₦airaland Forum

Awon omo Igbo

IS former President Olusegun Obasanjo the devil incarnate he was portrayed to be in Yinka Odumakin’s ‘Watch the Watcher’ and by all the commentators at the book launch? I know OBJ is capable of mischief; I know he is self-conceited; I know he has ego, a very large one for that matter. I have ceaselessly and mercilessly lashed at those downsides of the former President, who, arguably, is the most decorated Nigerian leader living. OBJ can be cantankerous - and annoyingly so! He applies stern rules on others but allows himself the luxury of laissez-faire. Often, he is as guilty, if not more guilty, of the same offences for which he calls upon the executioner to behead others. It was so when he lambasted Babangida’s regime in his “SAP with a human face” letter. It was so when he said MKO Abiola was not the messiah that Nigerians needed. It was so again in his latest “Before it is too late” letter to President Goodluck Jonathan. Often – and I think deliberately – Obasanjo drips with malice when he has decided to grind an axe with anyone. He throws all arsenals at his disposal into battle; he does nothing by halves. He also throws caution to the wind. On occasions, especially when he is out of office and out of favour, he says the right things or fights the good fights; but often, he is the wrong person to do so because he hardly comes to equity with clean hands. I do not know of an instance when OBJ accuses anyone of wrong-doing that it is not the case of the pot calling the kettle black. I have narrowed down Obasanjo’s problem to this: He claims more credit for himself than he actually deserves. He takes his own fair share of credit quite alright; but not satisfied with that, he also gobbles the credit due unto others. OBJ has a voracious and, perhaps, insatiable appetite for accolades. His hubris is taller than Mount Everest. Be it in his role in the Civil War of 1967\1970 or in his place in the political evolution of Nigeria since 1979, OBJ imagines he stands head and shoulders not just above anyone else but also above everyone rolled into one. General JJ Oluleye, now late, who was Obasanjo’s colleague in the Murtala Muhamed\Olusegun Obasanjo Federal Military Government of 1976\1979, had told this columnist: “Obasanjo has equal capacity to do both good and evil”. I agree no less!


Now to ‘Watch the Watcher’: That not a single kind word was said about Obasanjo at the book launch is evidence enough that politics, and not a disinterested evaluation of the man Obasanjo, was at play. Interestingly, the ‘Watch the Watcher’, led by the author, my brother Yinka Odumakin, and my senior professional colleague, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, was also on trial at the book launch. Vividly was the Yoruba adage played out, to wit, that when you point one accusing finger at someone else, the remaining four fingers point in your own direction. This time last election circle in 2011, Yinka Odumakin was the presidential spokesperson for the Buhari\Tunde Bakare CPC presidential ticket, which the Bola Tinubu party machinery supported up to a point before the accord between CPC and AC collapsed like a pack of cards. This time last election circle, too, Osoba was a staunch AC member who helped to install Ibikunle Amosun as governor of his native Ogun State; only recently, he was also a national leader of APC but today, both Yinka and Osoba are no longer on the same page with Buhari\Tinubu. It amuses me when I hear respectable Afenifere leaders portray Tinubu as evil. If he is, then, he is the vintage Frankenstein monster created by them. Sure, I have issues with some aspects of the politics of Tinubu, which I have not tired to express: The culture of impunity, deification of a mere mortal, personalisation of the state, and the primitive capitalist accumulation which he epitomises in many respect cannot but be offensive. But the sadder aspect of it is that Tinubu was the creation of those who today demonise him! They helped to fast-track his meteoric political rise; favoured him above his betters; compelled others to step down for him – and many of them were glad to eat from Tinubu’s hands while the good time lasted. Tinubu eventually proved smarter than them – and for them. When the others fell into Obasanjo’s ambush in 2003, only Tinubu escaped. And that was the game-changer! It is not for fun that Tinubu’s admirers call him “the last man standing”. Tinubu was the only governor of AD in 2003\2007; he successfully kept his hold on Lagos between 2007 and 2011, using godson Gov. Babatunde Raji Fashola as front; thereafter, his political fortunes witnessed an exponential rise when more states fell under his belt. He became automatically the rallying point of the party\tendencies opposed to the PDP. Just like they say of evangelism, money is the oil that lubricates the wheels of politics: the man who has it, who is willing to spend it, and who has favours and largesse to dispense in quantum becomes, inexorably, the beehive. Tinubu, however, has his fault lines: He loves power and will do anything to get and keep it. So he elbows other contenders and soon turns them into enemies. Like IBB, he believes in the “settlement” syndrome. He knows the important role money plays in politics; so he would not mind keeping by any means a hefty war chest. On top of these, he is not an especially humble person: If need be, he rubs it in!

