In Obasanjo’s usual style, every Nigerian is a liar, a thief or incompetent, except himself. You wonder what he actually achieved in all the years he ruled the country. It is obvious that My Watch is Obasanjo’s last desperate attempt to damage President Goodluck Jonathan politically and make him unelectable in 2015. His timing of the launch on the eve of Jonathan’s nomination by the PDP was deliberate. Obasanjo intends to use the book to inflict mortal damage, hence his choice of words and narrative. He wrote: “Jonathan is lacking in broad vision, knowledge, confidence, understanding, concentration, capacity, sense of security, courage, moral and ethical principles, character and passion to move the nation forward on a fast trajectory. Although he might wish to do well, he does not know how nor does he have the capacity to. To compound his problem he has not surrounded himself with aides sufficiently imbued with the qualities and abilities to help him out. Most of them are greedy hangers-on or hungry lackluster characters interested only in their mouths and their pockets Obasanjo branded Jonathan the most corrupt leader Nigeria ever had. “In the area of corruption … under Jonathan we seem to have gone from frying pan to fire. If in the past corruption was in the corridors of power, it would seem now to be in the sitting room, dining room and bedroom of power. If what is called ‘corruption’ is stealing, under the watch of Goodluck Jonathan, then government has become legalised and protected robbery.” Then, Obasanjo threw the sucker punch, describing Jonathan as an inept, ineffective, inefficient, careless, clueless, callous, insensitive, and a selfish leader. Most times when you hear Obasanjo talk, you wonder if he is not the same man who ruled Nigeria for eight years. I have been wondering if he could have allowed anyone to write this kind of book about him when he was in power. Obasanjo forced Audu Ogbeh to resign his chairmanship of the PDP because Ogbeh chastised him over the role he played in the kidnap of Governor Chris Ngige. I remember the instability in the Senate and how he orchestrated the impeachment of about four Senate presidents. Obasanjo chased out the founding fathers of the PDP, which was formed when he was in prison. I remember the do-or-die elections that he foisted on the country. I remember the unexplained political assassinations, including the killing of his Justice Minister and Attorney General of the Federation, Bola Ige. I remember the illegal impeachment of governors, including Joshua Dariye of Plateau State and Rasheed Ladoja of Oyo State. Obasanjo used the EFCC to hound political opponents. I remember how, he, a man who came out of prison, wretched and almost broken, became one of the richest Nigerians alive today after eight years in power as president, and I wonder where he got the money. If Obasanjo had allowed the people to be the pivot of our democracy, we wouldn’t have had a Yar’Adua/Jonathan presidency in the first place. He used his eight-year tenure to enthrone political imposition and gangsterism. Yet, he has the guts to throw stones. I don’t blame him. I blame the system that has tolerated him for so long. What Obasanjo has done with his new memoirs is to challenge others to document their own account, and expose him for what and who he is – as General Alabi Isama did in his book, The Tragedy of Victory, which eviscerated Obasanjo’s war memoirs.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 21:50:59 +0000
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