Few days after lampooning President Goodluck Jonathan over the Boko Haram crisis, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was at the Aso Rock Chapel declaring himself as a “Good Samaritan.”
Obasanjo had a few days ago, short of calling President Jonathan incompetent, heaped the blame on him over the Boko Harm crisis.
The former President had said, “If the President is the chief security officer of the country and there is a security problem, where do you go for the solution? And if that solution is not coming from the chief security officer, who else inside and outside will get a solution? He has the responsibility to solve the problem, and nobody else should be blamed but him.”
But during the Sunday Service at the Villa Chapel, Obasanjo took the second reading from the Bible Book of Luke Chapter 10 Verses 30-37 telling the story of a man who was beaten and robbed by thieves and abandoned by a priest and a Levite only to be found and cared for by a Samaritan.
According to the Bible passage read by the former President: Luke 10:30-37:
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
Obasanjo from his Bible reading was literarily referring to the barrage of attacks President Jonathan has been receiving from past leaders including himself and at the same time presenting himself as a friend and a “good Samaritan.”
Some followers of his politics saw his visit to the Villa Chapel as typical of him. “He is known for this. He castigates you in the morning and dines with you at night,” that is OBJ for you, a source who would not want to be named said.
Sources told Pointblanknews.com that during the reign of General Ibrahim Babangida, he was very much patronized by that regime that he kept his criticism almost silent.
Obasanjo was said to have lost that patronage when General Sani Abacha took over and his attempt to launch an attack on that regime saw him sentenced to death for an alleged “coup plotting.” He was later freed when General Abacha died.
At the emergence of the late Musa Yar’Adua’s Presidency, Obasanjo was kept at bay; he was virtually blocked from the Presidential Villa but as soon as Yar’Adua died, he has decided to take on President Jonathan with a hope of getting patronage, a source told Pointblanknews.com
The source added that “it is even ironic that the leaders who had blocked him from the Presidency both died in office.”