By Ehichioya Ezomon
Fielding questions from journalists during ceremonies marking his 80th anniversary in Abeokuta in 2017, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was asked if he had forgiven Professor Wole Soyinka, as regards the Nobel Laureate’s campaign against his unsuccessful bid for the Secretary General of the United Nations in 1991.
His response: “You’re absolutely wrong. I don’t hold a grudge. Wole Soyinka is not God. And I don’t believe there’s any human being that is absolutely right. Wole Soyinka has what I believe he has. He’s a gifted person in his own way. But Wole Soyinka is not an oracle. I will not accept Wole Soyinka making (ex) cathedra statement(s) on everything. I don’t believe that anybody could do that.”
It makes the Nigerian polity watchers to wonder aloud: What has been Obasanjo’s pastime all his adult life, if not to pontificate, oraclize and play God on any issue under the Nigerian firmament? He virtually hammered, through public statements, usually phrased as “open letters,” all the governments (military or civilian) since his first coming as Head of State, between 1976 and 1979.
And what could be more “ex cathedra” than his January “Special Press Statement” – and subsequent public declarations – describing President Muhammadu Buhari a total failure, and demanding he removed himself from the presidential contest in the 2019 elections.
In the damning rundown, Obasanjo specifically urged the president that being an old man, and having survived an ailment that took him to London for over three months, he should be thankful to God, and go home to a take a deserved rest.
But not before telling Buhari that he had tried his best, which was not good enough to remedy the myriad of problems besetting the country, including but not limited to Boko Haram insurgency; herdsmen’s killing of farmers; economy in shambles; hunger and anger in the land; ethnic and religious divide; nepotism; and selective fight against corruption.
Obasanjo added a caveat: If President Buhari refused to respect his entreaty, and listen to those persuading him to run for re-election, he would form a Coalition for Nigeria (CN), a body of concerned Nigerians that would work for the youths to takeover the reins of power in the country.
Actually, as President Buhari gave no heed to that statement, which was complemented by a similar “don’t run for re-election” one written by former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Obasanjo launched the “Coalition for Nigeria Movement” (CNM), to galvanize dissatisfied Nigerians into action.
Buhari, too, would later declare his intention to re-contest for the presidency. Thus, the hen, having come home to roost for the CNM, Obasanjo has practically recanted: that the 2019 task was no more a walkover, but that, which must be fought with God’s armour.
This reality was divulged on April 28 in Ibadan, where he had gone to conscript new members, and admitted that it won’t be easy to dethrone the current incumbents, even as his hosts branded him as, “He is, indeed, our Messiah… He is, indeed, the father of modern Nigeria.”
Obasanjo said: “Some people believe that those that are in position, whether they are doing well or not, they must continue to be there. But when we say they must not be there, they will want to fight back. They will do many things to wreak havoc, but everybody must be prepared. It will not be easy to wrest powers from them. If you think it will be easy to liberate Nigeria, you are deceiving yourself.
“But the God that did it yesterday will do it again today. We have seen this before. In this Nigeria, we have had a situation that we had five political parties, and the five parties nominated one person (former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha) as candidate for presidency. If only his nuclear family had voted for him, he would have won.
“But our God is wonderful. God laughed. Now, God is laughing. When the time came, God revealed that He’s God. He is the omnipotent, omnipresent and eternal, who can do all things and who can make all things possible. But if we are leaving things to God, we have to do our own side.”
Similarly, Obasanjo seems to have vetoed the submission that the coalition, code-named, “Third Force” (sounds familiar?) is principally focused on the “Nigerian youth” to takeover the mantle of leadership next year.
At its launch at the Yar’Adua Centre, in Abuja in January, former Osun governor, Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who’s the national coordinator of the movement, said: “What we (elders) are trying to do is like a guardian angel. It is you (youths) that must decide who is to do what and at what level. That is why we are having this meeting today and putting it back to you.”
But what did we see barely three months later? The leader of the coalition, Obasanjo, deciding and dictating what percentage of positions should go to the youths (and women), who the elders had promised “would be in the driver’s seat.”
In Ibadan, Obasanjo was quoted as directing as follows: “He tasked the executive of the movement across the country to ensure that the youths are given a pride of place, with a view that they should be given 30 per cent and women 30 per cent in all organs of the movement.”
How about that: deciding for the youths in the so-called platform organised for their sake? Hasn’t this confirmed critics’ fears that Obasanjo formed the coalition in order to advance his interests, and possibly use the disposition to realise, through proxies, his failed bid for a “third term” in 2007? Talk of the youths being really in control!
* Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.