You are familiar with stories of the pauper who became prosperous; the slave who became the sovereign; the prisoner who became president. You probably have experienced it episodically too. And in any case, if you are a Nigerian or are familiar with the Nigerian story, you certainly know the Obasanjo story. Taken off Abacha’s death row, by divine providence, he soon found himself in the presidency of Africa’s oil-rich most populous country. And after eight years of playing the messiah, he hand-picked a successor in the person of Umar Musa Yar’Adua and brazenly imposed him on the country. Ironically, that president is suffering a reverse fate – as the president who became a prisoner, imprisoned by his own wife and friends! How ironic.
The great pity is that Yar’Adua had the opportunity to write his name in gold, but he blew it. As I reflected on events in our land since November 2009, I couldn’t but wish he had read and taken seriously our advice in this column in the early years of his presidency. I couldn’t but wish he had reached deep down within him and found the courage to break with the norm and refuse to fall in love with power.
In a piece titled, “THINK ON THESE THINGS: An Open Letter to President Yar’adua”, published on June 17, 2007, one of many dealing with the 2007 elections and their aftermath, we wrote as follows:
“The matter at hand, Mr President, is how to exercise the highly disputed mandate that you have in your custody. You see sir; the history of our nation has shown that we have so far built our political house on the quicksand of electoral fraud and manipulations and watered it with the blood of very many innocent citizens. In 1999, it was tolerated out of the expediency of getting the military off our backs. In 2003, the extent of the fraud was so benumbing that only a few people with doubtful democratic credentials saw the need for protest. Somebody characterized what happened in 2003 as the plight of a woman who having found herself in a position where rape had become inevitable wisely decided to derive whatever fun she could from it! 2007 therefore became more brazen; more dastardly; more violent…
“Now, an edifice, any edifice built on a weak foundation cannot stand. And there is no weaker foundation to build upon than that of evil! No matter how hard we try, it is bound to unravel someday. As one wise man has said, no matter how long you have travelled, no matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, turn back…
“Now, to the vexed issue of the real way forward. Some have suggested an Interim National Government. This has been shot down by those who equate it with military president Ibrahim Babangida’s disingenuously constructed booby trap. According to those who argue this way, if it goes by the same name, it must have the same content and end up the same way! Many of this same people say that the ING has no place in our constitution. How simplistic! In a particularly disappointing intervention, a respected constitutional law teacher and columnist, writing in a respected newspaper on two different occasions hid his personal preferences under so much intellectual verbiage and ended up speaking from both sides of the mouth. ING, goes his argument cannot hold because it is unknown to our constitution which is our grundnorm. Then faced with examining whether Nigeria, as was being run, could be described as a constitutional democracy, he deadpanned: not quite! Now this later is the truth, the unemotional truth that must guide our search for solution to the existing situation.
“A time like this calls for men, leaders with vision, able to see beyond self and own-group interests. The Lord Jesus Christ, who for us Christians, is the model (or ought to be) is the best known example of true leadership. He gave up himself for the good of mankind. In the men’s ministry in which I am deeply involved, it is said that “manhood and Christ-likeness are synonymous”. And believe me it is true. You have to resort to self sacrifice in this matter.
“One of the Lord’s counsels, which I consider appropriate, in this case reads: “And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain” (Matthew 5:41). To appreciate the import of this advice, one needs to understand that at the time Jesus was speaking, it was customary for soldiers of the Roman colonial army to randomly pick a Jew on his way to work or wherever and order him to carry his bag for the next mile. It was mandatory.
“Mr President, you may not agree with me, but everything you have announced as your plans - an inclusive government, electoral reforms and even your promise of servant-leadership, which the method of your election negates conceptually - all belong in the first compulsory mile. They are the minimum made inevitable by the manner of your arrival in the saddle. You must now take the voluntary next mile.
“You must now voluntarily go out of your way to vigorously work for the restructuring of this blighted federation. Our current constitution is faulty; it is a rickety foundation built upon evil and sustained by evil and can lead us nowhere. You must find it in yourself to engage with civil society, the opposition and conscientious elements in the international community to put something more concrete, more enduring in place. You must do it quickly; within the shortest possible time, possibly within 18 months. We can then hold fresh elections. If the new arrangement allows you to run and you wish to, I am sure your people will give you a clean mandate. On the other hand, if the new arrangement excludes you or you decide not to run, you would not have been the longest serving President in Nigeria, but you would be her greatest. Think on these things, Mr President.”
Pity, Yar’Adua is on his was to being neither.
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