Saying it like it is

The letter, written on December 2, was Obasanjo’s fifth to the president and the fifth unacknowledged that he had sent the president. All his reasons for writing the letters had something to do with the grave and present dangers posed by the deteriorating national condition, which was entirely of the president’s making.In the letter, Obasanjo […]

The letter, written on December 2, was Obasanjo’s fifth to the president and the fifth unacknowledged that he had sent the president. All his reasons for writing the letters had something to do with the grave and present dangers posed by the deteriorating national condition, which was entirely of the president’s making.
In the letter, Obasanjo told him that he had failed as a president and stood in danger of pulling the country down with him into a repeat of history. Specifically, he said Jonathan had failed in all his five roles as leader of the ruling party, leader of government, chief security officer of the country, and political head of the nation and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Federation—and in all these five capacities, as the nation all along knew only too well, Jonathan was found grossly wanting. The ruling party had never had it so bad, what with a rebellion by governors that had bifurcated it; nor had the government ever sunk so low, composed as it was of neophytes by neophytes for neophytes; nor yet had the security situation ever been this parlous, with Boko Haram, robbers and assassins prowling every square inch of the land; and nor had the national idea ever been thus tested this sorely.
From the very beginning, it was clear that the North had been deliberately targeted and set for a religious divide by the Jonathan administration, and many had expected a Northern leader to have cried out with such comprehensive and revealing outburst; because where the shoe pinched was where the cobbler should have sprung up and struck. But, alas, the Northern soul has atrophied and courage has departed the heroes of yesteryears.
Many had hoped against hope that leading traditional rulers and some former leaders ought to have spoken out, especially as it was known that everyone had been  complaining about the unprecedented scale of theft of public resources, because the new rulers thought that their turn to rule meant dividing up the national patrimony between themselves Niger Deltans; about the incompetence and total cluelessness of the nation’s executive leadership, which has no idea what governance really is, not to talk of good governance; about marginalisation of the North as official policy, economically and bureaucratically; about what appeared to be preparations for secession and war, with all the movements of military hardware after theft from armouries, and the training of fighter pilots; and about the involvement of security agents in bombing Christian churches, which has not been investigated despite public misgivings; and attempts to divide the North along religious lines, which still continues to date.
In addition, it is an open secret that the bulk of the proceeds from the officially-sanctioned oil theft going on is used to pay for the purchase of arms the destination of which, according several foreign sources, is Nigeria’s South-South. And no one can stop them because, as Obasanjo said, “When the guard becomes the thief, nothing is safe, secure nor protected in the house;” and no one will know about the safe passage of arms and other lethal contraband.
But, despite all this, it was all quiet on the Northern leadership front: some for the love of money, some in order to keep their positions, some because they preferred party to region, others for fear of the EFCC and yet others in the hope and expectation for future favours.
Anticipating the kind of reaction his letter will generate, he predicted that “this letter will provoke cacophony from hired and un-hired attackers but I will maintain my serenity because by this letter, I have done my duty to you as I have always done to your government, to the party, to PDP, and to our country, Nigeria.”
In his letter, Obasanjo touched on the issue of corruption, this being the current issue in which the Jonathan administration is enmeshed. The litany before him is endless. In a communiqué after their meeting in Sokoto, the rebel governors of the PDP has charged that corruption was thriving with impunity under the Jonathan administration, which in addition they accused of shielding corrupt officials and of turning deaf ears to the legislature, to civil society organisations and to the general public on issues of corruption.
While there is nothing new to such accusations, it is significant that this is being made by governors, and the first time that it will be done publicly; and all the governors making the allegations are members, though estranged, of the ruling party. But not long afterwards, the Speaker of the House of Representatives came with his damning verdict, saying that “the president’s body language seems to be encouraging corruption in the country.”
Between them, the seven governors and the speaker held that by his actions, inactions and devil-may-care unconcern, the president has encouraged corruption in the following cases: in the failure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to render account in many of its transactions, in its decision to ignore the Nuhu Ribadu Report on corruption in the oil industry, in its failure to follow through with the fuel subsidy scam, in pension funds graft, in the unexplained 603 billion naira Customs duty waivers, Malabo oil deal, in the Securities and Exchange Commission probe, in SURE-P’s 178 billion naira drain, in the Abuja-Lokoja road 74 billion naira variation scandal, and in the untouchable illegalities in the aviation ministry.
Nigeria has probably reached the corruption limit that a nation of human beings can sustain. There is no type of corruption that is not only present in Nigeria but has been perfected to its highest degree. There is political, judicial and electoral corruption in the rank of all stakeholders—politicians, electoral commission agents, security operatives and government officials. Then there is the general, pervasive, corrupt Zeitgeist in which the entire populace partakes such that no one will obey the law unless someone is looking or someone is there to enforce it, especially by force.
It was on top of all this that Obasanjo added his own. “Corruption has reached the level of impunity… And if you are not ready to name, shame, prosecute and stoutly fight against corruption, whatever you do will be hollow. It will be a laughing matter… The serious  and strong allegation of non-remitting of about $7billionform NNPC to Central Bank occurring from export of some 300,000 barrels per day…was buttressed by the letter of Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria to you on non-remittance to Central Bank. This allegation will not fly away by non-action, cover-up, denial or bribing possible investigators. Please deal with this allegation transparently and let the truth be known.”
Then it began to get more ominous. Suddenly, the nation is on its way back to state-sponsored assassins. “Allegations of keeping over 1000 people on political watch list rather than criminal or security watch list and training snipers and other armed personnel secretly and clandestinely acquiring weapons to match for political purposes like Abacha and training them where Abacha trained his own killers, if it is true, it cannot augur well for the initiator, the government and the people of Nigeria,” Obasanjo said. “Here again, there is the lesson of history to learn from for anybody who cares to learn from history. Mr President would always remember that he was elected to maintain security for all Nigerians and protect them.”
“Let me put it that talks, loose and serious, abound about the possible abuse and misuse of the military and the legitimate security apparatus for unwholesome personal and political interest to the detriment of the honour, dignity, oath and professionalism of these honourable and patriotic forces,” he said. “Let me urge the authorities not to embark on such destructive path for an important element of our national make-up. The roles of the military and security agencies should be held sacrosanct in the best interest of the nation. Again, let not history repeat itself.” Perhaps the warning has come too late because history has already repeated itself and what the nation should pray for is that it does not exact the same terrible price it did in 1967.
Obasanjo, Africa’s Eminent Person and twice president of this republic has a penchant for speaking his mind when many others cannot, when others will not and when many dare not. Despite his courage, there are many in the nation today have their axes to grind with him—from those who saw a cynical Obasanjo foisting a dying man over this nation, to those who hold him responsible for bringing in Jonathan himself while aware of his grave deficiencies, to those who saw him disappointing the nation by not being what they wanted him to be in 1999—a strong, transparent, accountable Father of Democracy, and to those who, for no apparent reason, just don’t like his guts.
But whatever anyone thinks of Obasanjo, the entire nation must thank him for saying it only as he could, and for being the conscience of the nation and saying it like it is, for speaking truth to power and for telling a truth the North feared to utter and over which the other sections of the country apparently didn’t give a damn.

[In Sunday Trust this week: Tribute to Mandela]