Obasanjo maybe our Best President Ever

Have you noticed that since Obj left office we have retrogressed to sectarian politics?

Do you know that if Obj was still in Office there would be no Boko Haram?

Obj abandoned Bakassi peninsula to keep the Ibos and co in Nigeria. The man is committed to our Oneness!

Have you noticed the respect Obj commands on The Continent? Now to the world??

Do you know that because Obj and Gadaffi have left office the African Central Bank is dead in the Water?

And the continent is weaker?

DID OBJ PLAN FAROUKGATE? READ: FAROUKGATE: SHOW US THE MONEY: https://www.nairaland.com/1398859/faroukgate-show-us-money

nonsense!



[size=18pt]GENERAL OLUSEGUN OBASANJO: A MONSTER AS STATESMAN[/size]



Sometime in the evening of Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building of the London School of Economics, London , England the crème de la crème of the international community will once again be gathered to listen to the ostensible wisdom of an African statesman. But this man, General Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former president and presently the UN Secretary-General’s peace envoy in the Congo is no statesman. He’s an animal called man, a corrupt and treacherous monster soaked deep in the blood of innocent Nigerians.



As a human being, Obasanjo has had some of the rarest opportunities in public service anybody could get anywhere, which ordinarily should have been a springboard for great things were he someone with an iota of humanity or decency. After a total of eleven years as the head of state and president of Nigeria , the man is only remembered today in Nigeria as a crude, corrupt, lecherous and bloodthirsty tyrant who masqueraded as a democrat and sought at all cost to always impose his perverse will on the nation, even where it is clearly detrimental to national interest.



Before May 1999 when Obasanjo was sworn in as the civilian president of Nigeria , he has had a history of public service at the highest level also as a military head of state between 1976 and 1979. His singular act of handing over government to an elected civilian government in October 1979 was seemingly enough for Nigerians and the international community to forgive him of his atrocities as military head of state. Some of those atrocities include the setting up of the notorious secret detention centre in the island of Ita-Oko, the killing of Nigerian university students in cold blood and the invasion and razing of the home and business premises of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the late iconic Nigerian musician who was an ardent critic of his military government.



Obasanjo transmutation into a pretend statesman after his military career saw him set up the African Leadership Forum at Ota , Nigeria from where he talked glibly about democratic reform in Africa . But when in 1993, he was presented with an opportunity to back up his talk with action with the June 12 elections, he, not for the first time, shocked the nation with his support for the annulment of the election. He viciously attacked Chief MKO Abiola, the man elected president in the election, despite the fact that the national and international communities overwhelmingly declared the election the freest and fairest in Nigeria’s history. In open desperation, Obasanjo was soon in cahoots with his military friends setting up all sorts of anti-democratic political contraptions to negate the people’s mandate.



Obasanjo and his military friends presided over the succeeding locust years until he fell out of favour with General Sani Abacha, the then head of the military junta who jailed him on coup-plotting charges against his government in 1995. This act by the odious Abacha invariably rehabilitated Obasanjo in the eyes of Nigerians and the international community as efforts were made to first commute the sentence passed on him and then get him out of jail. Thus, in June 1998, as Obasanjo walked out of prison preaching Christ and publishing a book titled, This Animal Called Man (a psycho-analytical study of the nature of human-induced evil from the Christian perspective), Nigerians and the international community felt he’d finally learnt his lessons and found God. No sooner after he was rewarded with the presidency of the country in May 1999, he began once again to show his true colour as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.



Seven months after taking over as civilian president, Obasanjo ordered the military invasion of a community in the Niger-Delta in a vain attempt to send the message to the creeks that his government would not tolerate any agitation for fair distribution of the oil wealth irresponsible exploitation of the valuable resource in the area. Obasanjo’s army razed the whole town of Odi to the ground and killed everyone in sight. The massacre had the world in outrage; but, typically, Obasanjo ignored the cries. Just to make sure the message was heard loud and clear, Obasanjo followed up with more massacres in Choba, Igwuruta, Biogbolo and other places in the Niger-Delta.



By these actions, he succeeded in transforming the essentially non-violent agitation for equity, justice and fairness in the region into a full-blown war needing the permanent location of a huge military taskforce in the area, perennial attacks against communities and running battles between the soldiers and the militants, some of whom are the same criminal elements Obasanjo armed to intimidate his political opponents and rig elections for his party, the PDP. It is in this light we must see last year’s visit of President Umaru Yar’Adua who came to ask Downing Street for military assistance to fight the militants, indicating how escalated the problem has now become. The world may not know it, but the seeds of the present crisis were firmly sown by Obasanjo.



