HISTORY has always been kind to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. While his fellow soldiers died in the 1967-1970 civil war, he survived to accept the surrendering flags of the Biafra soldiers. He later emerged as Head of State from 1976-1979. Unlike his predecessors, Obasanjo survived coup plots and retired from the Army with the honour of handing over to the democratically-elected government of President Shehu Shagari.
In 1998, he emerged from prison on trumped-up charges of felony to pick the presidential ticket of the then budding Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He served for eight years and handed over to late President Musa Yar’Adua. When Yar’Adua died in office, Obasanjo backed the emergence of the then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President. In 2011, he took it upon himself to market the president for election despite much opposition.
The former chairman of PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) was able to appease northern forces that Jonathan will serve for only a term and return power to them. It was on the strength of his assurances that many northern political elders supported the President for election in 2011 against Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, one of their own, who ran on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
But things soon went awry between Obasanjo and Jonathan with ethnic warlords cornering the latter. The former president was incensed and kept his distance. When Jonathan signalled his intention to run for second term, Obasanjo balked. It would go against the agreement signed with the North, he contended. But Jonathan would have none of such.
Obasanjo, to him and his aides, was a yester years’ leader who should leave the stage for the new generation. For opposing the president’s bid for reelection, Obasanjo came under vicious attacks. Presidential aides and associates called him names, telling him to face his business. The former President kept his cool, perhaps ruing his decision to principally install Jonathan.
But he broke his silence when the Boko Haram phenomenon became rather uncontrollable. The radical Islamic sect started bombing and killing almost on a daily basis. Obasanjo’s advice to the presidency to tackle the menace with what he called the stick- and- carrot approach was despised. His offer to lead negotiation with the sect’s leaders also suffered terrible setbacks, ostensibly because he didn’t receive much support from the presidency.
When the terrorists kidnapped 276 female students of Government Secondary School, Chibok almost a year ago, Obasanjo couldn’t stomach his rage. He boiled that the terror war was being mishandled. The presidency, he said, was not pulling its weight but allowing the insurgents to have a field day.
Forever a tactician, Obasanjo bid his time to move against Jonathan, a president he practically imposed against all odds. That time came when the presidential campaign took off. Feeling obligated to right his wrong, Obasanjo delivered scathing criticisms against the current administration. He accused the presidency of running a killer’s squad and planning to assassinate prominent opposition members. He condemned the parlous state of the economy, lamenting that the huge foreign reserve he left had been depleted on the altar of corruption. Baba, as he is popularly called, was firing from all cylinders, sparing no effort to swing public opinion against the administration.
Attempts to appease him were rebuffed. He had crossed the line where he could go back. A war had been declared on the presidency and he must win at all rates. Sensing the collateral damage Obasanjo was causing the PDP, its leaders attempted to mend the fence. On several occasions, they held closed-door meetings with the former president where he refused to be pacified. He kept telling them he was merely after national interest and had nothing personal against the president.
When PDP saw that Obasanjo was recalcitrant, there were moves to embarrass the elderstateman by expelling him from its fold. But Obasanjo, always ahead of his game, got wind of the ploy. He acted before the punch could be delivered. His reaction was as dramatic as telling. He chose to openly tear his membership card of the party, claiming he couldn’t bear to remain in the PDP, which he alleged had mismanaged Nigeria.
He didn’t stop there. He proceeded to openly endorse Buhari as a better alternative to Jonathan. Buhari, he canvassed, will fix Nigeria and return its lost glory. He was swimming against the tide but Obasanjo was propelled by a sense of conviction. He joined forces with APC stalwarts and stood to be counted as a history maker.
For shunning personal gains and opting for national glory, Obasanjo deserves a huge place among the men of courage. To criticise a sitting government as a former president is no easy chore. To openly endorse an opposition candidate was calling for troubles. But the Owu-born General had burnt the bridge. There was no going back. Last week as Buhari was declared elected, Obasanjo cemented his place in the nation’s Hall of Fame.
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