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REVISITING THE SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK [2] PRESIDENT OBASANJO: GO BACK TO YOUR SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK OF JUNE 1998 ON NATIONAL CONFERENCE. by
In the first essay, REVISITING THE SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK[1]: NIGERIAN ARMY AND JUNE 12, I dwelt on the way Chief Obasanjo characterised the Nigerian army and June 12. I dwelt on what God revealed to him would happen to Nigeria, if the issues in the June 12 were not allowed to be raised, discussed and resolved amicably. In this essay, I shall dwell on what Mr. President told Nigerians then in a packed Church, the Baptist Church, Abeokuta as the mode of resolving the political impasse. This essay becomes critical in the light of what the President said recently at Ibadan on the futility of the agitation for a Sovereign National Conference. In this essay I am asking the tough question whether the President would be willing to go back to the solution he proffered in 1998 in the SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK? May I again remind Mr. President of what he said then, also in the SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK of June 1998 at that Church service? This is also contained in the Vanguard of June 21, 1998 as reported by Kolade Olarenwaju. It would appear that Chief Obasanjo knew the feeling of the military and the civilian wings of the geo-ethno-military-clique that engineered the annulment and sustained the annulment and tried to silence all voices of opposition. I am aware of the fear of the President which he expressed in that Sermon that Abacha’s Guru told him that more Nigerian blood should be spilled in order to keep himself in office. But in the name of God, the Abacha’s Guru was wrong, so prophesied by Chief Obasanjo in that Sermon. President Obasanjo would recall his warning to Nigerians in that Sermon. The President would recall that he warned in the SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK in the following words: ‘Let it not be said that by an act of omission or commission, that there are two classes of Nigerians as far as political, economic and social participation were concerned. This was the basis of the annulment; it was made obvious that Chief Abiola could not rule Nigeria as long as long he had the support of his people, the Yoruba. I told some of my Ndi Igbo friends that they ought to have known or should have known that Dr. Alex Ekwueme could not get the support of the powers that be in the PDP because he too had the support of his people. Chief Olu Falae, of course, could not be trusted as long as he was the official candidate of the Yorubas who swore to lead the country to embark on fundamental restructuring. What the President alluded to in that Sermon was that there were written and the unwritten rules and qualification about who becomes the President in Nigeria. One class is the producer of President and leadership of the armed forces and keeper of the petro-dollars and the other is to follow. The President would recall that he pleaded with the Nigerian political leaders in the following words: Let all Nigerians have a sense of belonging and a stake in the affairs of Nigeria. The President was right or put in another way, what God put in the mouth of Preacher Obasanjo was the right thing then and it is still the right thing today. You gave this advice against the backdrop of the issues in the annulment and how Nigerians were divided into two classes. When you delivered the SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK, Chief Obasanjo had not been visited by the former President, General Ibrahim Babangida. Could one also say that the offer of becoming the President in succession to the military junta had not been made to him?. Did the military wing of the geo-ethno-military-clique know what God revealed to Chief Obasanjo in Abacha’s gulag? Let us put it in another way. One may ask the critical question. Did Chief Obasanjo tell General Babangida what God told him when he called on him with the offer from the military clique after the death of the darling of the north, General Sani Abacha? If he did, would the military consider it a betrayal of their generosity after freeing him from prison for Chief Obasanjo to have uttered an advice, which they would not like to hear? Here comes the dilemma! President Obasanjo would have to come to terms with he should obey the wishes of those who made him the President or live in accordance with the word of God freely revealed to him in Abacha’s Gulag as the way forward. The obvious question one may ask is whether the President is afraid to defy them? Is he afraid to defy the geo-ethno-military-clique? Who would not be afraid of the ‘blood-thirsty’ clique? Yes, he defied them in 1995 and he paid dearly for it. The President is afraid that if he defies them this time they might get rid of him or might send him back to the Gulag. In fact the clique would implement the one term pact, which was conditional on his ability to rule Nigeria in their image. But President Obasanjo should realize that the environment today is different if he rules according to the wishes of Nigerians. More importantly, God is on His Throne and on the President’s side, if and only if he will do His will. The frequent threat from the Arewa Consultative Forum and the reaction or capitulation of the President tend to demonstrate this fear of the unknown on the part of the President. This is at the root of President Obasanjo’s inability to move the country forward. May I strongly urge the President to go back to the words of the Lord, which he copiously quoted as the source of his Sermon and which he also cited as a guide to his prophecy. Let me go back to the SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK for guidance. I would like to call the President’s attention the following expression from his SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK. ‘It is never too late for patriotic men and women of goodwill to get-together and dialogue to find generally acceptable solution to the unnecessary problems’.
