Fellas I was just reading the Vanguard columns and I came across two good articles writen by Yoruba men about our emperor Obasanjo. Pls. read on
Unworthy to be called a father by Dele Sobowale

Leadership is the ability to define issues without aggravating the problems —Warren Bennis, 1980, in The Unconscious Conspiracy.
The worst thing for a leader is to look back and find nobody following — John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963, the 35th President of the United States
THE story had been told of a ruler in Africa in the olden days who was told by a close personal friend that he has a bad reputation among the people he ruled. “What do they say I have done that is so bad?” the ruler asked. “Well," said his friend, “some say you are too abusive.” “Now who was the damned foolish idiot who said that?” asked the king. “Your majesty, I can't tell you that because most of the people also believe that you are very vindictive and I am afraid you will get the man arrested and tortured.” “Don't worry, I am not vindictive at all,” said the royal. “

As soon as I find out the son of a gun who said that, I shall set the State Security people, the FECC and the head of Police after him. They must be able to frame him for an offence.” “I don't know if I should continue,” said the friend; now trembling. “Go ahead, what are friends for?” said the owner of the country. “Some even say that you curse people too much,” the friend blurted out finally.“Me curse anybody! God punish who ever said that and may he roast in hell fire after roasting in mine,” replied the ruler. Delirium of power takes time to seize hold of a person, but like HIV/AIDS, once it infects a leader, it is so devastating and so virulent, it destroys everything and everybody it touches. And, for the most part, it is incurable. Take for instance Robert Mugabe.

I refuse to call him president because to me, he has lost the legitimacy to continue to be addressed as president of anything but hell. By midnight of May 29, 2007, I will stop calling Obasanjo president even if he refuses to leave office. He too would have lost, as far as I am concerned, the legitimacy to be called president. But, at over seventy years old, both Mugabe and Obasanjo, as long as they live, will continue to be called “Baba” or father. Let me now drop Mugabe, not because I am indifferent to the plight of Zimbabweans, but because we have an emergency on our hands in Nigeria.

And the name of that emergency is Olusegun Obasanjo. Even though I had predicted the direction of his activities after the set-back (notice I said set-back not defeat because the man has not given up yet) to his third term ambition, even I was unprepared for the virulent attack on the polity from the president that has resulted from that failure. When Josef Goebbels, 1897-1945, Hitler's chief of propaganda observed that: “There are no desperate situations, only desperate men”, he did not have one young Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, then about ten years old and growing up somewhere in Ogun State in mind. But, he should have.

Among the characteristics of desperate men, I have learnt from readings in psychology is the Samson Complex. If they can't have their way, they would rather pull the edifice (organization, political party, family, or even country) down with them. The Yorubas have a proverb for this. Koran k ‘eku maje sese; aft se awadanu.
(Translation: rather than be denied the opportunity to eat a meal, a rat would rather squander it.) Thus, this was on my mind when I wrote, last year, that there would be hell to pay for Obasanjo's failure to secure the third term. However, irrespective of the degree of desperation, our African tradition in general and the Yoruba custom in particular, demand one must conduct himself in a certain manner at a certain age. Failure to do so earns the individual the appellation: Agbaiya, a good for nothing old person. And that judgment o
n the person's conduct remains unchanged irrespective of whether the person is a king or a kola nut farmer.

One classic example relates to how an elder should intervene in any conflict situation between those younger than himself. Even, if one of the disputants is one's offspring and especially when it is so, the tradition is for the Baba to mediate if possible but to stay neutral if that is impossible. The easiest way for a father or mother to earn the pejorative sobriquet “agbaiya” is for him or her to join the fray in support of his own child. What President Obasanjo did in Ondo State, especially his utterances with regard to Dr Mimiko, is not only an abomination universally, it is a radical departure from the tradition of our fathers. In fact, the president unilaterally took off his babariga and got into the fight throwing blows below the belt and re- christening himself in the process.


I realize that he has a reputation for not taking advice, but if there is still anyone left to whom he will listen, I hope the person will remind Obasanjo of that age old observation: until May 29, 2007, Obasanjo is still our president. Though after the show of shame at Ondo, many of us wish the day will come sooner. Meanwhile, Dr. Mimiko can manage a smile because out of the president's faux pas, he has profited immensely. The EFCC chairman has now been handicapped by the president's open interference in its activities. Ribadu will find it hard henceforth to convince even his wife that he is not Obasanjo's “running dog” - to use a Chinese expletive.