Less than two years after Odi, between Monday October 22 to Wednesday October 24, 2001, Obasanjo repeated the same atrocity in the central Nigerian state of Benue where he sent in his murderous soldiers to kill and burn down the communities of Zaki Biam, Vaase, Agbayin, Gbeji, Sankara and several others ostensibly for the killing of some soldiers. Amnesty International described what happened there as “a killing spree” and appropriately advised that rather than seeking to deny, minimize or justify these extrajudicial executions, “the government of Nigeria must...condemn the killings publicly and make it clear that those responsible will be held accountable”.



When Human Rights Watch wrote its report on the massacres, Obasanjo boasted that he “dismissed the report with the contempt it deserves”. He went on in an interview with the Financial Times of April 9, 2002 to justify sending the soldiers on that mission and supported their action by declaring that when you send in soldiers, “they do not go on a picnic”, proclaiming that “in human nature, reaction is always more than the action”. A few weeks after the killings, Obasanjo was being welcomed by President George W Bush in the White House. At a joint press conference in the Rose Garden, Obasanjo unashamedly defended his actions before a shocked world.



From Kano to Kaduna to Jos, Obasanjo’s tenure witnessed the bloodiest peacetime inter-communal clashes in Nigeria . As strong suspicions grew that these clashes were instigated mainly by members of the new political class, especially top members of Obasanjo-led PDP, Obasanjo himself came out to claim he knew those sponsoring the mayhem. But the nation waited forlornly and hopelessly for him to name or institute prosecution against these people. Despite the thousands of lives senselessly lost in these carnages, not one single person has been prosecuted or convicted. Barely three years into his first 4-yeartenure, Obasanjo was asked how he felt about the fact that more than10,000 Nigerians have lost their lives through these politically instigated communal clashes on CNN (aired September 17, 2002) and his response was to imply that 10,000 people dying in a population of over 120 million shouldn’t be a big deal!



While political assassination perforated the reign of General Sani Abacha and largely accounted for the contempt in which he was held worldwide, Obasanjo surpassed the morbid record of the Goggled One in this regard, not only by the sheer number or the manner of their death, but also in the calibre of people that were assassinated. Still western leaders were falling over themselves to welcome him to their capitals, making him a fixture in high level conferences discussing African developmental needs.



Two days before Christmas in 2001, Bola Ige, a political rival to Obasanjo but at the time an uneasy ally, who held the important portfolio of Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in Obasanjo’s cabinet, was gunned down in broad daylight in his own home in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. In a macabre dance of the absurd, Ige’s death was played out in the full glare of the nation. But his blood was still warm when Obasanjo and his party rewarded those strongly suspected of his murder with political power.



On March 5, 2003, Dr Marshall Harry, who used to belong to Obasanjo’s party, but who defected to the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and posed a great obstacle to Obasanjo’s agenda in the South-south region as vice chairman of his new party kissed the dust. The man was murdered in his own home in Abuja in circumstances that suggested the involvement of highly trained assassins with military background. The killers stayed for almost two hours in the house trying to get the man, who at a point came out on his balcony to cry for help while the men battered his reinforced door and cut through his ceiling. His house was just a few meters from the Police Command of the Federal Capital Territory , yet no help came.



On Feb 6, 2004, Harry’s kinsman, Aminosoari Dikibo, a national vice chairman of Obasanjo’s party was shot dead on his way to a zonal meeting of his party in Asaba. At the time, he belonged to a rival faction to Obasanjo within the party, was seriously opposed to his meddling in Anambra State and openly supported the Obasanjo-embattled Chris Ngige. Two days after the man’s death, before the police could say anything, Obasanjo peremptorily informed the nation that Dikibo was killed by armed-robbers. This was despite the fact that those who killed the man on the road did not take any valuable or money from him. Of course, Obasanjo’s claim was met with national uproar and suspicion. How did he know Dikibo was killed by armed-robbers that soon when the police were yet to come up with anything? Why is he pointing to that direction if not to divert attention from the real source(s) of the man’s death? Like Ige and Harry, Funsho Williams, PDP’s front-runner for the Lagos State governorship slot met his death in the hands of daring assassins in his own home on July 27, 2006. They came in, tied him up, brutalized, stabbed and strangled him.

Apart from the above, we had the cases of Alabi Hassan-Olajokun, a financier of the Alliance for Democracy in the western states; Dr Ayodeji Daramola, a governorship aspirant in Ekiti State; the activist pilot, Jerry Agbeyegbe; the fiery journalist, Godwin Agbroko; Andrew Agom, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees; Jesse Aruku, a governorship aspirant in Plateau State; Ahmed Pategi, PDP Chairman in Kwara State, Ogbonnaya Uche, ANPP senatorial candidate for Orlu and many more.

