‘IN THE NAME OF THE godFATHER…’

“Wanda ya dauki namiji uba to zai mutu maraya!” Literally, it means “Any woman who considers a man her everything will die as a nothing!” This brutal adage can well be adapted in the case of Nigeria’s Numero Uno godfather, former president Olusegun Obasanjo, OBJ, and his many godsons in Nigeria’s politics – that whosoever […]

“Wanda ya dauki namiji uba to zai mutu maraya!” Literally, it means “Any woman who considers a man her everything will die as a nothing!” This brutal adage can well be adapted in the case of Nigeria’s Numero Uno godfather, former president Olusegun Obasanjo, OBJ, and his many godsons in Nigeria’s politics – that whosoever thinks OBJ is his godfather has no godfather, or father, or anything.
Talk of the town and the country this week has been Obasanjo’s letter to President Goodluck Jonathan. Titled “Before It’s Too Late”, the letter has come as a shock and a sort of earthquake within the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) ruling clique. For once, the famous acerbic tongue has turned full circle upon people who think Obasanjo is theirs. Yet one thing about Obasanjo is that he is very consistent as what the Hausa would call a ‘mazari’ or a ‘hutsu’, both meaning ‘maverick’.
Obasanjo had been Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer for more than any other person alive or dead. So he knows Executive Summaries, like the one he wrote to Jonathan to open his So Long A Letter. Hear Obasanjo: “One, the current situation and consequent possible outcome dictate that I should, before the door closes on reason and promotion of national interest, alert you to the danger that may be lurking in the corner. Two, none of the four or more letters I have written to you in the past two years or so has elicited neither an acknowledgement nor any response. Three, people close to you, if not yourself, have been asking, what does Obasanjo want? Four, I could sense a semblance between 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.
“Six, we must move away from advertently or inadvertently dividing the country along weak seams of North-South and Christian-Moslem. Seven, nothing should be done to allow the country to degenerate into economic dormancy, stagnation or retrogression. Eight, some of our international friends and development partners are genuinely worried about signs and signals that are coming out of Nigeria. Nine, Nigeria should be in a position to take advantage of the present favourable international interest to invest in Africa – an opportunity that will not be open for too long. Ten, I am concerned about your legacy and your climb-down which you alone can best be the manager of, whenever you so decide.”
Obasanjo went to town elucidate on each of the ten items he enumerated in his Executive Summary. The Presidency, in its reaction to the letter, said: “We have noted the publication on several websites today of a letter recently written by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The Presidency acknowledges that it has indeed received the said letter from Chief Obasanjo. We however find it highly unbecoming, mischievous and provocative that a letter written by a former Head of State and respected elder statesman to President Jonathan has been deliberately leaked to the mass media in a deplorable effort to impugn the integrity of the President and denigrate his commitment to giving Nigeria the best possible leadership.
“While many patriotic, objective and well-meaning Nigerians have already condemned the leaked letter as self-serving, hypocritical, malicious, indecent, and very disrespectful of the highest office in the land, President Jonathan has directed that none of his aides or any government official should join issues with Chief Obasanjo over it…” If this is not joining issues, one wonders what joining issues is.
Meanwhile, just to show the maverick that he is, and that he can do anything to show he holds no malice, Obasanjo joined Jonathan for breakfast in Nairobi, where both had gone for Kenya’s 50th Independence Anniversary. That breakfast, it was reported, left Jonathan’s aides in greater quandary, for the wily old fox shared jocular banters with the current president.
Perhaps the President’s handlers are quick to forget what the same Obasanjo did to his own anointed successor, Umaru Musa Yar’adua of blessed memory. Early in 2010, as the late president was struggling with what turned out to be a terminal illness, Obasanjo, speaking in Abuja at the 7th Annual Trust Dialogue, called on the ailing number one citizen to take the path of honour and morality by throwing in the towel. At the same forum, Obasanjo had vehemently denied the allegations that he deliberately imposed ailing President Yar’Adua (and a rather challenged deputy) on Nigerians to punish them for not giving him a Third Term, saying it was an insult on his person.
Still on this current letter, Obasanjo had further called the attention of Jonathan to five things: “For five capacities in which you find yourself, you must hold yourself most significantly responsible for what happens to fails to happen in Nigeria and in any case most others will hold you responsible and God who put you there will surely hold you responsible and accountable. I have had opportunity, in recent times, to interact closely with you and I have come to the conclusion painfully or happily that if you can shun yourself to a great extent of personal and political interests and dwell more on the national interest and also draw the line between advice from selfish and self-centered aides and advice from those who in the interest of the nation may not tell you what you will want to hear, it will be well.
“The five positions which you share with nobody except God and which place great and grave responsibility on you are leadership of the ruling party, headship of the Federal Government or national government, Commander-in-Chief of the Military, Chief Security Officer of the nation, and the political leader of the country. Those positions go with being President of our country and while depending on your disposition you can delegate or devolve responsibility, but the buck must stop on your table whether you like it or not.”
And it was not only Yar’adua and Jonathan that Obasanjo lacerated with his tongue or pen. Back in 1993, just around the time the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the June 12 elections, Obasanjo had called MKO Abiola names, saying MKO, was not the Messiah Nigerians were waiting for. Obasanjo’s comments were seen as tacit approval of Babangida’s annulment of the elections. In closing this new letter, OBJ had advised Jonathan to go up the hill in Minna and deliver copies of the Epistle.
The devil himself can sometimes say the truth. Indeed in Islamic history, he once did. Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) had narrated how, when he once caught a thief stealing from Zakat the Prophet (upon whom be peace) had put under his care, the thief, in order to be freed, told Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him): “Whenever you go to your bed, recite the Ayat al Kursiy [Qur’an 2.255], for then a guardian from Allah will be guarding you, and Satan will not approach you till dawn.” When Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated the story to the Prophet (upon whom be peace), he said, “He [the thief] told you the truth, though he is a liar, for he [the thief] himself was the Satan.”