Opinion
OBASANJO'S TRANSGRESSIONS AGAINST NIGERIA AND NIGERIANS
Posted by Chika Onyeani, Feb. 2, 2010

A savaging debate has erupted in Nigeria over statements made by the former president of the country, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, regarding his recent call on Nigeria's very seriously ill President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to resign as president of the country.  Obasanjo was quoted as saying, with regards to Yar'Adua, "If you cannot satisfy yourself, how can you satisfy your family or a nation? And if you cannot satisfy a nation, you can resign, which serves as part of morality, dignity and honour."  Most Nigerians view Obasanjo's populist call, as it reflects the opinion of the majority of Nigerians, as a caculated attempt to mask his greatest transgressions against the Nigerian state and Nigerians: forcing and foisting a very sick individual as President of Nigeria.

The crisis that has engulfed Nigeria is of Obasanjo's making.  Since November 23, Nigeria's President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has been away from Nigeria on a medical treatment in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, itself a symptom of the fact that for 50 years, since most African countries gained independence from their former colonial masters, African leaders have squandered opportunities to construct quality hospitals capable of taking care of their ailments.  Hence they mostly go outside the continent to Europe to die.  In other words, for 72 days, the President of Nigeria has been outside the country in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia hospital, unable to make any decisions affecting the country. 

To compound matters, he has refused to have his deputy, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, declared Acting President, due to a provision in the President's party bye-laws (not Nigeria;s constitution to be emphasized), which says there must be power rotation between the north and the south, which has led the northern elite in the country to refuse to countenance even the Vice President who is from the south, rising to the position of Acting President.  Understandably and decidedly, Nigerians view Obasanjo's call for the President to resign as hollow.  

As I have written many times, former President Olusegun Obasanjo is a very vindictive individual.  Obasanjo hates Nigeria and Nigerians for what they did to him in 2006 - deny him his well-orchestrated grab for power to stay in office for a third-term.  In 2006, Obasanjo decided to play god and he played god, aided assiduously by his hand-picked puppet Nuhu Ribadu of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who viciously used the authority of the Commission to carry out Obasanjo's diabolical program against those who he felt betrayed him, by letting loose Ribadu on his opponents and scaring them away through accusations of financial malfeasance.  It pains to see Nigerians trying to turn Nuhu Ribadu into a martyr after what he perpetuated on Nigerians in aiding Obasanjo, and hopefully with the current crisis in the country, Nigerians would come to view Nuhu Ribadu with the true judgment he deserves. 

On January 14, 2007, I wrote as follows, ""However, on Tuesday May 16, 2006, Obasanjo's third-term ambitions were dealt a decisive and crushing defeat by members of the Nigerian Senate which had voted to reject the attempts to amend the Nigerian constitution so that President Obasanjo could run for a third-term.  But rather than rising in magnanimity above this shameful attempt to scuttle the Nigerian constitution, as well as the mandate of the new charter of the African Union, of which he supposedly played a major role in crafting, Obasanjo has decided to play god.  But God himself doesn't look kindly to those who try to act like Him.  History looks at people who have tried to play god, and it hasn't been very kind to them, including Hitler, Muossulini, Idi Amin, Emperor Bokassa, and coming to Nigeria, Sani Abacha.  Abacha played god, he played god when he arrested Obasanjo and clamped him into prison without just cause.  There were praise singers and sycophants then who egged him on.  There are also many praise singers and sycophants just as in Abacha's time who are egging on Obasanjo on his destructive path to avenge the defeat of his third-term ambitions.  There were individuals who were hollering and screaming about Abacha being the best god Nigeria could have, just as you have individuals who are hailing Obasanjo as the best thing that could happen to Nigeria, despite what he is trying to do to the country."

Obasanjo's attempts to play god, his vindictiveness and desire to punish Nigeria and Nigerians, for denying him a third term, led him to the door of the then governor of Katsina State, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, a former chemistry lecturer, who if he was elected would be the first Nigerian leader to ever finish college.  There was nothing wrong with selecting Governor Yar'Adua, except he knew that the man was seriously sick.  During his recent mea culpa press conference, he admitted knowing that Umaru Yar'Adua was very sick.  Confirming how he played god, Obasanjo said, "Let me tell you what you have never heard before.  I knew that Yar'Adua has kidney problem and was under dialysis and that he went abroad for the treatment when he was the governor of Katsina State. Before I picked him, I asked him questions and he gave me the medical report that states that he is no longer under dialysis.  But I consulted medical experts; they told me that if he is not under diagnosis, after a successful kidney transplant, that he won't have a problem. So, who are you not to accept that?"

Whether Obasanjo did consult with "medical experts" is not in question here, but what is in question is his knowledge that Yar'Adua was a man who had serious kidney problems and on dialysis, yet he chose as he himself confessed, to "pick him."  Having picked a very sick Yar'Adua, he decided to inflict even heavier damage to Nigerians by selecting another unknown, Goodluck Jonathan, as his running mate.  Let's we forget, Jonathan's wife then had been arrested and detained in London, Britain, for money-laundering. Both were chosen on December 17, 2006, as the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party.

If Obasanjo thought he had made the right decision in picking a very sick man to succeed him, he was rudely proved wrong when on March 5, 2007, during campaigning, candidate Yar' Adua collapsed and had to be rushed to Germany for treatment.  Obasanjo facetiously said he was not satisfied with Yar'Adua's collapse at the same press conference.  Quoting Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper, Obasanjo said, "We went campaigning but Yar'Adua and the then Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, broke down at a campaign ground. Ali was not flown abroad, but Yar'Adua was flown abroad. When the rumours broke that he was dead, I picked up my phone and called him. I said, 'Umaru, are you dead?' He told Nigerians that he was alive. At that time, I thought after a successful kidney transplant he was going to be well."  Dr. Ali has since denied that he also collapsed.

What should infuriate Nigerians is Obasanjo's concluding remarks at the press conference, when he said, ""I did not support him (Yar'Adua) because of hatred for Nigeria. Why will I do that after I have put so much in this country? So, you can't blame anybody, neither the president. If people said I deliberately picked someone who was incapacitated, invalid, they are wrong.

"No one picked Yar'Adua so that he will not perform. If I did that out of hatred for this country, God will judge me."

Obasanjo should be advised to leave God out of what he has done to Nigeria and Nigerians.  He tried to play god himself, and God is not looking kindly at him right now, and decidedly Nigerians are not looking kindly at him either now or in the future.  Nigerians know that Obasanjo had the opportunity to repay Nigerians with kindness for allowing him another eight years to rule the country, yet he chose to extend his term of office, and when Nigerians rejected him, he chose a path of destruction for the country.  His attempts at absolving himself now don't hold any relevance for Nigerians.  He had the opportunity to, in the first place, not 'pick' Yar'Adua as a candidate; secondly, he had another chance when Yar'Adua collapsed during campaigning to have him quit the race; and thirdly he orchestrated one of the most fraudulent elections in history just to have Yar'Adua succeed him, that even Yar'Adua was ashamed of the results. 

Obasanjo has no honor and none should be bestowed on him.  His transgressions against Nigeria and Nigerians, when the history of this period is written, will be adjudged one of the worst periods in Nigeria.  It is time that Obansajo kept his opinions to himself about the affairs of the country.

Chika Onyeani is the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of the African Sun Times, and author of the internationally acclaimed No. 1 bestselling book, "Capitalist Nigger: The Road to Success," as well as the blockbuster novel, "The Broederbond Conspiracy."  He is also the author of "ODUM: The Lion," first in a series of African Folktales.