By Dansu Peter
The Coalition for Change in Nigeria has carpeted former President, Olusegun Obasanjo over his recent outbursts on the state of the nation.
The group said it is so sad that Obasanjo, who is supposed to act as elder statesman has turned himself to the number one enemy of this entity called Nigeria.
Comrade Jonathan Ogwuche, Secretary General of the group at a press conference on Tuesday, wondered why Obasanjo, who reportedly ran the country as an imperial emperor is now vocal against the current government.
Obasanjo had last week claimed he sacrificed for the nation by fighting, "shedding blood" to defend the country during the civil war and even been sent to jail over a coup allegation, he was innocent of.
Reacting, however to the ex-president's assertion, Ogwuche said people like Obasanjo should bury their heads in shame for ruining the nation.
You must have, like other well-meaning Nigerians, noted the blatant incursion into day to day governance in Nigeria by a former president, Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo. The latest in his serial meddlesomeness was when he received a former governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa at his Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun state. He has similarly made other inappropriate interventions that actively placed him in the arena of partisan politics.
On the surface, there is nothing wrong with Dr. Obasanjo or any vampire that has wrecked this country making interventions, especially when such are capable of improving the lot of the nation and also considering that they have rights as citizens to take part in governance.
However, while Obasanjo has the right to participate in the affairs of the country, he does not have the moral ground to make such intrusions.
First, his antecedent precludes him from such exercise.
Here was a man that ran the country as an imperial emperor. He warned his then vice president that it was a presidency and not a co-presidency, which was his own crude reminder that he was not amenable to entertaining inputs from his then deputy. It was this attitude of his that created the mindset that a deputy is a spare tire, a situation that set the foundation for the many acrimonious relationship between governors and their deputies across many states and one that has continued to plague the nation till now.
He equally negated the ability of citizens to contribute because any attempt to do so means the anti-corruption agencies would be sent after the person or any other form of crisis is contrived to keep such an individual busy.
Obasanjo is so allergic to criticism that he declared he was not obliged to consider the advice offered by his appointed advisers, which was because he saw some of their genuine inputs as a question mark on his capabilities as a leader. Not that he was much of a leader anyway.
Thirdly, nothing in Nigeria’s modern history has depicted the concept of a dog returning to its vomit as Obasanjo and his theatrics about quitting partisan politics. Since he successfully destroyed the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and made a show of tearing his membership card, he has continued to explore face saving avenues to return to partisan politics because he has since discovered that he lacks what it takes to be an elder statesman, one that will guide the upcoming generations aright without servicing his banal interests.
A man that we should ordinarily call an elder has now engaged in a shameless dance in the public square as he hallucinates himself into believing he is the leader of the opposition around whom all others must rally to save Nigeria when the current government of President Muhammadu Buhari is actually saving the country from the mess that Obasanjo laid the foundation.
In his unrepentant obsession with having it only his own way, he continues to believe and deludedly so that he is the only right-thinking human being in a country of 194 million Nigerians.
It is only such delusion of grandeur that would make him believe that his coalition of his lieutenants that ruin the country would be considered appealing to the populace.
Since discovering that no one wants his tainted goods, he has started hobnobbing with the same PDP he claimed to have resigned from after his coalition and the political party it metamorphosed into were consigned into irrelevance by discerning Nigerians.
Even those that were toddlers in the year 2006 now know that anything Obasanjo does is about getting the third term in office that deluded him despite the killer squad he unleashed on the country to coerce everyone top do his bidding.
This is in addition to him being a member of a cult group that is responsible for killings in Nigeria where they suck the blood of innocent Nigerians to remain alive.
We note that Dr. Obasanjo continues to talk with the air of a kingmaker, citing how he supported President Buhari to emerge in 2015. This precisely is the problem. He is part of the cabal that had until the emergence of President Buhari held the nation by the jugular.
His touted support in 2015 was meant to be a backdoor access that would allow him run the incumbent president as his puppet but he has since decided that the man he hoped to possess is driven only by a passion for Nigeria and would not abdicate decision making to an old rogue who already had his time and misused it.
In his vindictive nature, he reportedly picked issues with President Buhari only after the companies he tendered for contracts were not awarded any jobs because they were found to have been used as conduits for money laundry in the past. This is the kind of thing that Saint Obasanjo will not tell Nigerians is the reason he is attacking the government of the day.
His serial misdemeanour has seen him slip in international reckoning such that the many missions he used to be sent on are no longer forthcoming.
Instead of settling down and asking himself probing questions as to why he has suddenly become a rejected person on the global scene, he is struggling for relevance at home in a destructive way. Had he done this, he would have realized that the lies that once give him international credence have been found out and he is now a pariah among world former leaders.
The former president is entitled to ridicule himself in Nigeria and globally is that is his decision. What must not be allowed to happen is for him to set the country back. For eight years we had a taste of the kind of leadership he has in mind and it is the kind that has made citizens of this great country said “never again”.
Never again shall we allow Obasanjo to run the affairs of Nigeria, whether directly or through proxies, which is why we commend President Buhari for resisting his interference in the governance of Nigeria. Mr. President should continue keeping the old rogue at arm’s length and away from messing with the running of the country.
The Coalition for Change in Nigeria further warn Nigerians and the international community that Obasanjo is acting to destroy the country and cannot be trusted.
Steps must be taken to curb his excesses whenever they cross the bounds of legality as it is important that he is put in his proper place. We urge the right-thinking sections of the population to henceforth disregard him. He should be allowed to talk only to himself for his delusion has attained that phase.
We have the duty, as citizens, to hold the government accountable; but we will trivialize that all important assignment if we allow Obasanjo, or his proxies, to lead the charge. We must begin to look within our ranks for those that will speak truth to power but certainly not someone that once did his utmost to wreck the country.
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