Obasanjo/IBB War: When Generals Return To The Trenches

It is a verbiage war most expected. The verbal confrontation between two former military heads of State, Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida has exposed the mutual suspicion that exists in power circle and of course, it was just a matter of time for it to explode. It is a battle that could turn out to be a turning point in Nigeria’s socio-political and economic development. UCHENNA AWOM in this analysis writes that Nigerians hope the war never ends.

Could there be more to it? Is it another tactics at the political chess board? What a war? Some say it is a macabre dance of two elders in the theatre of the absurd, many others are craving for a prolonged and bruising battle, such that will lead to a far- reaching expose of what transpired behind the iron curtain of government, since the dramatis personae were major actors in Nigeria’s modern day government and the wilful subjugation of her democracy at some point.

Yet many Nigerians are quick to caution against any intervention and urged that both should be allowed to fight and fight themselves out of Nigeria’s public consciousness, adding that it could be nemesis at work.

Perhaps ex-military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida who ignited the war may not have bargained that his outburst against his former boss and former President Olusegun Obasanjo on his 70th birthday celebration would turn out to be a fitting birthday present to Nigerians. Of course, it was an instant hit that resonated along the lenghth and breath of Nigeria.

Expectedly, the public waseger sound like for a response from Obasanjo and what it would and whether the response will be weighty enough to galvanise the two highly unpopular ex-soldiers to engage in a prolonged war.

They were not disappointed, as Obasanjo deployed his witty, but caustic mouth, to land a direct salvo at Babangida, describing him as a “fool at 70’. What a birthday compliment, coming a day after Babangida lost his deputy, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu.
Everything seems to be happening so fast, the irony however, was that Babangida may have packaged the celebration as a platform for image laundering and a subtle attempt to re-launch himself in the public psyche, going by the media bliss that heralded the celebration, until the sad news of the death of Aikhomu and then the Obasanjo’s negative characterisation.

Babangida seems to be achieving the unexpected. And again his response to the Obasanjo vituperations suggest that Babangida is not ready for a media war going by a statement from his spokesman, Prince Kazeem Afegbua.

Well, to many, a war between these two former soldiers was long expected and as such it was a welcome development when Babaginda chose his cosy hilltop state-house-like mansion in Minna, Niger state? to hit Obasanjo pointedly, declaring to the whole world that Obasanjo who reports claim Babangida almost single handedly enthroned as President in 1999 against popular choice, failed woefully in his eight-year tenure as President, adding that the man wasted huge resources in the power sector, yet failed to give Nigerians steady electricity.

He was quoted as saying that Obasanjo’s administration lacked creativity and innovation, and that given the huge resources that accrued to the Obasanjo government, Nigeria should have improved better. General Babangida had stated inter alia; “in my eight years in office, I was able to manage poverty and achieved success, while somebody for eight years managed affluence and achieved failure”. He further claimed there was nothing to show for the spending of $16bn on the power sector by Obasanjo.

It was a hit too hard for Obasanjo to absorb, hence his negative characterisation of Babangida as a fool at 70, who should bury his head in shame.
Obasanjo’s riposte read like a script from hell. As Americans would say, the Ota farmer fired from the hip;
“ If Babangida had decided on becoming a septuagenarian, that he will be a fool, I think one should probably do what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 26, verse 4. It says “don’t answer a fool because you may also become like him.
‘When you go to the same Proverbs chapter 26, verse 5, it says, “answer a fool so that he will not think he’s a wise man’. So, I am now torn between which of the two verses I should follow in this respect.”
Not done on the issue, the former President declared that some of the allegations raised by Babangida, were unfounded.

“For instance, he talked about our energy. When I was the military head
of state, I built Jebba Dam; built Shiroro Dam, I prepared the foundation of Egbin Plant which President Shehu Shagari completed and commissioned. That time, the money we were making was not up to the money Babangida was making annually for his eight years and yet we built two dams.

“Because it was important, you know that power is the driving force for development and for any developing country. But since the building of Egbin power plant, until I came back in 1999, there was not any generating plant for almost 20 years and Babangida spent eight
years out of that. Now, he has the audacity to talk about anybody; I think that is unfortunate.”

As elected President he said; “I built Papalanto, Omotosho, others and I started another five what they called Independent Power Stations which were stopped for two and a half years. Now that the present administration has started building a new power project at Uyo, as a country, Nigeria should be adding nothing less than 1,500 megawatts annually.

“South Africa with a population of 50 million generates 50,000 mega watts. Nigeria with a population of about 165 million we are not generating. We, as at 1999 met 1,500 mega watts before we took it up to 4,000 mega watts. What we started they are now allowing it to go on. I believe if they continue with the programme that we left, in another two years, we will get to 10,000 megawatts”, he said.
On the issue of dividend of democracy, Obasanjo who is also the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP)? said Babangida? contradicted himself on the matter and wondered how one could have provided dividend of democracy and still be regretting it.

