Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello has nothing to fear under this government

The fall of General Olusegun Obasanjo from grace to disgrace is one of the greatest mysteries of life. For eight solid years, this incredibly lucky man played God as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It was a sad irony that a man who was vehemently opposed to an Abiola Presidency would emerge as the greatest beneficiary of his supreme sacrifice. Nigerians in their wisdom, or foolishness, had reasoned that the death of Abiola in prison had to be compensated, and assuaged, by allowing a fellow Yoruba, and a man from the same Egba tribe, to take his place.
Members of the Military Mafia, who had aborted the best election ever held in Nigeria, could not find a better candidate than Obasanjo. They practically begged Obasanjo to accept the job. Unknown to them, the farmer had his own agenda. The tell-tale signs appeared as soon as he was sworn in on May 29, 1999. The man simply refused to acknowledge the great sacrifice made by some Nigerians, especially Chief Abiola whose mandate had been cruelly murdered by members of the privilegentsia.
[b]Obasanjo had arrogated to himself the wisdom of Solomon, and it seemed he had answers to all problems. For the first four years, he employed Maradonic tactics to stay afloat in power. He even gave the impression that the man in charge was his Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Abubakar himself had openly nursed the ambition of succeeding his boss, and even attempted a civilian coup by attempting to stop the second term bid of General Olusegun Obasanjo. From that moment on, Obasanjo went berserk, and lost focus completely. He turned governance into an art of war, and vengeance. It was around this time that the war against corruption became the Gospel according to Saint Matthew Obasanjo. He fired bullets in all directions, not minding who was hit. The more we looked, the more it seemed the anti-corruption crusade was designed to harass, intimidate, and frustrate the opponents of the third term bid, and in particular the supporters, and would-be sponsors, of the Presidential ambition of Atiku Abubakar.
The friends of Obasanjo, and members of his family, were never touched by the dreaded operatives of the anti-corruption crusade. The usual refrain was that there was no evidence linking the First Family to corruption, when indeed they swam in it[/b].
It is such a big shame that the rabid apostles of the anti-corruption czar at the time are yet to ask the pertinent question, where was he when all the ugly revelations now jumping out were being perpetrated by a man who sermonized like the Pope. Is it not obvious that the war was a monumental fraud which was never designed to succeed in truth, and in reality. What was in operation was indeed a reversed psychology: shout on the roof tops that others are thieves when indeed you are the hardened criminal.
As if that was not bad enough, he nursed a hidden ambition of changing the Constitution of Nigeria, which would have made it possible for him to rule Nigeria for a record third term, plus the three years he had spent as Military Head of State. Obasanjo and his acolytes went on rampage, and flooded the city of Abuja with bags and bags, and bullion upon bullion vans, of money, which were distributed to legislators who were ready to sell Nigeria to the highest bidder. Yet Obasanjo publicly denied ever nursing the ambition of a third term, when it was pretty apparent that he desperately craved it. This was another major fraud on its own because only God knows how much was wasted on this terrible misadventure. The lie was told with a bold face that was so unrepentant about the possible turmoil, and conflagration, that the daring bid could have thrown up in our already over-heated polity.
Once the bid failed, the next thing to do for Obasanjo was to start shopping for figure heads, one of whom was expected to take over from him, and protect his dirty deals while in power. He succeeded in selling dummies to so many ambitious policicians who saw themselves as natural successors to the combustive President. They included Ahmed Markafi, Abdullahi Adamu, Peter Odili, Adamu Muazu, Donald Duke (a young, charming and dashing politician who had shown so much hope and promise and style as Governor of Cross River State), Nasir El Rufai who was well advertised as an Obasanjo acolyte, and several others like Ibrahim Babangida, Aliyu Gusau, and Buba Marwa.
There were others who nurtured the dream of being the President of Nigeria. In this category were Mohammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar. Obasanjo did not waste time in hounding some of them with security operatives. Odili. For example was forced to forgo his ambition when he was reminded that EFCC was hovering in the wings to pounce on him for alleged corruption. The man swallowed his pride and gave up his ambition, after working so hard. He also hoped for the post of Vice President but at the last minute, that hope also evaporated. Ibrahim Babangida had raw pepper rubbed on his face when his dear son, The Great Prophet was arrested by EFCC, and promptly locked up until an impeccable guarantee was received from his dad that he was no longer interested in ruling Nigeria. EFCC is yet to tell the Nigerian public the outcome of their investigations. Another potential candidate, The Great Prophet Buba Marwa was kicked around until he also dumped his ambition.
