Almost in quick succession, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president, and Pastor Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly spoke about revolution or made revolutionary remarks in the past few days. Of the two, Bakare confuses us the more. Whenever he presents himself in public we are in a quandary what to make of him: a pastor full of the character of his Lord, temperate in speech, gentle, kind and empathetic, or a typical Nigerian politician who must have things his way, opinionated, aggressive, inconsiderate and, in the literal sense, eager to bring the house down on everyone? The former president, on the other hand, is a self-canonising and irritable politician who speaks daggers, if Hardball is permitted to adapt Shakespeare, and uses it with utmost relish.

Obasanjo drew first blood and triggered the misspeaking that has culminated in the noisily talk of revolution. Newspapers and online media described his speech as revolutionary, and reported that it was made in Dakar, Senegal where he had gone over the weekend to attend a West African regional conference on youth employment sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the African Development Bank (ADB). They paraphrased him as saying that unless something drastic was done urgently to address youth unemployment, which hovered around 71 percent, we would head inexorably towards revolution. Inexpert paraphrasing can, however, become a very problematic issue in mass communication or in the hands of a clumsy redactor.

Though the media said he spoke of revolution, all the former president said was this: “I’m afraid, and you know I am a General. When a General says he is afraid, that means the danger ahead is real and potent.” In his refutation after he was widely reported to have spoken of revolution or warned that one was likely, the former army general said those who quoted him spoke bad English. He could never call for a revolution, he said, apparently because he had too much at stake in a system that has callously misused its citizens, a system he himself did his damnedest to promote, ossify and institutionalise.

If Obasanjo did not call for a revolution, what then did he do? A careful reading of his sanctimonious rationalisations in Dakar seems to lead the analyst to the point where he stopped just short of calling for a revolution, but hinted that social chaos was unavoidable. Knowing him for who he is, a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, he would see opportunity for his kind of leadership in such chaos; and more, he would recommend a suppression of protesters if it came to that. In short, he would do anything but recommend a revolution.

Not only did the media misquote and misinterpret Obasanjo, their reports also brought out the hardliner in Bakare. The Latter Rain Assembly pastor simply assumed Obasanjo was quoted correctly and then concluded that the former president would be a victim of the revolution he called for in Dakar. More fanatically and sacrilegiously, Bakare said religious leaders, especially the private jet ensemble, could not escape the repercussions of popular revolt going by the damage they had caused the nation by their greed and connivance. Speaking in Lagos on Monday, he had said: “I am not inciting the public against the church and the mosque, but the congregation must demand explanation from their leaders. They must demand to know where they are getting the money. If it is not from the church offering, then it is from Abuja. All general overseers must go to prison. If the revolution does not begin in the church, it cannot spread; if it does not begin in the mosque, it will not spread, because they control the population.”

From his Dakar speech and follow-up explanations, it is clear no one should ever imagine Obasanjo a revolutionary; this closet radical is too conservative and too indebted to the decaying system to be one. Bakare, on the other hand, does not just seem to be unalterably irreverent and iconoclastic; his remarks show him to be more than a revolutionary. He seems in fact to be a Trotskyite or perhaps even a Stalinist, or a hybrid of the two Marxist tendencies, but certainly not a priest.

 
http://thenationonlineng.net/new/editorial/hardball/imagine-obasanjo-bakare-as-revolutionaries/

They both stink.

It will be a combination of two arrogant fellows,self centred and tyrannical leaders who will not listen to what the people saying,that will be an unholy alliance

yeah all of a sudden they are bad people because they disagree with the policies of the present government?

You forget that they were both instrumental in making GEJ president.... ungreatful bunch

banki: yeah all of a sudden they are bad people because they disagree with the policies of the present government?

You forget that they were both instrumental in making GEJ president.... ungreatful bunch

Every well meaning Nigerian knows that a call for revolution is a call for anarchy. Which is better? Peaceful change through the normal stages of revolutionary change that will take us backward? We know that if these so called leaders had contributed meaningfully when they were in office, Nigeria would have been a better place. Having failed, to rally round and support the govt that is trying to right the wrong has become a problem too. Na waoooooooo

we will be done for?

we will be done for? yeah...for real!

The moral foundation of their argument is faulty, and such must no be given attention. Nigerias socio economic and polical system was worst than it is today, yet there was no revolution. Now that they are trying to correct his deficiency, he wants revolution. I just dey laugh