With former President Olusegun Obasanjo, you buy
one and get one free. Problem is: you never know
what you are getting. You could be getting a
peacemaker and a troublemaker in one bundle. I am
always conflicted trying to decode Obasanjo’s
personality. One moment, I find myself describing
him as the best president Nigeria has ever had. The
next moment, I am cursing him as the worst thing
that has ever happened to us. The best of humans
live with their own contradictions and underbellies,
but Obasanjo easily stands out, perhaps because of
the prominent role he has played in our nationhood –
and, more so, the way he keeps intruding into our
lives.
Here is a sampler. Having been raising the hand of
President Goodluck Jonathan during the 2011
presidential campaign, Obasanjo retired to his hotel
room one night and sent for Malam Nasir el-Rufai, an
ally of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. According to el-
Rufai in his tell-all book, Accidental Public Servant,
Obasanjo lamented that Jonathan was not going to
make a good president. He asked el-Rufai to tell
Buhari that he was ready to support him against
Jonathan. Obasanjo reportedly suggested that
Buhari should pick Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as his
running mate, then go into an alliance with the
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and offer Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu the Senate Presidency. Obasanjo, el-
Rufai said, promised to get some “wealthy people” to
fund Buhari’s campaign.
What happened next? Unknown to onlookers,
Obasanjo’s grouse with Jonathan was that his
daughter, Iyabo, had been denied the PDP senatorial
ticket for Ogun Central, and his sudden support for
Buhari was an attempt to exact his pound of flesh –
or blackmail the PDP into giving his daughter the
ticket. It was obviously not an attempt to save
Nigeria from Jonathan’s “weaknesses” as he
claimed. El-Rufai noted that immediately a curious
court judgement gave the PDP ticket to Iyabo,
Obasanjo swiftly changed his tone and began to
canvass that they should help Jonathan work on his
“weaknesses”. That is the real Obasanjo. Those who
know him will testify that he is eternally self-centred.
He believes the world revolves around him.
It is believed that the crisis currently rocking the
PDP has the signature of Obasanjo. Nobody knows
where he is going yet. Even the people working with
him cannot swear that they know his game plan. By
the way, I love the PDP crisis. Having ruled Nigeria
since 1999, the party has grown too big for its own
good. There are many states in Nigeria where PDP is
the only party. Other parties only exist on pieces of
paper or in INEC’s computer. Sadly, the PDP goes
into every general election virtually assured that it
would win. Getting the PDP ticket is as good as
winning the election. That is not good for our
democracy. I believe politicians must fight and
sweat for every vote. That way, they know the worth
of victory. That can actually make our democracy
work for everyone.
But this PDP crisis, unfortunately, is not about how
to make this democracy work for everyone. Let us
look at two of the characters at the centre of the
drama: Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Babangida.
Not so long ago, Obasanjo described Babangida as a
“fool at 70” for criticising his (Obasanjo’s)
management of the Nigeria’s oil wealth for eight
years. Obasanjo said: “If Babangida had decided, on
becoming a septuagenarian, that he will be a fool, I
think one should probably [not] answer a fool
because you may also become like him.” In kind,
Babangida replied: “Calling me ‘a fool at 70’,
especially by a man reportedly and allegedly
accused by his own son of incest, is at best a
compliment. Nigerians surely know who is truly a
fool or the greatest fool of this century.” Both of
them are now suddenly in bed together, fooling
around, but I refuse to be fooled.
What about Obasanjo and his former vice-president,
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar? They were engaged in a very
public and bitter feud but they are now dancing to
the same tune again. I don’t need to repeat the
words they have exchanged publicly in the last
seven years, but I’m sure Nigerians still vividly
remember Obasanjo’s popular line, “I dey laugh o”,
when informed that Atiku had been chosen as the
Northern consensus candidate for the PDP
presidential primary in January 2011. Laughter
unlimited! Remember Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi? In
2007, Obasanjo viciously dropped him as the PDP
governorship candidate in Rivers State, saying
publicly that his candidature had “K-leg”. It took
judicial activism for Amaechi to be made governor.
Obasanjo and Amaechi are now in the same PDP
faction, but I refuse to be fooled.
Obasanjo, luckily, is coming across to Nigerians as a
peacemaker and an icon of democracy. He is the
statesman trying to resolve the PDP crisis! Obasanjo
as a peacemaker and icon of democracy is nothing
but comedy. During his time as president, between
1999 and 2007, he removed three PDP chairmen and
saw to the ouster of three Senate presidents. He
illegally removed two governors under the pretext of
declaring state of emergency. He watched with
pleasure as his boys set Anambra and Oyo states on
fire and capped it all by withdrawing the security
aides of Governor Chris Ngige. If Obasanjo is your
hero of democracy, I am sorry for you.
Now that he is reportedly rallying a faction of the
PDP against Jonathan, you have to ask yourself:
what is motivating Obasanjo? What does he really
want? Is he genuinely trying to atone for his
Yar’Adua “error” by helping to return power to the
North in 2015? Will he backtrack if Andy Uba is
given the PDP governorship ticket in Anambra and
the revocation of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway
concession is reversed? Will he pull back at the last
minute again and ask his followers to “manage
Jonathan’s weaknesses” when he finally gets what
he wants? With Obasanjo, you don’t know what you
are going to get. Just be careful. You have been
warned.
www.ynaija.com/simon-kolawole-what-does-obasanjo-really-want/

Thief Obasanjo !