By Dele Sobowale

“0805-556-7777:
OBJ is the fulcrum of modern Nigeria, love him or hate him, ‘agba ki wa loja kori omo tutun wo….’ Cardinal Arogundade, Abuja.

I am filled with the “milk of human kindness” today, so, I am just presenting Cardinal Arogundade’s text message without comments. We had a lively discussion on the phone and we agreed to disagree. That is the beauty of democracy which “Third term to Life term”, as planned by Obasanjo, would have destroyed as Mubarak and Mugabe did. That the man could even think of the third term idea is horrible enough.

And from where did he get the over N2 billion used in pursuit of the failed ambition. Members of the House of Representatives were given N50 million each to vote in favour. Senators received more. Where is the integrity in bribery?

When Obasanjo, in his dubious bid to restore zoning as PDP’s official policy, he remembered quite accurately that in 1999 when he, a Southerner, was President, and his Vice-President was from the NorthEast, the President of the Senate was from the South-East and the Speaker was from the North-West. So, the line up was as follows:

Chairman (Northcentral), President (Southwest), Vice-President (Northeast), Senate President (Southeast) and Speaker (Northwest). Even a primary school pupil can observe that the movement was North-South-North-South. After contributing to jettisoning the arrangement which brought him to power, OBJ in what can only be politely called self-confusion, has put forward a proposal to restore the zoning policy. Inexplicably he called on the Speaker from the Northwest to step down.

Even if the Speaker is foolish enough to resign, the result will be as follows. Chairman (North), President (South), Vice-President (North), Senate President (North) and Speaker (South). Clearly, this amounts to bastardization of the policy which Obasanjo claims he wants restored. The officer OBJ should have asked to resign is David Mark, the Senate President and his position should have gone to the Southeast which has more PDP Senators than the Southwest. The question is: why did Obasanjo fail to do justice to the policy he claims to uphold?

Two reasons suggest themselves. First, OBJ is partial to former military or para-military men. That explains why in his last year in office his closest allies were Colonel Ahmadu Ali (rtd), Commodore Bode George (rtd) and retired Police chief, Tony Anenih. Mark, a retired General, remains the only former satrap in power.

Second, Mark was one of the staunchest supporters of the third term agenda!! It is quite obvious that OBJ deliberately re-arranged the zoning proposal he presented and which BOT rejected. Indeed, if anybody else had presented such a fraudulent plan, Obasanjo would have been the first to spot the sleight of hands involved.

What is left now is for the rest of the members of BOT to throw OBJ out!!! I doubt if there is any part of this country where the man can walk freely without police escorts without being mobbed – unlike Mandela who knew when to quit.

As the fuji maestro would sing, E se, e se o, a wa malo (thank you, it’s time to go).

MORE PROMISES TO KEEP
“In February and March, Mr Jonathan showered every corner of Nigeria with promises’.
Sonala Olumhese, The Guardian, July 31, 2011, p.61.

Olumhese and Reuben Abati were my “must read” columnists in The Guardian  every Sunday; they were not only great wordsmiths, they were illuminating on the topics they chose to treat. Even when I disagreed with their positions on some occasions, I came away with respect for the views they expressed. Sonala, of the two, was the more coldly factual.

It was not surprising to me that in the article under reference, he listed some promises President Jonathan made on his campaign trips round the country. Let me briefly recount them as the author reminded the President and “Fellow Nigerians” (only God knows how many fools make up the Fellow Nigerians).

First, on March 2, 2011, the President promised that he had set aside N50 billion “in the 2011 budget for youth employment”. Then “in Abeokuta on March 12 he will revive ailing oil refineries and build new ones; and in Abuja on March 21 that he will build car manufacturing or assembly plants….In Gusau, he promised to establish a federal university of technology within one year.

In Ilorin, the President promised farmers agricultural loans he said were ready to be given to them. In Birnin-Kebbi, he pledged to ensure the take-off of the Federal University in Kebbi in 2012.”

Olumhese also reminded us that Jonathan announced as follows: “I do not make empty promises in my campaign because whatever I promise to do I have already carried out adequate study to make sure I can accomplish it in the next four years”. Well, the Nigeria Labour Congress was promised that the Minimum Wage Act would come into effect in July 2011. It has not, and might not, have taken off by the time you read this.

To the short list of promises listed, out of too many to recall, kindly let me add some new ones which were made before the elections and others that have since been made – either by Jonathan himself or people claiming to speak on his behalf after the inauguration on May 29.

Actually, for a president who also told the whole world that he will “promise less and deliver more” the country had been served more promises than in Yar’Adua’s Seven-point agenda.

In March, Jonathan on a state visit to Turkey grandly announced that the PIB would be signed into law by May 2011. It remains on paper as a proposal till today. I proudly claim part responsibility for scuttling that bill which is not in our collective interest despite its promoters – including former Executive Directors of International Oil Companies in GEJ’s corridors of power. We are poised to give them another licking on that bill.

August 2, 2011, readers of  The Nation were treated to three promises on refineries, increased power supply and port reform. The first was delivered by the retained Minister of Petroleum who announced that refineries capacity will be raised to 95 per cent  but in 24 months. This is coming from someone who was Vice-President four three years and President since May last year. What then was the team of Yar’Adua/Jonathan/Sambo doing for four years if all we can hope for is deliverance from epileptic supply of fuel from our refineries in two years? Obviously, the President and his minister expect us to have forgotten what they have promised by 2013. So, this is for the records; for now.

Vice President Sambo Nanadi inspected the work being done at three power plants, Manbilla, Zungeru and Kaduna and assured us that 3,000 MW of power will be added to the national grid. He either deliberately or inadvertently forgot that Obasanjo and Liyel Imoke told us the same fairy tale in 2007. Still, we record it and keep watch.

Enter the Minister of Transport, Idris Umar, who promised sustainable port reforms – without providing a specific date when this will occur.

Again, Ministers, since Chief Ebenezer Babatope, who served under Abacha and Ojo Madueke under OBJ, had made similar promises – to no avail.

Wait for the rest; but don’t hold your breath for results. After the diversionary palaver over one term of six years; the hint that fuel subsidy might be removed and three banks nationalized, it will be a miracle if  the Federal government ever has enough time to pay attention to all the issues enumerated above.