OBASANJO

OBASANJO – HERE HE GOES AGAIN

By a presidential fiat, that is neither legal nor constitutional, moral nor ethical, President Olusegun Obasanjo has again spoken with his characteristic air of finality like the Greek goddess of power. This time it is on resource control. The last time his ‘unguided missile’ hit me was when with a similar air of finality, he declared that his government will never convene the Sovereign National Conference irrespective of peoples’ clamor for one. One common denominator of his ‘unguided missiles’ is that they are always aimed at the people who not only elected him to power but whose interest he sworn to protect and defend. This is where and why I always feel very uncomfortable, each time his missile hit the people.

In an address to a three-day national seminar on inter-state and inter-local government boundaries recently, President Olusegun Obasanjo declared, "We must accept that the resources, which our great country is blessed with, belong to all of us, therefore the vogue in certain quarters, of exclusiveness in exploitation and utilization of Nigeria’s God-given resources must be discouraged, no matter where such resources are located". Further he said that having lived together for forty years as one country, "the relationship between the constituent units of the nation and its deserved peoples, have become inextricably interwoven. Having consciously chosen to live together as Nigerians, we have no option but to eschew bitterness and rancor" (emphasis mine).

My immediate reaction to this statement and others in the address was to say, "Obasanjo you are a liar" but as a Yoruba, brought up to respect elders, I decided against that. However since I cannot stand those flaws in his statements I cannot but say, Mr. President you are wrong as your statement is untrue! It is fatally flawed to say the least. When did Obasanjo become such a coward? In stead of saying ‘certain quarters’ why not be bold and say ‘the peoples and governments of the south-south states’. It is an open secret that the governors, legislators and the peoples of this region have justifiably been relentless in asking to be responsible for producing and managing the wealth accruing from the resources of their God-given land. They want a stop to their land been plundered and its wealth squandered in distant lands especially by the Hausa/Fulani kleptomaniacs. All they have said is to take their destiny in their own hands, by controlling the exploitation and management of the resources of land on which they live but for which they have been suffering untold hardship including death. All they are saying is, enough is enough! Nothing more, and nothing less. I don’t see how any body will fault them on this, not even an Adolf Hitler as the President and a Benito Mussolini as the vice-president.

We can no longer be deceived, the hand is Esaus’ but the voice is clearly that of Jacob. It is not an accident that the address was read by Atiku Abubakar who doubles as Obasanjo’s vice-president and the Hausa/Fulani presidential "crown-prince" for the election 2003. Or how else will one sees such a statement that is patently anti-southern interest and pro-Hausa/Fulani interest, being prepared by a southerner and being read by a Hausa/Fulani leader? I said it once, let me say it again. Obasanjo is posted to Aso Rock by the Hausa/Fulani to implement their secret or hidden agenda such as preserving the status quo like the ‘Mistake of 1914’ including its consequences and the full blown implementation of Sharia. He is doing a pretty good job of his assignments.

Now let us come to the critique of the Hausa/Fulani ideas as projected through Obasanjo. Is it really true that all resources in Nigeria belong to all Nigerians? No. It is not true. It is a white lie that is visible to the blind. Or, may be I am the liar. Why are the people in the oil producing areas of the south-south the poorest in the world, when their per capital income is compared to the enormity of the oil wealth coming out of their soil. If the list of all Nigerian robbers under the chairmanship of Abacha the butcher from Kano, who have more than $500milion in foreign bank accounts are pulled out, 98% of them have Hausa/Fulani blood flowing in them. Any way 98% of this ill-gotten wealth is source from oil flowing from the oil wells of the ‘Islamic states of Zamfara, Jigawa, Katisna, Kebbi, Kano and Sokoto’! I must be the liar now and here, as the billions and tonnes of Naira desperately sunk in the Chad Basin, has not yielded a litre of colored water that can be mistaken for oil. Who knows what percentage of such moneys ended up in the pockets of our robber-rulers? In their search for an alternative to the southern oil wealth, the Hausa/Fulani had thought they would strike the black gold in the Chad Basin, which they desperately needed to arrogantly declare their Arewa Republic and call off the bluff and bragging of the oil rich south. How many southerners have benefited from their solid minerals?

