INSIDE AFRICA Obasanjo¹s complex path as a Money Messiah By Maurice O. Ene Special & Exclusive to USAfricaonline.com and USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston The popular anger against Obasanjo and his ex-military generals is not rooted in ethnicity. Far from it, prominent fellow Yoruba citizens have vowed never to vote for him, for he is the wrong man -- assuming power must shift to the southwest. Here is a man whose unfairness to Chief Obafemi Awolowo¹s ambition is still fresh in many minds. Awolowo was, in many respects, the most influential Yoruba politician since the second half of this century. Many other Yorubas remember, angrily, Obasanjo as the man who helped to abort the emerging electoral victory of the late of M.K.O Abiola after the June 12, 1993 elections. Abiola, a fellow Egba man like Obasanjo, did not get the much needed support from Obasanjo. Unfortunately, Abiola died in Abacha¹s gulag. Obasanjo, long before he was detained stood by and watched Abacha run the Babangida¹s post-June 12, 1993 Interim Government leader Ernest Shonekan (Obasanjo¹s kinfolk) out of town. In a country of baby army generals, where generals change guards as often as mothers change baby diapers, you would hardly expect the phalanx of rich retired generals to disappear. Just like that? No, they are retired but they are not tired. The country that invested so much in them surely expects them to continue to give back a little, especially from the amassed millions of dollars neatly stashed away in some out-of-way, tropical island. In Nigeria, coups d¹etat leap-frog many young, non-battle-tested men, to the ranks of generals and commanders-in-chief! On the other hand, coups and countercoups also unmake them. One on such retired and rich generals is retired General Olusegun Matthew Aremu Obasanjo. What¹s Obasanjo's Legacy? Obasanjo ascended to the throne on Friday, February 13, 1976, following the assassination of General Murtala Ramat Mohammed. He counted every day until October 1, 1979, when he handed over power to President Shehu Shagari after a controversial election. He had no choice but to hand over power in 1979. He knew he was the de jure, not de fact, dictator. When the real power brokers called, he handed over and walked away, I believe, a stinking rich man. Did I forget; a very rich farmer! Such a legacy has endeared Obasanjo to the international community, especially those who deal on fertilizers, and farm-related interests. What an irony! Here is a big cat playing the role of mouse. The fact that "international media" bought the story of a uniquely great must be one of the greatest dummy sales in modern political history. Nigerians know better; they bore the brunt of the draconian decrees of this dark dictator. Twenty years later, Nigerians have not forgotten. For this alone, the present presidential ambition of Obasanjo will bite the dust, no matter how much money he pays out to political prostitutes and party lackeys. Obasanjo is a coupist, and an ex-coup convict. Pardoned or paroled, the facts of the matter are irrefutable: he is not qualified to run for chairmanship of a local council, let alone the presidency. His coming to power in 1976 was a coup: no one voted for him, neither did anyone elect the late General Murtala Mohammed president. No law said the chief of staff replaces the head of state. To look at a more recent event, the fact is that the regime of Gen. Sani Abacha charged Obasanjo in 1995 for, allegedly, involving himself in a failed coup. True or false, a constituted court tried him under a decree signed by the same Obasanjo while he was Nigeria†s military ruler. They found him guilty. The Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) upheld the conviction but reduced the sentence to fifteen years. The present head of state General Abdulsalami Abubakar, as well as many members of the present junta, were members of Abacha¹s PRC that approved the sentence. Lucky Obasanjo. Recall that those his regime charged in 1976 for plotting were publicly executed without any appeals. What¹s in Aso Rock for Obasanjo? Obasanjo reportedly wondered why a former head of state would want to go back to a powerhouse he had vacated. One wonders today what Obasanjo left behind in the presidency that he wants to pick up, especially when he hates the memory of the last occupant (late General Sani Abacha) with a certain, caustic passion. Besides his regime¹s senseless squandering of riches of Nigeria's during the bogus FESTAC Œ77, one of the financial stains of Obasanjo¹s junta was the yet-to-be-properly-explained 2.8 billion dollars. Somehow, the money probably grew wings and flew away into some Swiss safe/account. We were told, at the time, the funds "returned." In my view, it is the height of arrogance, a virtually incomprehensible pomposity, that this very important (ex) prisoner