Obasanjo: The pain of losing grip

Your query is justified on several grounds. In the first place there are several burning national issues, any of which should have taken the space. Besides a return to Obasanjo on the same column and in such a short time may be taken as an expression of more than justified interest for good or bad […]

Your query is justified on several grounds. In the first place there are several burning national issues, any of which should have taken the space. Besides a return to Obasanjo on the same column and in such a short time may be taken as an expression of more than justified interest for good or bad in his person. After all what else needs to be said, it may be asked.
But for a column that is driven by sensitivity to contemporary issues which impact on the pulse of the nation, the duty of raising alerts for the nation whenever the need arises remains paramount. And beyond doubt, there is the need to draw attention to a new planned return by Obasanjo for an ominous  reason, to the centre-stage of national consciousness. This is more so when his return is an orchestrated initiative to hijack the nation’s mood for the launch of a self-serving agenda, for excoriating inelegantly, his self-designated constellation of foes. And he is doing so even at the risk of self-deconstruction of the ‘OBJ’ myth, which many present day, ordinary, faceless Nigerians like this author, wish it remains an enduring source of inspiration.
Rather worrisome is his penchant to lace his carriage with the pain of losing grip on power. Having been within the corridors of, and eventually mounted the saddle of power for a period longer than any Nigerian living or dead, it may seem natural for him to act as if in allusion of omnipotence and omniscience. Such disposition often drives out-of-power potentates to engage in contemplations of less than altruistic import.   
In the face of widespread reactions over his unguarded verbal attacks on President Goodluck Jonathan, he recently launched a new book ‘My Watch’ with content that is damaging to the same president and others, into the public domain. The sole aim of the book launch, which was timed to coincide with the primaries by the various political parties, was to deepen the controversy surrounding his grouse with the president, and thereby secure maximum impact of the smear campaign, he is executing on the latter.
As is public knowledge, spirited entreaties as well as efforts aimed at inducing him to exercise discretion over the book launch, including a court order restraining its circulation, all failed to sway him. That is why all Nigerians of goodwill, need to pay attention to Obasanjo’s ultimate intentions at this time he is vacating the pantheon of living legends of the country, Africa and the world, to move into a terrain that will leave a bitter after taste for his teeming admirers, one of whom is this author.   
Ordinarily, a public presentation of any book by a former Head of State like Olusegun Obasanjo should excite every well-meaning Nigerian. Documented Nigerian history provides chapters that feature his roles at various stages of the nation’s life. From the days of Nigeria’s participation in peace keeping activities in the early sixties, to pre-civil war drama and unto military rule as well as civilian administration, he has been there. Hence any book by or about him, should offer unique insights into the fortunes of the country.
Besides if the quote from Benjamin Disraeli that “reading maketh a man and writing an exact man” is considered, then Obasanjo is a man whose intellectual endowments and literary enterprise cannot be trifled with. Even as the mainstream of Nigeria’s leadership class may not the best patrons of literary endeavours, Obasanjo clearly stands out of the crowd. Between 1981 when he published his first book ‘My Command’ and the present he has to his credit 14 titles.
 To accentuate his intellectual savvy is his association with a library of international standard, a university and his African Leadership Forum (ALF) a non-governmental organization that has been linked with development discourse which illuminates scholarly sorties within its purview.  
Against the backdrop of the foregoing the minimum dividend expected of books by him is the articulation and advocacy of universally acknowledged templates for fostering development not only in Nigeria, but Africa and the rest of the developing world. Such templates should foster the convergence of the economic, political and socio-cultural milieu of our society, through superior logic of dialectics.
Such an enterprise would enjoy the attention of the academia, the National Assembly, development partners of the country and the rest of the civilized world. In that context too, he does not need to coerce anybody including President Goodluck Jonathan, through blackmail or otherwise to identify with whatever vision he has for the country.
On the contrary, if with all his superlative endowments, Obasanjo settles for the pedestrian venture of generating products of agony literature, which his new book and recent letter to President Goodluck Jonathan qualify as, then he is only compromising the longevity of his literary legacies.
From the lessons of tutelage under Nigeria’s journalism greats like Peter Enahoro and Henry Odukomaya, agony writing does not live for long. As a platform for media terrorism, it may irritate some intended targets for some time, or even inflame others into rage as often intended by the author. But its ultimate value to society is at best ephemeral. Books that survived from one generation to the other are usually those that offer value for readers in succeeding ages.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo can still reverse the bite of his interventions in society by appreciating the unrelenting grind of time and the changes it can enforce on mindsets, social situations and systems. Jonathan and him belong to different times and circumstances. That is why he has to accept in good faith, the limitations he may be facing presently as a mere adviser instead of a co-driver.
 And as is universally established, advise is at best discretionary. It is just the sign of the times.
If he recalls properly, in the face of unrelenting criticism during his time as the President of Nigeria, Obasanjo once advised his critics who were angered enough by him, to paste his photograph on a wall and flog it until they were satisfied.
Thank God Jonathan has not adopted such a scorched earth policy.