In all these cases, the killers made sure they left no one in doubt that these were political murders meant to send a message to certain other elements within the system committed to serious democratic party politics. Indeed, there are those who believe the murders were not unconnected with Obasanjo’s self-perpetuation agenda, as, by this time, his pet “Third Term” project was already in full swing. Curiously, since his Third Term plan was shot down by Nigerians, the political assassinations have stopped as well. Needless to say, these murders remain unresolved till this day. Prof Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Laureate said it best when he described Obasanjo-led PDP as “a nest of killers”.

Not surprisingly, such a regime couldn’t have been sustained without massive corruption, which he spearheaded even as president. Obasanjo’s way of fighting democratic battles within the National Assembly was through massive bribery. For instance, when in 2002, there was uproar for his impeachment following the massacres at Odi, Zaki Biam and so on(amongst 16 other charges), he used money to buy over the legislator sand made sure they didn’t get the needed numbers. At one point, Obasanjo’s bribe money was displayed on the floor of the National Assembly publicly.

Indeed, Obasanjo’s well-known corrupt dealings are legion and it would be a boldfaced lie for those who parade him within the international community today as a worthy statesman to claim they have no idea. The series of revelations of the huge corrupt dealings that pervaded the comatose power sector throughout Obasanjo’s tenure have his imprints all over them. In March 2008, the National Assembly indicted him for supposedly spending $2.2 billion on power without due process. The Transcorp shares, the Obasanjo Library Fund, the COJA contracts, the PTDF scandal, the Siemens bribe scandal, the oil contracts and oil wells allocation done directly by Obasanjo who also doubled as Petroleum Resources minister are all tips of the iceberg. Obasanjo ran Nigeria aground and, when it was obvious to him that his Third Term bid has failed, he vengefully imposed on the nation the seriously sick brother of his late friend, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua as president.

For Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua is the pliable tool he needed to make his getaway. He ensured that the election that brought him in was the worst in the nation’s history. He introduced the principle of “do or die” politics and used the security forces and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to intimidate anyone in the way of his designs. Indeed, he personally supervised the maiming, killing and sheer robbery that ensured Yar’Adua was put there. Nigerians today still groan under Obasanjo’s dastard legacy. The term ‘failed leader’ cannot begin to do justice enough to his legacy, yet those who direct affairs of the international community continue to embrace him as some kind of African messiah, pushing him in the forefront of anything Africa. Today, they have inflicted him on the Congo – a man whose legacy of death, mayhem and spectacular failure has knocked Nigeria into comatose is being depended on to provide a pathway to peace in the Congo ! Talk about pie in the flaming sky!



The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the international community who are entrusting Obasanjo with the task of bringing peace to the Congo are perhaps seduced by his glib talk. They probably think as one of the oldest and longest serving former ruler of an important African country and a former military leader who as a young officer served in Congo, he would command more respect from the warring factions there. Well, all they need to jolt them to reality is to think of Liberia. Obasanjo’s policies in Liberia made things worse by enabling his genocidal friend, Charles Taylor, who, when the international community finally decided enough was enough, found refuge in Obasanjo’s abode. The man had to be virtually prised away from his hands to stand trial for crimes against humanity. No one should be surprised. What bind them are not only cheap Liberian women, they are kindred spirits who hunt and kill innocents together!



Lastly, it’s important that the world should get an idea of the kind of father Obasanjo is. Just as Nigerians ushered in the New Year in 2008, they were greeted with the shocking and debasing news that Gbenga Obasanjo, the ex-president’s own son, has accused his father of having sexual relations with his wife, Mojishola Obasanjo. The younger Obasanjo was stating this in court papers, asking for the dissolution of the marriage. A nonplussed nation waited for general Obasanjo to deny this publicly. He didn’t, neither did the lady. Gbenga insisted: “I know for a fact that my father had sexual relationship with Moji due to her greed to curry favour and contracts from him in his capacity as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” The divorce was granted on those grounds and its now there in public record that General Olusegun Obasanjo, who has a reputation as a lecherous man of insatiable sexual appetite, slept with his son’s wife!



The Nigeria Liberty Forum considers it a public duty to stop people like Obasanjo representing Africa anywhere, because he represents the same failed face of Africa .We cannot afford for different versions of Mobutu, Idi Amin, Bokassa, Conteh, Marcias Nguema and their ilk representing us at a time the world is yearning for genuine leadership. Obasanjo has the traits of the worst tyrants in Africa, but he seems to have the international community under his spell. They overlook his indiscretions and scandalous crimes and shower him with credibility when he should be cooling his heels in jail or hiding away in one remote corner of the world, far, far from civilization!



Not too curiously, the increasingly retrogressive authorities of the London School of Economics have equally fallen under his spell. They have since revoked all accreditations given to press men for the event and have requested that the Nigeria Liberty Forum pass whatever message it has through them to Obasanjo, all in an attempt to keep the public away. Well, it’s not going to happen, because the world must know who Obasanjo is. We can speak for ourselves in any public space and we can do so via a peaceful protest. Obasanjo is a monster not a statesman and no amount of lipstick or make-up will change him from who he is. We know him and every decent citizen of our world needs to know him for who he truly is as well.