never properly explained how the money went astray. A Nigerian pro-democracy organization has since filed a legal suit demanding to know if Obasanjo latest donation (some say an attempt to buy the nomination was part of the loot. He said it¹s definitely not, recently. The Harare Declaration: Is Obasanjo now the Messiah? Shortly after Nigerians overwhelming elected Chief M.K.O. Abiola to power on June 12, 1993, Obasanjo declared in Harare, Zimbabwe, that Abiola was not the messiah Nigerians were waiting for. He actively lobbied to head an interim government that would void the elections. When he lost out to Chief Ernest Shonekan, he became a statesman again -- but Abacha had had enough of his antics. Integrity is an issue. His military cum political career shows a highly manipulative man who would easily and selfishly sellout to save his hide. And, of late, he has shown how economical he is with the truth. He arrogantly dismissed any suggestion that he had an eye on the presidency during his tour of the U.S (see USAfrica The Newspaper, August 22, 1998 edition and USAfricaonline.com) From Cape Town to Cairo, and London to Houston, Obasanjo preached that he had been up there (president) and down there (prisoner). Within weeks, Obasanjo was bidding for a party†s ticket. Starting price: one hundred and thirty million naira (about $1.5 million) and 200 new vehicles. And this is only for local council elections! For a man who pleaded poverty when he allowed himself to be "ambushed" and "recruited" by planted operatives of the People¹s Democratic Party (PDP), this ghoulish gift is raising more than a few eyebrows. On the Spooky Street Obasanjo can glide and slide all he wants; this battle is going to take a whole lot more than bribery and military might. The Nigerian people are not usually given credit for doing the right thing. They will prove the dark forces wrong again. In 1992, retired General Yakubu Gowon embarked on a similar blind ambition, after failing to fully optimize the capacity of Nigeria¹s economy and potentials. Gowon was so disgraced in the election primaries that he "found" God. Today he leads "Nigeria Prays, Inc." and offers half-hearted mea culpas to Biafrans (Igbos, and other south Easterners) for his despicable and criminal war/postwar policies. Obasanjo¹s farm at Otta is said to be in ruins, following his long incarceration by Abacha¹s anarchists. In jail, Obasanjo found God. For a man who boasted of blanket bombing and demolition of every flora and fauna in his final genocidal push to end what he called the "Igbo (Biafra) challenge," this is quite a change. For the commander of a marine commando fine-tuned on genocidal impulses by Brigadier Adekunle (Black Scorpion) Adekunle, and who later as a head of state the use of "juju" (ritual magic) against South Africa¹s apartheid regime during the late 1970s, that¹s quite a change. It¹s not Ethnicity, Stupid The popular anger against Obasanjo and his ex-military generals is not rooted in ethnicity. Far from it, prominent fellow Yoruba citizens have vowed never to vote for him, for he is the wrong man -- assuming power must shift to the southwest. Here is a man whose unfairness to Chief Obafemi Awolowo¹s ambition is still fresh in many minds. Awolowo was, in many respects, the most influential Yoruba politician since the second half of this century. Many other Yorubas remember, angrily, Obasanjo as the man who helped to abort the emerging electoral victory of the late of M.K.O Abiola after the June 12, 1993 elections. Abiola, a fellow Egba man like Obasanjo, did not get the much needed support from Obasanjo. Unfortunately, Abiola died in Abacha¹s gulag. Obasanjo, long before he was detained stood by and watched Abacha run Ernest Shonekan (Obasanjo¹s kinfolk) out of town. Shonekan is an Egba chief like Obasanjo! And here is a man who when he occupied the throne in Lagos allowed his henchmen to get away with the demolition of Fela¹s Kalukuta Republic, an incident that led to the death of Fela¹s mother and prominent nationalist, Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. The Ransome-Kutis are Egba Yoruba. Today, Obasanjo says he saw "the light," and that he will show the way. His compatriots are saying the same thing he told Abiola " you¹re not the messiah!" I believe his ambition is in poor taste and that Nigerians won¹t vote for him. Obasanjo¹s response is truly interesting. Hear him: Christ was not popular in his town. In which case, Obasanjo wants to rule his people with a foreign (forget "divine") mandate. Our response? "Saint Obasanjo, sir: you are not Christ. You still have a long way to Damascus. And may God show you the real light!" *Dr. Ene, a lecturer at Seton hall University, New Jersey is a a contributing columnist for USAfricaonline.com and USAfrica The Newspaper. Back to: Inside Africa Index USAfricaonline Homepage