What’s so important about Obasanjo’s Watch? -By Jonathan Asikason

“As the wily survivor who knows where all the bodies are buried in the necropolis of perfidy, Obasanjo’s historic task is to lay the ghost of old Nigeria” – Adebayo Williams

Any value-free study on the character and life of chief Olusegun Obasanjo, must observe that he was a child of destiny when it comes to power and state rule. Becoming politically savvy on assumption of power , OBJ made many strenuous efforts to build a cult of personality around himself.

His waxen wings did mount above his reach and melting, heavens conspired his overthrow! Hence his failure to join his African friends in the bandwagon of political seattightism. Obasanjo first hogged the spotlight of Nigerian government after the overthrow of Gen. Yakubu Gowon ‘s government. He was appointed the chief of staff supreme headquarters – next in command to the head of state.

When the head of state – Gen.Murtala Muhammed – was assassinated in the Dimka’s failed coup of February 13, 1976 , he was unanimously chosen to succeed him. According to Obasanjo, the choosing was against his will. Obasanjo’s military administration was not a smooth match on the field of praetorian Orthodoxy but an excursus on civic soldiering. It was an administration set up to oversee the complete implementations of Muhammed’s laudable programmes. But OBJ must be OBJ , so he did the implementations in his own ways.

For concise political analyses on how `water pass garri ‘ in Obasanjo’s military administration, I enjoin you to listen to Fela’s International Thief Thief (ITT), Coffin for the head of state and army arrangement. Fela was in fact the only person that knew Obasanjo very well. In the wake of return to the civil rule in 1999, Obasanjo was chosen to be the flag bearer of the newly formed People’s Democratic Party(PDP).

The choice was to placate the Yorubas over the Abiola’s phenomenon. On being elected president after many years of military interregnum, Obasanjo’s historic task was – as Adebayo Williams put it – to lay the ghost of old Nigeria. But contrarily, Obasanjo who would have been the Atatürk or Mandela of modern Nigeria decided to sacrifice his historic mission on the alter of highhandedness, selfish interests, seat tightism and cult of personality. His failure is not my problem , but why is Obasanjo still talking ? Why do he takes delight in overheating the polity? I thought they said that people that lived in glass house do not throw stones? A consideration on Obasanjo’s watch will suffice.

OBJ’s Watch : Management of Executive arm of Arm Obasanjo’s management of federal executive council was similar to his management of supreme military council. The only difference here is one that exist between Agbada and Khaki – the character remained the same. His Morbid obsession to power was exposed by his feud with his deputy- Alahaji Atiku Abubakar. In a balant disregard to rule of law, he surprisingly declared the office of vice president vacant. Where it not the intervention of judiciary, he would have appoint another person for the task.

His making and unmaking of ministers and allies can only be compare to the Borgia’s papacy. Obasanjo was not just the Nigerian president but also the petroleum minister. The fact that Obasanjo created the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to fight his political foes is a story a primary school pupil will tell you well. Obasanjo’s administration when compare to present day Goodluck Jonathan in the areas of management of Executive arm of government shows that the latter is far more preferable to the former. So what’s so important about Obasanjo’s watch? OBJ’s Watch: Executive-legislature Relationship.

Immobilism is a term used to described a political paralysis that usually engulfed a state where there exist no cordial relationship between the executive and legislative arms. This term arguably defined Obasanjo’s eight year rule. Under Obasanjo’s watch, the executivelegislature gridlock took a life of notoriety such that the House of Senate witnessed in space of four years(1999-2003) emergence of three senate presidents and a total five senate presidents in his eight year rule.

In the House of Representatives, Obasanjo gave no breathing space to then speaker Ghali Na’ Abba who succeeded his boy and certificate forger – Salius Buhari. Na’Abba excaped Obasanjo’s snare but paid the price of losing his gubernatorial ambition. The situation was so bad that even those he eventually engineered their ascendancy fell out of favour and faced his scheming and meddlesomeness once they decide to assert their authority and independence required for them to function in their office.

Judging from the foregoing, do Obasanjo have the moral compass to criticized Goodluck Jonathan? If no , what’s important about Obasanjo’s Watch ? OBJ’s Watch: A Study Of The Judiciary. Under Obasanjo’s watch, judiciary was nothing other than a toothless bulldog. Every unpalatable judgements meted against him and/ or his allies were considered null and void. It was Obasanjo’s awkward relationship with judiciary that aptly illustrate that his administration was military in blood and agbada in cloth. Under Obasanjo’s watch , Judiciary was subjugated and forced into being the appendage of the executive arm. For Obasanjo and his allies, rejection of judgement is the best answer to any recalcitrant judge! So why is Obasabjo still talking? Obj’s watch : State-Federal relationship.

The difference between Federal and unitary system of government lies on the relationship between the center and the component units. Whereas component units are coordinates( meaning that they are independent in certain spheres) in federal system in unitary parlance, they are subordinates (meaning that they are appendage of the central government). For Obasanjo,this is a grammar meant for political science students and definitely not for him.

So he had to sponsor impeachment and/ or abduction of governors that he considered enemy. Dr Chris Ngige of Anambra state and Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo state will be in better position to tell you what federal interference in state matters denote. So what so important about Obj’s watch? Obj’s watch: a look at Election. Under Obasanjo’s watch, election was nothing to write home about. Rigging and other forms of electoral mal practices snowballed into nauseating rate. Election under Obj’s regime was Iwu’s affairs – Iwuism is another word for blatant rigging.

So what’s so important about Obasanjo’s watch? Obasanjo’s watch was a political season that conjures up nebulous shades of corruption and political shenaniganism .The regime ought not to be remembered, for its best place is the dustbin of history. Obasanjo should know that his book (My Watch)has done -and will do – nothing to rewrite his failures in government. It is so appalling that the most corrupt and failed politician Nigeria has ever produced is one disturbing her peace. There exist many evidences to tame his arrogance and I wonder who the government is waiting for?