Long Live the United Kingdom!



Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!





Signed: Kayode Ogundamisi

Convenor, Nigeria Liberty Forum



To join NLF UK , send an email to nlibertyforum@googlemail.com



Telephone (Daytime): +447951402986 (Evening): +442030150739

http://www.thenewblackmagazine.com/view.aspx?index=1866

https://www.nairaland.com/792619/obj-looted-200bn-devalued-naira/4

GenBuhari: nonsense!

because e no favor you?

That's because all of them are failures.

Just that a score of 30 is better than 20. In a class if the highest mark is 30/100, the guy with the highest score is the best, but it doesn't change the fact that they were all failures in the class.

k2039: That's because all of them are failures.

Very wise comment!

k2039: That's because all of them are failures.

Just that a score of 30 is better than 20. In a class if the highest mark is 30/100, the guy with the highest score is the best, but it doesn't change the fact that they were all failures.

Tell me of his failures, and I will tell you of his benefits to you.

No one is perfect still.

Atleast, he remains ur best president ever.

OP you said reasons but you end up bombading us with questions.

A good ensures his successor is better than him. OBJ failed in that. I think getting us a Zoo-keeper may even be a punishment for not supporting his 3rd-agenda.

Shagari was beta i beg.ma old man was able to get shagari lowcost at 10k an he took him yrs to pay d money without stress.

ayobase:

Tell me of his failures, and I will tell you of his benefits to you.

No one is perfect still.

Atleast, he remains ur best president ever.

Electricity.

Education

Health


Corruption (governance and oil sector, lack of transparency and accountability)

High Cost of Governance (senate and rep got an increase because of his 3rd term bid)

I can go on and on.

Aside from largely paying off our sovereign debts to the Paris and London Clubsof creditor nations. Tell me what he did (and don't tell me he brought gsm to Nigeria, because that's pure crap, technological advancement, civilisation and the fact that Nigeria was a good market brought gsm to Nigeria)

k2039:

Electricity.

Education

Health


Corruption (governance and oil sector, lack of transparency and accountability)

These problems are Traditional Nigerian problems. They were there before Obj came on board. He did his best to tackle them.

mr ikay: Obasanjo maybe our Best President Ever

Have you noticed that since Obj left office we have retrogressed to sectarian politics?

Do you know that if Obj was still in Office there would be no Boko Haram?

Obj abandoned Bakassi peninsula to keep the Ibos and co in Nigeria. The man is committed to our Oneness!

Have you noticed the respect Obj commands on The Continent?

Do you know that because Obj and Gadaffi have left office the African Central Bank is dead in the Water?

See also FAROUKGATE SHOW US THE MONEY: https://www.nairaland.com/1398859/faroukgate-show-us-money

IRONICALLY SPEAKING....

egift: OP you said reasons but you end up bombading us with questions.

Oops!!

mr ikay: These problems are Traditional Nigerian problems. They were there before Obj came on board. He did his best to tackle them.

A good excuse. That's why Nigeria is still in this dilapidated condition.

If you can't resolve it, why take the office.

k2039:
A good excuse. That's why Nigeria is still in this dilapidated condition.

If you can't resolve it, why take the office.

It was during Obj's time EFCC was taken seriously. He tried to FIGHT CORRUPTION.

mr ikay: It was during Obj's time EFCC was taken seriously. He tried to FIGHT CORRUPTION.

He tried to fight his enemies not corruption. Don't get it twisted at all.

k2039: He tried to fight his enemies not corruption. Don't get it twisted at all.

Maybe because his enemies were corrupt!

k2039:

Electricity.

Education

Health


Corruption (governance and oil sector, lack of transparency and accountability)

High Cost of Governance (senate and rep got an increase because of his 3rd term bid)

I can go on and on.

Aside from largely paying off our sovereign debts to the Paris and London Clubsof creditor nations. Tell me what he did (and don't tell me he brought gsm to Nigeria, because that's pure crap, technological advancement, civilisation and the fact that Nigeria was a good market brought gsm to Nigeria)

U have to be kidding me K2039.
Its obvious u just don't like the man.

The man did try for Electricity, but sabotaging was too much. A lot of Transformers, RMU, Panells were brought in, but people frustrated the project.


He initiated the privatization were/are clamouring for and enjoying today.

He met Education in shambles, but he was able to fix some problems...structures were built with equipments. He did funded some universities. Atleast, schools didn't suffer from strike like we are having at the moment.

Obasanjo was an active academician, he tried for that sector.

Corruption. Remember he sets up bodies to fight corruption. We are still fighting, despite the politics.

