If the publisher of the Oil and Gas Monthly, as sub industry pamphlet that survives solely on government patronage delivered in the form of vain and repetitive and needles self-congratulatory advertorials, has limited himself to the fact that he, as a citizen, do wholly support the Ota circus, as shameful as it may seem to the rest of the world, one would have been prepared to concede to him his freedom of speech which he can creatively deploy into sycophancy. But unfortunately, he went beyond that democratic parameter to (a), unfairly insult the Nigerian press and (b) put into circulation some unpardonable heresies about the subject matter of the system of endorsement of political candidates in the tradition of the civilised democracies.

Briefly, the essence of his essay was that (1) Obasanjo has the constitutional rights to seek re-election and going to "force" him to do that which he has a right to do was therefore in order; (2) rather than Obasanjo copying Abacha, it was Abacha (who died in 1998) that was copying Obasanjo; (3) the governors are too big to be described as "rented", and (4) the practice of "endorsement" is an integral part of all democracies. And on this latter platform, he went on to cite several examples which, if they were done in a history class, would have earned him a huge zero.

We shall proceed as economically as possible to deconstruct the fundamentals of his heretical submissions with a view to exposing the motives and perhaps, justifications, for his rather robust but defective intervention in this all - important issue, which has the capacity to define the destiny of our inchoate democracy.

First, no one of the criticisms that I have been privileged to read so far on the Ota visit has denied the fact that the President is constitutionally entitled to re-contest. The absurdity in the begging, as has been so well documented, is that you do not beg anyone to exercise what is his constitutional right to do. Putting pressure on the president to do what is his right to do is only a crude imitation of the ordeal that Abacha put the nation through during the shenanigan that preceded his self - succession bid. Unlike Obasanjo who has a valid defence on this particular shameful development as he was in jail while the Abacha circus was on, Chief Akintiilo on the other hand, could not, in good faith, claim ignorance that such a shameful thing did take place.

Are we to understand the Chief to be saying that Nigerians are condemned to perpetually relive the somber history of having to beg another would - be president to assume his constitutional responsibility? The Nigerian press, as one of the active chroniclers of the nation’s socio-political dairy was quick to spot the same political barlot faces that went to Abuja to beg Abacha "not to abandon Aso Rock" in the crowd that went to Ota to want to draft Obasanjo into the 2003 race. These characters do not love Obasanjo more than the rest of us.

Their motives and objectives are well known. Rather than vilify the Press that patriotically rose to the occasion and discharged its social responsibility to the nation within the framework of section 22 of the 1999 Constitution, it ought to be congratulated. This is more so as it is on record that the same press corps bloody criticised Abacha even at the risk of their lives for a similar charade. I am sure President Obasanjo as a democrat would be very pleased with the performance of the press on this score. But not the Akintiilos.

The second point he raised was that the governors are too much to be rented, citing the instances of their legal challenges of the president on resources control and the Electoral Act as his reasons for that assertion. Lord Acton was not mad when he crafted the historical axon that "there is no greater heresy than the saying that ‘power sanctifies the holder’... "Anyone can be rented, it is only the price that would vary. When a governor who is supposed to be busy in his state, fixing broken infrastructures there, finds time to go to Ota just to beg the president to run, then, something must be pushing him.

More importantly, a governor, qua governor, represents everyone in his state, irrespective of his, political affiliation. It would therefore amount to a breach of his custodial privilege if he now deploys his gubernatorial powers to pursue the narrow agenda of his own party by endorsing the president in the name of the state. The governors certainly cannot and in that context, as suggested by the Chief," represent and embody the collective aspiration of their peoples".

On his third point that it is the accepted norm in all democracies that friends and supporters routinely endorse their choice politicians, all we can say is that he wrongly compared a hallowed culture overseas to a very corrupt scheme at home. The fundamental difference between what happened during Abacha’s time and recently in Ota and the practice elsewhere is that there was nothing to endorse. Simple English should have told us that an "endorsement" has meaning only if it is to support a decision already made. I was privileged to have personally watched the last US election processes between Bush and AI Gore. What is happening in Nigeria does not have any relationship with the US concept of "endorsement". Endorsement logically comes only after the candidates have made their electoral declarations.

Lastly, I do not understand what he meant by "e-journalism". If by that he meant Internet journalism, then it would, for all intents and purpose, be a compliment because no newspaper that is worth its salt nowadays is outside the World Wide Web. And if indeed the Nigerian press has found a place on the Information Highway, it is something to be proud of. Honestly, I know no other press that is more vibrant and more politically alert than the Nigerian press. Even the President himself knows that the press contributed to saving his life when it mattered most. Akintiilo should pick on another subject if he really wants the president’s affection.

May 2002