2019: Before Obasanjo dribbles the Agbakobas

Published exchange of political letters between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) may not be enough art yet to find their mind’s construction in the face at this time. Butthe exchange is quite instructive and didactic.

The point at issue here is that Chief Obasanjo last week
Asked Olisa Agbakoba, an eminent lawyer and human rights activist, to purge himself of passivity and get ready for leadership in the country. The former president conveyed this clear message in a letter he wrote in response to an earlier one by Agbakoba.
In a letter dated July 20, Agbakoba expressed concern to the General about the quality of leadership in the country and called for the mantle of leadership to be transferred to the vibrant youth.

The veteran lawyer in the letter quoted an iconic scholar, Chinua Achebe who had in 1983 noted in a little book that,“the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership”. And so he blamed the country’s lack of progress on successive leadership that has outlived its usefulness and effectiveness as a result of old age.

Agbakoba, who also cited the like of the same Obasanjo, the late Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello stated that, “modern history of Nigeria was shaped by young people.”He, therefore, called on the intervention of the elder statesman to help Nigeria discover its own “Macron and Trudeau”. Part of his words to Obasanjo:

“It beggars belief that there is no culture among our political elite, to encourage younger people with new ideas to aspire to positions of leadership, in particular the office of the President…Your Excellency was 39 years when you became head of state. Zik was 40 when he founded the NCNC. Awolowo was 43 when he became premier of western region. Ahmadu Bello was 40 when he co-founded the NPC. Ojukwu and Gowon were in their 30’s when they took centre stage in Nigerian politics…

“It seems to me a great contradiction that after a young vibrant set of leaders got Nigeria off the ground in the early 60’s, Nigeria has steadily descended into chaos and is probably now ranked as one of the most ungovernable countries in the world.”

But Obasanjo, in his curt reply, said though he shared some of the sentiments expressed by Agbakoba, the senior advocate should understand that political leaders in his generation made “great efforts with determination, commitment, broad national outlook” to shoulder their responsibilities.He said some of them were thrown into limelight by circumstances not of their own making but were able to record varying degrees of successes. The former leader said, however, that it is saddening that the younger generation, “have in most cases resorted to work avoidance in the quest for leadership”.“The point to ponder is how have the successor generation positioned themselves to lead?” Obasanjo asked.

“Most members of the younger generation of Nigerians are mostly contented with waiting for dead men’s shoes and are unwilling to beat an alternative path to leadership.“In such a situation, it is to be expected and actually it is human that those with some head start in life will not concede such advantages freely and based on their innate goodness.

“Some of these young people whose interest we canvass, have in the recent past, been a complete disappointment and failures in their various appointed or elected positions.

“So while these failed young men and women should not be a disincentive to support other young people, I don’t think that the older people should be excluded in our leadership recruitment process.

“For me if I find young men and women who have shown profound commitment and exemplary integrity in their various chosen careers and professions as well as zeal for the service of our fatherland, I will, of course, give such both my support and inspiration, not withstanding their age, circumstances or place of birth.

“Late Chief Awolowo and great Zik were younger than you when they threw their hats in the ring. It’s time to take the hard road. Olisa, it’s time to jump down from the fence and the siddon look corner.”

The exchange between two members of the old and new setups in the polity is a warning signal that project 2019is not likely to be an easy passage for Nigeria’s traditional rulers and kingmakers. The debate and the battle between the “soldiers of fortune” (as Max Siollun calls them) who have been in charge of political recruitment and the hitherto complacent and complicit majority have begun. It is also important for the traditional kingmakers here to note that even the young ones we claim may have missed golden opportunity of learning history have been reading stories of past rulers that have ruled and ruined their country, thanks to citizen journalism.Yes, citizen journalism, a digital genre that ruthless, wealthy tyrants and scoundrels cannot suppress. As Victor Hugo would have said of that kind of force, citizen journalism, is now an idea whose time has come. And so all the political soldiers in the world cannot repel it at the moment. Let no one, therefore be deceived into believing that the young ones are unaware of the identity of the political leaders and dealers that have looted and underdeveloped their country.