As for Atiku Abubakar, an indictment was cooked for him, and he was kept completely busy, and distracted from his mission. In the middle of this, an interesting umpire, Maurice Iwu, was brought in to supervise the elections. He was clearly his master’s voice as he swallowed every nonsense given him by Obasanjo and his troublesome disciples. And bizarre interpretations were given to our laws by Iwu and his band of chorus singers. Obasanjo himself assumed the role of the father of the nation. Suddenly we began to hear tales of a special arrangement that would throw up a very perfect candidate for Obasanjo. The man turned out to be Umaru Musa Yar’Dua. The joker seemed perfect as it was bound to dilute the influence of Atiku Abubakar within the Yar’Adua political family.
According to insiders, Obasanjo called on a few rich Governors to bankroll the campaigns of Yar’Adua, without thinking of the source of their wealth. The funds poured in, and Obasanjo left his job in Abuja to travel everywhere to campaign for his hand-picked candidate. Everything seemed all wrapped up, and as expected Yar’Adua won the election with a very comfortable lead. The whole world screamed blue murder at the less than transparent way the election was conducted. Against all protests, Obasanjo went ahead to arrange the swearing-in ceremony for his anointed man, while the grumblers were allowed their days in the law courts. And they are still very busy till today.
But the main news is that against all forecast, things are falling apart within the ruling party. If Obasanjo thought he was going to be protected by his handpicked successor, he apparently miscalculated. Even the EFCC which he used in the past to terrorize his opponents has now turned the heat against him and his family, in a twist of fate. It is the way the cookie crumbles. He has so far treated the anti-corruption agency with utter contempt, and disdain, thus giving the impression that he’s above the law of the land. My thesis is that even if he’s allowed to get away with it, the shroud has been lifted from the dead, and the masquerade is now being paraded naked in the market place. His utter hypocrisy has been exposed, and he may never have the chance to sermonize to us like he used to do with such impudence in the past. He would no longer be able to sit in judgment over fellow sinners.
[b]I was shocked to read the lamentations of Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello who’s now accusing EFCC of harassing her life. Where was she when The Great Prophet Abacha was put behind bars on allegations of corruption? Where was she when Abba Abacha was arrested abroad for the money allegedly stolen by his family? Where was she when democratically-elected Governors were impeached in the middle of the night by some hand-picked legislators who acted under apparent duress? Where was she when The Great Prophet Babangida was arrested and detained, apparently to discourage his father from joining the Presidential race?
Where was Iyabo when her father’s best friend, Otunba Johnson Fashawe was handcuffed like a common felon, ostensibly to punish him for being too close to Atiku Abubakar? Where was she when Dr Mike Adenuga was chased out of town on trumped up charges after her father had publicly collected N250 Million for his so-called Presidential library from the same man? Where was she when Ishaya Bamaiyi was permanently kept behind bars, without a conviction for the eight years that her father ruled Nigeria? Where was she when her father and his goons ruined so many family businesses for no justifiable reasons other than a meanness of the worst kind? Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello has nothing to fear under this government. All she has to do is keep her appointment with EFCC and Nigerians will defend her if they believe she’s being unnecessarily maligned and harassed.
This cannot be the best of times of times for General Obasanjo. His case is like that of a striker who dribbled the ball into his own net.[/b]
He may continue to pretend that all is well with him and his household, and that he’s not bothered about the spate of terrible allegations against his public and private conduct. Fine.
But he should remember how monkeys are captured in Brazil. According to James Hadley Chase, a nut is put in a bottle, and the bottle is tied to a tree. The monkey comes and puts its paw inside the bottle to grab the nut. But the neck of the bottle is too narrow for the monkey to withdraw its paw and the nut. You’ll think the monkey would let go of the nut, but it is too greedy, it never does, and it gets caught!
Such is the case of Obasanjo who’s yet to see the handwriting on the wall, and is holding tight to the post of Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees, when commonsense dictates that he should show some remorse, and plead for mercy, from the almighty, who’s the only One capable of forgiving all transgressions

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