By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo
Obasanjo has come again. This time he is speaking rather than writing letters. Same time four years ago, he had written an epistle to ask Buhari to resign. In that angry note to a sitting president, he had said Buhari could not win any fairly contested general election. The letter came to nothing. Buhari stayed put and won the election. Obasanjo folded up.
Obasanjo is now asking the nation to forget about Buhari. Cheekily, he said President Buhari had done his best. Then he likened asking more of Buhari to the mischief of kicking a dead horse. The puns aside, he suggested Buhari hadn’t only been woeful, but Buhari had nothing left to offer.
Obasanjo who had wanted to be a life president is now urging the nation to start thinking about the post-Buhari era. At about same time during Obsanjo’s reign, rumors were rife that millions of dollars in bribe money were being distributed to legislators to engineer a constitutional amendment that would have made Obasanjo a god and truncated our democracy.
It’s important to start thinking about the post-Buhari era. That would allow a lot of the bitter energy coursing through the veins of his opponents to be channelled into the 2023 process. Many politicians who should be crafting manifestoes and showing off their political credentials are still preoccupied with talking about Buhari’s trousers. Buhari has barely a year left.
But if Obasanjo’s objective is post-Buhari era then he wouldn’t waste the time of his audience with Oshodi market banter, talking about kicking a dead horse. Buhari cannot begin any comprehensive restructuring of the country in his last year.
There are words that should be used against a president only by his teeth-gnashing opponents. Peacemakers choose their words carefully. Masquerading as a peacemaker to further self-aggrandisement or to throw brickbats is not noble.
In 2018, Obasanjo had promised a third force. It was supposed to be a force that would birth a new Nigeria. Oyinlola would later emerge as the leader of the angels. The precious time Obasanjo should have concentrated on building his new vehicle he wasted vilifying Buhari.
So as 2019 approached, Obasanjo ditched his toothless third force. Stranded in his fantasy but too pompous to quit, he recruited Atiku, a man he had once described as morally leprous. After an emergency River Jordan-like cleansing session in Ota, Obasanjo suggested to the public that since he had forgiven Atiku then Atiku had become sinless.
It’s unlikely Obasanjo has Atiku or any newly sanctified political leper in mind again. The last project failed to entice Nigerians. Obasanjo is cunningly talking about a constitutional amendment before the 2023 elections. The man who once said that what Nigeria needed was the restructuring of the mind now wants a political restructuring before the elections which are due months away.
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Obasanjo likes to be in the mix. Buhari is a dead horse. Obasanjo is a living stallion. But while Obasanjo had all the powers, powers gifted him by circumstances that made a National conference imperative, he rejected the idea of a national conference, betrayed his real benefactors.
Perhaps he now wants to chair that conference. Obasanjo knows that a national conference before the elections could end in chaos. But he knows that the opposition is so weak that without an accident in the ruling party, 2023 is predictable. That would leave Obasanjo out. So it’s easy to discern that Obasanjo is flying a kite for an interim national unity government.
The opposition party is in tatters. The PDP has no message. An opposition that relies on the break up of the ruling party is indolent. The PDP thinks the people are so frustrated with the ruling party they would even vote for clowns. Obasanjo knows that the opposition is badly positioned to compete for power. His idea isn’t bad. But it’s not difficult to see that he muted it because has an ulterior motive. Otherwise, why didn’t he campaign for a restructuring two years ago? Who can trust a man who believes no one besides him can be a messiah.
We need a structural change. Regionalization and devolution of powers will make the regions own their rampant security problems and fashion local solutions to them. A rivalry between the regions will end the practice of political leaders frolicking in Abuja, playing religious and ethnic rent-seeking politics, while their constituents languish in avoidable poverty. The federal system we practice allows local political leaders to deflect even the blames for their own ineptitude to Abuja.
Restructuring now means doing it in a hurry and jeopardizing the 2023 elections. The gestation must not be rushed. It has to be painstakingly mid-wived and thereafter incubated by a president that has time on his hands.
There are many who think that our elections are exorbitantly wasteful endeavours that recycle boneheaded politicians. So that might mean we shouldn’t waste resources in 2023. I agree to some extent. But we must be careful not to experiment with discarding or suspending multiparty elections arbitrarily.
I have argued that the democracy we practise is a misfit. We don’t have the pre-requisites for Western multiparty democracy. Our largely illiterate, poor and hungry electorate lack the capacity to make voluntary choices. Voluntariness requires the availability of good options. Voluntariness is damaged by the susceptibility to political exploitation of a people shackled by hunger and illiteracy. The entire thing is worsened by the absence of a political culture that should help the electorate and guide the politicians.
If President Obasanjo had any genuine grand ideas he wouldn’t have contaminated them with his customary pettiness. Those who believe our situation should evolve would want elected legislators to champion constitutional amendments and changes in structure and systems. For the same reason, people have argued against military coups. Adhoc interventions from the outside stunt organic growth.
If Obasanjo who has ruled the country twice is interested in chairing or nominating a lackey to chair an interim government let him tell us. We are open to ideas.
Vanguard News Nigeria
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