Obasanjo Is Not The First Elder Statesman To Blow A Jarring Whistle For A Meltdown. Awolowo Once Did And Shagari Made Adjustments
The Oasis Reporters
November 22, 2024
It is usual for a leader to be surrounded by political hangers-on who say only what the leader would love to hear, and most times, such leaders are misled and remain largely unaware of what is actually going on in the land.
A wise leader should have one or two trusted individuals whose job description would be to speak truth to power. When this is lacking, the opposition, independent news sources or even the elder statesmen in the land should be boldly courageous enough to speak out in the hope that the current leader would listen, then make necessary amendments.
It happened under the regime of President Shehu Shagari (1979-83). The Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo dusted his diplomatic passport and traveled to London. He went to the African Service section of the global broadcasting house of the BBC in Bush House and was granted a live interview on the Focus On Africa program.
I listened to the interview and remember that he took the economy of Nigeria to the cleaners in a candid way. President Shehu Shagari’s media team heaped all manner of insults on the opposition leader trying to drag his name into the mud.
It turned out that President Shagari had listened and found out that everything Chief Awolowo said was true. Without fanfare, he rolled in policies like the Austerity measures to block the bleedings in the economy through plugging of loopholes. Nigeria was then like a bazaar and a drinking party. The revelers had finished and the leftover dishes inclusive of the empty wine bottles. There was no money left to repay the creditors with.
It was too little too late. A few months later, General Muhammadu Buhari and his fellow coupists rolled out the tanks and overthrew Shagari.
President Obasanjo who paid off much of Nigeria’s debts is facing the same backlash that Chief Awolowo faced in 1983.
A certain Dr. Dewale Alonge is said to have written this, even when we know that meltdowns are historical alarm bells that patriots sound from time to time to keep the eyes of leaders on the ball.
.
:
President Obasanjo’s Yale Meltdown: A sad day for a historic figure and elder statesman.
By Wale Alonge
All politics ends at the water’s edge is a global cornerstone principle in partisan politics. Water’s edge is a metonymy for “national border”. It is the unwritten rule that partisan domestic political disagreement must not cross the national border. It is a global norm that a true patriot does not go outside his or her country to trash and de-market his own country, talk less of calling it a failed state. That rule is observed by every self-respecting political figure to avoid doing irreparable damage to the international reputation and economic interest of one’s country.
So, it is especially sad to see a historic personality like President Obasanjo who fought to defend the sovereignty of this country, who in his own word has testified that not in his wildest dream could he have dreamed of twice becoming the accidental president of Nigeria, travel outside the country to declare to the entire world that his country was a failed state.
Anyone who does not realize what a gross malpractice that is but instead applauds such a despicable act needs a deep examination.
Many might not realize that the Yale meltdown was more of a reputational damage for President Obasanjo than it is for the target of its venom, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
It does not take a genius to know that the concept of a failed state is so specific in its usage in international development. In order for a country to be so classified, it must meet a specific threshold of total economic, political, social and security failure including inability to defend its sovereignty.
Yes, our country is facing arguably one of its most challenging economic landscapes, however, only a mind warped by pathological hate and bias will write off a regime that is less than two years into its tenure as a failure and of being responsible for turning the country into a failed state.
A failed state does not hold elections and maintain a governmental structure for 25 straight and uninterrupted years. No one is claiming that Nigeria is a fully functioning state operating optimally. It is not even close to being that, which has been the source of our national disappointment.
It is true that the country is facing very serious economic and security challenges but those challenges are not a new phenomenon.
In fact some of it dates back to the tenure of President Obasanjo who himself tried unsuccessfully and unconstitutionally to truncate our fragile democratic governance with his third term agenda.
Given his antecedents and his choice in the recent presidential election which his candidate lost, it is no accident that President Obasanjo chose the occasion of a memorial lecture in honor of Chinua Achebe to launch his most virulent attack to date on President Tinubu.
We have not forgotten that President Obasanjo opposed Asiwaju Tinubu candidacy, threw every ammunition in his armory at him only to fail woefully. So most people understand the Yale meltdown for what it is, the outburst of a frustrated old man.
It is so ironic and should not be lost on all of us, that as President Obasanjo was doing his best to bring President Tinubu into international disrepute, his global status got a huge boost. The G-20 will not invite the president of a failed state to its summit in Brazil. Neither will the international investment community be directing billions of dollars into a failed state. President Obasanjo is a global figure who has earned the right to be treated as an elder statesman in the mold of highly respected General Yakubu Gowon.
The problem is that he has proven again and again that he is not able to control his insatiable and mind-numbing need to be the center of attention, to bring down anyone who he sees as a threat to it.
Every single President since President Obasanjo left office after his failed third term agenda has been subjected to his biting, caustic, virulent negative assessment of their presidential scorecard including his handpicked protégé, President Jonathan.
One can only hope that after the Yale meltdown, that President Obasanjo will finally realize that he has gone too far and will settle down to enjoy the grace that good fortune has bestowed on him and will finally retire as to his earned status of a respected elder statesman whose counsel is asked for and given behind the limelight. Everyone has their moment and the President has had more than his fair share.
Dr.Dewale Alonge, USA.
Here’s the candid view of Nefertiti @Firstladyship on President Obasanjo:
Obasanjo had many faults, incompetence was not one of them. It breaks my heart to see APC sycophants try to belittle his unbeaten records. Aremu is not anyone’s mate. He took the fight straight to the political class. He never fought the middle class and the vulnerable. In fact, he grew the middle class that APC decimated.
Teachers were buying cars on his watch. Today, many bankers, lawyers, doctors, nurses and engineers, can no longer afford a tokunbo.
Many of your celebs who are millennials returned home (on his watch). Nefertiti returned as well. Only to Japa (emigrate) again, in 2016. Nollywood and Afrobeats took-off on his watch.
On Baba’s Watch? It was Exodus Back Home like no other.
This is why I’m bullish on Peter Obi. He is the only man that will reenact ‘Japada;’ that Great Nigerian Exodus back home. Obi will do what he says on the tin.
Nigeria needs a charismatic president, someone who can rub shoulders with Modi, Putin, Xi & Macron, as equal. You need someone who is his own man, not a puppet.
Obasanjo got you the Paris Club debt forgiveness, and paid off your debt.
He unlocked the GSM Revolution and Banking Reforms. He made appointments strictly on merit.
Once you were competent?
You were hired. He didn’t bother about tribe nor religion, unlike APC.
He gave you Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Professor Dora Akunyili of blessed memory. Madam Oby Ezekwesili, Chief Olusegun Aganga, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Chukwuemeka Chikelu, Frank Nweke Jr., Tonie Iredia, Professor Jerry Gana and a host of other statesmen and women making Nigeria proud.
On his foreign trips, Nigeria was seen. We were the most conspicuous in the room. Obasanjo paraded a fine array of technocrats that grew your economy (from military obscurity, to one of the fastest growing economies in the world). The amazing feat the (All Pandemic Congress) did not only derail, but stopped in its tracks.
He gave your Foreign Policy & Passport, new blood. Middle class Nigerians could travel to many countries with your Green Passport.
He created the EFCC, ICPC, CPS, NDDC, ECA & many institutions that survived. On his watch, the political class were put on straight & narrow. No one dared derail the National Agenda. OBJ had a Dream that was “Economic Nigeria;” he pursued it the way he saw fit. He reinvigorated the National Orientation Agency (NOA); many of us can still remember the jingles. He created the atmosphere of PRIDE that filtered in, and remained in the air.
He gave the millennials a sense of new pride. As a millennial, if you didn’t make it with OBJ, you won’t make it with APC. It’s that simple!
On OBJ’s Watch? You could see the pathway to growth. He didn’t stifle businesses with his reforms. Everyone followed with keen interest. I know that people like to politicize our History. But not on my watch.
Obasanjo met an almost empty purse, no thanks to the White Bearded General from Minna.
Tinubu has no excuse! Read my pinned tweet, I said so much since Feb 2022; way before Peter Obi’s Declaration.
My job here is to keep setting the records straight. “Obasanjo was and is still the finest you had. YES! I say these things with apologies to no one.”
None of us can count the things that man achieved. He built your National Stadium and hosted International tournaments. He built 10 integrated Power Plants, with 7 completed. He sold your Refineries to Dangote. UMY came and reversed the sale. Although the NSCDC was created in 1967, it wasn’t until 2003 (when it was formally recognized by Parliament).
OBJ’s catalogue is extensive, no one comes close. He is no Saint, but he did Nigeria right.