But I am also not able to accept the picture painted of Tinubu as someone without a single redeeming feature. Whenever the APC describes President Goodluck Jonathan as clueless, I have often disagreed. It is not true that Jonathan has done nothing for Nigeria. He may not have known how to present his achievements or his negatives may, by today’s reckoning, dwarf his positives; there is, however, no denying the fact that he has won plaudits in certain areas – agriculture, for example; affirmative action for women is another. How about his making our elections more credible? With OBJ, we would have known by now who would ‘win’ next month’s elections! When tempers calm and politics recedes, Jonathan will be accorded his rightful place in history. As critical of Obasanjo as I have been, I nonetheless expect that whenever he speaks the truth to power, power should listen. I do, of course, understand why Obasanjo speaks speaks truth to power: It may be not as much as he cherishes the truth as he has personal scores to settle. Be that as it may, I will not throw away the baby with the bathwater: If I do, the truth will be lost; more so in our clime where, from time immemorial and not just beginning with Jonathan, power has perfected the art of silencing the mouths of many with filthy lucre. If ‘holy’ men, so to say, will not speak up, then, let us not restrain the ‘devils’ who decide to fill the void for whatever reason. If not for anything else, the role Tinubu has played in the emergence of a viable opposition to PDP - which has ruled since 1999 and which, as a result, had begun to take all of us for granted - is laudable. It bears repeating that democracy without vibrant opposition will sooner than later become autocracy.

I forbid anyone, however, to interpret the aforementioned as an endorsement of any of the two leading political parties. As they stand at the moment, both have a lot of work to do to gain my approval. Each time, therefore, that one points an accusing finger at the other, the remaining four fingers point in its own direction in a case of the pot calling the kettle black. If we accuse Jonathan of being spiteful of a neither-here-nor-there ‘gentleman’s agreement’ that he would not go for second term; how about Buhari who wept openly while telling Nigerians that 2011 was his last shot at the presidency? The only difference between Obasanjo’s Presidential Library donations of over N6 billion and Jonathan’s own campaign donations of over N21 billion is the figures involved; both are proceeds of corruption. At the launch of Yinka Odumakin’s ‘Watch the Watcher’ the reviewer, Prof. Gordini Darah, travelled memory lane to recall the epic battles fought by Nigerian students against Obasanjo’s policies that not only began the commercialisation of higher education in Nigeria but that also eroded the autonomy of the University system. Odumakin, in his vote of thanks, recalled the lecturers who were sacked by the Obasanjo regime for “teaching their students what they (the lecturers) were not paid to teach”. Odumakin was full of thanks to Darah, his lecturer at Ife, for belonging in that genre; otherwise, the author said he would not have become what he is today. “Ali Must Go” was the students’ battle\rallying cry during the struggle against Obasanjo and his Federal Military Government. Yet, the same Dr. Ahmadu Ali, who, as Federal Commissioner for Education (as they were then called), was the ‘Man Friday’ Obasanjo used to destroy higher education in Nigeria, truncate destinies, destroy flowering academic careers, and cause untold hardship in untold number of families, is today the Director-General of Jonathan’s re-election bid! Not a voice was raised against that at Yinka Odumakin’s book launch. Some Nigerians are downright insensitive; have impunity running deep in their blood arteries; have no sense of history; and have been thoroughly compromised! Was Ahmadu Ali’s appointment meant to placate or spite Obasanjo? Notice, also, the deafening silence of APC to the incongruous appointment of Ahmadu Ali: Of course, APC’s dilemma is not far to fetch: With their new-found romance with OBJ himself, castigating Ahmadu Ali would badly expose the opposition party’s ‘yansh’! The grandstanding of our politicians notwithstanding, the politics of compromise, devoid of ideological clarity and integrity of heart, which blurs men’s vision, distorts their focus, serves selfish interests while marginalising the citizenry, cuts across board.


http://www.tribune.com.ng/quicklinkss/opinion/item/27591-sad-day-for-obasanjo-iii/27591-sad-day-for-obasanjo-iii

Typical APC, they know how to make promises without telling us how to achieve it. You will generate 20000MW of electricity in 4 years, the big question is HOW?