“I also read where he said in his time, he gave the dividend of democracy and at the same time he regretted. When I read that, well, I said Babangida should be pitied and shown sympathy rather than anger or condemnation because the old saying says a fool at 40 is a fool forever and I would say a regret at 70 is regret too late. Well, a regret at 70 is a regret to the grave”, he said.

The war nonetheless presented Obasanjo with an ample opportunity to say what he would have said at the Senate public hearing on the commercialisation and privatisation activities of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), had he been invited as being clamoured for by many, especially on the allegation of his complicity in the way Nigeria Airways’ was liquidated.

He insisted that there was the need to liquidate Nigeria Airways, instead of outright sale.
“Not that I attempted to block the sale of Nigeria Airways. When I was military head of state, Nigeria Airways had 32 aircrafts. By the time I came back as elected President of Nigeria, Nigeria Airways had only one aircraft.
“One of the 32 was a wide body, they have all gone and the report on which we worked is there, the amount of money we would have to pay if Nigeria Airways was sold, what we would get out of it was less than 10 per cent of the debt we will have to pay. That will be the debt Nigerian tax payers will have to pay; that will not be the way to run the affairs of this country.

“I won’t run my own affairs that way, so I opted for liquidation. So, it was bankrupt, it was liquidated; in which case, whatever you gain from liquidation which is also a form of sale, it means the burden will be shared by all the creditors and everybody. So, if I owe you 10
dollars and what I sell when I am liquidated is two.
‘That’s what you get. So, I did not allow normal privatisation or sale because it would have put very heavy burden on Nigeria. So, Nigerians should know that and in fact, my administration should be commended for that.

‘It’s not that I did not allow that sale because the law establishing it is sale and liquidation, which is also a form of sale.”
For the first time the former President challenged anybody for a debate, saying he was ready to show up at any forum to explain himself on the issue saying that, “anybody who wants me for any event, I’m available.” That is to say that the senate could as well bend backwards to invite Obasanjo and others to further throw more light on the BPE rot, now he has declared his readiness to appear at any forum. Perhaps, that is one of the instant gains Nigerians have made in the raging fireworks between him and his erstwhile friend and political acolyte.

Well, Babangida, the erstwhile infantry soldier, shortly after declared that he was not ready to engage in a media war with Obasanjo. His position may be instructive, given that Obasanjo may dig deep to include a subtle effort at giving account of his stewardship while in government at the two different periods in

Nigeria’s political evolution. Meaning that Babangida would as a matter of serial engagement of the nature, also recount his achievement s that were concretely etched, except the few highlighted, while declaring Obasanjo a failure. Obasanjo may have latched in such manifest lacuna to up the stake by listing his efforts at improving the power generation and even went as far as lamenting the retrogression that preceded his first shot at high level governance. Such responding in like manner by Babangida is capable of igniting a public debate as who between the two achieved more. No doubt this is what Nigeria wants in the circumstance.

?However, Babangida’s response was more of addressing the disdainful characterisation by Obasanjo, than attacking his claims of achievement while in office.
Speaking through his spokesman, Prince Kassim Afegbua, the toothy general said; “We have been inundated with calls from the media and our esteemed friends over comments reportedly made by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the Aremu of Ota, to the effect that General Ibrahim Babangida “is a fool at 70”. According to the report, Chief Obasanjo was said to have rolled out series of issues which he considered, in his infertile mind, to be the sins of General Babangida.
“He was reacting to earlier comments made by General Ibrahim Babangida that the Obasanjo eight years administration lacked creativity and innovation, and that given the huge resources that accrued to the Obasanjo government, Nigeria should have improved better. General IBB had stated inter alia; “in my eight years in office, I was able to manage poverty and achieved success while somebody for eight years managed affluence and achieved failure”.

“It is in response to this that the Ota farmer has decided to throw decency in the air to describe General IBB in such uncouth verbiage as a birthday message. We do not want to believe that he truly said that, but if it is true that he did say that, Nigerians know who the greatest fool is.

“It is certainly not in the tradition of General IBB, such a refined gentleman officer; to join issues with his subordinates’ and superiors, but for the price we owe history, this riposte becomes appropriate and necessary. We expected Chief Obasanjo to react to the substance of General Babangida’s submissions and not deploy this distractive strategy to shy away from the real issues at stake.

“The statistics of the government they both ran at different times, speak for them. The history of Chief Obasanjo is an open sore that is irredeemably contrived in several incongruities and contradictions. When he pleaded with IBB to be given another chance to extend his tenure, IBB was not a fool then. When he was released from prison and granted state pardon, bathed in cerebral ornaments and clothed in royal beads and later crowned as President of Nigeria, IBB was not a fool then.

