In addressing or reacting to various issues or points raised by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, some eminent Nigerians, including journalists, as one would expect, have expressed varying views.
For the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, the letter came from a wrong custody. He said, “I think it is insulting for a man who wanted third term to tell somebody else not to want second term. It is most inappropriate … to say so is most improper.”
As an individual, I have no quarrel with the content of Chief Obasanjo’s letter, except some reservations in one or two places. I do not share the view that President Buhari should not contest the 2019 election, as the prerogative or choice is his
In his reaction, activist lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, (SAN) said, “The statement is a clarion call on President Buhari to remove the incompetent and corrupt cabal of power-mongers that has hijacked political power from him”. Yet, former Nigerian Bar Association President, and Leader of the National Intervention Movement, Dr. Olisa Agbokoba, fumed, “President Buhari has nothing more to offer.”
Similarly, the Vice-President, NBA, Mr. Monday Ubani, pointed out that Obasanjo’s letter was long overdue, but cautioned that the former president should not see himself as the determiner of Nigerians’ fate.
As for the All Progressives Grand Alliance, a political party, “what we need now is for us to remove unnecessary tension; even if Buhari is not going to run in 2019, we shouldn’t create unnecessary tension.”
People and institutions have reacted to Chief Obasanjo’s letter, either from subjective or objective points of view. Obasanjo remains controversial once it comes to “letter writing” or “warning” on national issues; and to his credit, he remains consistent in this disposition.
Obasanjo is not afraid to call a spade a spade and not a digging accoutrement. Whereas, most Nigerian leaders, out of sentiments or self-centeredness, would shy away from saying the truth even when the nation smells of doom or trouble, the Owu-born child of Ogun State would bell the cat, speaking out. When the nation was groping in darkness with regard to succession during the unfortunate days of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s health saga, Chief Obasanjo spoke out unequivocally on the way forward, while his contemporaries adopted “siddon look”, either out of sentiments or fear. Despite the fact that he was one of those who made possible Yar’Adua’s presidency, Obasanjo refused to be cowed, when he voiced out that if the former was unable to continue, owing to ill health, he should handover to Goodluck Jonathan, the Vice President.
Similarly, when President Goodluck Jonathan, who he assisted to power was not living up to expectation, Chief Obasanjo never hesitated to draw his attention to his inadequacies in this regard. It is, therefore, not surprising to see Obasanjo in the same toga, treating or addressing President Buhari in like manner. In chastising President Buhari in some areas of his administration, he equally gave credence to him in other aspects, especially in fighting insurgency and corruption.
Of all the reactions so far on Obasanjo’s letter, that of the Federal Government appears mature and appropriate. In reacting to this on behalf of the government, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, pointed out that the letter was in good faith and went ahead to explain some areas where the Buhari administration had made remarkable progress. The Minister’s remark was not abusive, insinuating or derogatory.
Though there is “no means to read mind’s construction”, the outward disposition of Obasanjo on national issues indicates that of a nationalist. Even, the doubting Thomas cannot fault the chief in this regard. Obasanjo was the Military Head of State, who pledged to hand over power to elected civil administration in 1979, and fulfilled the promise. Obasanjo was the President, who in 1979, handed over power to President Shehu Shagari in the national interest, notwithstanding the controversy surrounding the 1979 Presidential election with regard to the touted “122/3 majority judgement” against Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and in favour of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Obasanjo was the military commander who ended the Nigerian Civil War and brought the Biafrian acting Head of State, General Philip Effiong, to Lagos where he handed over the instrument of surrender to General Yakubu Gowon. In the words of Prof. Ibrahim Tahir, “You can fault Chief Obasanjo on anything but not on national
unity.”
As an individual, I have no quarrel with the content of Chief Obasanjo’s letter, except some reservations in one or two places. I do not share the view that President Buhari should not contest the 2019 election, as the prerogative or choice is his. However, Obasanjo told Buhari that he does not necessarily need to heed his advice. Secondly, I do not subscribe to the issue of a Coalition Movement as this mostly ends up in political party formation of like minds. No matter what, the cat cannot be stopped from
mewing.
However, Chief Obasanjo has never claimed and cannot claim to have monopoly of knowledge, especially with regard to solutions to the multi-dimensional challenges of the nation. He, like any other human being, has his limit, bias, strength and weakness. As a human being, he is not perfect and cannot claim
perfection.
So, let us hear the message of Obasanjo for the sake of the message and not Obasanjo as the messenger. There may be wisdom after all in this, as some ingredients of truth might be therein for the nation’s interest. We cannot afford to throw away the baby along with the
bathwater.
Remember the popular Yoruba saying, which explains that if two friends come out of a meeting laughing, they have not told each other the truth. But when they come out, each storming his or her way out, they have actually told each other the truth.
*Izekor, a journalist, public affairs analyst, is a member of the Board of Advisers of
The Point.