Mr. President, do you know the meaning and implication of the foregoing mode of resolving the lingering political crisis? That mode is not late today just as you said in June 1998 that it is never too late for patriotic men and women of goodwill to get-together and dialogue and find acceptable solution to the unnecessary problems.. Mr. President, you seem to be running away from your God’s inspired injunction. The question is why? The foregoing statement was weighty enough. Would Mr. President be willing to go back to what he was divinely inspired to tell Nigerians in 1998? If not, why not! ‘GET-TOGETHER’ OR ‘ASSEMBLE’ MEANS ‘CONFERENCE’ What is the difference between the President ‘s concept of a ‘GET-TOGETHER OF PATRIOTIC MEN AND WOMEN OF GOODWILL’ and the concept of a ‘NATIONAL CONFERENCE’? To me they are the same and the difference depends on the good faith on all sides and the political will of President Obasanjo. The problem in Nigeria today is that there is a lack of political will on the part of the President to move the country forward. What the President should realize is that his divine solution and the words he was divinely inspired to use to convey that solution were no different from the words used by those Nigerians of distinction who have been speaking their hearts since 1993 calling for a Sovereign National Conference. It is the President who is moving the post from advocating a ‘get together of patriotic men and women’ to some kind of consultation he ad hoc manner holds with some Nigerians on what he wants them to discuss with him. This is the military style of consultation and dialogue. Maybe Mr. President would want to tell Nigerians what he meant by ‘get together of men and women of goodwill’? Mr. President, the end of such a ‘get-together’, is what is important and not the nomenclature. Mr. President, you were right when you said the end of such ‘a get together’ was to dialogue with a view to finding an acceptable solutions to the ‘unnecessary problems’, which I call the ‘lingering political problems’. The President would recall that he prophesied in June 1998 that there should be ‘a get-together of Nigerians. The qualification of membership of those Nigerians the President would recall should be ‘patriotic men and women of good will’. Every ethnic nationality and community has in abundance these persons; they are available in all communities, if the President would allow them to throw them up. They are willing to follow the President’s command. Would they be given that opportunity by President Obasanjo? The foregoing was not all. Mr. President, other conditions set by the President are that as follows:
Mr. President, is this not a National Conference? What is the point of difference? Mr. President, you are unduly splitting hair. For God’s sake, go back to what you believe in Mr. President and that is a ‘National Conference’, simple! Mr. President, this was what you, as General Olusegun Obasanjo proffered in 1998. That is still valid today; you have the blessing of God to say so in 1998 and I am sure you still have the support of God, if only you would want to go back to that position with prayer. ISSUES SINCE 1993 HAVE NOT CHANGED? Mr. President, the end of such an assembly will be to raise, discuss and resolve two matters. These are the problems, which the President for lack of better words called in the SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK the ‘unnecessary problems’, which I call in this essay, the ‘lingering political problems’. They are lingering because no one can wish them away; no one can feel that one day they would disappear; they would not, on their own. They just have to be faced and dealt with.
