It was a convergence of “who is who” in the political scene when former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently celebrated his 79th birthday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The birthday ceremony, which had in attendance representatives of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Segun Oni, deputy chairman, South and opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led by Godswill Akpabio, Senate minority leader, among other dignitaries home and abroad, was the first official event to be hosted by the former president after a change of baton in the country last year.
Although, the theme of the event was “Human Security, Violent Extremism and Radicalisation: Seeking Sustainable Solutions” as well as the launch of Centre for Human Security Endowment Fund to be located inside the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) in Abeokuta, the former president had opportunities to respond to series of issues trailing his personality and decisions in and outside Aso Rock.
According to Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers State and minister of transportation, who was the first to talk about Obasanjo on the podium, was able to express the mind of many Nigerians about Obasanjo’s personality, countenance, gait, posture, decisions and policies as president and out of government, saying though the former president is ‘wowo’ (ugly looking) as expressed by Nigerians, he however, agreed that the elder statesman was the best person to have been produced in Nigeria and Africa.
He said: “Nigerians agreed that you love Nigeria and I have never seen a Nigerian that disagrees that you love Nigeria. So, they believe that at all times you want to save Nigeria and that is where the disagreement starts.
“As you want to save Nigeria, areas you may take a decision, some will support, others will not support. I think Nigerians will agree that you’ve made a lot of infrastructural contributions to the development of Nigeria. Until recently, during the Military regime you served first, a lot of the assets Nigeria had, if they mentioned the names, they will mention your name.
“Anytime you are out of government and you withdraw, crises come, you come back to the scene to help out and to ensure that we are not destroyed as a country and because of those roles, Nigerians have continuously prayed for you.”
But Godswill Akpabio, former governor of Akwa Ibom State and Senate minority leader, declared that Akwa Ibom would have remained the same and under-developed if Obasanjo had not allowed his governorship candidature in 2007 as powerful political cabals at that time in the state would have truncated his chance of becoming governor.
Akpabio, who spoke with visible emotions, said that it took extraordinary efforts of the former president to critically appraise host of aspirants and candidates in the PDP and finally separated grain from chaff, using influence and political power to chance political rhythm in the state and upgraded Akwa Ibom state to “a land of uncommon transformation.”
He stated that though he was contesting in the same party with very powerful and influential politicians back in the state, the quick intervention of Obasanjo changed the political rhythm and facilitated the emergence of underdog, Akpabio as the executive governor after serious contests, bringing out a political decision, which he said, helped transform Akwa Ibom State for better.
He said: “I think all of us are in one accord that the man (Obasanjo) is a nationalist and he remains the President of Nigeria forever. What you don’t know is that in my state, Obasanjo remains the man of justice in the annal of our history. When I was about to contest for the governorship with some powerful politicians, I didn’t know anybody in the Aso Rock, except the gateman.
“I only knew the gateman because he was from Akwa Ibom State, but I was contesting with the former ministers, people from NNPC and some very influential people, but immediately I saw Baba Obasanjo through the gateman, he spoke with me and assessed me as well as the other contestants and stood for justice, that was why I became the governor of Akwa Ibom.
“It was through him (Obasanjo) that I transformed Akwa Ibom State; this is a place where you will see a 70km road with a pothole and you also see an Airport with the best and longest runway with the best lighting system like that of Heathrow in England. Through Obasanjo, we have done a lot for Akwa Ibom and we now tag our state, land of uncommon transformation.
“We are forever indebted to him and I want to say that government and the people of Akwa Ibom State, will be grateful forever for what Obasanjo did for us through me.”
For Segun Oni, deputy chairman (South) of APC, who led other members and chieftains of the party, including Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State; Ogbonnaya Onu, minister of Science and Technology and Rotimi Amaechi, Liyel Imoke, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, there was little to say about the former president, having adopted them as new bride in the aftermath of 2015 general election which ushered in President Muhammadu Buhari, but all attested to the roles and instrumentality of the former president.
Another interesting drama at the event was the donation of N25 million to the actualisation of Centre for Human Security Endowment Fund which was done by estranged ally and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar whom the former president fought tooth and nail, truncating his ambition to succeed him back in 2007, but rather supported the candidature of his family friend, Umar Musa Yar’dua as well as Goodluck Jonathan. The donation was warmly received at the gathering, in addition to that of the lotto guru, Adebutu Kessington, who handed over a donation of N24,999,999 to the project.
Giving broad response to the issues raised at the event, the celebrant spoke on various issues, ranging from his personal life, decisions taken while in Aso Rock as president, including the appointment and disengagement of Nuhu Ribadu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Obasanjo said, “A friend told me that God created you on a Saturday and God’s working time was from 8 – 12:30 and God started creating you at 8 0’clock and spent all the time on your brain and your head until He looked at his watch and it was 12 0’clock and said, I have spent a lot of time on this man’s brain but I have no time to really work on his body.
”So, he quickly finished me up and quickly put me in the oven and I got partly burnt and that really convinced me that I must be ‘wowo’ (badly looking and ugly) small, if not big.
“Yesterday (Friday) we had a colloquium and it was great, on ‘Human Security, Violent Extremism and Radicalisation: Seeking Sustainable Soutions’ and it is an issue of global dimension, we have had our own bit of it and we are getting up our hand that we are not there yet.
“And the world is interested on what can be done to stem the tide and I think what we did yesterday, we made our own contribution in a way that we believe will serve our country, serve our sub-region, West Africa, our region of Africa and indeed the World we leave in.”
Obasanjo further said: “Yesterday (Friday), I summarised that the solution lies in six areas- at home, in the community, in the Church/Mosque, in the schools/colleges, in the state -local, state and Federal Government and in the international community, at each of these, we do things that we should not do and we leave undone what we should do.”
On the role of the EFCC under Nuhu Ribadu, Obasanjo said: “Honestly, when Nuhu was handling EFCC, he handled it in such a way that people coined the saying that ‘the beginning of wisdom is the fear of Nuhu Ribadu’ and then the thing you will ask is how did we go down? How did we lose that?”
“Akpabio has told part of the story here, I believe on no account should anybody allow injustice to be heaped on any human being and your case was the case of injustice and since I cannot comprehend injustice, I stood on the side of justice.
“Rotimi’s case is slightly different, his case had K-leg but he himself took it upon himself to strengthen the K-leg and when he straightened it, I abide by the straightened K-leg,” he explained.
For Governor Amosun, government and the people of Ogun State would celebrate the elder statesman next year when Obasanjo will clock 80 years, saying the state government would roll out drums and form processions on the streets in Abeokuta, the state capital, to move round, singing and eulogising the good virtues of the former president.
RAZAQ AYINLA