Ekiseme:
mallam yi goh sef

Mallam? Ode ni bobo yi sha

Ekiseme:
nothing new....retard

O ti dun were. Don't cry goat.

Ekiseme:
ana emenu

Olori buruku, koni da fun e, aye e ma baje ni.

Ekiseme:
sharaaaaap

Chai! E pain am.

shizzleStar:
^ tire ke? rara'o keep tryng

Olodo, fvck off my mentions you tiger-claw faced pig

I'm proudly YORUBA. My people are not drug-peddlers.

Mobyloaded:
Please when is the english funeral?

To be announced on the NTA network news tomorrow.

When will these "Lagos is no man's land" people stop tarnishing our image?

sammy042:
..hahaha..1 girl like dat in my area borrow me money,dat she will pay me in 2 weks tim..2Weks don reach,i dd ask her abt d moni goin to 3 wek..
me.nkechi,have u forgetn u're owin me?

nkechi.sam, i kwn nah.i will still pay u..

me.it has pass the tim u promis to pay me?

nkechi..sam,u are a v NICE GUY dat's y i like u eenh,sam sam..

going to a month and d girl never pay me am jst tryin to main10 my nicenes.6 weeks later she boght a new phone and am broke den..how d i collect my 5k from dis gel ok,lemme me meet her best friend and tell her wot's going on..her frd told me dat she is away of it dat am too nice dat's y she dn't want to pay me back my money..mayb she thinkin i wnt d anytin 2 her..

d nxt day i want 2 her rum witout knokin nd i collectd her new fone from her..
nkechi.sam,wat ar u tryin todo?
me.i want my moni, wheneva u pay me my money i wil giv u ur fone back.
nkechi.ok,i will pay u ur money on sunday,pls .
me.no am going bye
nkechi.i though u're a nice guy have patient wit me nah.sam u hav changd,u re no more d sam i knw before..
me.am no more a nice guy i ve changd,ok.

dat day she gv me my moni back...dis hapnd in my scondry skul time..being too nice to ladies is a taboo

And you successfully murdered English language. R.I.P English.

I hope her children can be proud of her in the future that's if she ever has any. I will live my life the way my children will be able to beat their chests in the future and say "that's my father".

publicenemy:
Jobless donkey...

instead of you to be in bed you booking first space onn every new thread without evenn reading them.

Mallamm like you.

You obviously need a brain transplant. If being here at this time makes me jobless, that makes you what? Gainfully employed? It will be an insult to the sewer rat to even call you one.

peleson:
Alex badin or what is his name ll never allow them take over his hometown! Now this is getting very personal! Remember this battle against boko haram entered a scientific level ever since the take over the defence ministry by retired general gasue following the faceoff n disagreement btw them! Haha hwever, we r yet to knoew who leaked the secrets of the arm deal to cia n all well informed Nigerian knows that gasue is a confirmed cia agent seeking personal rewards from d US (president) also d NSA is also seen to be in same category after he fled the country to US during late Abacha! So hw den iis our press not asking them questions? Are they that afraid? Why has the office of NSA seem so docile like it never exists n saharareporters r not saying anything abt these men! I remember hw d press never allowed late Gen Azazi to rest each time abt bh as if he was sleeping with them but now bh is committing tripple of all thhe atrocities the press still allow these docile good for nothing men to be! Where is the NSA!! Who is our defence minister!!!

Nice postulation. But your write up could have made more sense and meaning if you wrote like a 21st Century learned fellow and not this mumbo jumbo of a shorthand.

Oga o. Awon omo ale olori pelebe yi tun ti de.

Chai!

So much for a change. "If PDP can", that means PDP is actually their role mode. They are modelling the party after PDP with just a few modifications.

The Chibok community has begun move to identify
the girl, Susan Ishaya, who was allegedly abandoned
by the violent Boko Haram sect and found wandering
in Mubi on Wednesday.
The Chairman, Kibaku Development Association, Dr.
Pogu Bitrus, said he had asked the Vice-Principal,
Government Secondary School, Chibok, to go to Yola,
Adamawa State, and ask the girl about her origin and
other issues surrounding her identity.
Susan was discovered near a police station in Mubi,
Adamawa State, after she was brought there by
villagers who found her near Biu in Borno State.
She was said to have been thrown out of a moving
vehicle by her captors and was left to wander for two
days before she was discovered by the villagers.
Susan was said to be traumatised and sexually
abused by the insurgents and was also found to be
four months pregnant.
The girl, who is being treated in a hospital in Yola,
was said to have been psychologically abused and
could not properly identify herself and her origin.
Bitrus told our correspondent on Friday that there
were doubts over the identity and origin of the girl,
adding that the community was not convinced that
she was from Chibok, as her name did not
correspond with the names of the 219 school girls.
He said, “We are still making efforts to identify the
girl and know where she is from because she is
psychologically traumatised and is not in a good
frame of mind. So, I have asked the Vice Principal of
Government School, Chibok, to go to the hospital
where she is being treated in Yola, to talk to her and
ascertain her name and village.”
The Chairman, Chibok Community, Abuja, Tsambido
Abana, also said that parents of the 219 abducted
girls had been asked to make inquiries about Susan
from other Chibok indigenes.
Source: www.punchng.com/news/chibok-community-to-identify-girl-abandoned-by-b-haram/

A worker who had recently tried to convert
colleagues to Islam beheaded one of them in a knife
rampage after being dismissed from his job in
Oklahoma state, according to US police.
The suspect, identified as 30-year-old Alton Nolen,
attacked another colleague with the knife before
being shot by the Oklahoma food-distribution firm’s
head – who was hailed a hero by police.
Nolen, who survived and was in hospital in a stable
condition, appeared to have chosen his victims at
random, police said of Thursday’s incident, and there
was no immediate indication of a link with terrorism.
“Nolen went to the parking lot, then drove his vehicle
to the front of the business … he then entered the
main entrance,” Jeremy Lewis, police spokesman,
said in the city of Moore on Friday.
“Nolen encountered and killed Colleen Hufford with a
knife. During the attack, Nolen severed the victim’s
head.”
The second, wounded colleague was admitted to
hospital and was in a stable condition.
“After conducting interviews with Nolen’s co-workers,
information was obtained that he recently started
trying to convert several employees to the Muslim
religion,” the spokesman said.
Because of the nature of the crime local police called
in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he said.
It comes after a series of beheadings of Western
captives by self-declared jihadists in the Middle East
and Algeria, but US officials have not confirmed any
link to the Oklahoma case.
A spokesman for the Islamic Council of Oklahoma
said Muslims were “shocked, horrified and
saddened”.
Commenting on reports that Nolen had recently
converted to Islam, Sheryl Siddiqui, the Islamic
Council’s spokeswoman, said: “He was not known to
any of the leadership in Oklahoma mosques.
“We do not have any confirmation of his conversion
either in prison or out in the community. Muslims
are supporting law enforcement efforts to perform
their due diligence and seek justice in this case.”
The Washington DC-based Muslim Public Affairs
Council (MPAC) also said it was “horrified”.
Source: www.punchng.com/news/us-man-shot-after-beheading-colleague/

argon500: I dated a guy a few years ago, at first he appeared funny, charming and friendly. He kept that charade on for awhile until we decided we'd move to his family's house and live together. As soon as that happened, his controlling psychotic self came out. I wasn't allowed to have any friends or even go back home to see my family/friends. I actually had to sneak away while he was still at work to do that. I was naive and just put up with it.... One night we went out drinking to the bar and we got into a fight so bad he was screaming at me, so bad that some other guys in the bar got security to kick him out. I decided I was still going to stay and try enjoy the rest of the night. In any case I get home and all of my belongings are on the lawn and it's raining... I try to go in and start bringing in my things and he starts throwing me around outside. I start running and he actually gets in his car and TRIES TO HIT ME WITH IT! Complete psycho... I dated that?!?!

@op u try small, that sounds more like a Jim Iyke Nollywood scene. Why won't you even try to put up with him? probably because he has a car. I don't know why girls go crazy with "he has ride". Even if a monkey has a ride, I'm very sure it will have Nigerian girlfriends.

IF not for the courage and sheer gallantry of the men and women of the Nigerian Armed Forces, Boko Haram would have taken over Bama and many other towns in North-Eastern Nigeria by now and things would have been far worse.
We must not fail to commend and encourage our
soldiers when they do a good job because they are
the only ones that stand between us and the demon
hordes.
Frankly, I am very proud of the way they gave Boko
Haram the beating of their lives and threw them out
of Bama in the last few days. I take this opportunity
to salute them and thank them for their service and
this beautiful gift to the Nigerian people.
Yet, despite the admirable efforts of our military
personnel, the ‘Haramite’ infidels and barbarians
have taken over the town of Gwoza, killed the emir
and declared the place an Islamic state.
They have seceded from Nigeria and they are
beheading Christians and Southerners and all
moderate Northern Muslims that do not share their
views.
I wonder what would have happened, if it had been a town in the South that had been taken over in this
way by a group of terrorists and Christian
fundamentalists.
I wonder what would have happened, if they killed
the local traditional ruler and then started to kill
every Northerner, every Muslim and every moderate Christian in that town that did not share their views.
I wonder what Nigeria would have done to them, if it
was a Southern town that fought our soldiers,
murdered our people, butchered our young boys,
abducted and raped our little girls and declared
secession from our country in this way and not a
Northern one.
I wonder how our Northern brothers would have
reacted to this and how they would have felt, if any
Southern terrorist group had as its main objective
the wiping out of Islam and all Muslims in Nigeria
and the establishment of a Christian fundamentalist
state in the whole of the South that is governed by
Old Testament Christian canon law.
I wonder if our Northern brothers would be as calm,
as forgiving and as patient as we in the South have
been about the atrocities of Boko Haram.
The last time that a part of this country attempted to
secede, we slaughtered over two million of our
compatriots, in order to keep Nigeria one. Yet, today, Gwoza has been taken over by murderous
secessionist forces and we act as if it is no big deal.
The truth is that this is a nation of double standards
where Southerners are subject to a different set of
conventions, laws, rules and regulations when
compared to Northerners.
Northerners can get away with secession and
establishing an Islamic fundamentalist state and new caliphate, whilst Southerners dare not try to do the same sort of thing.
This begs the question: Is Nigeria really one country
and are we really one people? And even if we say it is one country and we are one people, how much
longer can this remain so, given what is going on in
the North today with Boko Haram?
Some Northerners have said that if power does not
return to the North next year, they will smash up
Nigeria and make the South pay dearly. They believe
that they own Nigeria and that they were born to
rule.
How are we as Southerners supposed to react to
this? Are we supposed to accept it sheepishly and
just bow down and surrender? Does a Southerner
from the Niger Delta not have a right to serve two
terms in office as president of Nigeria?
Are Southerners and Middle Belters not human
beings? Are they nothing but slaves to the core
Muslim North? Are the issues that Colonel Emeka
Odumegwu- Ojukwu, the erstwhile leader of Biafra,
raised after the pogroms and brutal massacre of
Igbos that took place in the North in 1966 and just
before the civil war in 1967 not still relevant today?
Were the recommendations and agreement entered
into by both sides after protracted negotiations at
Aburi in Ghana not pertinent and appropriate? Did
we not make a monumental error by not standing on Aburi and allowing Nigeria to become a
confederation?
Is it not of paramount importance that we
restructure this country and devolve power from the
centre before we all kill ourselves? Is Nigeria not
meant to be a secular state where each and every
religion, nationality and tribe is regarded as being
equal, regardless of their size, strength or number?
Should the minority ethnic nationalities not be
protected from the excesses of the majority ones? If
the basic principle of equality of all faiths and
nationalities and the equitable principle of equal
opportunities for all is violated, must Nigeria remain
one?
Should we tolerate the practice and
institutionalisation of apartheid in our fatherland 24
years after contributing so much in helping to bring it to an end in South Africa?