People kept saying he used it for his own purpose. True or not, we have ICPC and EFCC today.

The GSM was as a result of privatization we are benefitting from today.

For this, "Aside from largely paying off our sovereign debts to the Paris and London Clubsof creditor nations." You should appreciate him the more.

During his tenure, we enjoyed a cordial relationship with other countries. Obsanjo so much made things easy for the latter presidents. He was friend with presidents.


His high sense of humour can never be disregarded. A very jovila and no dulling man.

Things we are suffering from today dare not surface during his tenure...."Clear them all" principle!

A fearless and fearful man!

Yes, he had his shortcomings!

Baba earns it for for now

I can give you a hundred things obj did better than others
BUT HE FAILED AT ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.
SUCCESSION

bloggernaija: I can give you a hundred things obj did better than others
BUT HE FAILED AT ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.
SUCCESSION

UNFORTUNATELY I MUST AGREE WITH YOU.

mr ikay: Obasanjo maybe our Best President Ever

Have you noticed that since Obj left office we have retrogressed to sectarian politics?

Do you know that if Obj was still in Office there would be no Boko Haram?

Obj abandoned Bakassi peninsula to keep the Ibos and co in Nigeria. The man is committed to our Oneness!

Have you noticed the respect Obj commands on The Continent?

Do you know that because Obj and Gadaffi have left office the African Central Bank is dead in the Water?

See also FAROUKGATE SHOW US THE MONEY: https://www.nairaland.com/1398859/faroukgate-show-us-money

Thank goodness no one else is asking for this monkey to enter senate or UN chairman.

BTW, what happened to those boys and girls killed in Odi? Or the thousands killed in 2000 in the north? Or the lack of constant light? Or the imposition of a sick man named Yar Adua as absentee president?

Obasanjo is a rogue and the best AFrican puppet for anyone that has clout. Even the white folks that he dashed farming land to can tell you that.

mens dept:

BTW, what happened to those boys and girls killed in Odi? Even the white folks that he dashed farming land to can tell you that.

wow! I forgot about those!

mr ikay: wow! I forgot about those!

Please don't forget to think Mr. Man too. It may help you small shaaa

GenBuhari: nonsense!

Hey yoyo, Obasanjo is the best president Nigeria has ever produced both as Military and Civilian C-in-C !!!

Not all Obasanjo's actions are adjudged the best but it is the best among the rest !!!


Abeg ,this man understand Nigeria pass crycry baby Buhari who sleeps while Tunde Idiagbon was the brain behind all his achievement as GCFR !!!


BubuBuharam!!!

donroxy: Hey yoyo, Obasanjo is the best president Nigeria has ever produced both as Military and Civilian C-in-C !!!

Not all Obasanjo's actions are adjudged the best but it is the best among the rest !!!

YOUR WORDS RING OF WISDOM. Thank you sir! And I hope you did not miss this: FAROUKGATE SHOW US THE MONEY: https://www.nairaland.com/1398859/faroukgate-show-us-money

OBASANJO'S ACHIEVEMENTS

Monday, March 05, 2007

Counting Obasanjo's achievement as Nigeria's civilian President
84 days to go into Nigeria's first full civilian tocivilian power transfer, many people have become nervous. The prophets of doom thinks, Nigeria's next presidential elections orher outcome, will chime the bell of the country's disintegration.

Many people will liketo see Nigeria fall apart, but it is left to Nigerians to belie all those claims.
Whatever the case, what is really important is to see whether since General Mathew Olusegun Obasanjo came to power in 1999, this around time as a civilian, he has done anything good, for which he will be remembered after he leaves office. On this, there are several camps:


The first and perhaps the most vocal, claim that, Mr Obasanjo's rule has been characterized by his wickedness or hate for the poor and love for the rich. While a second camp see nothing to reproach Mr Obasanjo and there is a third group as always, that behaves like a weather cock.
Whether one is in support of Obasanjo or not, it would be unfair to rule out right that, he has done nothing in the almost eight years that, he has been occupying Aso-Rock ( the seat of government in Abuja, Nigeria's Federal capital). It would also sound as though one is the praise singer of Nigeria's president, if one simply concludes that, his rule has been unblemished.


He has certainly done well, but he still has aspects that, he would have wanted to do better or improve on. Hence, his attempt at tinkering with the constitution of his country at some point.



Obasanjo will nevertheless be long remembered as one or the only Nigerian leader who freed his countries from the $32 billion debts she owed to the Paris club and also the one who freed his country from the London club. Already, to this last club of creditors, his administration last January, paid the lump sum $1.4 billion and would soon complete the remaining $90 million. In so doing, settling all debts contracted by the former military rulers of Nigeria.


