Obasanjo Cannot Lead this Revolution: He Instead Owes Nigerians an Apology for Foisting Buhari on the Country in 2015

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has slaughtered sleep of millions of his fellow Nigerians; so, Obasanjo shall know no sleep. This is the wish of many who watched as the the wily general-turned-farmer from Otta, Ogun state publicly dramatized his estrangement from his former political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and President Goddluck Jonathan (GEJ) in run-up to the 2015 general elections so as to clear his way to embrace the emergent All Progressives Congress (APC) and Muhammadu Buhari. It is important to remind everyone that Buhari was swept into power in 1999 as President by the PDP by the military-political-commercial complex that has dominated Nigeria since 1966.

Under same party, he won a second term of 4 years in 2003. For reasons that he has to explain to posterity, Obasanjo deemed it politically wise to abandon the very party that thrust him into the pinnacle of national power only months after release from long prison term and even went as far as to undermine the aura and legitimacy of his successor and incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, so as to bring in a neophyte partisan formation, the APC and a celebrated one-time military autocrat and dictator, Muhammadu Buhari.

Obasanjo and many other supposedly well-informed and well-connected Nigerians considered it a patriotic chore to abruptly upend the status quo and install a brand new national ruling party and president as the only way to save Nigeria from imminent doom, which was forecast if President GEJ had won the 2015 presidential election. With righteous zeal and undivided focus, Obasanjo and his co-travelers did all they could to dismantle the ruling party at the time as an essential first step in chasing President GEJ out of the Aso Rock Villa. Even though many concerned political pundits were very skeptical about the reasons proffered in support of a Buhari presidency, Obansanjo and his colleagues who control Nigeria’s military-political-commercial complex pulled all the stops to foist one of their own, Buhari, on rest of the country.

President GEJ, who had earned an academic doctorate before entering politics, was declared to be “clueless” in the art of governance and corrupt, the former military strongman, Buhari, was peddled as a no-nonsense manager who would destroy corruption and all other ills that plague the country in one fell swoop. So, the scheme that Obasanjo was party in devising and effectuating prevailed at conclusion of the 2015 general elections. Obasanjo’s most favorite candidate, Buhari, was sworn into office on May 29, 2015.

It is not only that President Buhari failed to perform in all indices of governance, but he also created and stoked divisiveness and insecurity of lives and property of Nigerians to the extent that is unprecedented. The Boko Haram, which emerged to pose a major security challenge to the Jonathan administration appears to have, since outset of current administration, voluntarily ceded its leadership rank in implementing the Islamist terrorist agenda to the Fulani herdsmen militia which has greater favor of both President Buhari and the emergent ruling APC top echelon. Amidst the failures and escalating insecurity engulfing all parts of the country, Buhari’s handlers have now clearly indicated a strong desire of the incumbent president to seek extension of tenure during the scheduled 2019 electoral cycle. Obasanjo must have felt personal embarrassment with his choice candidate’s performance in office, possibly to the extent of not wishing to see him continue as president and Commander-in-chief beyond the expiry of his first term.

This video scathingly criticizes Obasanjo’s perception of his personal role in the Nigerian political economy. He portrays himself as the seer who is uniquely endowed with what it takes to pontificate over and divine who shall rule Nigeria. In the meantime, the same loquacious Obasanjo cannot find a word to condemn the recurrent bouts of murderous rampages of the Fulani herdsmen militia. Obasanjo and Buhari share partnership in ownership of the military dictatorship that hijacked geopolitical Nigeria, took it through a murderous Civil War and then launched the country down the path of perdition in past half century. Obasanjo’s political alchemy was highly contributory in creating and fostering the unitary governance mantra that has brought Nigeria to the edge of a bottomless abyss.

All the leading constituents inhabiting Nigeria’s geopolitical space, except the Arewa North, have expressed their desire to end the imposed unitary governance we see today through Restructuring and restore the country back to the pre-Independence consensus that was responsible for the stability and economic growth that were hallmarks of the First Republic. Obasanjo is yet to publicly state his stance on this very crucial matter. He is instead already scheming on formation of yet another “coalition” with which to bid for political power, once more, during the 2019 scheduled general elections. Before you know it, Obasanjo might come up with another candidate to foist on his fellow citizens.

Perhaps, it is the fear of such a happenstance gaining currency among the gullible Nigerian electorate that this video was made to send a clear message to Obasanjo and his ilk that “Enough is Enough”.