By

Sesan Abdulfatai Koyejo

Since the big joke became reality, we have been, and are still being, bombarded by all sorts of theories of how the outcome of the most rigged elections in Nigeria’s history represents changes in the political behaviour of its electorate.

If this spin doctoring were to be restricted to those with obvious limited understanding of our politics, one might be tempted to ignore it. But we have people with doctor titles becoming prominent in this exercise in self-deceit. And as Professor Omo Omoruyi (read his "Understanding Obasanjo's vision of the Nigerian Political Mainstream and the position of the Yoruba in it") has also lent his immense scholarly weight to these spurious theories, it became necessary for all of us to join the fray.

We are being told that Obasanjo is not a tribalist or untribalised, or whatever. This is definitely true; not by the way of the professor’s understanding but because it takes a high sense of responsibility to be concerned about millions of people. And Obasanjo is not even known to care much about his own family. He is a primitive egoist.

That it took the government of Olusegun Osoba to tar the road that leads to the home village of Obasanjo‘s father, Ibogun Olaogun, in 2001 should show Nigerians that the man is somebody who only cares for himself. This is a man who was Federal Commissioner for Works and Housing from 1971 to 1975; Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters from July 1975 to February 1976; and Head of State from February 1976 to September 1979. If through all these periods he didn’t feel it important to use his influence to make the road leading to his home village passable, how do we think he could care about the road that leads to one village somewhere in Anambra?

And there is nobody Obasanjo cannot sacrifice for his own position. We are witnessing how he is sacrificing Bola Ige, a man who was killed for the role he was playing in his government.

We see how he has shown that he could sacrifice his daughter by exhibiting no visible concerns about the apprehension of those who made an attempt on her life recently. Even if they are not caught, the president should at least have given visible signs that he is intent on catching them.

Remember Linda Obasanjo (nee Soares), his wife who was killed in 1988 by suspected hired assassins? He did not make any efforts to ensure that the killers of the woman were caught. With his influence, one would have thought that he would have visibly done something, but he did almost nothing which made the woman’s relatives to accuse him of callous indifference to their pains. That is quintessential Obasanjo.

Before he went to prison, it was not uncommon to be shown a kid running around, in an Abeokuta neighbourhood, barefooted, wearing dirty clothes as one of Obasanjo’s numerous children from his many women, whom the old man had no time for. And when you show signs of being surprised, then you are told that Obasanjo o ma responsible rara (Obasanjo is not responsible at all). It says it all.

Now to politics. The recent elections if properly supervised would have still produced a re-elected Obasanjo. The candidacy of Buhari makes that inevitable. But the massive rigging that accompanied the polls are meant to create new political facts in Nigeria and ensures that Obasanjo’s deputy, Vice-President Abubakar Atiku, whom all of us know to be very ambitious and treacherous, succeeds the president. Otherwise, why should anybody have rigged in the Southwest?

The Yorubas have made it clear they would vote for Obasanjo. His party in the region is made up of disreputable politicians whom the people would not vote for to represent them in the National Assembly or as governors. (I would like to make an exception for Gbenga Daniels of Ogun State whom I consider a decent man but who didn’t win the election). I was in Abeokuta during the elections and everybody was shocked by the victory of the PDP in the legislative and governorship elections.

Why did Obasanjo do it?

Most likely he was not privy to the rigging in most of the Yoruba states since he obviously does not control the party. The way he was publicly handled by his deputy (or rather boss?) during the PDP’s presidential primaries showed the whole world who calls the shot in the party.

Why did Obasanjo tolerate the development or even hailed it?

Obasanjo’s preoccupation in power is just to enjoy his reign, travel around the world, hobnob with international figures, etc. The man sees his office as a form of national chieftaincy title which he is so proud to occupy. Just don’t rock the boat, is his wish. That is the pedestrian way Obasanjo thinks.

And back to Professor Omoruyi, who wrote that: "It would appear also that Chief Obasanjo does not buy the argument of Chief Awolowo that one should be a good Yoruba first before being a good Nigerian. To him, to be a good Yoruba must be defined in terms of how good one is as a Nigerian. This is the attribute of the hyphenated Nigerian: a Yoruba-Nigerian, an Edo-Nigerian etc, etc."

Professor should know that in the West, politicians start their careers, in most cases in communal and regional politics. And their performance at such levels recommend them for greater duties at the national level. Remember, Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas before becoming American president, just as Ronald Reagan was California‘s governor, Jimmy Carter was Georgia’s governor and George Bush was Texas’s. And Jacque Chirach was Mayor of Paris for many years before becoming French Prime Minister and then President.

Following the professor’s theory, Obasanjo would have to learn first to be a good father to Nigerian children before taking care of his biological ones in Abeokuta. Or?

Those who made the attempt on the life of Obasanjo’s daughter recently only wanted to show him that he himself is not outside the reach of their harm. And with Buhari’s recent pronouncements, it is no longer difficult to guess who might have been behind the incident. Although his daughter survived but 5 human beings died. It is more important for Obasanjo to give the impression to the outside world that he is firmly in control and very popular hence he is said to have told the police to give the incident a low profile. When one sees how the man has handled the issue then Nigerians should be afraid. But our intellectuals are busy spinning fake theories to justify Obasanjo. They will be let down.

For many us in Abeokuta, Obasanjo is a known element. We never expected anything from him. The scant support he got in Ogun State in 1999 was because he had no credibility among his people. It wasn’t because of the Awo factor as many spin doctors would have us believe. Afterall Gbenga Aluko won a senatorial seat in Ekiti, a more Awoist state than Ogun, on the popularity of his father, Prof. Sam Aluko, in his area.

Like one of my uncles who has known the president for more than 50 years would say, Obasanjo ki se nia (Obasanjo is not a reliable person). And when Yorubas describe a man in those words that then he has nothing to really offer. The sooner Nigerians, and especially Yorubas, realise that the better for them.

June 2003