I read the letter written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan a few days ago. It made me extremely depressed. I almost shed tears for my country.
As usual, many people have been throwing verbal missiles at the author of the letter, even before reading it completely. They have already started calling him names and blaming him for “inflicting” Nigeria with President Jonathan and every ineptitude that is now being associated with his leadership. I respect Obasanjo but I cannot say I am his fan. I concur that he may be one of the most courageous, experienced, exposed and even luckiest leaders Nigeria has got so far. However, as a President in 1999, I expected so much from him but somewhere along the line, he derailed and let Nigerians down. However, the tone of the response of the Presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, is condemnable. Abati had angrily described the letter as a mischievous effort to impugn the integrity of his boss and condemned it as “self-serving hypocritical, malicious, indecent and disrespectful”. As usual, the prolific essayist overshot his verbal runway. The fact remains that the substantive issues raised in the letter by Obasanjo are too grave to be swept under the carpet so quickly.
I consider the conversation about the possible intentions and moral justification of Obasanjo’s letter as extremely pedestrian and naive. Granted, the author may be a patriot but in politics there is no altruism. It is either power or control or both. It is only natural to imagine that one or both of these might be part of the reasons that motivated the missive, but those cannot be enough to dismiss its contents. The author is not a saint and we all know this. Instead of the unimaginative moralistic arguments going on at the moment, what Nigerians should do is to ask Obasanjo to come forth with facts behind his weighty allegations and to ask President Jonathan to tell us his own side of the story. Any other discussion is gibberish. Fair and square.
That Obasanjo is a very knowledgeable man who understands Nigeria is not in doubt by any discerning observer. That he came up with such a comprehensive letter touching on very sensitive spots of our national life and making specific references and calling names should unsettle any patriot. His era is gone and so let no one bother us with who caused this problem and that in his time. That a man made mistakes or contributed to problems does not prevent him from volunteering to offer solutions if he so wishes. Did he raise a false alarm? For instance, that someone attempted a tenure elongation and failed cannot forbid him from raising such an issue in the public arena. He could even be seen as trying to guide others not to fall into the same mistakes that polluted his legacy. Why can’t Nigerians allow themselves some space for objectivity? I have watched hitherto respectable people descend to the indefensible and offer tribally biased views on the letter. Sad. Is it not in the range of a former President to throw in a word of caution if he feels that the ship of the Nigerian state is gradually approaching a rock?
I have also seen some enthusiasts and maybe blind loyalists or will I say beneficiaries of the current administration attempt to put up spirited arguments in favour of President Jonathan. With due respect, I have read as many of those responses as I could lay my hands on since the letter hit the public space. Incidentally, all the issues they bring on the table are either evasive or insipid and lacking in substance. A catalogue of alleged sins and mistakes of Obasanjo’s regime will not move anyone; insults on his person, baseless innuendoes and recounting his human frailties in relation to family life will not either. Who does not have a past? Neither will occasional outbursts nor pretentious anger. Do we now wish away these allegations as if they were not tabled just because they were revealed by Obasanjo? Do we assume that the rumoured breakfast meeting that reportedly held between the two gladiators in faraway Nairobi meant that the issues contained in the letter have been exhaustively dealt with? Do we consider the reported brainstorming of the Presidential aides to mean that a comprehensive bit-by-bit response is on the way? Are these issues about Jonathan, Obasanjo and the predatory elite alone or do they concern all of us? What about the rising reputational deficit about our country among our current and potential partners and the international community? In a democracy that we practise, or claim to practise, is it forbidden for someone to raise pertinent questions to an elected President about the conduct of national affairs?
Could it be that as a kingmaker, Obasanjo is simply disappointed that his political godson is underperforming? Is such righteous indignation not permissible in our democracy of coronation and vengeful clientelism? Should he have watched helplessly while Nigeria continues to derail into economic stagnation and retrogression under Jonathan? Though the letter was ostensibly written before the death of Nelson Mandela, one can even argue that witnessing the tumultuous farewell given to Mandela might have awakened something inside Obasanjo. Probably, that could be why he decided to leak the letter to the media. The Ota farmer might have forcibly recalled how his last minute miscalculations in office might have (and I mean might have) robbed him of many things and as such was inspired to discourage his predecessor from threading such an avoidable political trajectory.
Now, back to the substantive questions raised in the letter: Who is the guard that became the thief of Nigeria’s crude oil? Did the Federal Government stop the ADB loan that was expected to finance water projects in Rivers State? Who is training the snipers and other armed personnel and acquiring weapons secretly? Why has almost $49bn of our oil earnings not been remitted into the federation account as claimed by the CBN Governor? Who is keeping the political watch list and who are the 1000 people already on it?
Let me conclude with two quotes to sum up how I feel about this whole saga. The first is from what might have become the most famous speech delivered during the memorial of Mandela. The US President Barack Obama said: “There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom but do not tolerate dissent from their own people”. Let us hope that the sycophantic cheerleaders of Jonathan do not make such a leader out of him. The second is from the Italian poet, Dante Alighieri: “The hottest part of hell will be reserved for those who in times of moral crisis maintain their neutrality.” For me, Obasanjo has escaped the hottest part of hell somewhat by daring to beam a searchlight into the secrets of mismanagement of the Nigerian state. Rather than distract us further by calling for his head, Nigerians must see this as a golden opportunity to ask the right questions and speak the truth to power. The pulse on the street is clear and the world is watching us. Is there a chance the unhelpful deafening silence of the President to the issues raised in the Epistle According to St. Matthew Aremu Okikiola Obasanjo will be addressed accordingly?
UCHE IGWE
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