Even by his own loquacious standards for verbal diarrhea, the misguided verbal ejaculation of former president Olusegun Obasanjo against Mrs. Farida Waziri; former chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was a fundamental lack of expression, which set a new low, in what, unfortunately, has become the unedifying trademark of the talkative former president. Before God, man, and country, Obasanjo declared that Waziri was not qualified to head the EFCC when she was appointed to replace Nuhu Ribadu as chairman of the Commission; saying she was head-hunted by former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, now serving jail term in Britain for corruption-related offences. This constant barrage of indecorous verbiage is unbecoming of Obasanjo and it was time someone reminded Baba to respect his age and status, and allow decorum to edify the public space.
The unprovoked attack on Farida Waziri was published in an exclusive interview Obasanjo granted Zero Tolerance; a magazine published by the anti-graft agency; wherein in pointed remarks ornate with slanderous grandiloquence, he needlessly branded Waziri as a wrong successor to Ribadu; saying her appointment was a slowdown to Nigeria’s war against corruption. To begin with, the fact that Obasanjo used an EFCC publication to criticize Waziri somehow reduces the propriety of his method. Secondly, to criticize Waziri is to ignore the weight of the evidence from her record at the EFCC. To even attribute her appointment to Ibori is disingenuous because the same Waziri engendered the proceedings that eventually landed Ibori in jail in London. Haba Baba!
If Baba was not aware of these facts, courtesy or at least a golden silence was all that was needed because a contentious issue of governance such as the fight against corruption; requires constructive thoughtfulness, not unscrupulous vendetta to settle personal scores, because Waziri prosecuted his daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo. It is a matter of public record that Waziri prosecuted and jailed Olabode George, whereas the EFCC under Obasanjo was used as an attack-dog to harass and silence political opponents. True to her urbane and civil disposition, Waziri respectfully debunked Obasanjo’s heroic self-assertion as an anti-corruption crusader, saying Baba ought to display a better appreciation of history. Advising him to watch his mouth and respect his age, she warned him that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
Like any other Nigerian, Obasanjo’s right to comment on any issue of public interest, is not in question. What is contestable is the justification for some of his comments in certain situations, given the forum and the occasion when he makes them. It is indeed unfortunate that in the name of public engagement, Obasanjo has made it a point of duty to transform his position as former president; into a platform for casting banal aspersions, vituperative invectives and disparaging utterances against past and present public officials, including even President Goodluck Jonathan. To the extent that such discourteous and uncivil remarks expose the president and the institution of the presidency of the republic to ridicule and public contempt, this must not be allowed to continue.
This begs the question: why is it so difficult for Obasanjo to control his loose tongue; must he talk? And if he must speak, why is it so difficult for him to use language appropriately; knowing what to say, where to say it and how to say it. Decorum demands a finesse of language, exemplified by civility; if Baba has nothing gratifying to say; why can’t he just shut up? Is he the only former president alive? Obasanjo must be a deeply-troubled man; a retired soldier haunted by his past. There is no other way to explain his messianic complex after ruling Nigeria for eight of the 14 inglorious years of PDP rule. His undignified behavior has made him a social embarrassment and national disgrace to Nigerians. Where has Obasanjo seen a former president publicly criticizing the incumbent and fomenting flashpoints of conflict to undermine and disrespect constituted authority? This is pure madness!
To say Obasanjo lacks manners, even bad ones; is the least that could be said of a man, who as president publicly chided a revered Man of God to shut up. Obasanjo is rude, pompous, callous, mean and plain despicable. His dustbin of a mouth and self-indulgent eccentricities are compounded by hypocrisy which stinks to the high Heavens. This is understandable because when you put a man in high office far above the capacity of his intellect and the integrity of his character, you create a vicious, power-mongering monster who only knows how to abuse his position and power to aggrandize himself and his cronies. For all his acerbic criticism of the Jonathan administration, Obasanjo cannot escape responsibility for the parlous state of the nation. From 1999 to 2007, he was not just the leader of the PDP, but also the President of Nigeria, wielding enormous powers. When he disengaged as President, he foisted himself as PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman. Therefore, all along he was in a position of influence to put Nigeria on a sound democratic footing.
But he did not. Rather, he emasculated party structures and arrogated all power to himself at the expense of the extant rules and constitution of the PDP. While he brooked no dissent to his authority, he encouraged rebellion against various PDP state leaders, evident by the case of Chris Ngige, a sitting governor and PDP leader in Anambra, who was abducted with the active connivance and support of Obasanjo. Similarly, Gov. Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo, never had any breathing space due to the subversive activities of the late Chief Lamidi Adedibu, visibly aided and abetted by Obasanjo. Thus the PDP in Oyo, just like in Anambra, remained a theatre of war and absurdities throughout the Obasanjo Presidency. That the Ogun state PDP; his constituency, is bedeviled by intractable acrimony and internecine factional squabbles speaks directly to Obasanjo’s deficit political charisma.
The manner in which elections were conducted as well as visible attempts to weaken all centers of power, outside the Executive, including opposition political parties and even ethnic socio-cultural organizations like the Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo indicated the extent to which Obasanjo abused the instruments of State to subvert the will of the people in the exercise of their fundamental right to choose who governs them. His relationship with other arms of government was, more often than not, uninspiring. Above all, his regime was notorious for disobeying court orders with relish.
Obasanjo’s last stage as President was mired in a third-term controversy that he never denied, and instead, sought to justify it as a situational call for tenure elongation. He also introduced “do-or-die” contest for power, the harbinger of the 2007 electoral disaster; one of the worst in Nigerian history. Obasanjo’s era was one of impunity where indiscipline loomed large. Being, therefore, a major architect of corruption in Nigeria, his criticism of Waziri can hardly be credible, because in the twilight of his administration, he exhibited profoundly disturbing and confounding enthusiasm to reward corruption.
Many Nigerians are getting nervous over Obasanjo’s reckless declarations; afraid it might plunge the country into chaos in the countdown to 2015. However he looks at it, Obasanjo must understand that Nigeria is bigger than any individual, regardless of status or position. It is a denigration of the collective spirit and a negation of the inviolability of the Nigerian people, for Obasanjo to continue conducting himself in an impudent and supercilious manner, as if he is bigger than Nigeria. Please, Baba; Nigeria is too fragile and needs not another commotion; in the name of God and Allah; drag it not into one!
