How far can Obasanjo’s verdict on Buhari go?

Many analysts, yesterday, said ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has hit President Muhammadu Buhari below the belt, just like what he (Obasanjo) did to late President Umaru Yar’adua in 2010 and ex-President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of the 2015 general electio

On January 20, 2010, Obasanjo stirred the hornet’s nest at the 7th Annual Trust Lecture when he asked the then ailing President Yar’Adua to choose the path of honour and morality since he could no longer serve the Nigerian people.

His outburst was in response to a member of the audience who accused him of being responsible for Nigeria’s constitutional crisis at the time, allegedly by choosing a sick man to succeed him as president. “What I need to say is that nobody picked Yar’Adua so that he will not perform… If I did that, God will punish me. There is no reason why I should do that,” he said.

“If you take up an assignment, an elected job, appointment, whatever it is, and then your health starts to fail and you will not be able to deliver to satisfy yourself and to satisfy the people you are supposed to serve, then there is a path of honour and the path of morality and if you don’t do that, then you don’t know anything,” he added.

Though Yar’Adua did not resign, the senate then, under Senator David Mark, came up with the “Doctrine of Necessity” which saw then Vice President Jonathan become acting president until May 5, 2010, when he became the president.

In 2011, Jonathan won election on his own even as the general impression then was that he had the support of the likes of Obasanjo to remain in the presidential villa.

However, many things went bad with Jonathan’s government, including widespread insecurity, corruption at all levels and impunity of the highest order.

The apprehension in the land reached a crescendo, and in December 2013, the retired general did not speak at a forum to pass a message to Jonathan like what he did to Yar’Adua. Rather, Obasanjo penned down a strongly worded letter accusing him (Jonathan) of ineptitude and of taking actions calculated at destroying Nigeria.

“Nigeria is bleeding and the haemorrhage must be stopped,” he said in the 18page letter he titled: ‘Before It Is Too Late’.

Obasanjo said Jonathan had failed to deliver on his promises to the Nigerian people, to stem corruption, to promote national unity and to strengthen national security.

He even alleged that Jonathan had “betrayed God and the Nigerian people that brought him to power,” saying he was pursuing selfish, personal and political interests based on advice he received from “self-centred aides.”

There was general consensus that Obasanjo’s letter was the albatross that brought Jonathan’s government to its knees; and all efforts to redeem it failed until Buhari defeated him during the 2015 historic election.

Undoubtedly, even if there are other factors such as alliance with powerful forces, Obasanjo was equally a factor in Buhari’s election, directly and indirectly.

Therefore, yesterday’s letter by Obasanjo to President Buhari speaks volumes.

“The situation that made Nigerians to vote massively to get my brother Jonathan off the horse is playing itself out again. First, I thought I knew the point where President Buhari is weak and I spoke and wrote about it even before Nigerians voted for him and I also did vote for him because at that time it was a matter of ‘any option but Jonathan,’” he said.

Nigerians would see a lot in the coming days as the scheming for 2019 gets thicker by the day.