Obasanjo And The Nigeria Question
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is obviously one of the highly respected and revered leaders in the contemporary Nigerian political history in view of his immense contributions towards the socio-economic and political development of the country. Chief Obasanjo’s long and selfless services to the country first as a former military head of state and later as the democratically elected president during the current civilian dispensation could not be easily quantified. Chief Obasanjo had equally played a unique and historic role during one of the darkest periods in the nation’s history when fate thrust upon him the onerous task of receiving the instrument of surrender from the “vanquished” Biafran army as the then General Officer Commanding the crack 3rd Marine Commandos of the Nigerian Army on that eventful day, January15, 1970. Again, in 1999 at the advent of the political transition that later culminated in the current democratic dispensation, Chief
Obasanjo through sheer act of divine providence and contrary to all expectations emerged as the PDP presidential standard-bearer soon after his release from long incarceration in faraway Bama maximum prison in Borno State. The late dreaded dictator, General Sani Abacha had ordered the arrest and detention of Chief Obasanjo on trumped up charges of a plot to overthrow his regime. Chief Obasanjo later won the presidential election decisively and became the second democratically elected President of Nigeria.
It is therefore a great paradox that Chief Obasanjo himself ruled the nation for eight years and was behaving also like a dictator in a democratic setting in view of his seeming anti-democratic stance in the course of his presidential pronouncements and actions.
The real essence of this piece however is to critically examine and analyse former President Obasanjo’s personal conduct and public utterances since after leaving office in 2007 with a view to determining if his personal conduct, generally speaking, conformed to the acceptable conventional norms expected of a former president and elder statesman.
It is regrettable however, to observe, that even though Chief Obasanjo has continued to serve the nation in different capacities including his recent role as a special envoy of the Federal Government to foreign countries and other international organisations, his general conduct coupled with his often unguarded and undiplomatic statements bordering on sensitive national issues did not portray him as truly an elder statesman, an honour, under normal circumstances he so richly deserved. It is equally a matter of deep regret that Chief Obasanjo had the penchant for always playing to the gallery and often stirring up dangerous controversies which could further exacerbate the current political tension and uncertainty in the country.
Only recently, Chief Obasanjo while briefing President Buhari at the State House, Abuja, on his recent diplomatic mission to the Republic of Guinea was quoted to have made certain unwarranted and highly provocative statement during his interactions with the State House Correspondents. Chief Obasanjo, while commending the military for their gallantry in combating the rampaging Boko Haram insurgency assured the press that the Nigerian military would definitely win the war against the insurgents just as they defeated the “Biafran Army” during the civil war.
By these unguarded, insensitive, and highly provocative utterances, Chief Obasanjo deliberately and mischievously created the unfortunate impression that the current Boko Haram insurgency could be equated or compared with and treated like the civil war which the former head of state and highly revered elder statesman, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) had described as a conflict between brothers at the end of the war. Consequently, Gen Gowon in his uncommon wisdom and in the true spirit of reconciliation made what had become a famous declaration during his historic broadcast that heralded the end of the war on January 15, 1970 in which he announced to the entire world that there was no “victor” and no “vanquished” after the war, and he promptly initiated the popular policy commonly known as the “three RS” namely: Reconciliation, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction.