abdulraheem
How lawful, how ethical, how appropriate is it for OBJ to publicly launch and collect donations of N4b, for an OBJ presidential library, while still in office?-Text message from a correspondent.
Let me confess that I did not get to hear anything about the launch of an Obasanjo Presidential library, until I read the lead story in THE GUARDIAN newspaper of Saturday, May 14 2005. Ii had been appropriately titled RIDDLES OVER OBASANJO’S N78 LIBRARY PROJECT. I said
‘appropriately’ because going through the story, it became clear that the group around Obasanjo that was behind the project knew that they were stepping on a dubious ground in respect of their project, but as has become the norm with a lot of things under Obasanjo, they chose to be clever by a half. Funsho Kupolokun, the GMD of NNPC, who was one of those who wrote letters seeking funds for the library tried to give it a worth, supposedly befitting the status of Obasanjo and something he, Obasanjo didn’t know anything about. “The president did not know anything
about it when we began. When it was leaked to him, he called me and asked what was going on. I said Mr. President this is what we are doing. I told him and assured him that we did our home work and we found out that it is within the confine of corporate social responsibility,
”Kupolokun, was quoted as saying by THE GUARDIAN. Another signatory to the letters is a certain Karl Masters, said to be an associate of Andrew Young, one of the Americans who seem to loom very large in the foreign-subservient Obasanjo government. Karl Masters said that
the library project had no links with government and “undue influence peddling” could not have arisen… we believe in the personale of the President. We are doing it for him. We have written to others in the private sector. When the president retires, the library will give the young people
the opportunity to examine the presidency. The private sector has been very supportive. It has nothing to do with corruption.” These are the words of Karl Master, who would arrogantly declare later, at the ceremony, that they would not hand over the library to the Federal government. Apparently scared it might be taken over, the same way Obasanjo himself vengefully took over the Abacha Foundation not too long ago! Reading between the lines, it seemed obvious that the people behind the library fund raising knew in their hearts that Nigerians would question the propriety of their actions and the precedent they have set
in respect of the acquisition of funds to massage the ego of a President who truly has become captive of his delusions and has continued to run our country as if it were his private
estate. How do they justify the collection of monies coming from public institutions including governments of states? What is the justification for Obasanjo to have a so-called presidential library, when he has presided over the systematic asphyxiation of a national pubic library system
in the country over the past six years of his regime? If they insist on a presidential library because it is done in America. Why didn’t they wait for the end of his tenure to launch the
appeal fund? A careful reading of the Obasanjo style of administration reveals an alarming propensity to carry on only those things that satisfy the man. And Nigeria has been fostered with a tradition of impunity bordering on the despite the posturing and declarations about anti-corruption intolerance. Related to this is the creeping cult of the personality of’ Obasanjo
that has become particularly noticeable since his return to power in the wake of the massively rigged elections of 2003. Obasanjo is presented by the spin doctors as the best thing that has happened to Nigeria, and ad-nauseam, his chairmanship of the Commonwealth, AU, etc are quoted as indications of the man’s acceptability in the international system. Those were infact some of the planks that were supposed to be laid up in order to pursue the third term agenda; an agenda that seemed to have run into troubled waters in recent weeks, thanks to the amateurish bungling that Jerry Gana and co. committed at the National Political Reform Conference.
It was Wole Soyinka who described the Abeokuta fund raising as ‘Executive Extortion’; it can only happen in the context of the generally undemocratic ambience which Obasanjo has systematically fostered since he came into power in 1999. It seems clear to me that Obasanjo has made a habit of doing to the rules of our national engagement and even our basic Grund norm, the constitution, exactly what Yuri Geller does to iron, he bends them! That was the reason why I predicted in my write up on this page last week that Obasanjo and his closest collaborators would have a lot to answer for to the Nigerian people when he finally vacates office. It certainly would make sense for a future, patriotic government to examine the years of impunity that our country suffered under his government: those criminal sales of our national assets; those wastages of national resources; the systematic pauperization of our people and the erosion of our nation’s sovereignty! But even now, it seems that we haven’t seen the end of the impunity associated with
Obasanjo. At the weekend it was reported that he paid a total sum of N3.5 billion for the presidential jet that he has craved so much in the past two years. In effecting ninety five
percent of the payment for his Boeing Business Jet, Obasanjo over appropriated money beyond the N2.8 billion that the 2005 Appropriate Act allocated for the aircraft. Of course this was one of the many issues arising in the recent threat by the House of Representatives to institute an
impeachment process against Obasanjo. Many commentators, sold on the propaganda against the National Assembly have ridiculed the impeachment threat, while many also believe that it was mere grandstanding to extract some financial concessions by the Assembly Members from Obasanjo. It is expected that after so much huffing and puffing, the nation would return to business as usual, with an acquiescent National Assembly looking the other way, while Obasanjo runs the nation like an old feudal lord over his manor. However, even if for the sake of their credibility on the one hand, and for the consolidation of the content of the nation’s democratic process, I believe that a time has come for the National Assembly to become part of a coalition of forces against the dictatorial proclivities of General Olusegun Obasanjo. It has become imperative to place the issues on the floor of the parliament and in the court of the Nigerian
people, who frankly have been at the receiving end of the disastrous rule of this unrepentant military dictator. By giving short shill to the constitutional order, Obasanjo sets himself over and above the entire state machinery. He then selectively uses and manipulates the state to consolidate power is aid of an agenda that suits him alone. As we have seen, the illusion that lies has created of a lone ranger. Full of wisdom while others are much less endowed, is precisely
just that, an illusion. The danger is that when one is so consumed in his own delusion, everybody and everything around him suffers. Where the individual is the president of a country as large, diverse and as complex as Nigeria, then we are faced with a lot of trouble. But we don’t have to be helpless about our situation. A national coalition of serious political forces and the Nigerian people can reclaim the democratic space from the creeping dictatorship of Obasanjo. But we have to be genuinely committed to that agenda. This is the reason why the new impeachment
process must not be allowed to become a platform for horse trading by members of the National Assembly. The welfare of the Nigerian people is far too serious for the political establishment to toy with, and this they have collectively done with so much impunity since 1999. Let me leave you a point to ponder. Are we having a problem with the democratic process today, because the social forces that led the struggle for democracy didn’t actually achieve power in our country with the exit of the military in 1999? Think about it. Some of the leading elements of the present
government were actually in cahoots with the military dictatorships of our recent past. How many of us remember that such leading lights of this regime, like Chief Tony Anenih, actually mounted the rostrum to declare that there wont be a future without General Sani Abacha? Event
Obasanjo did not take part in the struggle to achieve democracy. He was imprisoned alright, but not because of his commitment to the democratic process. He walked literally from prison to power, on the crest of the manipulations of the military establishment and has not stopped to treat Nigeria like a piece of conquered territory. The wisdom in all of these is that patriotic national social forces must make a determined effort to build a grand coalition to democratically sweep from power the anti-people elements currently running our country
