Recently, Obasanjo was captured at an event where he declared that expecting incumbent Nigeria leader Muhammadu Buhari to do more to tackle the security and economic challenges confronting the nation was like flogging a dead horse. Obasanjo is not telling us anything new, indeed he is flogging a matter that has been laid to rest because it’s clear to Nigerians of every hue that Muhammadu Buhari has failed woefully as President of Nigeria.
Obasanjo has been a recurring decimal in the evolution of the nation. In fact he hails from an establishment (the military) which midwifed Nigeria into the quagmire it found itself today. Let’s go back to 1979 where Obasanjo handed the reins of power to Alhaji Shehu Shagari who never met the provisions of the law. Shagari did not manage to muster 2/3 of votes cast in the then 19 states of Nigeria, he got 2/3 in 12 states. Yet he became president, all thanks to Obasanjo.
In the debacle of the June 12 election which MKO Abiola won hands down, Obasanjo again showed his fangs by throwing fuel into the fire ignited by the evil genius Ibrahim Babangida. While Nigerians were being killed and maimed to have Abiola’s mandated restored Obasanjo characteristically was scheming to have that mandated thwarted. He proclaimed that Abiola wasn’t Nigeria’s messiah, thereby strengthening the hands of the military hold on power.
In 1999 he became the greatest beneficiary of the democracy he worked to thwart. After his third term bid fell flat on its face, Obasanjo decided to impose Umaru Yar’Adua, an ailing and taciturn character on the nation. When Yar’Adua died Obasanjo’s preferred candidate Goodluck Jonathan replaced him. After he fell out with Jonathan Obasanjo threw his hat in the opposition camp to support Buhari’s presidential bid. Once the centre could no longer hold between them Obasanjo started displaying his true colour, calling forth a dead horse to be flogged.
What Obasanjo will never admit to Nigerians is that he has helped to sow the seed of the nation’s problems at every turn over the last forty years. Obasanjo just refuses to fade into the night, enmeshing himself in the ostrich syndrome. The man is a self serving ideologue.
