Last night, I was distracted from concluding my
tribute to Mandela which I started writing a few days ago. This distraction was
the lengthy 18-page open letter (PDF) written by former President Olusegun
Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan.
I took my time to read the letter
described as ‘historic’ by Premium Times (which broke the story) in detail. For
obvious reasons, this document and its contents have gone viral within the
Nigerian online and mainstream media, public discourse and even the
international media.
What frightens me deeply about the contents is not the
allegations made, but that General Obasanjo (the President’s mentor) made these
grave accusations. Disturbingly, the allegations only confirm many rumours that
have been going round (most of which I hitherto refused to believe in) such as:
Clannishness and ethnic factionalism in government on
the part of the President in favoring his Ijaw kinsmen principally, and his
region to the exclusion of other Nigerians;
Deliberate polarisation of Nigerians across a
North-South and Muslim-Christian divide to such a level not seen since the
Civil War, to further narrow political ambitions;
The President’s tacit support to some of his
aggressive kinsmen and known militants who threaten others for disagreeing with
him;
Brazen corruption and impunity in government on a
scale unrivaled in Nigeria’s post-independence history (the $50 billion
unremitted by the NNPC surpasses the $12bn windfall earnings which disappeared
under General Babangida. This is just one of numerous cases) — crude oil theft
and systematic plunder of the nation’s wealth by powerful people;
Indirect fueling of the Boko Haram insurgency by
refusing to take concrete and feasible steps to address it;
Extreme intolerance by the government for any form of
dissent by opposition politicians or civil society;
The existence of a clandestine “killer squad of
snipers” and a political watch list containing over 1,000 names;
…and many other such allegations.
Where are we heading to in
this country!?
Just on Monday this week, we found out about the
Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s letter alleging that $50 billion
went missing under NNPC’s watch between 2012 and 2013. Then on Tuesday, the
Speaker of the House of Representatives accused the President of encouraging
grand corruption. Then on Wednesday, this scathing letter from Obasanjo was
published.
All this is barely two months after the corruption
scandal involving the President’s close ally, the Minister of Aviation, Stella
Oduah. Nothing yet has been done about this.
This systematic plunder of our country’s resources and
values is perpetuated against the backdrop of monumental crude oil theft in the
Niger-Delta and other numerous scandals.
Is this a country we can thump our chests about? What
example are we setting for the rest of Africa? Is this the leadership that will
create a strong and united country? What future (or lack of) are we building
for our offspring?
True, General Obasanjo is not at all blameless in all
this and he is one person whose intentions are always, always, ALWAYS suspect.
We vividly recall how his ambition to elongate his tenure beyond the
constitutionally mandated two-terms threatened to plunge the country into chaos
between 2005 and 2007. Perhaps, as the late Whitney Houston once sung, Jonathan
“learnt from the best”.
Yet, given Obasanjo’s close relationship (as a mentor)
with President Jonathan, it would be extremely naive and foolish to dismiss
these allegations in their entirety.
Say what you want about Obasanjo, but at the very
least, his administration established a relatively effective EFCC to fight
corruption, established an effective NAFDAC, reformed the Federal Inland
Revenue Service, the Customs service and many other institutions. Where are all
these institutions today? Where is the EFCC today? How many parallel,
overlapping, redundant and toothless committees have been set up to do the work
that the EFCC has been obstructed from doing?
I ask this question, where
are we heading to?
As a Nigerian, regardless of your religion, ethnicity
or region, please ask yourself this sincere question, ‘is this the Nigeria I
want, is this a country I am proud of’?
The late Madiba, Nelson Mandela expressed his anger at
the behaviour of Nigerian leaders. This is a prime epitome of the leadership
Mandela was referring to.
One interesting thing to note is
that this is a toned down version of the letter. The original version,
according to Thisday newspaper was so harsh that former Head of State General
Ibrahim Babangida advised Obasanjo to revise it.
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