Mr. President did not include in his divinely inspired solution to the problems of Nigeria in June 1998 that his emergence as a President would be a solution to the lingering political problems plaguing this country. May I advise Mr. President that Mr. President should not deny Nigerians the opportunity to choose their accredited representatives and solve their problems at the Conference Table. It is a mistake to confuse the routine briefing of some political leaders, traditional rulers in zones or together as a substitute for a ‘National Conference’. These Traditional Rulers who are in search of a role since 1960 should not be dragged into taking the place of elected representatives of the various communities for the purpose of redesigning the Nigerian political system. The President’s frequent meeting with all sorts of people decided by him is a hangover of the military regime where briefing by the military Heads of State or President was confused with national dialogue and consensus building through accredited representatives. Mr. President at the time you delivered your SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK, you were aware of the character of the political class. You were also aware that the Nigerian people and the international community did not trust them with delivering democracy to the Nigerian people. Of course, every Nigerian knows that the National Assembly is part of the lingering political problems. It cannot be made to solve such problems. Those who are calling on the President to lead in the convocation of a National Conference are asking the President to live according to what he confessed to in the SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK. They are not asking the President and the National Assembly or the Governors and the State Houses of Assembly or the Local Government Councils to cease to do their work. In fact, the National Assembly with the President should be made to deal with the day to day issues of governance as best it could under the system of uncertainty. If Mr. President fails to lead the country to search for solutions to the lingering political problems now, one could imagine what would happen, if the country survives a one term of this administration under the prevailing political uncertainty. This should have been the purpose of the President’s dialogue with Nigerians in Diaspora, to discuss what should be done during the remaining part of the President’s term of office. Unfortunately the way the meeting was organized and what was achieved at the end of the meeting, one is at a loss to know what the President has been trying to do to further the goal he was divinely inspired to set for an assembly in 1998. MR. PRESIDENT MAKE HISTORY How the process can be set in motion should be the responsibility of Mr. President, if he wants to make history. This is the hard decision. But the President is running away from it. The question is why? Would Nigerians of goodwill embark on the search for how to develop the modality for organizing the Conference outside the President? This will be in accordance with the position canvassed by Chief Anthony Enahoro and Professor Adebayo Adedeji that the National Conference should be organized with out the President. It is better said than done. The various ethnic nationalities in the south (the Afenifere-Yoruba, the Ohaneze-Ndi Igbo and the Union of Niger-Delta and some South-South organizations) support the idea of a National Conference. The Middle-Belt Forum also agreed that there is no substitute for a National Forum or Conference or what ever name it might be called. If all these groups agree that there is no substitute for a dialogue on all issues, why should the President not see their advocacy as in consonant with what the Good Lord inspired him to communicate to Nigerians in the SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK in June 1998 as the mode of resolving the ‘unnecessary problems’? The only group that is opposed to the idea of a national dialogue is the Arewa Consultative Forum, which holds the view that a conference of the nature canvassed by the southern groups and the middle-belt would lead to the disintegration of the country. This is a cheap blackmail. Does the President believe them or the injunction in the divinely inspired sermon? Mr. President should appreciate that the holding of a National Conference would be in accordance with what he, as Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was divinely inspired to tell Nigerians in June 1998. Since the President always invokes the name of God in all that he does, Mr. President, in the name of God, please go back to what you told Nigerian ‘men and women of goodwill’ in June 1998. The patriotic men and women are waiting. The issue of ‘Sovereignty’, which the President is made to use to argue against the idea of a National Conference, should not be an issue. This can be negotiated. What the protagonists of the notion of Sovereignty for the Conference are saying is that the Conference would have power to address and resolve all, which could be grouped into two categories.
These two issues summarize the myriad of problems afflicting the country today and with the days tickling to 2003, these two issues would acquire many dimensions. Mr. President, a stitch in time saves nine! The Nigerian problems would be further complicated by the uncertainty over 2003. Mr. President, do not listen to the professional coup plotters who would not stop invoking the name of Allah to deny Nigerians their human dignity. They are fond of erroneously invoking the Allah to cover up their much mischief.
