By Zik Gbemre
With the recent public endorsement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, of the PDP Presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku for President come 2019, the said rather unfortunate development has elicited a lot of reactions and criticisms from different stakeholders and the Nigerian populace. On our part, we could not help but ask if it was from Obasanjo’s heart and mind, or was it another well-calculated game of politics. We also asked: Is Obasanjo telling Nigerians that we should ignore all his past statements on Atiku? Or should we call him a joker, a comedian or what? The one that stuck out most for us, which was recently well-circulated in the internet and social media platforms amongst Nigerians, was the question of: WOULD OBASANJO EXPUNGE/DELETE THIS FROM HIS BOOK “MY WATCH” what he wrote about Atiku? Here it is – “What I did not know, which came out glaringly later, was his parental background which was somewhat shadowy, his propensity to corruption, his tendency to disloyalty, his inability to say and stick to the truth all the time, a propensity for poor judgment, his belief and reliance on marabouts , his lack of transparency, his trust in money to buy his way out on all issues and his readiness to sacrifice morality, integrity, propriety truth and national interest for self and selfish interest.” (Olusegun Obasanjo – MY WATCH, Volume 2, Pages 31- 32)
When a man sits down to write something about someone, and eventually publishes it for the whole world to read and digest, it is clearly something he believes to be true and not a made-up story. In other words, whatever Obasanjo must have said about Atiku in his book, should be regarded by Nigerians and the world, as TRUTH, especially since he was narrating his experiences as the then President of Nigeria, while Atiku, as his then Vice President. Let us be reminded that Obasanjo was then the immediate boss of Atiku and they were in office for eight years. That means, no one would have accessed Atiku better than his immediate ex-boss – Obasanjo. All of this, makes it even more unbelievable and laughable to see the same Obasanjo, who was said to have written the above statement about Atiku, to now make a U-turn to endorse him for President, and also calling on Nigerians to vote for Atiku. Is something not intricately wrong here? Also, has Obasanjo forgotten what he said about Atiku? How that the US sent them a letter in June 2006, where they listed some persons that needs to be investigated, and how Atiku’s name was on that list? And how Atiku has not been able to travel to the US as a result of the findings of that US investigation. And we all know the cold war between Obasanjo and Atiku since they both left office years ago. So, what changed all of sudden to have warranted this automatic endorsement of Atiku by Obasanjo?
In our honest opinion and assessment of Obasanjo’s recent stunt of endorsing Atiku for the 2019 Presidential election, he is nothing but a comedian who entertains his listening audience to laugh. Also, in the Nigerian political history, Obasanjo is the only man that has ruled the country, first as a Military Head of State and then as President for eight years, which in our own opinion, we think Obasanjo does not want any other person to break this record of his – of being the one with the longest stay in office as a democratically elected President. We believe Obasanjo is fighting/going against Buhari simply because he does not want Buhari to rule for eight years as an elected President. So that he will not rule to equate with his eight years as President. Whatever the case may be, when a man says one thing and does another, that man can never be trusted with anything. That means, such a man, and those rallying around him, should never be taken seriously! In the words of Nelson Mandela: “Anybody who changes his principles, depending on whom he is dealing with, that is not a man who can lead a nation.” For an elder statesman like Obasanjo, who has ruled Nigeria to act the way he did, he has goofed seriously. We call him a comedian because that is exactly what he is.
Obasanjo’s Book and his many interview videos cannot be wiped away, forgotten or expunged from the minds of Nigerians and the indeed, the whole world, who are first hand witnesses to what he had said about Atiku. Let us reiterate here that there is nothing wrong with Obasanjo stepping forward to forgive Atiku as a person, especially the cold war that has existed between them years, but there is everything wrong with Obasanjo’s endorsement of Atiku for President, and urging people to vote and support him. That is a no-go area because of the kind of politician Atiku is, in the eyes of the Nigerian people. Such a man as described by Obasanjo should be kept far away from the highest seat in Nigeria and not tossed on it. Nothing has changed with him. He is still the same desperate Atiku as before. He has changed political parties more than a Prostitute changes partners. His alleged looting tendencies have also not changed in any way.
According to a recent circulated post of a comment said to have been made by Balarebe Musa: “Nigerians risk having a fascist government under Atiku because of his open alignment with former heads of State and retired generals, who have some questions to answer. That is why I am highly disappointed at the illusion by some Nigerians that Atiku is better than Buhari. There is absolutely no comparison between Buhari and Atiku. Former Heads of State, retired generals and PDP are afraid of Buhari’s second term bid. These people and the PDP are mortally afraid that if Buhari returned, he would probe the criminal annulment of June 12 and wage a more ruthless war against corruption. They are clearly ganging up against Buhari not because they don’t know that Atiku is no match to him but because they are aware that Atiku will not revisit their past misdeeds.
“Atiku should ask himself whether Obasanjo can easily forgive him and mobilize his part of the country for his victory in 2019.”
Let us recall that it was Obasanjo who advised President Buhari to resign, and not to seek re-election, and touted a Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), but Buhari ignored him. Then Obasanjo finally unveiled his masterpiece as he disclosed that the movement has made the decision to adopt the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as its political platform., then followed Obasanjo’s so-called Third Force, which he said is not a candidate imposing force or a political party, but a new political movement for a new Nigeria. Then Obasanjo suddenly went quiet on attacking Buhari (all this while still being ignored by Buhari). Then Obasanjo was said to have said he will not to forgive Atiku, that God will not forgive him if he did. Then Atiku emerges as PDP Presidential candidate. And then Obasanjo makes a U-turn and forgives Atiku, giving assurance that Atiku is a change man, and will continue from where they stopped. We can see how desperate these politicians are out to carry out their selfish agendas against the Nigerian people.
It is evident that President Buhari must be doing something right, that Obasanjo and the rest are not comfortable with. Secondly, looking at Obasanjo’s political maneuvers in recent months, it signifies he is gasping for air, probably losing relevance in the national political scene. A quick question, if Atiku did not emerge as the PDP flag bearer, would Obasanjo have forgiven him? These people must be really scared of Buhari.
The bottom line is that those fighting President Buhari and trying to frustrate his administration, are they doing it for national interest or personal reasons? Are they fighting Buhari to improve the nation’s economy or to engineer Nigeria’s development? Any right-thinking and well-meaning Nigerian would know the obvious answers to these questions
