I had a good laugh the other day when I saw General Olusegun Obasanjo on television tearing, to shreds, his membership card of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Obasanjo, for the records, is Nigeria’s former elected president. He is also the first military dictator in Nigeria (and perhaps, anywhere) to voluntarily hand over power to a democratically-elected government. These are things you can’t take away from him.
By the way, Obasanjo did not perform the dishonourable act of tearing the PDP card by himself. Instead, he called one of his boys to do it, while he took the credit and the media hype. That’s what Generals do.
Generals give orders in whispers while the commanders shout themselves to death. And the boys respond. When the war is over and the battle is won, the General gets the medal while the boys return to the barracks.
Obasanjo was trying to make news. These days, Obasanjo loves the headlines as though his life depends on them. Here is a man who once said he doesn’t read newspapers. In fact, there was a time he wrote a signpost against the safety of journalists when he was a respected farmer in Otta.
Nowadays, the old General, whose real age is a matter of national and family controversy, loves the camera lights as they flash on his war-beaten frame.
I have always liked Obasanjo for who he is: a patriot; an international diplomat; a global citizen who was, some years back, indisputably classified as one of the most eminent persons in the world. He co-chaired a global team that pushed for the freedom of the late Nelson Mandela.
Obasanjo used to be our pride; the black man’s reference point. Anytime he spoke, the world listened. When the late General Sani Abacha charged him with coup-plotting, it became clear that Abacha had finally danced naked.
The world rose in defence of Obasanjo. And even God Almighty ensured his miraculous freedom from the grips of the inhuman dictator, and honoured him with another rise to the throne of national leadership.
Very few people alive parade the same political and leadership credentials as Obasanjo. But most unfortunately, the same Obasanjo is gradually and deliberately degenerating from a global eminent person status to a local complainant.
Some things are laughable. Who was Obasanjo trying to impress when he tore the PDP membership card? Who really cares about the PDP? PDP is not Nigeria.
PDP is a mere political group comprising opportunists parading as patriots. So if one of them decides to take a walk, what is wrong with that? And if that person is General Obasanjo, what difference does it make?
Look at the contraption called the All Progressives Congress (APC), look at its leadership and membership; a greater number of them were in the PDP. Some of them were leaders and chieftains of the PDP before taking a short walk.
Today, they are singing different songs. They do not see anything good again in their beloved party, PDP. But there is everything good in APC.
It was this same Obasanjo who pulled President Goodluck Jonathan out of Bayelsa State in 2007 as running mate to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, and in 2011 pushed him forward for the presidency of Nigeria.
Today, both father and son have fallen apart. And none of them is bold enough to tell us the truth. I do believe that one day, somebody will tell us the truth we deserve to know. Unfortunately, Obasanjo is attempting to make a very personal issue look like a national problem.
In reality, why should the tearing of a party card by a former member of the party be of any concern to millions of hungry, jobless Nigerians whose university certificates are gathering dust in the closets?
I’m worried because our former president, whose patriotic credentials are unquestionable, seems to be speeding out of nationalistic relevance to the extent that any opportunity to grab a few headlines in the media and some analysis by columnists thrills him a lot.
If all this is about discrediting or reducing the importance and credibility of the forthcoming general elections, it will not work because the tempo is already high.
Look at this scenario: On Wednesday last week, I had the joy of carrying two editors in my car. They were in Abuja on personal assignments; nothing political, nothing so official.
After a breakfast meeting in their hotel rooms, we ventured into town to see some friends. We had just left Utako District and were driving past the legendary Yar’Adua Centre, heading towards the Central Mosque when we encountered some political campaigners.
The conversation in the car immediately shifted to politics. One of them asked whether it would be right to say that President Jonathan did not prepare for what has befallen him in the course of the campaign for presidential election.
We got talking. My opinion has always been the same. He was not prepared at all. Then I asked them whether they were prepared to vote. One of them said his voters’ card has become his second skin. “I have it here,” he said; “just in case.”
The other editor, dressed in Igbo traditional attire with a small-size red cap, replied, “My PVC is safe with my bank. I’m not taking chances. Let them put it in the vault where they keep their money.”
That is how serious Nigerians are regarding this election.