And as we, the older ones carelessly lost our mojo and dozed off when the raiders and election riggers had always organised themselves, the younger ones are daily vowing to be more vigilant. We have always remained complacent while the wicked political classwould be rigging elections and buying judgments at election tribunals to acquire dubious mandates they use only to loot the treasury with all their strength. The young ones who will be encouraged by Agbakoba’s wakeup call are saying, ‘Enough is enough! ‘We will keep vigil for the health of democracy and development’ this time.

That is why former President Obasanjo’s response to Agbakoba’s timely solicitation should not be ignored. And the reasons are not too far to seek. Obasanjo has become one of the issues in Nigerian politics and political recruitments. Some Pentecostal radicals would say the man is one of Nigeria’s “principalities and powers”. He can’t be an innocent bystander. He is a member of the class of 1966 that has been in charge of political leadershipof this country for the past 51 years. He is always restless and restive about leadership in Nigeriahe has ruled Nigeria for 11 years. We will ask him for his testimony and stewardship before he flies away – not today, anyway.

As for Agbakoba, there are cogent reasons too to pay attention to his actions. He is one of the significant elders that most concerned citizens can look up to at this time. He has been a remarkable civil society activist, a reputable lawyer and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association. It is curious that he is not one of the old Justices of even the Supreme Court. He has a lot of well-researched blueprints including how the maritime industry could be a more reliable revenue earner than oil and gas industry in the country. No one pays attention to that.So, it is not simplistic to claim anywhere that Olisa Agbakoba, founder of Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) is an icon when it comes to considering critical success factors for restoration of democracy in Nigeria 18 years ago. In the same vein, Obasanjo’s interventions cannot be ignored. He is one of those we will ask to explain why he and his contemporaries allowed the rains to beat us for so long. We are now down and almost out. There are so many questions to ask the elder statesman at this time: The constitution the military tacticians (he is one of them) gave us through him in 1999 has become a source of noise and revolt. The political parties created they always use to recruit public officers have become leprous.

The National Assembly, unarguably the most veritable symbol of democracy has become an emblem of graft and shame. The judiciary hitherto known as the “last hope of the common man”has suddenly become embarrassingly unreliable. The presidency’s engine room has become so sickly that even the chief engineer, the secretary to the government of the federation, has been suspended 0n allegation of corruption. What is worse, critical infrastructure, portable water, road networks, mass transit system, etcthat local governments provide elsewhere are virtually non-existent here – after trillions spent. Healthcare? The president has been receiving treatment abroad. He returned home only yesterday after more than 100 days. Education quality? All our leaders always go abroad for graduation of their wards because they have destroyed the education system that used to be part of the best in global context.

That is whywe need to stop agonising and start organising good men and women for project 2019. If we doze off again, we will have ourselves to blame. We should swallow our pride and vanity, organize good men and women who have capacity, integrity and discipline of execution to fix Nigeria’s broken walls. We should listen to Plato who warned along ago that, “The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men”.

All told, I recommend these few lines attributed online the other day to a good governance advocate, OlukayodeSalako:
We keep complaining and lamenting that we don’t like the way these people run Nigeria. We keep complaining Tinubu is an impostor; Atiku is corrupt; Fayose is behaving like a barbarian; Saraki has pocketed Kwara State; Babangida is a thief; Obasanjo is one of the problems of Nigeria; Aregbe is a religious fundamentalist; Elrufai is egocentric et cetera. But, when these people form new political parties, that iswhere all of us want to play politics and channel our votes. So, who is now the problem? The people of Nigeria or the people we are complaining about….

You don’t expect someone to create a political party; register it with his money and the name he likes; keeps running and building it with his money and efforts, and when it is time for elections, you now say he should sit down and you want to do everything without his influence and input… If Nigerians really want an ideal democratic movement where they could enjoy ideal democratic rights in line with ideal democratic principles, then they should do well to form one…. That is a clincher.

We will continue next week to build on this paradigm shift but let me call on all the good people who are as concerned as the good man, Agbakoba to brace up to take up leadership at any levels as the last man standing for One Nigeria has suggested, lest we will blame the same Obasanjo and his allied political forces after the 2019 elections.