There is no doubt in my mind that they were wrong with all that they attribute to Allah. It would appear that the President considered the 11th injunction above binding on him when he became the President by the grace of those who said that annulment was by the dictate of Allah. Mr. President as you told Nigerians that God told you that Nigerians of goodwill should get-together and find solution to the political problems of the country after the death of Abacha, you should do what God directs you to do in the interest of Nigeria. Be assured that God who directs you will see you and the country through. After all Allah told them in the 12th injunction above that heaven would fall if the past human rights violations were ever investigated; but you defied them and set up the Oputa Commission. So too you would succeed, if you lead in the convocation of a National Get-together for the purpose of raising, discussing and resolving the lingering political problems of the country. STOP ABUSE OF RELIGION Fellow Nigerians we allowed many Nigerian Christian and Muslim and believers in Traditional African Religion to do a lot of mischief in the name of the Almighty. We should stop this. Those who engaged in coup ought to have known that the act of implementing a coup involves the blood of the innocent. They should have known that those who annulled an election denied citizens their right to human dignity and their voice. Do they know of the saying that the voice of the people is the voice of God? Do they know that the vote is the voice of the citizens in a democracy? Consequently those who killed in the past in the name of taking over the state did not have the blessing of God or Allah. Those who annulled the election worked against what GOD on June 12, 1993 gave to Nigerians as their voice. They ought to or should have known that the vote in traditional human rights language is the voice of the people and consequently the voice of God. OPUTA IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ANNULLISTS Maybe the annullist should be reminded of the Latin saying vox populi vox dei, the voice of the people is the voice of God. Did the annullists not know that by their act, they infringed the law of God and of Allah? This is why one should call on the President to grant immunity to those who annulled the June 12 and plunged the country into bounded uncertainty since 1993 to enable go before the Oputa Commission on Human Rights Violations. They should be able to make a public confession of their betrayal of the democratic rights of Nigerians in the past without a fear of prosecution Since they were instrumental to the emergence of the President, they should have some confidence in Mr. President. They should be able to listen to him, if he advised them that since they breached the word of God or Allah they should go to the Oputa Commission. I am sure with a promise of immunity, they would take up the offer. They should use the auspices of the Oputa Commission to seek the forgiveness of God and of Allah and of the Nigerian people. I hope Mr. President would prevail on General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida to go to the Oputa Commission. General Babangida should lead his contingent of 1001 as he claimed who were involved in the betrayal of the democratic rights of Nigerians in 1993 to publicly confess and seek the forgiveness of the Almighty God and Allah and of the Nigerian people. I hope the President would prevail on those who sustained the annulment under General Abacha and General Abubakar between 1993 and 1999 and who are in his administration to also go before the Oputa Commission. This will naturally include General Abdulsalami Abubakar. Mr. President should appreciate that Nigerians knew that those people who contributed to the killing of many Nigerians under the various military juntas between 1993 and 1998 are in his government and in the National Assembly. Grant of immunity would send them to the Commission. VOICE OF ASO ROCK SHOULD REFLECT SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK. Mr. President, that message in the SERMON OLUMO ROCK in June 1998 was right in 1998; it is right today. What Mr. President is telling Nigerians from Aso Rock is wrong and would aggravate the uncertainty in the country as we move towards 2003. I wish to assure Mr. President that a National get-together of patriotic men and women of goodwill to dialogue and to find an acceptable solution on the lingering political problems, was what he was divinely inspired to tell Nigerians in June 1998. What you were divinely inspired to proffer in June 1998 was the right thing to do then; it is still the right thing to do now. LISTEN TO EMINENT MEN Mr. President, you know the views about the ‘unnecessary problems and the mode of solving them by Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Alhaji Babatunde Jose and Professor Adebayo Adedeji. I associate myself with them. They are President’s friends and they wish the President well and above all they are concerned about the country and also wish the country well. These are not Nigerians who are ethnically minded and they are not known to have partisan interests over and above national interest in their past conduct. These are not people who just talk; they fall into the category of ‘patriotic men and women’ alluded to in the SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK. They could not be having some hidden agenda, which would include wanting the President and the country to fail. What is common among these eminent Nigerians is that after reflecting on the nature of political problems in the country, they individually without prompting from anybody arrived at the same mode of resolving the lingering political crisis in the country. They without casting aspersion on Mr. President or impugning the esteemed status of the National Assembly came to the conclusion that neither Mr. President nor the National Assembly has an answer to the crisis facing the country and recommended a National Conference. They individually agreed with MR. President as prophesied in the SERMON ON OLUMO ROCK in June 1998. These eminent Nigerians are just been nice, otherwise they would have said that the President and the National Assembly are gradually becoming part of the lingering political problems of Nigeria. If the President and the National Assembly are not careful, they could become the main problem if the country found itself with these lingering political problems unto 2003.
Research Fellow African Studies Center Boston University Boston, MA
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