(PDP) chieftain, Buruji Kashamu, barring him from releasing the book.
Rather than obey the order, Obasanjo wanted Justice Valentine Ashi
sanctioned. The judge had ordered that the book launch be put on hold
over claims by Kashamu that the three-volume series contained details of a
libel case involving a drug trafficking allegation Obasanjo made against
him, which is already before the court. Obasanjo™s excuse that the book
had been published before the order was made is as ludicrous as it is
bizarre.
But that is quintessential Obasanjo, who has no respect for others, who
revels in desecrating hallowed institutions. Holding him in contempt of
court, Ashi on Wednesday, December 10 gave him 21 days to demonstrate why
he should not be punished for publishing the book.
*The fact that the book was published in November is irrelevant. As long
as the substantive suit is not yet determined, no party is entitled to
publish or comment on material facts that are yet to be decided on by the
court, *the judge said.
I have not read the book, but excerpts published on the internet show that
it is essentially an ego trip. As a former president, his autobiography
should be a historical document, based on issues and rooted in facts; but
just as he did in *My Command*, his account of the civil war, he displayed
a lack of generous spirit in *My Watch*.
He portrayed himself as the only saint in Nigeria. Nothing buttresses this
more than what he wrote about the late President Umaru Yar™Adua, his
successor. He accused Yar™Adua of persecuting former Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, because of Ribadu™s
refusal to marry his daughter and for his romance with a lady whom Taminu
Kurfi, an official of the Yar™Adua administration, was dating.
It was revealed, for instance, Obasanjo claimed, that Tanimu™s
main
reason for wanting to fight Nuhu to a standstill was the allegation that a
woman he was interested in marrying was showing more interest in Nuhu! I
understand that Tanimu, in the end, married the lady and I wondered if that
would be the end of the war of attrition against Nuhu. This was about the
same time that Umaru encouraged Nuhu to marry one of his daughters, an idea
which Nuhu spurned. Could that have been partly responsible for Umaru™s
fury?
Obasanjo also alleged in the book that the fight between former Federal
Capital Territory Minister, Nasir el-Rufai, and former Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, Baba Gana Kingibe, was over the infidelity of
one of Kingibe™s wives.
The Kingibe case as revealed is quite similar to Tanimu™s, as a woman is
at the centre of it also. Nasir el-Rufai was accused of knowingly
harbouring a boyfriend of one of Kingibe™s wives in his guest house, where
this wife and her boyfriend would meet. If Nasir chose to make his house
available to his friend out of hospitality, one wonders if he could also
determine which guest, male or female, his friend would receive. It would
have been a different case if Nasir himself was accused of dating Kingibe™s
wife.
Obasanjo wrote all this despite the fact that his son, Gbenga, divorced his
wife in 2008 after deposing in a court affidavit that she slept with his
father (Obasanjo). Memoirs are supposed to be encompassing; so, Obasanjo
should have recounted in the book what transpired between himself and his
daughter-in-law.
How else can one explain his narrative of his encounter with governors who
came to see him after the Governors Forum election debacle other than sheer
mischief?
Two governors from the (PDP) “ Liyel Imoke of Cross River and Emmanuel
Uduaghan of Delta State “ and Godswill Akpabio from Akwa Ibom State by
himself, came to me in Abuja, appealing to me to intervene in the situation
of the Governors Forum, particularly in the disagreement within the PDP
governors. Akpabio said starkly in his frank and outspoken manner: ˜We
have messed up and don™t leave us alone. For me, I don™t want to go to
jail
and my children are too young. I will report our meeting to the President.
In Obasanjo™s usual style, every Nigerian is a liar, a thief or
incompetent, except himself. You wonder what he actually achieved in all
the years he ruled the country. It is obvious that *My Watch* is
Obasanjo™s last desperate attempt to damage President Goodluck Jonathan
politically and make him unelectable in 2015. His timing of the launch on
the eve of Jonathan™s nomination by the PDP was deliberate. Obasanjo
intends to use the book to inflict mortal damage, hence his choice of words
and narrative.
He wrote: Jonathan is lacking in broad vision, knowledge, confidence,
understanding, concentration, capacity, sense of security, courage, moral
and ethical principles, character and passion to move the nation forward on
a fast trajectory. Although he might wish to do well, he does not know how
nor does he have the capacity to. To compound his problem he has not
surrounded himself with aides sufficiently imbued with the qualities and
abilities to help him out. Most of them are greedy hangers-on or hungry
lackluster characters interested only in their mouths and their pockets.
Obasanjo branded Jonathan the most corrupt leader Nigeria ever had. In
the area of corruption ¦ under Jonathan we seem to have gone from frying
pan to fire. If in the past corruption was in the corridors of power, it
would seem now to be in the sitting room, dining room and bedroom of
power. If what is called ˜corruption™ is stealing, under the watch of
Goodluck Jonathan, then government has become legalised and protected
robbery.
Then, Obasanjo threw the sucker punch, describing Jonathan as an inept,
ineffective, inefficient, careless, clueless, callous, insensitive, and a
selfish leader. Most times when you hear Obasanjo talk, you wonder if he is
not the same man who ruled Nigeria for eight years. I have been wondering
if he could have allowed anyone to write this kind of book about him when
he was in power.
Obasanjo forced Audu Ogbeh to resign his chairmanship of the PDP because
Ogbeh chastised him over the role he played in the kidnap of Governor Chris
Ngige. I remember the instability in the Senate and how he orchestrated
the impeachment of about four Senate presidents. Obasanjo chased out the
founding fathers of the PDP, which was formed when he was in prison. I
remember the do-or-die elections that he foisted on the country. I
remember the unexplained political assassinations, including the killing of
his Justice Minister and Attorney General of the Federation, Bola Ige. I
remember the illegal impeachment of governors, including Joshua Dariye of
Plateau State and Rasheed Ladoja of Oyo State.
Obasanjo used the EFCC to hound political opponents. I remember how, he, a
man who came out of prison, wretched and almost broken, became one of the
richest Nigerians alive today after eight years in power as president, and
I wonder where he got the money. If Obasanjo had allowed the people to be
the pivot of our democracy, we wouldn™t have had a Yar™Adua/Jonathan
presidency in the first place.
He used his eight-year tenure to enthrone political imposition and
gangsterism. Yet, he has the guts to throw stones. I don™t blame him. I
blame the system that has tolerated him for so long. What Obasanjo has
done with his new memoirs is to challenge others to document their own
account, and expose him for what and who he is “ as General Alabi Isama did
in his book, *The Tragedy of Victory*, which eviscerated Obasanjo™s war
memoirs.
**Amaechi writes from Lagos (**ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com
<ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com>) *