Political Issues
Obasanjo: Buhari’s Imposition Mocks Democracy -By Ken Tadaferua
Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo reveals that he and four other eminent Nigerians brought President Muhammadu Buhari to power to salvage the country from the edge of collapse under the Jonathan administration
He said this at a reception held in his honour at the Government House, Jalingo, Taraba State.
He explained: “We said what is the problem with us and why are we still not growing. We got talking and knew we needed to do something.” Then he affirmed confidence in Buhari: “So far, Buhari has not disappointed us. I trust him, he will not fail Nigerians. I know he will overcome the challenges the country is currently facing”, as reported in the news.
Three worrisome scenarios was immediately created by this revelation:
One: That the coming to power of Buhari as president is by some sort of coup orchestrated by five of some of the most powerful power brokers in Nigeria. The same way Obasanjo became president in 1999. Some power brokers decided Obasanjo should become president and that was it, he became president. Now, they fingered Buhari and vroom, he is president.
Two: Our democracy is a sham. It is not of the people, by the people and for the people. What we go through in elections is a contrived smoke screen that creates the illusion that the people vote for their leaders. Rather it is this clique (I hate the word cabal) of powerful men who decide when a president must leave power, decide who the next president must be and ensure that their chosen man becomes president. They have massive political leverage and heavy financial muscles to create the illusion of elections. Unfortunately, Nigerians readily buy into their narrative and burn energy campaigning vigorously in ignorance.
Three: Nothing has changed politically since the first coup of 1966. The very men who have engineered military coups since the 1960s are the same that decide who Nigerian leaders, military or civilian presidents must be. Check this short history of civil rule in the country:
In 1979, Obasanjo decided that the president of the first democratic government after the civil war must be Alhaji Shehu Shagari. So it was.
In 1999, Obasanjo’s clique decided he must be president of the new democratic government. So it was.
In 2007, Obasanjo decided that an ailing Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and a lame duck Goodluck Jonathan must be president and vice president. So it was.
In 2013, Obasanjo and his clique, as he has revealed, decided that Muhammadu Buhari must be President. So it became.
What this means is that both military and civilian rule since the 1960s have been decided by coup specialists or if you like sleight of hand. The people have, therefore in the past four decades and more, never elected a leader of their choice.
Now what makes this really interesting is that the same frame of mind, the same concept of leadership, the same failings of this power clique has defined the Nigerian nation for decades. For they have created Nigeria in their image. The members of this clique are in the main, retired military generals who have either ruled the country as heads of state or have had top leadership roles in several administrations. They share the same views among which are: The unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable; talks of restructuring the nation is anathema; any protest for autonomy is quelled by brutal force of arms, etc. They have, in all their adult lives, lived on free rent from oil and do not appear capable of looking beyond oil to diversify the economy. They are so focussed on oil that when they become president, they clobber the oil industry into their personal pockets and self-appoint themselves the additional portfolio of oil minister.
Such is their almost total dependence on oil, that when the international price of oil crashes, the visionless monocultural economy faces doom. They also love to shout anti-corruption slogans, create anti-corruption agencies and jail a couple of big wigs in the process. But as evidence has proven, corruption has over the decades worsened under their direct rule or of leadership under their political tutelage. Nigeria has grown progressively worse under their watch in the past five decades.
Yet they hold tenaciously to power and force their failed perspectives down the throat of Nigerians. They refuse to release the country from their stranglehold and would not trust the young generation, though they were in their 20s and 30s when they assumed leadership roles.
Take Obasanjo for example. Before he became military head of state (1976-1979), he was deputy to the late head of state, General Murtala Mohammed. Prior that, he was Commander of the Third Marine Commando Division that effectively ended the civil war. He became a two term civilian president (1999-2007), Here is a man who has lived off the fat of the land from the 1970s to date. For decades, he and his clique had decided the fate of Nigeria. They continue to do so.
No doubt, Obasanjo is a man of power. So too are all the men in his power clique. They decide the fate of the country and impose themselves or their surrogates as leaders. They built infrastructure in their time: roads, airports, sea ports, schools, hospitals etc., but they lack that essential ingredient of visionary leadership: A deep and driven philosophy for building a strong and progressive nation drawing strength from patriotism, open competitiveness, strong values and integrity.
Instead they have bequeathed a nation riven by corruption, political thuggery, right by force of arms, tribalism, a horrible economic system based on one product – crude oil, unitary constitutions and the federation account sharing free rent and breeding laziness, lack of vision, greed and unearned entitlements. A system without competitive entrepreneurial growth that ought to establish Nigeria as the economic hub of Africa competing as a productive and industrial powerhouse with countries like Japan, South Korea, Germany etc.
This is what that clique has and continues to mould Nigeria into, in this information age of computer power and digital revolution. It is in this era of a knowledge-based, high-tech global economy that a dinosaur, best allowed to rest in a museum, is chosen and imposed as leader of Nigeria. They keep playing musical chairs among themselves, men of a fossil period, to lead the country. Hence Nigeria is trapped in a time loop by these men and until the country breaks free from their hold, we will sink deeper and deeper in socioeconomic morass.
So when Obasanjo proudly declares that he and four others of his clique decided on downloading General Buhari as president of the country in 2015, he probably expects to be applauded. Instead I sneer at the very notion of that imposition which in any case has been a serial historical occurrence.
Also when he says: “So far, Buhari has not disappointed us. I trust him, he will not fail Nigerians. I know he will overcome the challenges the country is currently facing,” I recognise that the “us” in that statement refers to the clique. Definitely not Nigerians who are grinding their teeth in despair from the severe pains they have had to endure in the past 15 months.
Unfortunately, the Obasanjo statement as with most efforts to sell the administration, is void of strategy, plans or vision which Buhari intends to execute to overcome the country’s current challenges. We continue to pray to see that vision so that we can support it. For now, the country is trapped in time, somewhere between 1966 and 1984 and it is not funny.
Ken Tadaferua is a media and marketing communications consultant. Twitter: @ktadaferua
