not take your eyes off the target,” Hon. Ogoriba said.
SP Edafe explained that during the meeting, the organisers were briefed on the identified security threats and advised against embarking on an open-road procession.
Instead, the police reportedly recommended that the political activities be conducted at a designated venue where adequate security arrangements could be provided.
However, the Command alleged that the organisers disregarded the security advice and proceeded with the road procession.
Meanwhile, the Delta State Government has condemned the political violence that erupted in Asaba, the state capital, on Saturday, confirming that one person was killed while four others sustained serious injuries.
The government described the incident as unfortunate and unacceptable, warning political parties and their supporters against actions capable of threatening public peace, security and democratic participation in the state.
In a statement issued by the Commissioner for Works (Rural Roads) and Public Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, the government reiterated its zero tolerance for political violence, intimidation and other forms of political misconduct.
Mr Aniagwu said the government had repeatedly cautioned political parties against engaging in activities capable of disrupting the peace, insisting that the incident could have been avoided if the organisers had followed security advice.
According to him, the police had advised the organisers to cancel the proposed street march and instead conduct their political campaign at a designated venue where adequate security arrangements could be provided.
He expressed concern that the advice was allegedly disregarded, resulting in a confrontation that claimed one life and left four other people seriously injured.
The government subsequently called on the police to conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the violence and ensure that anyone found culpable is brought to justice.
Mr Aniagwu further warned that the state government would not tolerate politically motivated attacks against any individual, regardless of political affiliation.
He maintained that Delta State remained safe for residents and visitors, stressing that the government would not allow the actions of individuals or groups to undermine the prevailing peace and security in the state.
The government also urged political parties, their leaders and supporters to conduct their political activities within the confines of the law and demonstrate respect for human life, public order and the rights of other citizens.
The latest development follows an attack on supporters of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) during a political procession in Asaba, which reportedly left several participants injured and campaign vehicles vandalised.
The government’s condemnation comes amid growing concerns over political violence and the safety of opposition supporters as political activities intensify ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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