Here he goes again! Obasanjo talked of the ‘vogue in certain quarters of exclusiveness in exploitation and utilization of resources’. Lie number 2. The leaders and the peoples of the south-south have never talked of exclusive utilization of resources from their land. No far from that. All they asked for is the control and management. They want to be able to produce, market and allocate the wealth accruable from the resources form their land. This is in agreement with all fundamentals of true federalism as practiced in all decent federated countries. Simply the so-called federal government owns no piece of land. If any government will have anything to do with any land at all, it should be Local Government, which is the closest to the real people. This is why any revenue allocation controlled or chaired by the Federal government, is criminal and unjust. Anyway that is another cup of tea all together that might be visited at another opportunity.

Here he goes again. President Obasanjo said, "Having consciously chosen to live together as Nigerians, we have no option but to eschew bitterness and rancor". Nigerians consciously have chosen to live together? When? Where? On what terms and conditions? This is the biggest and the father of all lies. With due humility I say that I am not a neophyte in the political history of Nigeria. I can therefore say that there has never been a point at which any Nigerian or group of Nigerian living or dead made such a momentous conscious choice. Whatever name we have as Nigeria today first came as an idea from the girl friend of a Lugard who was a colonial governor of the northern protectorate. The so-called amalgamation was a forced marriage without courtship or as Americans would say, dating. It was a marriage without in-ward or out-ward show of love or affection from any of the couples. Obasanjo should be educated, that before the now infamous amalgamation, Lugard or his sponsors never had the courtesy to bring any of the constituents part of what is today Nigeria together, for any consultation, negotiation, briefing or conference let alone giving them the opportunity for such a conscious choice as Obasanjo will want to re-write the political history of Nigeria.

Now, using Obasanjo’s own word, it is this lack of opportunity for this conscious choice to live together as Nigerian that has been the greatest tragedy and travesty of the act of making a federation. This is why lovers of Nigeria have been clamoring for such an opportunity using the forum of a Sovereign National Conference, an opportunity Obasanjo and his Hausa/Fulani backers have been resisting. Let me however assure that, the harder they try the greater their failure, as evil has never triumph over good however long. It is hypocrisy for Obasanjo to recognize bitterness and rancor in the society, while resisting the forum for dialogue and negotiation that could remove such rancor and bitterness.

Here he goes again as he said, "It is sad that lives are lost over boundaries that were created for administrative convenience……. Forty years after independence, Nigeria is still engulfed with many internal boundary problems". If Obasanjo can rationally examined the truth of his statement or observation, he will find reasons for the problems identified. Simply the answer boils down to the same issue of lack of consultation before putting more than 300 completely different people to live together under the same roof. If there had been proper and adequate consultations, all the present causes of boundary and other disputes would have been resolved. Yes, boundary disputes to be properly and finally resolved, must first be identified, demarcated, negotiated and accepted on the conference table and not on the ground where some foreign administrative officers know little or nothing about the people over whom they administer. Let it be said again that that is the reason why the wise and the prudent are asking for Sovereign National Conference in Nigeria today to do what Obasanjo is lamenting but lacked the courage to pursue.

Finally here the President goes again. "My heart shed tears, each time I hear a soul is lost as a result of boundary problem". Mr. President can I take you for your words? If yes, then I will take it that your heart sheds blood each time you hear that souls are lost in the name of Sharia. More souls have been lost in just a single religious madness than in all boundary disputes put together. Mr. President if your tears are not crocodile tears and if it is true that your heart bleeds when more lives are lost each time our mullahs had gone mad again, you must really be strong to survive such torrents of internal hemorrhage.

Mr. President, I want to take it, that you are plain ignorant and not being mischievous, when you said that Nigerians have consciously chosen to live together. I want to take it, that that is your patriotic wish for Nigeria. I can understand from where you are coming from, having been drafted to fight a war of conquest in this regard in the recent past. As an Army Engineer, I know it is your heart’s desire to build bridges of cooperation across the country’s rivers rather than barriers to mutual unity and peaceful co-existence. As an officer and gentleman I know you want the lost of lives over national problems to end, at least so that your tears will stop. I believe you when you said, you want rancor and bitterness banished from the land. I know your heart bleeds each time you see the blood of your fellow Nigerians flowing on the streets for unnecessary and avoidable reasons especially religion which in my own faith is seen and treated as a personal relationship with God.