“Now that he is at the extreme of his thoughts and engagements, he can decide to dress IBB in borrowed robes. But the histories of both of them, when put to public scrutiny comparatively, IBB is far glowing and instructively stands poles apart from Obasanjo. In terms of decency, finesse, class, distinction and general conduct, IBB could be described in the superlatives but for Obasanjo; God bless Nigeria.
“For a man who cannot possibly tell his true age, one may excuse his present outburst as the effusions of a witless comedian trying effortlessly to impress his

select audience. On the issue of performance, Obasanjo cannot contemplate a comparism of his conquistadorial and largely acquisitive regime that plundered our hard-earned state resources, with that of IBB government with verifiable record of achievements.

“Despite the fact that he carried out a clinical investigation of IBB’s regime, what did he establish against him? Nothing! We wish to refer Obasanjo to the National Assembly to give his own side of the story to the several revelations that have become themes of his orchestra when he held sway as President of Nigeria. Perhaps, he would be able to tell the world how he managed Nigeria’s resources during his regime.

“Chief Obasanjo should ponder on these incontrovertible facts: The revenues that accrued to former President Obasanjo during his eight years are more than those that accrued to the nation from independence till 1999 before he took over. Despite such stupendous wealth of the nation, what was his performance profile? The number of high profile deaths by assassinations and politically motivated killings during Obasanjo’s eight years is more than any other in the history of this country. Besides, is it not curious that after Obasanjo’s exit, there has not been any reported case of plane crashes?

“What was his human rights record?? The people of Odi in Bayelsa State and Zaki-Ibiam in Benue State are yet to recover from the massacre visited on them by Chief Obasanjo. Again Crude Oil sold for as much as $180 dollars per barrel for the better part of his eight years, what benefit did Nigerians derive from such excess crude? With the revelations coming from the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly, Nigerians are now coming to terms with the profligacy of the Obasanjo era.??

“Against the backdrop of the above, it is ludicrous for him to raise any intellectual debate on the achievements of the governments they ran at different times in the life of the nation. Calling IBB “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”.

Reactions.

As expected, reactions are flying with most people not expressing surprise that this day will come, but they are fervently hoping that the fight should not end anytime soon.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Afenifere Renewal Group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, who is also General Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, has pleaded with Nigerians not to intervene in the current face off between two former military Presidents.
Odumakin said the two elders should be allowed to dance naked for the whole world to see.
Odumakin while reacting to the diatribe, said that the masses of this country would soon start to enjoy as those that have held them down are now at each other’s throat.

“They should be allowed to dance naked. It means Nigeria will soon be better. Those that put us in trouble are now at each other’s throat. It is a good development and it is a sign of good things to come,” Odumakin said.
However, opposition political parties are not forth coming and have opted to keep mum over the face-off between the two former leaders, who are chieftains of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
Some leaders of the opposition political parties were of the opinion that the quarrel between the two had no direct bearing with their respective political platforms.

The two parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (APGA) however, maintained that they would study events as they unfold with a view to issuing a coordinated response at the appropriate time’.
Speaking for ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said his party would not make what he termed premature comments at this time, but in any case the party, he added is studying the situation carefully.

“I am sorry, we cannot make any comment on the issue at this time, currently, the situation has no direct bearing on our party and the nation. Well, we are watching the situation and we will make our comments at the appropriate time.” Mohammed on behalf of his party said.
On his part, the National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh said the situation has not warranted the intervention of the party now, but maintained that the two would settle their misunderstanding in due course.
Like Mohammed, he stated APGA would make its position known when the time is appropriate. “Our party is watching events as they unfold. What is it about the two people that you want me to say now that I have not said before.? For instance, I have granted series of interviews on my view on former President Obasanjo.

The two are elderly people who are quarrelling, they will soon sort themselves out, but in case they don’t, our party would make its position known at the right time,” he assured.
With the reactions so far, the people seem to be urging for more brickbat and open fight, praying not to have an early ceasefire. The reaction underscores their high unpopularity and the disdain with which a large segment of the Nigerian society holds them. If no other thing, the war no matter its true intention serves as a mirror now made available for both to guage their acceptability among Nigerians.

The danger however, is that the war, as it were, must remain at the personal level, otherwise it could assume political dimensions that could negatively influence political activities in the run up to the 2015 general elections. For now, Nigerians are only hoping that the feud would open a vista for thorough stock-taking and score card of each of the leaders, rather than name calling that has nothing to do with the issues at stake, which is all about service delivery, while they both presided over the affairs of state.
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