When a former minister of the Federal Republic from the core North says that the killing of any Fulani person by the Nigerian Armed Forces or, indeed, by anyone else, in their fight against Boko Haram “is a debt that will be repaid,” what are we to make of that? When a leading presidential candidate from the core North said an attack on Boko Haram “is an attack on the whole of Northern Nigeria” and that the Islamist terrorists “should not be killed” and “their homes should not be burnt,” how are we meant to feel?
When the Northern spokesman of the leading
opposition party says that Boko Haram ought not to
be proscribed and that to proscribe it would be
“unconstitutional and unjust,” how are we supposed
to react?
How are we meant to feel about the constant threats
and provocative submissions of some of the core
Northern delegates at the recently concluded
constitutional conference? Permit me to give two
examples: Firstly, a vocal delegate from Yobe State,
who was the national secretary of the defunct
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), who is a
close associate of General Muhammadu Buhari and
who is a leading member of the opposition, said the
following:
“Let me come back to the issue of derivation. All
these big names, professors; they almost knelt down
before us that we should maintain the status quo for
the stability, security of the Nigerian nation; all these
people shouting at plenary.
These are the people we liberated from the South-
East. They should be told; is it because they have
transient power?”
Secondly, a leading traditional ruler from Adamawa
State, who was also a delegate at the conference, said that if the North did not get its way during the
proceedings, he and his people “would leave Nigeria
and relocate to the Cameroons” where half of his
kingdom was actually situated and where half of his
people reside and come from.
One must ask if these people know the implications
of what they are saying. Are the rest of us meant to
take all this lying low and do they really expect us to
keep our mouths shut and not express our deep
sense of outrage and utter disgust?
When the Northern elders told the president that he
ought to withdraw the soldiers that are fighting Boko
Haram from the North-East, cancel the state of
emergency that he declared in the three most
affected Northern states and that if he did not do all
these and produce the girls that were abducted from Chibok at the soonest, he should “forget his re-
election bid in 2015,” what does that mean?
Do they not appreciate the fact that this is nothing
but cheap blackmail? Do they not know that it
reinforces the suspicion that Boko Haram is just a
tool in the hands of the core North to ensure that the president is intimidated into throwing in the towel and to ensure that the country is brought to its knees, unless and until power is returned to the core Muslim North?
Do the core Northerners themselves understand that this can result in a terrible reaction from the rest of the country against them and that they may end up losing everything that they have gained and benefited from Nigeria in the last 54 years, if they do not desist from indulging in that sort of reckless rhetoric or from treading that dangerous and unpredictable path?
How much longer do we have to put up with this sort of thing? For how long do we have to put up with these threats and this assumption that we are
second-class citizens in our own nation?
How much longer do we have to shy away from
asking the same question that others asked many
years ago, namely, is Nigerian really one country?
Are we a nation or a mere geographical expression?
Has anything changed since Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the leader of the Yoruba, asked that question as far back as 1947 in his book entitled Paths To Nigerian Freedom?
Is the principle of ‘self-determination” with its
inherent quest for freedom and its ethos of “justice
for all” a dirty word? Is it not a perfectly natural,
legitimate, equitable and lawful aspiration which has
the full backing of international laws? Do people not
have a right to determine what their future will be
and whether that future will be spent as Nigerians or as non-Nigerians?
Surely, it is time for us to answer these difficult
questions, even though we keep sweeping these
matters under the carpet. It is time for us to either
answer the nationality question once and for all or
begin to prepare for the break-up of this great
country into two, three or, perhaps, even more.
It happened in India, Malaya, the Sudan, Indonesia,
Abssynia, Austria-Hungary, Yugoslavia, the Soviet
Union, Czechoslovakia, Yemen, Gran-Colombia,
Prussia, the Ottoman Empire, the Persian Empire,
United Arab Republic and in many other countries
and it is in the process of happening in the United
Kingdom today with the upcoming referendum on
independence in Scotland.
If that is the only thing that will bring peace, stability
and lasting progress to our shores, why should
Nigeria be any different?
• Fani-Kayode is a former Minister of Aviation.
tribune.com.ng/quicklinkss/opinion/item/15348-is-nigeria-a-nation