{"id":40458,"date":"2015-07-15T20:45:18","date_gmt":"2015-07-15T19:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=40458"},"modified":"2015-07-15T20:45:18","modified_gmt":"2015-07-15T19:45:18","slug":"obasanjo-and-babangida-the-foolishness-index","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/obasanjo-and-babangida-the-foolishness-index\/","title":{"rendered":"OBASANJO AND BABANGIDA: THE FOOLISHNESS INDEX"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As I write this, two former Heads of State of Nigeria, I wouldn\u2019t call them foolish heads of state, as that is what they are calling themselves, are at each others\u2019 throats.\u00a0 I am referring to the so-called popularly known \u2018evil genius\u2019 called IBB (Ibrahim Babangida) and OBJ (Olusegun Obasanjo).\u00a0 Babangida, who ruled Nigeria from August 1985 to August, 1993, was the one who rescued Nigerians from the evil yoke and tyrannical and dictatorial grips of current APC candidate Gen. Buhari who is masquerading as a wannabe champion of democracy.\u00a0 Obasanjo ruled Nigeria twice and tried to maneuver for a third term but was shown the door by a few number of wise senators.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Obasanjo and Babangida are calling each other foolish.\u00a0 Of course, you understand the person who started the foolishness idiocy, because of his uncouth nature \u2013 Obasanjo.\u00a0 You know, this kind of fight between Babangida and Obasanjo reminds you of Muhammad Ali and Walt Frazier \u2013 need I say any more.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, during his 70th birthday celebration in his home town Minna, Niger State, where he has been maintaining decorum as a statesman rather than the egotistical unstatesmanlike utterances of Obasanjo, Babangida told the world that OBJ\u2019s eight years as a civilian president was a total failure.\u00a0 At least, somebody of Obasanjo\u2019s status was giving him his own medicine, as he has been strutting egotistically all over the world praising himself and his (non) accomplishments.\u00a0 He accused Obasanjo of wasting the economic affluence that Nigerians had experienced under his regime, citing the fact that oil was selling at $10 a barrel while during Obasanjo\u2019s oil was selling at $100.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is not like what Babangida said about the power sector was false.\u00a0 He said Obasanjo \u201cspent\u201d $16 billion on the power sector (electricity generation) and nothing to show for it.\u00a0 In fact, I remember Obasanjo jetting to New York immediately after he was elected in 1999, and addressing Nigerians and boasting how he was going to spend $16 billion and boosting Nigeria\u2019s electricity supply from its current 2,500 megawatts to 5,000 in his first four years in office.\u00a0 The actual count when Obasanjo was forced to leave after\u00a0 eight years was 2000 megawatts.\u00a0 So tell us where the $16 billion went.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Of course, you can rest assured that this would not sit well with a megalomaniac.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, Obasanjo quoted the Bible about not replying to a fool lest you become a fool yourself.\u00a0 But his own ego couldn\u2019t stop him.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t restrain himself.\u00a0<\/span>He said, \u201cNormally when I read these things I don\u2019t believe them. Yesterday (Wednesday), when somebody phoned me and said this was what he (Babangida) said, I said, \u2018Don\u2019t believe it.\u2019 They got me the newspapers and I read them. It\u2019s a bit unlike Babangida. But if Babangida has decided, on becoming a septuagenarian, that he will be a fool, I think one should probably do what the Bible says in Proverbs Chapter 26, verse 4. It says don\u2019t answer a fool because you may also become like him.

<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go to the same Proverbs Chapter 26 verse 5, it says answer a fool so that he will not think he\u2019s a wise man. So, I am now torn between which of the two verses I should follow in this respect.\u201d\u00a0 So, who is the more foolish \u2013 Babangida or Obasanjo?\u00a0 It reminds one of the story of the man who went swimming in a stream. He took off his clothes and went into the water.\u00a0 A mad man approached and took off with his clothes.\u00a0 The swimmer saw him and chased after him.\u00a0 When they reached the town, everybody began shouting \u201ccrazy men, crazy men\u201d are running around naked.<\/p>\n

Babangida fired back and called Obasanjo a \u201cgreater fool.\u201d \u201cWe do not want to believe that he (Obasanjo) truly said that, but if it is true that he did say that, Nigerians know who the greatest (sic) fool is,\u201d according to a statement attributed to him by his spokesman Prince Kassim Afegbua.<\/p>\n

Without resorting to analyzing their so-called accomplishments, let\u2019s look at the foolishness index of both men.\u00a0 Right from the outset, Obasanjo wins a big one: he returned the government to a civilian administration.\u00a0 Babangida loses a big one: he abrogated the June 12, 1993 elections that Moshood Abiola had won.\u00a0 But from there, it is downhill for Obasanjo.\u00a0 Since he stepped down in 1993, Babangida has maintained himself as elder statesman although he has once tried to dabble in politics.\u00a0 No scandal has been following him unlike Obasanjo.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a Head of government whose son went to court and accused him of having an affair with his wife, and then his daughter, a former Nigerian senator penned a six-page letter castigating her father of serious misdeeds, including his egotistical manner.<\/p>\n

Nigeria has many former Heads of State and their former deputies still alive, including Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Shehu Shagari, Gen. Abubakar Abdulsalami, Chief Alex Ekwueme, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.\u00a0 None of these individuals is strutting around like vainglorious peacocks who are oblivious that their stinking bottoms are wide open.\u00a0 If Transparency International were to judge the two former \u201cfoolish heads of state,\u201d on their index of foolishness, Obasanjo would be declared the greater fool.<\/p>\n

You know the good news: Nigerians have learned to discount Obasanjo\u2019s unstatesmanlike conduct as thuggery.<\/p>\n

Article first published in August 2011<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As I write this, two former Heads of State of Nigeria, I wouldn\u2019t call them foolish heads of state, as that is what they are calling themselves, are at each…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\nOBASANJO AND BABANGIDA: THE FOOLISHNESS INDEX - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/obasanjo-and-babangida-the-foolishness-index\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"OBASANJO AND BABANGIDA: THE FOOLISHNESS INDEX - 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