Two Generals Fooling Around.

Simon Kolawole Live!: Email: simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com

Don’t be fooled: there is more to the mudslinging between Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida than a mere disagreement over their supposed achievements in office. I will try to explore that today. To recap, Babangida had, on the eve of his 70th birthday, once again glamorised his achievements in office between 1985 and 1993 in spite of the “modest” oil revenue, while his successors, he said, enjoyed higher oil revenue and did not do better. In fact, he made reference to the billions of dollars spent on power by President Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007 without any results. “During my years as president, I managed poverty to achieve commendable results but these days, people manage affluence to achieve poverty,” he said.

Obasanjo replied the following day, wondering if Babangida had decided to be a fool at 70 because of the statements credited to him. Then he quoted some Bible passages which, on the one hand, said you should not answer a fool according to his folly “lest thou also be like unto him”; and, on the other hand, said you should answer a fool according to his folly, “lest he be wise in his own conceit”. Obasanjo said he was torn between the two. Then he went down memory lane about his achievements as military head of state as well as civilian president.

Normally, Babangida would have waited for the next day to respond. But it was too “hot” to ignore. He swiftly issued a statement, signed by his spokesperson, pouring as much acid as he could on Obasanjo. “Calling [me] ‘a fool at 70’, especially by a man reportedly and allegedly accused by his own son of incest, is at best a compliment. Nigerians surely know who is truly a fool or the greatest fool of this century,” he said, and went on to highlight that murders and air crashes were common in Obasanjo’s days in power. In fact, he accused Obasanjo of plundering the nation’s resources.

However, it was quite refreshing listening to the two men use gutter language against each other, something you would normally expect from some smelly, shabbily dressed, rotten-toothed guys at Oshodi bus stop. It shows the calibre of generals and presidents that we have managed to produce in this country. I must confess, however, that I am a bit surprised Babangida chose to play the role of the antagonist in this instance. The original attack came on the eve of his birthday unprovoked. This is very rare.

In the past, it was Obasanjo who usually took on Babangida and—maybe because of the rules of military fraternity—Babangida hardly replied openly. In the days of SAP (which Babangida eulogises till this day), Obasanjo often played the populist, taking Babangida to shreds as Nigerians went through economic hardship. The naira was losing value by the day, factories were closing down, subsidies were getting leaner and meaner and there was discontent in the land. Typical of Obasanjo, he rode the waves and opened fire on Babangida, who—obviously out of respect—never replied him.

In 1993, Obasanjo granted an explosive interview to TELL magazine, describing Babangida’s government as a fraud. “As a result of what somebody called financial and fiscal rascality, we now have an administration deficit. Deficit budgeting, deficit financing, deficit trading but more importantly, we have an administration that is deficit in credibility. That is very, very important. It’s deficit in honesty, deficit in honour, deficit in truth. The only thing it has in surplus is saying something and doing something else,” Obasanjo famously said. That edition sold out; I remember only reading the photocopies. Babangida did not respond openly. Indeed, when the then military president annulled June 12 later on, Obasanjo was said to have been a brain behind the setting up of an Interim National Government headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan. In fact, to give the ING some legitimacy, Obasanjo reportedly said in South Africa that the acclaimed winner of June 12, Bashorun MKO Abiola, “is not the messiah”.

In less than 100 days, the ING collapsed, as it was meant to be, and Gen. Sani Abacha took over government. He knew Obasanjo quite well and one of the first decisions he had to take was whether or not to have Obasanjo freely roaming the streets and granting interviews against his government. Abacha, as ruthless as he was, locked Obasanjo up on the charges of being involved in a coup plot. Other key figures locked up—Maj. Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and Abiola—never came out alive. Obasanjo survived. Babangida was one of the power brokers who installed Obasanjo as president in 1999—no matter attempts by Obasanjo to deny this now. In fact, while the retired generals led by Babangida and TY Danjuma provided the funds for Obasanjo’s presidential campaign, the Atiku Abubakar wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) provided the political foot soldiers.

Ironically, again, Obasanjo, in an attempt to rubbish suggestions that he was being backed by Babangida, kept attacking him in the public to distance himself from the Minna-born general. And, yet again, Babangida did not utter a word publicly. I was told then that he was grumbling in Minna that Obasanjo was abusing him too much, but that was it. Today, I now wonder: what went so wrong between them that Babangida finally decided to launch his own attacks against Obasanjo at peace time? All we know is that even though their relationship might have deteriorated over the years, Babangida had always managed to keep his cool in public.

Indulge me to hazard a guess this morning and piece a theory together. When Obasanjo’s candidacy was being promoted in 1999, the belief was that he would do only one term. A second term was not part of the script. Invariably, Babangida and Atiku were eyeing the position in 2003. Unfortunately, Obasanjo decided to go for a second term. Babangida, again partly out of respect and partly out of fear of failure, decided to forgo his ambition and wait for another day—this time 2007. As 2007 approached, Obasanjo began to nurse his third term ambition. He had stretched his luck too far. The combination of Babangida, Atiku and Danjuma successfully “penetrated” the National Assembly and the plot failed (though I totally agree that public opinion and TV also played a key role).