Mr. President, it is my turn to shed my tears for you as I write this piece. Why? For the simple reason that Abacha dealt with you in such a vicious way that you probably have lost 90% of your courage and valor as a soldier to the fear of surviving his ordeal. The remaining 10% you sold to your sponsors to ensure your current tenancy of Aso Rock. I am sure you know what is good for Nigeria and the greatest number of her people but you simply lack the courage to pursue it. This is why you have handled the issues of Sharia and the Sovereign National Conference with such abysmal failure.

Mr. President let me offer you a free though unsolicited consultancy. Now that you have lost the courage in you, all you need to do, is to muster every determination left in you as a soldier and statesman to throw away the burden the Hausa/Fulani put on you. Then go ahead today and constitute a body that will be responsible for the successful convening of a Sovereign National Conference. You have got all it takes to do this. You don’t need the National Assembly, majority of whose members has the unenviable reputation of being anti-democratic forces right from the days of Babangida and Abacha. You should today use your Presidential or Executive order without fair or favor. If you lack the wisdom and understanding to go about doing this, ask and it shall be given to you. There are hundreds of able and willing hands that will readily give you their services without a charge. This is the only way your tears can be removed permanently and your honor and glory will be greater than what you thought you had achieved. Mr. President, I was told you read the Bible from cover to cover many times while under the shadow of the valley of death that Abacha took you to. You would be very well familiar with this short story.

One day as Jesus was having a triumphant entry into Jerusalem, a group of enthusiastic lovers and believers including children were shouting Hallelujah and Hosanna to the chagrin and disappointment of the Pharisees. In their morbid attempt to suppress the songs of Praise to the Lord, they asked the children to keep quiet. Jesus replied that if they asked those children to keep quiet, he would rise up stones to shout and sing the songs of Praise. I almost forgot I was not preparing a message for a pulpit communication. The import of this illustration is simple. If your government with the collaboration of the Hausa/Fulani, refuse to change the status quo or correct the Mistake of 1914, by refusing to convene the much demanded Sovereign National Conference, the people of Nigeria who have been the burden bearers of the status quo will raise a competent body to convene the Conference at an appropriate time and place without a permission from you or your collaborators. Be informed that the outcome will be binding on all including you.

Mr. President, on a last note, do you think you still have a loyal Vice President in the person of Atiku Abubakar who now sees himself more as a waiting President for the year 2003? I heard he was the guest of honor at the ‘Reception 2000’ in Kaduna recently where war drums and trumpets sounded. In my humble opinion, there is no need for any new election until a Sovereign National Conference is convened and all national questions answered including, ‘Do we all still agree to belong to the house built by Lugard in 1914? Do we need some tearing down and renovation? Simply put; let us all forget our pet ambitions for power until all outstanding National Questions are answered.

So Atiku and his sponsors are just wasting their time for now running around for the office that is not vacant and may not be very soon. On the sounds of war from the jihadist, I wish them luck. If they however thought they won the last unfortunate and unnecessary civil war, they must be kidding themselves. They better check their war diaries for the names of the war heroes including the unsung. Those who fought and those who watched the war know that the names of the Hausa/Fulani are not too many on the heroes’ list. The ones I know can best be remembered for the misadventure of the River Niger which led to the death of almost a battalion of soldiers. I don’t want to include the looting of the Central Bank in Benin or the private property of the Igbo who were the main victims of the war.

Let me remind them again that the West and the Middle Belt can see more clearly now that the clouds are gone. This time, the Joe Akahans of the Middle Belt will no longer be willing tools to fly any bombing mission. The Benjamin Adekunles a.k.a. The Black Scorpion of the West will also refuse to be the devil’s tools in shooting their brothers. Those who have ears hear this. A word is definitely enough for the wise.

The writer is a well versed commentator on Nigerian and International affairs