Even if Mimiko is corrupt, his arrest will be perceived as victimization which would further tarnish the reputation of the crime commission which increasingly has become enmeshed in partisan politics. And, if Mimiko is not corrupt, he has demonstrated superior upbringing with his more measured reply despite the provocation than the president who discarded all rules of decorum. By refusing to get into the gutter on Obasanjo's invitation, Mimiko has left the president wallowing in the muck all alone. What the president did in Ondo is unworthy of a father of the people. I wish I could vote in Ondo State.

Poser! What manner of man is this? How could any sensible person who loves Nigeria still be supporting this clearly selfish and evil man? Will Nigeria still exist if Obasanjo by his "do or die" attitude does not get the mandate of the people come April? By my estimation, Obasanjo needs to be removed one way or another, for the good of all Nigerians

Another good article I think you need to read is as follows:

A f’ibi s’olore (an ingrate) By Kola Animasaum



LAST Sunday, I went home to Abeokuta to attend the Usman Adegbenro Family meeting. I had to pass by the Ita Eko residence of Olusegun Obasanjo, who the malevolent call the Ebora of Owu. I have not heard him call anybody to order that it is a wrong description of him. Ebora is a spirit, (Iwin as described in Fagunwa’s Ogboju Ode). Not a positive phenomenon if you ask me.I had bought the papers and I had read a story that reported Segun Obasanjo, President of the Republic, saying that the coming election was going to be a do or die affair. He wanted PDP to win or perpetuate himself in power. A couple of hundreds of metres on my journey, I received a call from a fan who asked if I read the story. I told the caller I had. He told me that by that, our president has served notice that he was likely to truncate the election and thereby the transition.

He told me in Yoruba: Kaka ki eku ma je sese, aa fi se awadami (If he would not milk the cow, he would rather spill the milk). At the Grammar School, we nicknamed Fatayi Oliyide Opel. It was in deference to his prowess as a sprinter. Opel car model was new at the time. It could run! Fatai can no longer run as he used to do. He had run the major race of life and has been successful as a businessman and an entrepreneur. He called me on Tuesday. He asked me what direction the country was heading. I told him I could not say. He insisted I should know as a journalist. I told him the trend in Nigeria defies form. It does not lend itself to forecast as in the pools. The forensic forecaster would say: “If Arsenal is at number two and at home the game will draw or a home or away win is expected”. He will take you back to the last 20 years or so to underline the basis of the forecast.
But Ebora Owu is unpredictable. In a situation like this, you are likely to appeal to his friends to appeal to him. Who are the friends? The impression is that the best way of keeping from harm’s way is to distance oneself from him. Those who are supposed to be his friends suffer most. Someone told me of an incident (I cannot vouch its truth). A delegation of royal fathers once visited him. In his usual ebullient manner, he executed some traditional dance steps to welcome them. Satisfied with himself, he smirked his lips, beat his chest and told them: Emi a fibi s’olore, ti oluwa o bi (I who reward good with bad who has not been carpeted by the Creator!) If that were true, God forbid, we all must be careful. Our president must have been enraged and God save all of us. Rimi last Tuesday confirmed OBJ as one who forgets good done to him in the past by repaying Atiku’s good turn with bad. The Holy Prophet (SAW) told us: "If trouble is asleep, may Allah’s wrath descend on whoever wakes it up." There is a like saying here too: Trouble de sleep, yanga go wake am. The truth of the matter is that the innocent and the guilty will suffer.

What we are saying is that we have a common project on our hands to ensure that this president does not become the death of all of us. He must not wake up trouble or yanga. And it is our fault: A r’oko l’oko ikun ki a to gbe’ pa si. (The specialty of ikun (a rodent) is groundnut eating and we knew its killing field and yet the farmer insisted in planting groundnut in the field. The present leadership is bad business for everybody (party or no party) and for the country.

Does anyone still think Obasanjo is a good president/Reformist?

Source, please? Link to the page on the internet where you got this? Thanks.

vanguardngr.com

I loved those articles

When Presidents are at the end of their tenure, they become irrelevant (even though they continue to make loud noises to attract public attention).

OBJ will be out in a few days. Can't you guys get it. He is History!

I've said this many times, the time you spend complaining about OBJ could be well spent supporting the efforts to elect a new breed like Pat Utomi.

Nigeria only seems to progress during the short period before election!!