OBJ’s latest open letter – A reaction: Letter to Nigerians from St Matthew -By Richard Odusanya

Socrates once said: “they speak so loud but I can’t hear them”.

Let me start by putting it on record that OBJ is entitled to his subjective assessment and opinion expressed in his latest letter. However, it is my firmly held opinion that his motivation is dangerous and unhelpful to our search for progress. We should not allow the silent majority to be misdirected again. It is now a case of “buyers beware”.

I read with dismay the new vitriol by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. Given what I know, this letter has invoked mixed feelings in me and I consider it a duty to react. Actually Obj’s letter is a call for the youth to rebel, to violence and destruction. It is not healthy for our fledgling democracy he’s a dangerous man. ‘Like Donald Trump, like Olusegun Obasanjo’

Donald John Trump, an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. The Former President Donald Trump was heavily engaged in every aspect of the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, members of the House Jan. 6 committee said Thursday before they voted to subpoena him in their investigation of the attack on the U.S. Capitol last year. “The need for this committee to hear from Donald Trump goes beyond fact-finding,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said before the panel voted 9-0 at the conclusion of a public hearing. “He must be accountable.”

The rise of Trump opened a Pandora’s box in US society. Trump’s supporters are mostly lower-class whites, and they lost a lot after the 2008 financial crisis. The US used to have the largest and most stable middle class in the Western world, but many are going down. That’s when Trump emerged. Big-mouthed, anti-traditional, abusively forthright, he is a perfect populist that could easily provoke the public. Despite candidates’ promises, Americans know elections cannot really change their lives. Then, why not support Trump and vent their spleen? The rise of a racist in the US political arena worries the whole world.

Usually, the tempo of the evolution of US politics can be predicted, while Trump’s ascent indicates all possibilities and unpredictability. He has even been called another Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hitler by some Western media. No doubt, if not for the strong institutions (Establishments) Trump would have completely destroyed American system and naively thought of himself as infallible. This is part of the reasons why we should discourage what seems like targeting the gullible masses particularly the restive youths.

Like Donald Trump, Olusegun Obasanjo is trying to draw the gullible youths into the inter-tribal and intra-tribal wars amongst the 60 yrs old and above in this country. He should not be allowed to be the Nigerian version of Donald Trump! Have we forgotten the man of character that attempted to mastermind an illegitimate third-term in a constitutional two-term presidency? I personally petitioned the seventh National (NASS), under the leadership of the then Senate President and the speaker of the house of representatives, Sen David Mark and the present governor of sokoto state Aminu Waziri Tambuwal respectively and copied the Inspector General of Police and Attorney-General/Minister of Justice of the federation on that reprehensible act of his.

For those who do not know, I have a fair Knowledge and understanding of the workings around OBJ. Each time he embarked on his self-serving adventures, the first thing that agitates the mind is who killed Bola Ige? First, it is important to inform my readers that I had a long history of battle on the subject. Please Google search through my petition dated April 8, 2013 “Obasanjo’s atrocities”. “…in a strong petition to the President of the Senate, Mr. David Mark, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, the Chairman of LRI and a one-time close operative of Chief Obasanjo, Mr. Richard Odusanya, traced the present socio-econo-political crisis in Nigeria to the maladministration of the past, particularly the arbitrariness and corruption in all ramifications of the Obasanjo administration..”

Can Baba Obasanjo, the balogun owu take his own medicine? He gave Nigeria Shehu Shagari leading to the likes of Umaru Dikko, Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan with consequences for Nigeria; he now wants to give Nigeria Peter Obi! What a shame? The youths he is addressing should call him out. Hopefully, they would see through these shenanigans! Is sharing oil wells to undeserving people, making billionaires of visionless people, giving Kerosene licenses to greedy ones and rigging elections, what we should admire or emulate? Nigerian youths should ask Obasanjo when Boko haram started their activities in Nigeria and who was Nigeria’s President at the time.

All the Presidential aspirants in this year’s election are but youths. The substantial population of Nigerians qualifying as youths should not be gullible enough to listen to an octogenarian cunning actor and one of the midwives and specialists in the birthing and nurturing of this country’s dilemma. The youths should focus on identifying members of the NASS and Presidency of their own and support them; a question for 2027 and beyond.

In the letter, the writer asserted and I quote, “”None of the contestants is a saint but when one compares their character, antecedent, their understanding, Knowledge, discipline and vitality that they can bring to bear and the great efforts required to stay focused on the job particularly looking at where the country is today and with the experience on the job that I personally had, Peter Obi’ as a mentee had an edge. Others like all of us have what can contribute to the new dispensation to liberation, restoration and salvaging of Nigeria collectively. One other important point to make about Peter is that he is a needle with tread attached to it from North and South and he may not get lost. In other words, he has people who can pull his ears, if and when necessary.”

“Needless to say that he has a young and able running mate with clean track record of achievement both in the public and private life.” This opinion is loaded and is exactly what Obasanjo did in the run-up to the 2007 flawed general elections that produced President Umar Musa Yar’Adua of blessed memory and his VP Goodluck Jonathan. After the demise of his life long ambition, he criminally embarked on rigging the election for his handpicked surrogates which eventually backfired on him. We should remember where the letters of the past led this country.

Again, do Nigerians deserves a puppet President whose eyes their enslavers can pull? Nigerians should and must reject this fallacy if we want to be truly in charge of our destiny and break away from the past. This man mentioned track record, the only track records we have are the performances and achievements of the frontrunners with respect to their previous political offices and it is clear from available records who the clear winner is. We would not be sold a dummy and twist of well documented occurrences of our lifetime.

In conclusion, OBJ has again tried to profit from our collective idiosyncratic attitude to stringent analysis and actions in the political arena. He is again manipulatively, selling a dummy. This man should not be seen as the moral compass to navigate us through the storm we are in as a country. Obasanjo is part and parcel of the problems confronting us. He and his gang of military adventurists in collaboration with their civilian accomplices, namely, some senior lawmakers, senior Civil Servants, so-called business people and judiciary are complicit. Only outright mischief unbecoming of a man of his stature could have informed the vitriol in his latest letter. In any case, we now understand better what Jesus himself meant in the book of John 8:15 “You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one”.

Richard Odusanya
odusanyagold@gmail.com