
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is noted for his vitriolic letters. As a retired General and military Head of State who voluntary handed over power to a civilian government in 1979, Obasanjo is a revered statesman the world over; therefore his letters, usually a diatribe masterfully trained at power, attract attention all over the world. This is the reason, perhaps more than the letters’ contents, which make them a pain in the arse to the addressees. A retired soldier and self-opinionated leader often touted as holding the academia in disdain, Obasanjo has, ironically, mastered the art or act of wielding the pen not just as the “big stick” but also as the proverbial pen which is mightier than the sword. OBJ’s first of such high-profile letters was written to gap-toothed Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, leader of one of the couple military coups that thwarted the return to civil rule midwife by Obasanjo. The thrust of the letter was OBJ’s denunciation of IBB government’s Structural Adjustment Programme aka SAP, demanding it takes on a “human face”. The then military government had, after the rigmarole of a public debate, acceded to IMF/World Bank-sponsored “solutions” to the country’s economic problems, the central point of which was taking a loan and the “conditionalities” attached to it, chief of which was a steep devaluation of the Naira. That was the beginning of the bastardization of the nation’s official currency. The suffering in the land was much as a result of the implementation of IMF-induced economic measures; and OBJ’s intervention was to let the dictator have a feel of the true state of affairs with the hapless citizenry.
The letter greatly unsettled IBB and it will not be out-of-place to see it as one of the final nails in that government’s coffin. IBB soon “stepped aside” and after the inter-regnum of Chief Ernest Shonekan, the vilest of all the military dictators, Gen. Sani Abacha, held the country hostage. Abacha escaped the caustic pen of Obasanjo because the dictator was “wise” enough to take his former boss out of circulation via a contrived coup. For the most part of Abacha’s reign, OBJ was in detention. He was subsequently found “guilty” of complicity in a coup attempt and sentenced to death; which death sentenced was eventually commuted to prison term. OBJ’s second very popular letter to power is the one titled “Before it is too late” and addressed to the immediate past president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Typically OBJ, the letter dripped of malice and was as vindictive as ever – but like the “SAP with a human face” letter, this one, too, satisfied the generality of the populace because it spoke their rage by and large. Usually, OBJ covers his own tracks or conveniently ignores them while accusing others of crimes he, too, must have committed. His holier-than-thou is the reason why many consider his politics obscene and his pontificating immoral. But they miss the point as such may tantamount to throwing the baby away with the bath water. In as much as someone is needed to speak the truth to power, it does not matter who does. As the adage goes, “a man sees a snake; a woman kills it, the important thing is that the snake is slayed.” That, however, should not excuse Obasanjo from answering for his own misdeeds in power.
More than the IBB letter, OBJ’s letter to Jonathan completely finished the man; after that letter, there was no way Jonathan could have ruled Nigeria again. OBJ accused him of being a man of “deceit and deception” bent on sacrificing the ruling PDP on the altar of selfish interest. He accused him of lacking in “trust, honour, and character” and of exercising “power and authority without responsibility and accountability”. Other sins pinned on Jonathan by OBJ included fiddling, like King Nero, while the country burned (Boko Haram insurgency); ethnicity; training a hit squad to eliminate opponents; mind-bending corruption; crass ineptitude, and compromising the professionalism of the country’s armed forces and security agencies. Reading “Before it is too late” again in view of recent happenings in the polity, one cannot miss OBJ’s predictive ability, if not the gift of clairvoyance. For instance, he predicted the “division and destruction” of the PDP and “the calamity of failure” to follow; the loss of power, relevance, and reputation by Jonathan and that “when the consequences come, those who have wrongly advised you will not be there to help carry the can. Egypt must teach some lesson.” It is the Egypt angle (of ex-President Hosni Mubarak?) that is yet to come to pass! In view of recent revelations, consider, also, his warning against the “political abuse and misuse of the military and the legitimate security apparatus for unwholesome personal and political interest to the detriment of the honour, dignity, oath and professionalism of those honourable and patriotic forces.”
OBJ has again written another lethal letter, this time ostensibly to the National Assembly – but the letter gave a side-kick to President Muhammadu Buhari. This could be a foretaste of what to expect in the not-too-distant future. I therefore look forward to a full-blown letter from Obasanjo to Buhari down the line, especially if the economy does not respond to the Buhari treatment and the security situation all over the country does not improve. In the letter to the second arm of government, OBJ accused the legislators of insensitivity and frivolous spending when the economy is already on recess; he also levelled allegations of corruption, profligacy, and, as it were, obtaining by trick (OBT) against legislators who collect humongous amounts as constituency allowances but maintained no such constituency offices. Here, again, OBJ connects powerfully with the popular consciousness as widespread popular opinion corresponds with the score-card issued the National Assembly members by OBJ. Governors and Buhari should brace up for their own full letters from OBJ in future. In “Before it is too late” and recent statements, OBJ spoke against governors who live in “Opulence” while the citizens contend with life in penury. Full-blown Obasanjo invectives on governors may well be on the way.
And what else can anyone make of the following statements in OBJ’s letter to the National Assembly if not warning shots on the president? Said OBJ: “When budget proposals are extremely ambitious like the current budget, and revenue sources are uncertain; more borrowing may have to be embarked upon almost up to 50 percent of the budget or the budget may be grossly un-implementable and un-implemented. Neither is a choice as both are bad. Management of the economy is one of the key responsibilities of the president as prescribed in the Constitution. He cannot do so if he does not have his hands on the budget. Management of the economy is shared responsibility where the presidency has the lion’s share of the responsibility”. OBJ could not have made it clearer that he did not consider this president to have his hand firmly on the economy. If you get the budget wrong, you cannot in any way get the economy to move in the right direction. And what is a nation if not its economy?
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