OBJ: The Man And The Animal Called Man
If you have come across General Olusegun Obasanjo's book. The Animal
Called Man, you would then agree with George Owell that, all animals
are equal, but some are more equal than the others. Like all
Obasanjo's books, it is an excursion into self-adoration and
worship. But whoever tries to take away the superhuman in our man of
the millennium, the father of modern Nigeria and the conqueror of
Lord Lugard's Nigeria, must have his head thoroughly examined. I am
sure many would by now be wondering why some of us wouldn't allow
the revered old man and the grand patriot of all that is Nigeria, a
deserved rest after what could well be described as his golden age
of governance in Nigeria.
Well, the man has simply refused to go and rest in peace. He has continued
to bestride Nigeria and Nigerians, including the person who is supposed to
be president, like the Colossus that he is. The Obasanjo's phenomenon will
take a long time to go. For a man we all know is Mahatma Gandhi, Mandela,
Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Solomon (with all his concubines and libidinal
exploits) all rolled into one, we are a lucky nation to have Obasanjo.
Whoever thinks otherwise must truly be a complete idiot! God himself
created Obasanjo specially for us. Have you heard that weird joke by those
foolish comedians where they tell us that God once was queried by other
nations for His apparent bias treatment of a country called Nigeria? They
alleged that the countries complained that God so loved Nigeria that He
gave her everything needed to be the greatest in the world. But God laughs
all knowingly and asked them to wait until they see the caliber of leaders
he would give to Nigeria. I hasten to add that Obasanjo was one of the finest of such leaders sent to
Nigeria so far.
If you don't agree, then take a look at NEPA, or is it, Power Holding and
the entire 16 billion dollar Obj power sector of eight years. Is that not
wonderful? If you are not satisfied with the darkness that makes us truly
African, black and dangerous, then take a plunge. If you are still in
doubt about the blessings of this great statesman, then you have not gone
to Ota farm. There you will see the wonders of transformation, from prison
to presidency.
His anti corruption slogan, at least, was the best in Africa. I like it
when preachers tell me to do what they preach and not what they do. That
way, you can never accuse them of hypocrisy. So when OBJ, as a sitting
president, bought N200 million shares in Transcorp and said it was in a
blind trust, we all believed because by right, we were supposed to be
blind. It becomes even more patriotic to blindly dash choice public
economic investments to the blind-trusted Transcorp. We were stone blind
when other companies indicated interest to pay for NITEL, but thier money
smelled. Only Transcorp had the right business sense.
Our great OBJ reminds me of my village church bazaar auctioneer, Daniel.
He had this habit of holding the bell until his friend offers, just
anything. The bell would go and the deal sealed. As an all-knowing public
auctioneer, OBJ rang the bell for only his friends; for Dangote, the bell
went for BCC, kaduna refinery, oil blocs, port concessions etc. for his
Transcorps, in addition to the small NITEL, NICON went, oil blocs,
refineries and many more. If you say OBJ is corrupt, then may be you don't
know the late Mobutu and other such great Africans, they were simply being
what God created African leaders to be, the ruler is the state.
OBJ is truly the father of modern Nigeria. With sons like Gbenga, Andy
Ubah, Tafa Balogun, Bode George, Ahmadu Ali, Ojo Manduekwe, etc, who
wouldn't be a proud father? Take a bow Gbenga! This son is all a father
can ask for as a son. For a man as strong and virile as our national ICON,
it would have been a disgrace to leave Moji all by herself to pine when
Gbenga's “thing” is always looking down instead of looking straight, or
even up! To restore the family name, father came to the rescue. Bode
George, Ahmadu Alli and Ojo Maduekwe, could win the award as the best
party leaders in the world. If you are casting any envious glance on their
fat bank accounts, grown during the primaries leading up to that mother of
all elections in April 2007, then wait until Ribadu is free from Kuru. The
duo of Maduekwe and Ali have since been rewarded. Ali will probably go to
Afghanistan, where he would see real garrison in action, while Ojo is
already Junketing round the world with the loose cannon he calls mouth. These are illustrious sons of an illustrious
father. It does not really matter that many think that the military
disease trying to destroy the People Democratic Party, all over Nigeria
could be traced to Obasanjo, the general, Bode George, the navy commodore
and Ahmadu Ali the Cornell.
We have the best home grown democracy in the world, where individual have
their fiefdoms; where territories are allocated to individuals to hold and
to rule. If you were a son like Andy Ubah, tell me why you should not be
rewarded with a state.
If you are Ahmadu Ali's wife and you get contract from a governor in
Enugu, why should such a governor not produce a successor. No matter the
amount of primaries you win, if we determine at any point that your
victory has K-leg, of course we will take back the mandate, after all, who
are the people?
Some people with light brains would by now be wondering where we are going
with this animal called man story. Well, we are only saying that our great
man is back to his campaign-dancing podium. He is back on the circus, this
time he is not holding on Yara'dua, he is holding the hands of Dr. Sam
Egwu. He tried to remain aloof; at least in the public, as the chairman of
BOT, but a leopard can never change its skin.
As a BOT chairman, his concern should have been to hold a free and fair
congress. But as usual, he cannot trust us, to make any good choice
ourselves. He has joined the fray, at the partisan level. Egwu is the new
kid holding our papa's over-sized feeding bottle.
To the naive , there is nothing wrong with Sam Egwu, but trust Obasanjo to
always have a strategy that would confound the rest of us. Egwu is being
paired with Gen. Tunde Ogbeha, the Kogi Senator who spent sleepless nights
to ensure that we had an emperor for life. It is pay back time for these
loyal gentlemen. Egwu would be in the pockets of the BOT chairman; that is
a comfortable environment for yes men, any day. Senator General Ogbeha
would supervise, the bloody civilian Egwu, for our imperial highness and
the rest of us animals in this farm called Nigeria would simply be whipped
into line.
Just sit, or stand the way you are till next week when we continue the
saga of this animal called man, especially as it concerns the forth-coming
PDP national convention.
David Okey
okeydave@yahoo.com