In August last year, they treated us to theatre of the absurd when they bandied abuses, calling each other fools at 70. Exactly one year later, they are now playing Romeo and Juliet, canoodling and issuing a joint statement on the state of the nation. When I read what two former presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida said about the perilous state of Nigeria, the first thing that came to mind was the quote by William Shakespeare: “Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.” Yes, the two men were really smooching, and passing an indirect vote of no confidence on the government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. No sensible person will say Obasanjo and Babangida are not right on the parlous state of affairs in the country. “Currently, the nation is gripped by a regime of fear and uncertainty that virtually all citizens have difficulties going about their normal day to day lives without great anxiety and trepidation,” they submitted. Can anybody deny this? Bull’s eye. Real spot on. But the greater tragedy is that the two complainants are also the culprits. Directly and indirectly. Obasanjo and Babangida are the architects of the desperate and dangerous state of the country today. Between them, the two former presidents led Nigeria for 19 years. Nineteen uninspiring years, after which they both could not hand over to worthy successors in a country of millions of illustrious people. And as the saying goes, your success in office is determined by the quality of your successor. Let’s pardon Obasanjo’s first incarnation in office between 1976 and 1979, because it was involuntary in a way. He had power thrust upon him, after the assassination of Murtala Muhammed. It is on record that he didn’t want to be head of state initially, though he later enjoyed the position to the hilt. But what of the one he voluntarily sought in 1999 and 2003? He made a proper mess of his exit strategy, and contributed a great deal to the morass we are in today as a country. With a gambit to perpetuate himself in office through tenure extension having failed resoundingly, what did Obasanjo do in 2007? He decided to punish the whole country, and the northern part, particularly, by bringing out a half fit (no, quarter fit) successor. Obasanjo knew the medical history of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua very well, and still insisted on handing over power to him. And the elections, through which the latter got into office, went down in history as the very worst in the world, superintended over by Obasanjo, a pretentious nationalist. And as deputy to Yar’Adua, he had also positioned a man of doubtful competence. It was a recipe for chaos. The rest, as they say, is history. Yar’Adua could not last the distance just as Obasanjo had envisaged, Jonathan took over, and has been overwhelmed by the enormity of national problems ever since. He’s simply groaning under the burden of the weight, groping for direction. Who caused it all? Obasanjo. The fear and insecurity the former presidents talked about is a direct corollary of the mismanagement of its own power arrangement by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). We can excuse Babangida on that score because he stood for fidelity to agreements when the issue came up. But Obasanjo? He was the agent provocateur. He gloated, exulted as his cleverly laid plans fell into place. Yes, he had showed the North that you don’t trifle with Matthew Aremu Okikiolu Olusegun Obasanjo, and live happily ever after. He got power away from the region through knavery and chicanery. And till today, the country is paying for it. Yet, the same man now has the guts to decry the insecurity in the land. He should tell it to the marines. When any bomb explodes, Obasanjo should have a pang of guilt. When any blood is shed, it is upon Obasanjo’s neck. When hell enlarges itself, and souls flock into a premature, dark eternity, Obasanjo is not held guiltless, because he set the stage for it all. His artifice and duplicity created the evil that the country now contends with today, so no crocodile tears. And Babangida? Some people’s sins go ahead of them to judgment. After eight years in power, and many Insha Allahs that he would quit honourably, he left in the most chaotic, in fact, anarchic way possible. See the shambolic way he vacated office in August 1993, simply because he had over-dribbled himself in the bid to cling to power. Mindlessly, he annulled the country’s freest and fairest election till date, won by M.K.O. Abiola, installed a decrepit contraption called Interim National Government, which was a virtual sitting duck before Gen Sani Abacha. The latter sacked the ING headed by the puppet called Ernest Shonekan, and thus began the country’s descent into five years of horror and hell under Abacha’s murderous regime. Who caused it all? IBB. Abacha died, rather mercifully, and Abdulsalami Abubakar midwifed a transition to democracy. Who emerged again? Obasanjo. And we were in it again for eight solid years, turning round and round like a barber’s chair. Who caused it all? IBB. The domino effect continues till today. And Babangida has the guts to talk of insecurity in the land? Who is the architect of it all? Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, and no mistake. The alarm raised by the two former presidents deserves to be raised, but they simply were the wrong people to do it. They do not have the moral authority, not at all. Obasanjo and IBB have spoken about the need to keep Nigeria together. I agree. I desire it. Majority of us probably do. But to say: “the continued unity of this nation is not only priceless but non-negotiable?” I disagree. Unless we do the fit and proper things, the unity of the country will have to be negotiable. Do we continue in sophistry, stratagems, dissimulation and perfidy as we have seen under IBB, Obasanjo, and as we currently pass through, and say the unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable? Never. We want a united Nigeria, but it can only happen if the country does the right things – justice, equity, fidelity, honesty in governance, and many others. Without all these, to say our unity is non-negotiable is to delude ourselves, living in a fool’s paradise. We’ve done so for too long. After his birthday last August 17, Obasanjo said IBB was a fool at 70. The latter responded that Obasanjo was a greater fool, who did not even know his age. Today, the two men are canoodling, smooching. And Shakespeare was right. When tyrants begin to kiss, it’s time to fear.
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