Should Jonathan reconcile with Obasanjo?

General Olusegun Obasanjo has never chided any government in vain; the windmills of history have a way of conspiring to vindicate him. Former president Obasanjo ranks amongst Nigeria’s earliest participants of the Royal Defence College, a prestigious UK institution that prepares senior military officers, the cream from all over the world for generalship. He is […]

General Olusegun Obasanjo has never chided any government in vain; the windmills of history have a way of conspiring to vindicate him. Former president Obasanjo ranks amongst Nigeria’s earliest participants of the Royal Defence College, a prestigious UK institution that prepares senior military officers, the cream from all over the world for generalship. He is therefore no stranger to the application of military false front, decoy attack and camouflage in political grand strategy. It is against this background that the quarrel between President Goodluck Jonathan and Obasanjo must be again thoroughly re-examined.
  At the occasion of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s 77th birthday celebration on 6th March 1986, the then Nigerian leader, General Ibrahim Babangida in a congratulatory message described the sage as “The main issue in Nigerian politics”. If similar encomiums were to be today showered on any statesman the most eminently qualified Nigerian will be arguably, General Olusegun Obasanjo.
 However not many Nigerians will agree including Babangida’s own biographer, Dr Chidi Amuta who in his definitive biography of the Minna hill-top strongman entitled “Prince of the Niger”, Amuta portrayed Obasanjo on a comparative scale alongside a galaxy of Nigerian leaders as “Shrewd, colourless and natively intelligent but limited in his readings”. And that was back in 1992; considering a day is a long time in politics and Obasanjo became president in 1999 having been massively endorsed by Babangida now puts Amuta as they say, between a rock and a hard place.
Most Nigerians on Obasanjo share the same dilemma as Amuta; in fact no two Nigerians seem to agree on the wily fox of Ota. To many he is an enigmatic hero, to others a self-glorifying narcissist yet to others an incurable opportunist, all however seem to agree that you only ignore the Oracle of Owu to your political peril.
In November 2012, Obasanjo while addressing an august gathering in Warri that attended the 40th year anniversary of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s foray into the ministry of the Word, lambasted President Jonathan about his slow response to the Boko Haram crisis. Obasanjo further said “My fear is that when you have a sore and you don’t attend to it early enough it festers and becomes very bad. Don’t leave a problem that can be bad unattended to”. Adding that “Two occasions I had to attend to the problem I faced at that time. I sent soldiers to a place and 19 of them were killed. If I had allowed that to continue, I will not have authority to send security whether police, military or any other force anywhere again. So, I had to nip it in the bud and that was the end of that particular problem” he quipped.
 Obasanjo was of course referring to Odi and Zaki Biam. Shortly after the Warri function at a presidential media chat, Jonathan hit back when he on national television dismissed Obasanjo’s prompt response to those insurgencies as “a failure”. The former president Obasanjo did not let matters just dissipate and through his Man Friday and a latter day Jonathan megaphone, the verbose Chief Femi Fani-Kayode surmised that the death toll from the Boko Haram crisis then so far under Jonathan’s watch had surpassed the total number of lives lost in the 100 years or so of the Northern Ireland troubles, that among other Fani-Kayode’s characteristic Babel of hyperbole.
 Next to pick up the gauntlet in early December 2012 was Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo Asari, who declared that “President Goodluck Jonathan may not rule beyond 2015 because of greedy people who are in the presidency to enrich themselves at the expense of the president himself”. According to Asari “these same people were responsible for the rift between Jonathan and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo”. While this time Jonathan maintained a dignified silence, his media aide Dr. Reuben Abati denounced Asari as having “a crab mentality”.
The fact that Asari could denounce his “Ijaw kinsman” so brazenly, erroneously tickled the fancy of Muhammad Al-Ghazali in a Christmas Day, 2012 guest Tuesday Column piece entitled “Dokubu’s Republic”. The rest is, as they say, now history.
As Jonathan moves to draw his seat at the “popular side” of the National Council of State “stadium” will he just simply exchange pleasantries with Obasanjo then ignore him?
The philosophical concept from ancient China on the capricious nature of power has it that “by reacting and fighting against circumstances, by constantly struggling in life, you actually move backward, creating more turbulence in your path and difficulties for yourself” it is also “the idea of action through inaction, controlling a situation by not trying to control it, of ruling by abdicating rule”. Jonathan should therefore not be seduced by the ephemeral and superficial popularity of basking in stature and visibility.
He would have to “queue” before “shunting” in the ranks of the exclusive club of commanders in chief of Nigeria.
Jonathan therefore expediently needs to apologise to Obasanjo for two reasons; first he needs a panic-button insurance policy during the course of the Buhari Presidency (until Obasanjo, beyond the euphoria of electoral victory, overreaches himself) and, secondly, the typical Nigerian is always sympathetic to the underdog.
Yahaya-Joe wrote from Rock Road, Wusasa, Zaria, Kaduna State<[email protected]>;