Who appropriated Nigeria?

While Obasanjo’s clever efforts to understate his age may be overlooked, we cannot however let him get away with outright distortion of the truth. Never in the history of Nigeria had a president behaved like an absolute dictator in a democratic setting as we had witnessed under Gen. Obasanjo. During his eight-year rule, democracy and […]

While Obasanjo’s clever efforts to understate his age may be overlooked, we cannot however let him get away with outright distortion of the truth. Never in the history of Nigeria had a president behaved like an absolute dictator in a democratic setting as we had witnessed under Gen. Obasanjo. During his eight-year rule, democracy and the constitution of Nigeria were assaulted at will. His whims and caprices became the official policy. He had no respect for the courts or the rule of law; in fact, he became like a notorious rogue elephant in the cornfield of Nigeria’s democracy.

He breached due process in contract awards and illegally granted import waivers to his friends, which made the federal government to lose almost five hundred billion naira revenue. The privatization policy was nothing more than a form of asset stripping of public enterprises that were sold at derisory prices to his friends and associates. Hilton Hotel was sold to a consortium of his friends or those who donated to his third term ambition and his library project at a price many property experts described as daylight robbery.

Didn’t the former President impose his friend as Aviation Minster, despite his open incompetence and despite his repeated rejection by the Senate during the confirmation hearing? This same minster previously failed to manage education and Obasanjo was still insistent on rewarding incompetence and non-performance. Who then has appropriated Nigeria and turned it into a private fiefdom? Was Obasanjo not breaking our laws at will and getting away with it and even destroyed internal democracy in the PDP by imposing Col. Ahmadu Ali on the party?

He   shamelessly changed the PDP constitution to make himself a life chairman of the Board of Trustees and systematically removed all previously elected national chairmen of the party and imposed Colonel Ahmadu Ali as chairman. Democratic process of election was replaced by appointment. For a man who had treated Nigeria like his personal property, it is the height of insult for Gen. Obasanjo to accuse any group or section of Nigeria of appropriating the country.

It is the height of hypocrisy for former President Obasanjo to accuse any group of persons or a section of the country of “appropriating” Nigeria. Cabals exist in every administration and their interests should not be used as a gauge to reflect the larger interest of the part of the country they come from. Was it not a cabal in the private sector that was propped up by Obasanjo who ultimately destroyed the gains of banking consolidation for private criminal profits?

While real peasant farmers had no access to loan facilities, these cabals in the banking sector diverted billions of depositors’ funds to their private companies and gave billions of loans to their friends without collateral. Thanks to the intervention of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, these crooks almost ruined the banks. Almost 500 billion naira of public money was injected into these distressed banks. In fact, these Obasanjo’s friends in the banking sector were acquiring private jets at the expense of innocent depositors.

Having used depositors’ funds to contribute to Obasanjo’s third term project, this cabal in the banking sector felt so secure that they went on reckless lending to their friends. Carried away with a false sense of security, they didn’t realize that anything founded on fraud wouldn’t stand for too long. If indeed, there were any cabals that hijacked every aspect of national life-economy, banking, industry and politics, they were created by former President Obasanjo.

Gen. Obasanjo argued that at his age he is not afraid to speak the truth. Really? Let me at this point jog his memory. When the third term project collapsed in May 2006, he shamelessly told a hurriedly organized meeting of the PDP that he had never asked anyone to canvass for third term on his behalf, despite the multi-billion naira adverts to promote the campaign, which he refused to stop because it had his tacit, if not express, approval.

Obasanjo’s privatization program was designed to enrich his friends and associates who became the real cabal in Nigeria. This cabal was so powerful that they could undermine their rivals at will. They had to the power to influence government policies. They had the power to bring down anyone that threatens to engage in their own kind of business. While Obasanjo was granting import waivers to his friends, he sent a bill to the National Assembly to increase value added tax (VAT) from 5 percent to 10 percent, thereby tightening the economic noose around the neck of ordinary Nigerians. He was doing this to protect his cabal even when it was against the interest of millions of Nigerians.

Gen. Obasanjo was therefore, talking absolute trash to accuse any group or section of Nigeria for “appropriating” the country. The worst cabal was created by his administration and the poor man is still feeling the deadly weight of their stranglehold on the national economy and politics. Did the cabal that wanted him to continue in office, despite his non-performance, mean well for Nigeria? They wanted Obasanjo continue in office to protect their narrow and selfish interests.

Suleja writes from Block 28, Alhaji Awwal Ibrahim Road, Suleja, Niger State