Olusegun Obasanjo
Nigeria’s foremost president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is a unique personality with a rich sense of humour and natural wisdom. Nigeria indeed needed his kind of person at the time he was president.
Though, the opposition had a pathological hatred for him while he sat at the head of the Nigerian presidency, it turned out that Obasanjo was undeniably the proverbial ‘rejected stone.’ It would be recalled that the arrowheads of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari, a former military dictator and Bola Tinubu, who is seen by many as a civilian dictator, led the who-is-who in the opposition to woo the Balogun of the Owu Lineage at his palatial Abeokuta mansion. In his characteristic style, OBJ, as his fondly called by his admirers declared that he was the “godfather of the APC.” That singular action nailed the coffin of the APC in the hearts of many serious-minded Nigerians. Both Buhari and Tinubu had in the immediate past accused Obasanjo of ineptitude, maladmistration, and corruption. The duo turning around to go and profusely beg Obasanjo to lead them to war against Jonathan was the height of desperation.
There is nothing wrong in the opposition seeking the Nigerian presidency. Some observers of political developments in Nigeria are however worried that APC’s desperation for power has distorted the face and language of political opposition. Young Nigerians now mistake hate and insult for political opposition. A day hardly passes without leaders of the opposition hurling insults at the person of the president. This is capable of plunging the nation into a bottomless socio-political trench.
As if that was not bad enough, the APC has always sought to attract hate for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan by deliberately distorting facts and inciting the unsuspecting masses against the president. For instance; despite the fact that both Murtala Nyako and Tanko Al Makura had insisted in public statements that President Jonathan had no hands in their impeachment moves, leaders of the APC climbed on roof tops to accuse the president of complicity. This is how bad opposition politics have become in Nigeria. No decent-minded Nigerian will accept this for opposition politics.
It is no surprise therefore that some major players in the opposition are retracing their steps of late. Prominent among them are Femi Fani-Kayode and Nuhu Ribadu. While Fani-Kayode once served as Aviation minister during Obasanjo’s term in office, Ribadu was sitting at the head of the nation’s anti-corruption commission. Fani-Kayode, Ribadu, and Nasir El Rufai, the erstwhile FCT minister were members of Obasanjo’s inner-inner kitchen cabinet. The fate of Nigeria was in the hands of these three men. But like the Biblical prodigal son, Fani-Kayode and Ribadu have decided return to their root after taking a cursory look at unfolding events in the polity.
While Ribadu is keeping much of his thoughts to himself at least for now, Fani-Kayode has refused to stop shouting at the top of his voice. He is insisting that the opposition has hand in the problems of insurgency in the country. This allegation is weighty and capable of deciding the outcome of the 2015 presidential polls.
No doubt, the indifferent attitude of the opposition in the wake of bombings across the country and abduction of the Chibok girls shocked many Nigerians. From every indication, the opposition had thought it could use insecurity as a major political issue against the PDP-led federal government in the 2015 presidential polls. Unfortunately for them, many Nigerians are looking at the nation’s current security challenges from a very different angle. The popular opinion is that a party that plays politics with the lives and security of citizens is not fit to be entrusted with power.
It was not just enough for the APC to promise bringing insurgency to an end in one month as claimed by one of its official. Nigerians want to know what the party thinks of the insurgents and their sponsors. Nigerians want to know it intends to do to them if voted into power. All the APC has been saying is that the PDP-led federal government is not doing enough to contain the insurgents. It takes a high sense of responsibility for one to accept that terrorism is a global issue that needs international collaboration to successfully combat. With all the technological advancement, the United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, Spain, Russia, Italy etc have not been able to truly win the war against terror. Expecting Nigeria to flush out terror within this short period is therefore irresponsible and uncharitable.
While this writer feels the pain of parents, relations, and friends of the abducted Chibok girls; we must not be misled by some unpatriotic sentiments promoted by a minority clan, which has continued to create the impression that the federal government is insensitive and the Nigerian military is weak and incapable of carrying out operations to rescue the abducted girls. In the first place, the war against terror is not conventional. If not so, the insurgents do not have the capacity to match the Nigerian military. The military is always conscious of civilian casualties while planning its operations. This has impacted negatively on its operations.
Those accusing the military of refusing to launch operations to rescue the Chibok girls are the same people that turn round to shout human right abuses and extra-judicial killings whenever innocent civilians are killed in the course of strategic anti-terror operations. These same people will definitely attempt to bring down the government if any military operation compels the insurgents to kill the abducted Chibok girls. This is the actual desire of the Oby Ezekwesili-led Bring Back Our Girls campaign.
Let us, irrespective of creed, tribe, or political affiliation rally round the federal government in finding solutions to the problems of insecurity in the country. This is the meaning of patriotism.
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