BY ZIK ZULU OKAFOR

IT was, Tuesday, April 3. The  staggering news hit the air. Olusegun Matthew Aremu Okikiola Obasanjo, former President and Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) had resigned his position on the BOT.

He cited heightening international engagements and the need to pay more attention to his Presidential Library as his reasons.

As a writer and fair witness of Nigeria’s history in the last 32 years, I received Obasanjo’s decision with infinite joy. My heart glows with fervent joy because I feel that Nigerians have been most unfair and indeed unkind to this eminent Nigerian, African statesman and international personality.

Because of the way Obasanjo has been treated by Nigerians, the crass disrespect and even disdain, I have come to see Nigeria as a theatre. Not that hallowed arena for histrionics. For in that performance theatre, you have heroes.

Yes, those angelic characters, grand fellows with sterling qualities that compel our reverential awe. Yet these great men fall from their pedestal of respect to kiss the dusty sand due to a flaw in their character, a taint in a seeming immaculate personality or just one wrong decision. For this reason, their suffering evokes pathos as we share their pain because of those good qualities they possess.

Olusegun Obasanjo

But Nigeria is a different theatre. It is a political theatre. And this theatre is a tempest. Here, there are no heroes. Even those that deserve to be so called are expected to be saints without a flicker of flaw. And since no man can be an angel, they are easily and often subjected to infantile tantrums and villainous infamy.

Or how else can anyone begin to explain the utter disrespect and even hate that this former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has faced since taking a bow from Aso Rock Villa, Nigeria’s seat of power on May 29, 2007.

From the media through the National Assembly to the Executive, what you get is the acoustics of hate. The sound you hear is that of a people that seem to loathe a most distinguished leader, a man who, I dare say without any equivocation, has affected Nigeria and Nigerians more than any man, living or dead.

I know that this statement is certain to generate heated arguments among Obasanjo foes and fans alike. But the hard fact of this assertion for me is irreducible no matter the lethal attack of political pugilists. I shall come to the specifics of this matter.

I have been so stunned by the deafening sounds and gesticulations of Obasanjo hate that I have had to ask these questions again and again, ‘what is Obasanjo’s guilt? Is it a crime to lead one’s country and to be passionate about one’s political convictions?’ How many of our leaders gave Nigeria an economic road map or continental and global stature like Obasanjo did?” I will come to the details.

Yes, Obasanjo may not be a saint and I do not intend to label him a stock of the sacristy. But I’m not aware of any Nigerian politician that can lay claim to sainthood. So why is Obasanjo, this most detribalized Nigerian and an uncommon patriot be singled out consistently for vilification. (To be continued).

Zik Zulu Okafor, a journalist and President, Association of Movie Producers, wrote from Lagos.