What happened next? The EFCC immediately arrested Mohammed, Babangida’s son, in what many discerning observers saw as an attempt to get back at those who opposed the third term project. He was released without charge. Atiku was presented with the PTDF scandal to battle with by the EFCC, which also summarily terminated Gen. Mohamed Marwa’s presidential ambition on the accusation of making his account available to Abacha for money-laundering. For those who never knew, Danjuma was Marwa’s “godfather” and major backer in his presidential bid. Obasanjo made sure he paid his opponents back in their own coin. He walked out of Aso Rock satisfied that they had all seen red.

But then the Obasanjo-installed president, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, died. The eight-year slot thought to have been reserved for the North was coming back to the South through Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. And, boy, Obasanjo did everything possible to frustrate the quest by Babangida (and Atiku) to unseat Jonathan. It was a cold, freezing war between the generals. My conclusion, therefore, is that with nothing more to lose or gain at 70, Babangida simply let go of his bottled-up resentment for Obasanjo. He had been too loyal to Obasanjo for ages and hardly got anything in return. For Obasanjo, calling somebody a fool for criticising his government is typical. He was just being himself. He believes he is God’s greatest gift to mankind.

Now as to the argument—who was better between Obasanjo and IBB as president—I would like to answer this way: if both men were as good as they are now trying to make us believe, we would not be hopelessly battling with poor power supply, battered roads, sick healthcare system, collapsed refineries and bankrupt public morality today. I would therefore advise both of them to stop fooling around.

And Four Other Things...

Aikhomu's Football Legacy

I was never a fan of Admiral Augustus Aikhomu—I'm not going to be pouring emergency encomium on him because he died. However, I admired the Admiral for one thing: he was the main secret behind the success of Clemens Westerhof as the coach of the Super Eagles. The Dutchman was recruited in 1989 by the late Chief SB Williams, former chairman of National Sports Commission (NSC). He could have been fired hastily the Nigerian way but for the political protection he enjoyed from Aikhomu, who was Nigeria's No. 2 citizen. Westerhof got everything he wanted, including keeping away preying sports ministers. The then NSC chairman, Chief Alex Akinyele, threatened to fire him for failing to win the African Cup of Nations in 1992. It was Akinyele that was fired instead. What happened next? Nigeria went on to qualify for the World Cup for the first time ever and then won the African Cup of Nations in 1994. That was the last time the Super Eagles tasted success in international football. Adieu, Aikhomu.

Suspending Salami

The Ayo Salami/Aloysius Katsina-Alu face-off is just a symptom of the deep-seated animosity, mutual suspicion and ego games in the judiciary. The outcome of the probe of Salami’s allegations against Katsina-Alu over the “arrest” of the 2007 Sokoto governorship election petition is a bit of an anti-climax: the Nigeria Judicial Council (NCJ) has suspended Salami, who is president of the court of appeal, and recommended his retirement for failing to apologise to Katsina-Alu, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, over the allegation which it described as false. Lawyers are still arguing if NJC can suspend him. But my take on the whole issue is different. Salami has been constituting panels that installed ACN government in many states—so the PDP would want to see him go. Predictably, ACN would be mad. One man’s loss is another’s gain. It’s all politics, fellow Nigerians.

Apapa Dead-end

Anytime I wake up in the morning, I hardly want to go to the office. Not that I am tired of this job but because trailers and tankers have made my office in Apapa, Lagos State, a no-go area. We used to engage them in a battle of wits. After working all day and you want to go home at night, you can’t because they always block the road. It has now become impossible to gain access to our office as they start block the road from early morning. We hoisted a flag of surrender since there was nobody to protect us. We started parking on the other side of the road (and this does not cause traffic in any way). You know what? LASTMA, which ordinarily should be clearing the road of the traffic caused by tankers so we can park in our own compound, now tows our cars for parking by the way side. What a nice way of punishing the victims.

Oni and Mimiko

The chairman of Labour Party in Ondo State, Dr. Olaiya Oni, has resigned. Why? Is he going to defect to another party or just remain an ordinary member of LP? Nobody knows yet. However, the reasons he gave for his decision are a bit curious to me. While saying Governor Olusegun Mimiko had performed creditably well, he said he was unhappy with the choice of Oba for his hometown and Mimiko had failed to help dethrone him. He also said the governor was sending N450,000 “only” from the state treasury to him every month even though “I disposed of my assets—landed property, shares in blue-chip companies and banks—to support the struggle”. Dr. Oni also talked a lot about his bruised ego, complaining that he was not involved in the choice of running mate and transition committee. While I understand Oni’s grievances, I don’t think he should have put some of those things in writing. He didn’t protect himself enough.