Obasanjo has also excelled well in the area of privatization. In 2006, the Nigerian government was able to rake into her coffers the whopping sum of $ 7.07 billion, being sum generated from the sales of many state own companies. What is more pleasing is how the current administration has been able to manage the windfall from high commodity prices and the result is that, Nigeria's external reserves stands currently at$ 41 billion and may reach an all time high of$60 billion by the end of this year.



By comparison, in the 90's, when General Ibrahim Babaginda was in power, Nigeria had similar oil windfall, but the proceeds from the sales developed eagle wings.



The administration of Obasanjo has also appointed foreign fund managers in collaboration with the Nigerian Central Bank to partner local banks in the management of Nigeria's foreign reserves. The banking reforms is also an area that credits deserves to be given to the administration of Obasanjo. Today, Nigerian banks have been recapitalized and the number brought down from 89 to 25 viable banks.



Under Obasanjo, the non Oil sector has grown and diversification of the economy and the refocus on other minerals has been given greater attention. Foreign investment as at 2006 directed to Nigeria stands at morethan $ 4 billion.



And finally, controversial as this part may appear, the administration of Obasanjo has given sleepless nights to corrupt officials and the rating of the countryin 2006 was BB- and it is believed that, in 2007 Nigeria's rating will be bettered.


Therefore anybody who succeeds Obasanjo, must try to clear local debts just as the external ones have been cleared, and also try to continue with the reforms and prudent macro economic management of the current administration.

http://olusegunobasanjo.org/democracy_in_nigeria.php

The Obasanjo Administration and the Nigerian Economy


The morning of May 1999 witnessed a turning point in the political history of Nigeria as civilian political leaders were sworn in. The birth of the Fourth Republic became a reality after a prolonged military rule. The newly born fourth republic became highly instructive considering the scope and array of economic and political problems bequeathed to the country by the prolonged years of military rule and which the newly elected civilians have to cope with.


It is interesting to note that the performance of the Nigerian economy in 1999 was mixed. Inflationary pressures eased especially during the second half of the year. At this period, inflationary pressures had decreased to 6.1 per cent. This was a great decrease as it had risen up to 70 percent in 1995 and 1996 (Masha, 2000: 36). This coincided with a period of expansionary fiscal deficit and money supply growth. Also, the Naira exchange rate was stable the as dollar exchanged for N92.00 to a dollar as at the last quarter of 1999. However, the later part of year 2000 witnessed a drastic increase in the exchange rate.

At this period up to the second half of year 2000, a dollar was exchangedforNI35.00. This shows a decrease of about 50 percent in the value of the Naira.


Although, on assumption of office in May, 1999, the Obasanjo administration immediately took decisive steps to put in place an enabling environment for the thriving of democracy, regaining international respectability. and credibility and putting the economy on the path to sustainable growth and development. However, the measures have not had significant impact on the economy, rather life has continued to be miserable for an average Nigerian.


The analysis of the Nigerian economy shall be done further by examining certain significant sectors and aspects of the economy in order to show the extent of deterioration in the economy.


The increase in agriculture production in the preceding five years (i.e. from 1995) was sustained in 1999. During this period, the aggregate index of agricultural production rose by 3.3 percent, compared with 3.1 percent recorded in 1998 while the performance has been highly unimpressive inthe later part of year 2000. Consequently, this shoot up prices of agricultural commodities. Also, while the prices of agricultural commodities went up at home, the prices of Nigeria' s major agricultural commodities in the world market declined substantially in 1999 relative to their levels in 1998.



According to Central Bank of Nigeria' s report,the dollar prices of all the commodities recorded declined during 1999. The decreasein prices ranged from 16.9 percent for soya beans to 30.8 per cent for cocoa. (CBN AnnualReport, 1999). This was attributed to increased supply and reduction in demand.



The manufacturing sector is another important sector in this analysis. Although the manufacturing sub sector recorded a moderate recovery in 1999 and 2000 from what it experienced in 1996. However, the sector still finds it difficult to change the tasteand orientation of the people for imported goods.



According to a nation-wide survey conducted by the CBN which covered 560 manufacturing establishments, the weighted average capacity utilization rate of the sub-sector rose from 30.3 per cent in 1998 to 34.3 per cent in 1999. The total cost of operations also increased by 14.2 percent over the level in 1999 owing mainly to high costs of raw materials, machinery and spare parts.



The value of imported raw materials rose significantly by 34.7 percent and accounted for about 47.5 per cent of the totalvalue of raw materials used, while the value of locally sourced raw materials, accounting for 53.5 per cent of total, increased by 5.8 percent (CBN Annual Report, 1999).


http://olusegunobasanjo.org/democracy_in_nigeria.php

Further growth in the manufacturing sub-sector was impaired largely by low demand for locally manufactured goods occasioned by the influx of cheaper products into the country . Other constraints include the poor state of social and economic infrastructures, including erratic power and water supply, as well as poor performing transport and communication systems.





