OBJ REDEEMING HIS HONOUR...THE REST PROTECTING THEIR STOMACHS!

There is one reason for which I eternally cherish being of Yoruba descent, that reason being the richness and almost all-encompassing wisdom of the Yoruba adages and proverbs. One of such which I often try to disprove on mischievous grounds is, ‘agba kii wa l’oja, ki ori omo tuntun o wo’. This means ‘the head of a toddler cannot be bent in the market when there are elders around’. I often respond when this adage is employed that, the toddler’s head will not bend provided the elder present is not blind. If the elder present is blind, the head will not only bend, it might even break.
I am somewhat confident that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was acting in line with the wisdom of this Yoruba adage when he picked his pen to write the much talked about letter to President Goodluck Jonathan. As an elder, he tried to play the role assigned to the elder in that proverb by trying to make sure GEJ’s head as the toddler does not go bent. One will be constrained to ask if OBJ himself ever really listened to the voice of reason when he was President and Commander-In-Chief. In response to this question, I beg to twist the toddler-elder adage a fair bit. You see OBJ was an elder when he was in office as President (or what do you call a 60 something man?), and as an elder, it is scarcely possible to listen to another elder, he probably felt he knew better than all the young critics (I think we should let him be and let the past remain in the past).
No matter what mistakes an elder might have made, there comes a time when they realize such mistakes especially at the twilight of their lives, that time when honour comes before affluence and wisdom comes before gains. I am undoubtedly sure that OBJ is at that age already. Like he also said in his 18-page letter to GEJ, “Mr. President, I have passed the stage of being flattered, intimidated, threatened, frightened, induced or bought.” I am sure OBJ is at the stage where all that matters is the legacy he will be remembered for. In that wise, I think he was right to try and redeem his honour by playing the elder statesman role he will be ordinarily expected to play.
As Midori Koto wrote, “Honour isn't about making the right choices. It's about dealing with the consequences”. At least for once (as most Nigerians will claim), OBJ has decided to make the right choice without minding the consequences of such choices. He made it clear that even if he has to die for the cause he believes in, “death is the end of all human beings and may it come when God wills it to come”. Even if he might have lost it in the past, he is definitely doing the utmost including being ready to pay the supreme price, to regain that honour. I sure will offer him a standing ovation for this decision if I were to ever meet him one on one.
I paused and reflected for a second that, can we truly say OBJ’s letter reeked of hypocrisy? There are a whole lot of people who feel his stay in office was almost as disastrous as that of GEJ, but I beg to differ with this school of thought. I am not paid to sing his praise, but I feel obliged to vindicate him (OBJ) on certain areas where he has been misconstrued. As far as corruption is concerned, there is hardly any Nigerian President who took such steps to curb corruption as OBJ. Talk of imprisoning his friends (the Afolabis, Georges etc), talk of decisively crushing any and every personality who tried to bring the government to disrepute, OBJ did fight the anti-corruption fight to a reasonable end.
Today, reverse is the case. George has been declared innocent of corruption charges, Diepreye has been given a Presidential pardon despite his disgraceful act of disguise as a woman abroad, Al-Mustapha has been freed...talk of promoting corruption and GEJ’s name begins to ring a bell. I think when we talk about the fight against corruption, OBJ might have had his shortcomings, yet he has a far better track record than GEJ or even Yar’adua.
The fight against corruption is just one of the numerous dimensions to which we can draw a sharp distinction between the OBJ government and GEJ government. Talk of party discipline, talk of protection of the Excess Crude Account and a host of others. I am no employee of OBJ, but I must be bold to say he surpasses GEJ in the area of effective administration of the Nigerian entity. He was stubborn, defiant, Infact he was so many stubborn things rolled up into one, yet, at this time of his life, he has chosen to tread the path of honour.
The missive he sent to the President dated December 2, 2013 is a clear indication of OBJ’s desire to once and for all fight for his honour and defend the homeland. What response did this letter elicit from the Presidency? By presidency I do not mean the President himself, I mean a bunch of detractors that GEJ has constantly used to hide from the public eye. When Reuben Abati, Doyin Okupe and their protégés talk, you can be sure GEJ is trying to dodge some public outcry.
Instead of offering a direct response to the loads of accusations as the Balogun of Owu pointed out, Mr. President has decided to tread the path of dishonour and keep mum on the matter while he allows his media boys deafen the public ears with their inaudible noise. All Abati could say was, “the letter was highly unbecoming, mischievous and provocative”. He said, “the President himself will, at the appropriate time offer a full response to the most reckless, baseless, unjustifiable and indecorous charges levied against him and his administration by the former Head of State”. Of all that Abati said, I could make no concrete sense of this response other than the fact that GEJ will respond when he is ready. The letter was sent on the 2nd of December and as at today 17th December, there has been no response given! Do we expect a committee again? Or is he afraid to respond because he his culpable in these allegations? I wonder.
When Bamidele Salam (one of Okupe’s protégés) would speak up, he went poetic. His entire statement which he claimed to have ‘copied with permission’, was clearly a dramatic manner of insulting OBJ describing him as ‘Saint OBJ’. What I wonder is, whether he could have said otherwise given the supply of daily bread that runs his way from the presidency. Some phantom Ijaw groups are asking for the immediate probe of OBJ’s government from 1999 – 2007 as a way of silencing him. A bunch of cowards they are if they could not encourage their son to come out clean and defend his honour. Detraction is folly; clear response is what Nigerians expect.
Not to fool myself however, how do I expect these people to say otherwise when they get fed by supporting GEJ? While OBJ has his stomach full already and can afford to fight for his honour, these people have to fight for their own stomachs first! I applaud OBJ for his courage but I plead with him to forgive all those toddlers who would insult the elder, they truly know what they do, they just have to defend their daily bread first!