Dr Jideofor Adibe writes on the new autobiography launched by former president Olusegun Obasanjo in the Daily Trust newspaper. Adibe is a political science lecturer at Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria, and is also the editor of the multidisciplinary journal, African Renaissance.
Read below:
“Obasanjo’s 1,500- page, three-volume book, My Watch, which was launched only two days ago (Tuesday 9 December 2014) is expected to raise more dust and furore in the coming days and weeks and awaken the retired General’s slumbering army of critics. I confess I am yet to read the books.
For me, there are three fundamental issues raised by the book: One, was it right for the retired General to go ahead with the launch despite a court injunction restraining him from doing so? Two, what does Obasanjo really hope to gain by launching the book on the eve of the conventions of both the PDP and the APC? Three, why is it that Obasanjo does not seem to spare a punch for those who have hurt him and then try to suck up to him afterwards?
Let me immediately mention that I have always been very fascinated by the Obasanjo persona. As a younger man in the late 1980s, I had accompanied the political activist and publisher Dr Arthur Nwankwo to one of the nocturnal meetings at Obasanjo’s Ota Farm. It was my first and only encounter with the Ota farmer. But I was very impressed. I recall he was wearing rather cheap trousers, his shirt was wrongly buttoned and he was walking around bare feet. His Raleigh (or so it seemed) bicycle leaned against the wall of the modest one storey building on the farm. I was just too full of admiration for a former Head of State that embodied such simplicity.
Over the years I have been both his ardent critic and a passionate admirer of some of his attributes. True, when Obasanjo shaved off his trademark moustache and exchanged the simple shirts and trousers for which he was known for expensive agbadas, Rolex watches and designer glasses, something of the old Obasanjo seemed to have died in those transformations.
Since his second coming, Obasanjo has been a popular hate figure in some quarters. He is often painted as a bugaboo and a hypocrite who specialises in seeing the specks in other people’s eyes while ignoring the logs in his own. What his critics however cannot deny is that his utterances have powerful echoes, and he knows it. He knows when and where to ‘yab’ for maximum effect. His decision to launch the books on the eve of the Convention of both the PDP and APC is therefore unlikely to be mere coincidence.
But let’s address the questions we raised:
Was it right for the retired General to go ahead with the book launch despite a court injunction restraining him from doing so?
According to reports, Justice Valentine Ashi of the FCT High Court, Wuse, had following an ex parte application by a member of the PDP in Ogun State, Buruji Kashamu, directed that the book should not be published pending the determination of the petitioner’s libel suit against Obasanjo. It was also reported that in granting the injunction, the judge directed Kashamu to enter into a bond with the Chief Registrar of the court for damages he would pay should the order restraining Obasanjo from publishing the book turn out to be something the court ought not to have granted.
Obasanjo’s argument for going ahead with the book launch despite the court order was: “I had given the book to my editors and to the publisher. As far as I am concerned, my job is done. I had written the book and printed before the court injunction” (Punch, 9 December 2014.) In going ahead with the book launch Obasanjo in fact argued that the judge ought to have been sanctioned for granting that injunction.
With all due respect, I believe that Obasanjo mistook printing a book with publishing it. The truth is that there is a world of difference between printers and publishers. A book can be printed without being published. Though one cannot rule out politics in the injunction granted to Kashamu, I believe that the court order, as imperfect as it might have been, ought to have been obeyed. My personal opinion is that even if Obasanjo felt that the injunction was granted in error, it would have benefitted the rule of law more if he had used the judicial processes to seek redress rather than – as it were- take the laws into his hands. By defiantly going against court order, he brings back echoes of ‘garrison politics’ which his critics accuse him of.
What does Obasanjo really hope to gain by launching the book on the eve of the conventions of both the PDP and the APC?
My opinion is that going ahead with the launch may not just be Obasanjo’s characteristic defiance, but could also be primed to achieve a particular purpose. According to reports, the books took ‘equal opportunity’ pot shots on chieftains of both PDP and APC: President Goodluck Jonathan, former Vice-President, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku; Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; the Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai.
The fact that the Ota farmer fired his shots at both PDP and APC chieftains means it will be difficult to accuse him of trying to use the book launch to privilege either party. But my suspicion is that the serialization of the part about his quarrel with Atiku was to ensure that Atiku does not get the APC’s presidential ticket in the primaries scheduled just a day after the book launch. It should be recalled that during a visit to Obasanjo by APC leader Bola Tinubu in October 2014, Obasanjo was widely quoted as asking APC not to field an “unclean vessel” as its presidential candidate in 2015 – an obvious reference to Atiku. Again when Atiku became the ‘Northern consensus’ candidate in 2010, Obasanjo famously derided the decision with “I dey laugh oo”.
Why is it that Obasanjo does not seem to spare a punch for those who have hurt him and then try to suck up to him afterwards?
Obasanjo has fallen out with every regime that he is not running since his first coming which often raises the question of whether his criticisms of regimes are borne out of greater love of father land or simply to get even with those whom he feels slighted him. Take Atiku Abubakar for example. Since the dramatic falling out of the two, Atiku has reportedly paid several conciliatory visits to him, none of which has helped in tempering the retired general’s impression of him.
Again though only Obasanjo and Jonathan know precisely when they started falling apart, this became discernible in 2011 when, in far away, Geneva, Switzerland, Obasanjo claimed on 15 June 15 2011 that his successors in office lacked the spine to fight corruption. Since then his criticisms of the Jonathan regime has remained consistent and more virulent. Despite reports of several senior PDP officials paying Obasanjo visits to persuade him to temper his criticisms of the regime, the criticisms seem to get worse after each of such conciliatory visits. This raises the question of whether Obasanjo’s criticisms are actually animated by higher ideals –rather than being self-serving – as his critics claim. It also brings into focus the arguments of the new governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, that Obasanjo have no respect for people who suck up to him. Speaking at a political summit in Ife in late November, Fayose was quoted as telling Jonathan: “Your Excellency, the more you try to curry Obasanjo’s favour, the more he would continue to disparage you. If you continue to curry his favour, we are not going to curry him. He doesn’t like people that give him respect” (Punch, 29 November 2014).
It may be tempting to speculate on why few, if any leader, outside Yoruba land, want to engage Obasanjo in a political bull fight and why those who tried often had to back to him to seek forgiveness?
My suspicion is that there is recognition that Obasanjo does not dock a fight and has the tenacity to engage in a political war of attrition with his enemies. Not many people have the capacity for such political guerrilla warfare. And to cap it, Obasanjo knows the political terrain to his fingertips. Just a simple test: Where were you when Obasanjo became military head of state in February 1976? Me, I was in my first year in secondary school.
Also, after ruling both as a military dictator and as a civilianized soldier, Obasanjo has tentacles everywhere in and outside the country. He probably knows where to turn to for the most damaging information about anyone and he knows when to release such information for maximum impact.
Additionally, Obasanjo has a hand in the political making of most of his traducers or people he fell out with – from Atiku to Jonathan. Given his age, a sustained fight with him as suggested by Fayose will make one appear both ungrateful and disrespectful of elders.
Also, out of office Obasanjo has a way of assuming the conscience of the nation by cunningly tapping into popular sentiments and using them as masks over his own personal political battles. And given the fact that he is completely fearless, how can you handle such a hot potato?
For now, those on the receiving end of Obasanjo’s criticisms have to learn to live with them. Every nation produces the Obasanjo type. They are often simultaneously nuisance and assets to specific constituencies at any point in time”.
A thought-provoking piece no doubt but Dr. Adibe’s conclusions are subject to debate. His insinuation that Obasanjo’s book was published to spite some political actors cannot be verified.
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