Social Services ;

The performance of social services in the economy was highly unsatisfactory in 1999 and 2000. Service delivery by key institutions designed to mitigate the living conditions of vulnerable groups was hampered by deterioration of basic facilities, poor funding, the unprecedented high incidence of industrial strikes especially in the education and health sub-sectors as well as civil strife and disturbances.


The health system deteriorated to the extent that hospitals were described as "mere consulting clinics". The situation was compounded by the mass exodus of experienced Nigerian health experts to other countries in search of better conditions of service and greener pastures.


The hospitals were poorly equipped. Infrastructure remained poor, inadequate and fast deteriorating. As a result, there was high infant, under-five and maternal mortality, and the prevalence of many diseases, several of which were of epidemic proportions.



However, by 1999 the population per physician had improved slightly from 4,977 to 4,479 in 1998 while population per hospital bed improved from 1,738 in 1998 to1,564. It is important to stress that the impact of the Petroleum (special) Trust Fund (PTF) in the supply of drugs is important in this regard.


Also, the administration of Obasanjo accorded high priority to the healthsector, which accounted for the rehabilitationworks in health institutions. There was an increment in the budget of the health sub-sector by 21.7 per cent from #10,756.3 million in 1998 to # 13,737.3 million in 1999. This represented 4.6 per cent of total Federal Government budget (Ibid.). However, this still fell short of the 5.0 per cent minimum standard recommended by the World Health Organization.



The education sub-sector on the other hand, experienced deep crises for many years. The schools, at all levels lacked teachers and basic infrastructure. They suffered from over-crowding, poor sanitation, poor conditions of service for teachers resulting inpoor quality of teaching and poor quality of products.


This sub-sector has equally been burdened by frequent industrial disputes andstrikes actions. It suffered from poor management, manifested in poor intra-sectional allocation, multiplicity of agencies with duplicated functions and inadequate coordination. Prior to 1999,
teachers at both the primary and secondary school levels were owed up to six months salaries while those who have retired were not getting their pensions as at when due.


However, by 1999 adult literacy had increased to 57 per cent from 53 percent in 1998 (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2000). Also, the Universal Basic education scheme was launched in September 1999 with enlightenment campaigns to elicit support, bythe Obasanjo's administration.



At the tertiary institution level, visitation panels were inaugurated, reports of which led to some crucial decisions of Government. Also, cultism,which had eaten deep into the structure of the Universities, was drastically dealt with as judicial panel of inquiry on secret cults in tertiary institutions was instituted.


The vice-chancellors of different Universities werecompelled to tackle the menace of secret cults.


That's Obasanjo Administration.


http://olusegunobasanjo.org/democracy_in_nigeria.php

donroxy: Continuing

Are you obasanjo's PR man? Please no more long posts that nobody will read!

mr ikay: Are you obasanjo's PR man? Please no more long posts that nobody will read!

WHY DO THEY HATE OBASANJO

Posted: October 19, 2010 - 15:26 Posted By Nosa James-Igbinadolor


Why do they hate him so much?
This question has been consistently asked by victims of xenophobia and other forms of violence since time immemorial. The Jews, the Koreans, the Kosovo Albanians, the Serbs, the Armenians, the Tutsis, the Christians, the Muslims have all at one time or the other subjected this question to critical interrogation.


I have often myself interrogated the conceptsof love and hate especially against the background of a highly divisive social and political environment like Nigeria characterized by the ascendancy of dubious columnists, pseudo-analysts, pseudo-writers, ersatz intellectuals and lily-livered editors with access to the columns and the front andback pages which they have used to advance untruths, fallacies, discontent, anarchy and outright lies.


In a country where the ownership of the media is mostly in the hands of economic buccaneers with disconcerting links and linkages with an ethically debased political system dominated by morally deficient politicians, the end product has over time been a media that has been used to settle political scores, dehumanize personal and political opponentsand criminalize those who have little or no access to the media.


I have watched over the last few years with an admixture of distress, disbelief and irritation the deliberate and well-calculated attempt by a section of the Nigerian press to “de-historify” the legacy and achievements ofPresident Olusegun Obasanjo’ administration well as dehumanize and criminalize his person, personality and family through a salad of lies, untruths, fabrication, fallacies, distortions and overtones garnished with thebarest of truth and spiced with gargantuan salacity.


Going through the sulfurous output of these axis of hate; a coalition of latter-day democrats, petty thieves who as Governors stole their states blind, Gani Fawehinmi wannabes, and columnists, in the media, it is as if the entire eight years of the Obasanjo administration made practically no impact on Nigeria and Nigerians, it is as if the eight years of Olusegun Obasanjo passed us by while we as a nation and a people remained stuck in the 1990s.



