- In politics it has been said, there are no permanent friends or foes, only permanent interests. Therefore, those who occupyleadership positions should realize that the indulgences they revel in while in power will not last forever, and may become their albatross when they leave power. The pit they dig for others today may end up consuming them tomorrow. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo should therefore be amongst the last Nigerians to either weep for Nigeria or pontificate on the failure of leadership by President Goodluck Jonathan because he, OBJ contributed to the foundation of the failed leadership the country now has to contend with.
The recent outburst of President Jonathan, who reportedly described disgraced former Bayelsa State Governor, DSP Alaimiesgha, a thief, who has no relevance in Nigerian politics, as his political benefactor, shows the President’s capacity to stir the hornet’s nest, and to comment freely on matters of national importance. Apart from exercising his right to free expression, Jonathan’s comments against the backdrop of his top public position deserve close attention as they could either provide clues to resolving some protracted problem; or give an insight to his handling of state affairs as President.
Jonathan’s right to comment on any issue, like every other Nigerian, is not contestable. What may be contestable is the moral justification for some of his comments in certain situations, given the forum and the occasion when they are made; and his status as Head of State and de facto leader of the ruling party. It bears reminding Nigerians, just in case any reminder was needed that it was Obasanjo who orchestrated Alaimesegha’s impeachment, and subsequent removal from office after the latter was arrested in the UK, for money laundering. This single act of political magnanimity by OBJ opened the way for GEJ political ascension as he became governor of Bayelsa State.
As deputy governor under Alaimesegha aka Alams, Jonathan was inconsequential, he was only seen, but never heard. In fact he was reduced to an errand boy. Reports are rife that on one occasion, he was slapped in the face by Alams’ junior brother when attempted to assert himself. Obasanjo rescued Goodluck Jonathan from this sad master-servant relationship with Alams, made him governor of Bayelsa. Even when Jonathan for fear of been killed by Alams, was scared to take over the governorship seat, Obasanjo summoned him to his farm residence in Otah, where he personally taught him politics 101 and infused in him all the liver and confidence to withstand the heat.
Having ruled for eight out of the 13 years of the PDP’s misadventure in power, OBJ can hardly escape part responsibility for the monstrous liability of a Jonathan presidency. From 1999 to 2007, OBJ was not just the leader of the PDP, but also the President of Nigeria, wielding enormous powers. He was in absolute control. When he disengaged as President, he foisted himself on the party as its Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman, another vantage position. OBJ was, therefore, all along in a veritable position of influence to ensure the PDP provides purposeful leadership with men of timber and caliber, who would put the country on a sound democratic footing.
But that was not to be. If anything, OBJ chose to ride rough shod on party structures and in the process, emasculated party discipline. He garnered so much power to himself at the expense of the extant rules and constitution of the party. Many PDP faithful and foundation members abandoned the party when their hue and cry went unheeded, while many others were humiliated out of the party. Baba was a maximum leader who left his imprint everywhere. Many problems cropped up under his leadership from which the PDP is yet to recover.
OBJ’s last stage as President from 2003-2007, was mired in a third-term controversy that he never denied, and instead, sought to justify as arising from “pressure” from unnamed people. He also introduced “do-or-die” contest for power, the harbinger of theelectoral disaster of that year; one of the worst ever experienced in the history of Nigeria, which became the albatross his hand-picked successor, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who had to contend with OBJ’s imposition of GEJ as vice president in 2007.
When GEJ was maligned by Yar`Adua’s aides, who refused to fund his office as Vee Pee, OBJ through his surrogates and deep pocket pals ensured that he lacked nothing. When Yar’Adua became incapacitated and subsequently died in 2009, OBJ spearheaded the machinery that saw GEJ take over, first as acting President and then President upon Yar’Adua’s death.
But in return, Jonathan like the prince has been romancing, and made himself bedfellows of those who masterminded the political humiliation of Obasanjo in his home state, Ogun state. Whereas Jonathan and the PDP swept the presidential elections in Ogun state in 2011, Obasanjo was trounced in his ward in subsequent elections, and his daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo was shown the way out of the Senate.
Undoubtedly, OBJ’s era was one of impunity where indiscipline loomed large. His style of imposing candidates and the consequent defection of party members characterized his era. While he brooked no dissent to his authority, he encouraged dissent and rebellion against the state leadership of the PDP, as exemplified in the case of Chris Ngige, who, as a sitting governor and party leader of Anambra State, was abducted by a PDP chieftain, with the active connivance and alleged support of Obasanjo Presidency that allowed state apparatus to be used to achieve this political sacrilege.
Similarly, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, as incumbent governor of Oyo State, never had a breathing space due to the incendiary activities of the late Chief Lamidi Adedibu, another PDP stalwart, visibly aided and abetted by OBJ to seize the state politically. Although Adedibu held no party post, he was nonetheless described as the PDP “Garrison Commander” in Oyo State; a coinage that legitimize his activities, and emboldened him to undermine the official leadership of the party and governance in the state.
Thus the PDP in Oyo, just like in Anambra, remained a theatre of war and absurdities throughout the Obasanjo Presidency. His relationship with other arms of government was, more often than not, uninspiring. Above all, OBJ was notorious for disobeying court orders with relish. Being, therefore, a major architect of the rise of GEJ, Baba lacks the moral high ground to complain. That the Ogun State chapter of the PDP, his constituency, is bedeviled by intractable acrimony and internecine factional squabbles speaks volume about the deficit of Baba’s political charisma and puts paid to the statement that the evil that men do, often lives with them.
EDITORIAL. ESAN PEOPLE NEWS
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