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Obasanjo's confessions
By Levi Obijiofor
WITHIN the Nigerian political class truth is like a good wine. The longer it is withheld, the silkier its flavour. Nigerians are now savouring the good taste of the truths long withheld from them but now revealed by two political high priests - the chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Audu Ogbeh, and President Olusegun Obasanjo. For long Obasanjo withheld from public knowledge what he knew about the political situation in Anambra State, in particular how the governorship election results were twisted in favour of the PDP. Obasanjo also withheld from public knowledge what he knew about the history of the illegal deal between Chris Ngige and his sponsor Chris Uba. Every time Obasanjo spoke publicly about the dangerous political situation in Anambra State, he chose to speak in parables. Now the truth is out.
The nation must be grateful to Audu Ogbeh for luring Obasanjo out in the open square to reveal what he (Obasanjo) knew all along about the nature and outcome of the controversial governorship election in Anambra State. Without the two men laundering their smelly, dirty linen in the public (to put it metaphorically), Nigerians may never have been informed that Obasanjo knew all along about the grubby and undeserving electoral victory claimed by the PDP in the 2003 governorship election in Anambra State. Now the nation is entitled to ask: what does Obasanjo know about the 2003 elections that he has not yet revealed? When did he learn the true facts about the nature of the election in Anambra? Most important, what did Obasanjo do when he learnt the truth about the rigged election in Anambra?
It is because ours is a nation where morality counts for nothing that we still have the political leaders still clutching on to their positions despite the revelations of the past week. The following three politicians " Ogbeh, Obasanjo and Ngige " should be stood down by their party or should be asked by the PDP to step down voluntarily to allow for an independent and thorough judicial investigation into how the governorship election in Anambra was rigged and won by the PDP. In the light of his confessions, Obasanjo has no basis whatsoever to preach morality to the nation. Ngige should step aside because he knew he did not win the election but has been singing like a parrot about the mandate given to him by the people of Anambra. Barring massive rigging by the PDP, Ngige would never have come close to residing in the governor's lodge at Awka. The mandate that Ngige claimed and still claims to have received from Anambra people was indeed a stolen mandate.
Audu Ogbeh, the PDP chairman, should resign his position for presiding over the affairs of a political party that has openly admitted to rigging election in Anambra State. Ogbeh's latest sanctimonious posturing should not deceive anyone. If Ogbeh knew in the past 18 months that his party did not win the elections in Anambra, why did he wait so long for things to go so bad before he could speak out? What we now know is that, within the PDP, to quote a tired clichŽ, everything that shines is not gold. In the PDP, there are executive liars. In the PDP, there are executive members who would rather condone evil than speak the truth. In the PDP, what counts is not morality but the ability to suppress the opposition. In the PDP, winning at all costs counts more than anything else.
By Obasanjo's own admission, Chris Uba, the godfather of Anambra politics, mentioned to the president's hearing that he (Uba) single-handedly rigged the Anambra election in favour of the PDP. What did Obasanjo do on hearing of this boastful claim by a political neophyte? All that Obasanjo did was to order his guests (Chris Uba - the self-confessed architect of that rigging -- and Chris Ngige - the beneficiary) out of the president's residence. Obasanjo's inability to take immediate action to rebuke the two men represents the high point of immorality. Obasanjo's confessions bespeak of the insincere nature of Nigeria's political leadership.
The president's holier-than-thou reaction to Chris Uba's acknowledgement of rigging the election in Anambra State is not what a nation (wrapped in religious revivalism) expects from a man who has been climbing up and down the pulpit preaching morality. A truly moralistic president, who would not condone injustice and foul play, would have consulted with the National Assembly and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate the election outcome in Anambra State with a view to ordering another election. Now that the truth has been revealed shouldn't the National Assembly take action to correct an 18-month-old injustice. The nation cannot carry this moral burden onto the next election in 2007. The rigged election in Anambra is not like a broken bottle. It can be mended and INEC and the National Assembly can do something to amend the outcome of the election in Anambra State. Obasanjo's admission would leave Muhammadu Buhari with an impression that he too (Buhari) may have been rigged out of the presidential election. Would Obasanjo be moralistic enough also to tell the nation what he knows about the PDP victory at the presidential election?
By the way, what did Obasanjo imply when he said that one of the options left to Ngige was to follow "the path of honour"? Does "honour" imply that Ngige should hand power to Chris Uba, who sponsored Ngige? Does "honour" mean handing over the state treasury to Chris Uba so he could recoup his business investment? What really does Obasanjo, the moral president, imply by "honour"? Did he mean "honour" as in "honour among thieves"? Did he mean "honour" as in an honest business deal? Does Obasanjo perceive the deal between Ngige and Uba as an admirable deal between gentlemen?
Using the metaphor of armed robbery to illustrate the inglorious end to the immoral deal between Uba and Ngige, Obasanjo said: "The two robbers must be condemned for robbery in the first instance and the greedy one must be specially pointed out for condemnation to do justice among the robbers." There are two major problems with Obasanjo's position. At no time has Obasanjo criticized Uba for being involved in a deal with Ngige. Obasanjo, in his recent sermon on morality, talked about a "young man" who used his personal money to promote someone else. That did not indicate criticism of Uba. Obasanjo was in fact trying to justify Uba's right to reclaim the money invested on Ngige. The second problem in Obasanjo's philosophical argument is a flawed analogy. A crime is always a crime. There is no half crime or full crime. Two robbers must be condemned for engaging in robbery. Whatever happens between two robbers when they share their loot is nobody's business. The loot they are sharing is illegal and morally acquired. Therefore, there is no moral basis for picking out one of two robbers for special criticism. This is where Obasanjo got his logic twisted.
Apart from matters of morality, the language Obasanjo adopted in his response to Ogbeh was highly un-presidential and indeed demeaning of the office of president. Even if Ogbeh employed disrespectful language in his letter to Obasanjo, that did not imply that Obasanjo should adopt a similar language. As Jim Nwobodo once said in those days when he regularly fought off Christian Onoh for the Enugu State governorship title, the ability to remain calm in the face of provocation is the high point of political maturity. Outside Nigeria, Obasanjo is the country's number one ambassador. His actions and utterances are monitored and weighed by the international community. At home, many people look up to Obasanjo for leadership and direction. As president, the language Obasanjo uses in his public utterances and in his public communication says a lot about his level of maturity, sincerity and candor. Nothing is achieved when a president uses gutter language in public communication.
We have not yet heard the last of what Obasanjo and Ogbeh know about the problems with Nigeria.
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