On Wednesday, African students kept their word in London, where they besieged the London School of Economics (LSE), and warned the world that former President Olusegun Obasanjo represents the ugly face of Africa and does not merit the honour of having him say anything on any subject on the continent.

"He was held hostage for hours, with protesters throwing eggs and raw tomatoes at him. He could not immediately leave the venue even after the lecture," a source recounted from London.

Scores of protesters were injured as they engaged the police in a bid to enter the LSE building.

And Obasanjo was booed in the hall as he spoke on the unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where he mediates on behalf of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon.

He delivered a lecture on 'Eastern DRC: What should the international community be doing?' alongside David Leonard and James Putzel, both experts on the Congolese crisis.

The protest was at the instance of the Nigeria Liberty Forum (NLF), a coalition of Nigerians in the United Kingdom, and the Nigerian Students Union (NSU), backed by other African students.

The protesters arrived the LSE with anti-Obasanjo slogans and placards accusing him of heightening the tension in Nigeria's Deep South, introducing anti-people economic reforms, haunting down political foes, corrupt deals, and wanting to manipulate the Constitution to stand for a third term.

They arrived the venue early enough to deny Obasanjo entry into the lecture hall. He was later smuggled in through the Students' Union cafeteria.

"The NLF considers it a public duty to stop people like Obasanjo representing Africa anywhere, because he represents the same failed face of Africa. We cannot afford different versions of Mobutu, Idi Amin, Bokassa, Conteh, Marcias Nguema, and their ilk representing us," NLF Co-ordinator, Kayode Ogundamisi, said in a statement.

"Obasanjo has the traits of the worst tyrants in Africa, but he seems to have the international community under his spell. They overlook his indiscretions and scandalous crimes, and shower him with credibility when he should be cooling his heels in jail or hiding away in one remote corner of the world, far, far from decent people!

"Not too curiously, the increasingly retrogressive authorities of the LSE have equally fallen under his spell. They have since revoked all accreditations given to press men for the event and have requested that the (NLF) pass whatever message it has through them to Obasanjo in an attempt to keep the public away. Well, it's not going to happen, because the world must know who Obasanjo is.

"We can speak for ourselves in any public space and we can do so via a peaceful protest. Obasanjo is a monster, not a statesman, and no amount of lipstick or make-up will change him from who he is. We know him and every decent citizen of our world needs to know him for who he truly is as well.

"Indeed, Obasanjo's well-known corrupt dealings are legion and it would be a bold-faced lie for those who parade him within the international community today as a worthy statesman to claim they have no idea. The series of revelations of the huge corrupt dealings that pervaded the comatose power sector throughout Obasanjo's tenure has his imprints all over them.

"Today, they have inflicted him on the Congo - a man whose legacy of death, mayhem and spectacular failure has knocked Nigeria into comatose is being depended on to provide a pathway to peace in the Congo! Talk about a pie in the flaming sky!"

http://www.thetimesofnigeria.com/TON/Article.aspx?id=1525

Well it seems a good time was had by all, and Don Obasanjo was very loudly reviled for daring to rear his ugly head in London.   That man's presidential career of grand larceny committed against the Nigerian treasury, which emptied it cleanly of BILLIONS in hard currency, must neither be forgiven nor forgotten, so that ONE DAY, a legal retrieval process can  be aimed at the overflowing bank account of Obasanjo, his elephantine kleptomaniac daughter and numerous other squalid collaborators in crime too many to mention.

Economic crunch must not be that severe in England for them to waste food like that

Jakumo:

Well it seems a good time was had by all, and Don Obasanjo was very loudly reviled for daring to rear his ugly head in London.   That man's presidential career of grand larceny committed against the Nigerian treasury, which emptied it cleanly of BILLIONS in hard currency, must neither be forgiven nor forgotten, so that ONE DAY, a legal retrieval process can  be aimed at the overflowing bank account of Obasanjo, his elephantine kleptomaniac daughter and numerous other squalid collaborators in crime too many to mention.

ROTFLOL!!!

only eggs and tomatoes?
I would have come with amala,akpu and soured oha soup with ogiri

Treetop20:

post
where is the photo of him
actually getting pelted with eggs?
i want to see it

I wonder?
one of the protesters should have taken pictures for youtube and posterity

I wonder?
one of the protesters should have taken pictures for youtube and posterity

Haba. Take it easy naa.

African Leaders deserve this treatment till they are willing to shape up and be accountable to their people.

You should have seen OBJ on BBC's Hard talk. the anchorman Stephen Sackur blasted OBJ about corruption in naija during his tenure and guess what? OBJ flared up as usual displaying his usual ignorance and almost walking out.

RICHIE BOI:

You should have seen OBJ on BBC's Hard talk. the anchorman steven sukur blasted OBJ about corruption in naija during his tenure and guess what? OBJ flared up as usual displaying his usual ignorance and almost walking out.

That greedy ass thieving mufugguh. I hope he runs into an armed robbery ambush some day when he least expects it.

Bunch of anofias. Ewu metete.
Why cant all the idiots throwing tomatoes come back to Nigeria to fix it if they feel those doing it are not performing well.
You seat ur fat butts abroad and do nothing but blabb.

LOL He deserved it . LOL

No wonder why ppl still sleep at the embassies for visa.
if person wan stone person in protest na with egg and tomatoes?
so naija ppl wen dey london don 4get say back home na stone and bottle
dem dey use stone oleh here?
egg and tomatoes

I think that serves him right; I read it on the punch news paper on Thursday. He even deserves more than that.

That man is worse than a beast and so he should be treated as such.

A-town:

Bunch of anofias. Ewu metete.
Why cant all the idiots throwing tomatoes come back to Nigeria to fix it if they feel those doing it are not performing well.
You seat ur fat butts abroad and do nothing but blabb.

u blame them wen nothing dey wok for dis naija who wan stay? isnt naija a failed state?

Topic
He deserves more rotten and degrading treatment

If i was around there, i will be emptying a bucket of raw sewage over his atlas shaped big head!

Bloody buffoon!

.

tpia:

you people should learn to respect your leaders even though they're not angels, so other leaders of other countries can learn to respect you.

No disrespec to you at all but would you respect Saddam if he were alive? I thought the whole means of demonstration was all about democracy hence people could voice our their opinions?

I feel the people who protested are well justified, though not the egg throwers.

.

I wonder what OBJ could possibly teach people.
I guess maybe how loot a nation, useless goat

I'm still amazed some Nigerians are against people protesting

with all the good Peter Mandelson, Tony Blair, G bush and co did, they still get heckled by flour,custard eggs what not


Tpia,
If you were from odi village, how exactly are you suppose to feel about people like
OBJ?

Stupid people - see wetin credit crunch don cause o - dem no get work again for London, dem come turn to thugry, chei.

you people should learn to respect your leaders even though they're not angels, so other leaders of other countries can learn to respect you.

Nonsense!!It is this kind of attitude that is making us to be where we are today.Give respect to those who respect themselves NOT because they have some bald hair.

Economic crunch must not be that severe in England for them to waste food like that

That's not the only thing they should have thrown at him! A shoe would have been a good idea also.

tpia:

you people should learn to respect your leaders even though they're not angels, so other leaders of other countries can learn to respect you.

Thieves deserve zero respect!

It is your kind that will promptly douse a young man with petrol and set him ablaze for allegedly stealing five tubers of yam, but will want us to respect kleptomaniacs who have stolen five billion dollars!

you people should learn to respect your leaders even though they're not angels, so other leaders of other countries can learn to respect you.

This person must be on some new modern-age drugs!

Obj gets zero respect from me.    Till thieves similar to Obj learn to respect themselves and their nation, I will have no respect for them.

Atleaast we is getting somwhere , thumb ups with thel ondon protest team, we izzzz reali proud of u

I hope there are plans to stone Iyabo Obasanjo too because she is another product of her father
And she could be worst. The earlier we started stoning her the better o. We all know how much
she had stolen from the national purse through the failed power project primarily aimed at siphoning or national treasury