Yet the indices tell a different story and the available facts expose a different picture from that tabulated and presented by this axis of hate which have emerged over time as a highly dedicated, rabid and vengeful Obasanjo haters.



The Daily Trust, Leadership, The Sun and The Independent newspapers dominate this axis of hate. Why do they hate him so much? Theyhate him because their owners and benefactors hate him. The Sun Newspaper is owned by Orji Uzor Kalu while The Independent Newspaper is owned by James Ibori both of whom have been accused to raping their states and amassing unspeakable wealth as a result.


Both are today standing trial for sundry high crimes and misdemeanors. When one bothers to scan through the Media Trust publications including Daily Trust, one senses the strengthof bitterness that permeates and exists within the consciousness of the editorial team.


Daily Trust’s major grouse with OBJ is that he won the 2003 presidential elections and easily got his protégé Umaru Musa Yar’adua elected in 2007 thus denying Major-General Muhammadu Buhari , the patron saintof Daily Trust the opportunity of ruling the country.



It is not for nothing that Media Trust and their up-country cohorts are derisively referred to as the
Buhari Old Boys Association
especially since most of them including the founding team of Trust are believed to have made their fortune under
Buhari as consultants, Special Assistants and contractors to Buhari when he headed the Petroleum Trust Fund.



BuhariHaram4NigerianPresident !!!

Sometime in 2007, President Umaru Musa Yar’adua in an act of deceit occasioned by politics asserted that the
Obasanjo administration had spent ten billion dollars on the nation’s power sector with nothing to show for it. When he was informed that the figure he quoted was incorrect by one of his advisers who knew better, the poor fellow was promptly sacked
.


Not to be outdone in that season of “Operation Destroy Obasanjo”,Speaker Dimeji Bankole imperiously pronounced before newsmen and legislators that the President was wrong in his figures. Obasanjo, Bankole claimed had poured twelve billion dollars with no commensurate returns. A week later, Bankole asserted before the same audience that he had discovered that his own initial figure of twelve billion dollars had been false.


Obasanjo, he said had actually spent sixteen billion dollars. He promptly set up the now infamous power probe panel headed by the now infamous Ndidi Elumelu. The Three Arm Zone inquisition that it turned out to be directed by Elumelu was perhaps the finest yet most sordid tragic-comedy open air theatric play ever performed by the National Assembly.

Despite the fact that those who should know and did know all about the monies spent by government including Governor Soludo of the Central Bank and the Accountant-General of the Federation comingout loud and clear on national Television at the panel to say that only 3.6 billion dollars had been released as at 2008 for the NationalIndependent Power Projects, the media continued to assert and still lie today that Obasanjo spent 16 billion dollars on the NIP projects.



The beauty of it however is that the NIPP programme designed and implemented by Obasanjo, derided by the then government and his enemies is today the corner stone of the government’ energy policy.



Today Obasanjo can beat his chest with pride despite the gathering of his foes.
So what is it that Obasanjo did not achieve asthe haters propangandise? This week President Goodluck Jonathan commissioned the Total Radar Coverage project which brought the entire Nigerian airspace including those of some of our neighbours under the security coverage of high tech radar systems.



For the first time in the historyof Nigeria, our airspace is secure and well monitored. In the whole of Africa, only Egypt and South Africa possess similar capacities. Obasanjo started it, awarded the contracts and began its implementation in 2005. Of course in the eyes of the haters, it is not an achievement because the glory should never go to Obasanjo.



When Obasanjo assumed office in 1999, the Nigerian Stock Exchange had a capitalized value of less than a trillion naira, by the time he left office eight years later the NSE’ atmospheric growth was so outstanding thatthe Exchange’ stocks was one of the most sought after in the emerging markets and the Exchange itself had a capitalized value of over 16 trillion naira.



Less than two years after he left office, his predecessor and his team so mismanaged the gains of eight yearsthat investors took their monies and fled the country.



Today the value of the NSE is a little over five trillion naira. The Nigerian Space progamme which we are so proud of was initiated by Obasanjo. That we have satellites in space today is due to the leadership of Obasanjo. That we are the second fastest growing telecoms market in the world today is due to Obasanjo.




Obasanjo will always be remembered as the only Nigerian leader who unchained his country from the debt burden she owed to international creditors. He met a debt of thirty-two billion dollars when he assumed office in 1999 and left a debt of less than three billion dollars when he left office in 2007.



It is an achievement unsurpassed in history; it is an achievement his opponents cannot take from him. Under him, Nigeria’s economy had a sustained growth of 5.5% annually with foreign capital investments flowing in to the manufacturing, telecoms, oiland gas and service sectors.



The success and growth of local players like Oando, Dangote Industries, Global Fleet and others who today employ tens of thousands of Nigerians cannot be divorced from Obasanjo’ economicpolicies and leadership.