Obasanjo @ 80 - A dominant political force in Nigeria
During an interview with the BBC last week to commemorate his 80th birthday, Olusegun Obasanjo, one of Nigeria’s political strongmen of the past four decades, was asked what the high and low points in his military and political career were.
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His answer was a straightforward one. His lowest point was when he was jailed during the dictatorship of Sani Abacha (1993-1998), while he regarded his election as a civilian President on May 29, 1999, as the highest point in his life.
Obasanjo was very critical of Abacha and spoke out against the human rights abuses of his regime. He was imprisoned for his alleged participation in an aborted coup based on testimony obtained via torture. He was released only after Abacha’s sudden death on June 8, 1998.
The Nigerian strongman has come a long way, making several friends and enemies through the years, always remaining a controversial political figure during the period. He has several politicians seeking him out for advice concerning their ambition.
Many continue to wonder what makes Obasanjo tick and how he manages to get away with things other people would not even dare to try.
Early this week, precisely on March 5, Obasanjo reached another milestone in his life - his 80th birthday. He was able to attract all those who matter in Nigeria and abroad to his hometown of Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State in South–West Nigeria where he threw a lavish party and inaugurated a presidential museum to mark the occasion.
Among the very important personalities (VIPs) captured on television camera included Liberian President Sirleaf Johnson and former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who was dumped by Obasanjo in the run-up to the last elections won by Muhammadu Buhari, was also conspicuously present.
Many believe that the withdrawal of support by Obasanjo was one of the causes of the defeat of Jonathan, his own party’s candidate.
Can anybody forget February 16, 2015, when out of anger and following strained relations between him and Jonathan he quit the ruling party and directed a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ward leader to tear his membership card during a press conference? He was later to be known as the navigator of the newly formed opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Obasanjo is known not to forget his trusted friends; which explains why a day after his 80th birthday celebration, he was in Ghana to join in Ghana’s own celebration of 60 years of independence, sitting close to former President J. A. Kufuor, his close pal, who honoured the former Nigerian leader with a prominent street in Accra named after him.
It is not usual for a soldier, statesman and politician to survive to reach a respectable age of 80. However, Obasanjo has been a survivor throughout his life and providence appears to have had a hand in his longevity, seen by some as the proverbial cat with nine lives.
Obasanjo as a soldier
I am sure there are many who do not know or remember that Obasanjo started life as a soldier and rose to become a general in the Nigerian army.
In 1958, at the age of 21, he enlisted in the Nigerian Army. He attended the six-month Short Service Commission Training at Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England. He was thereafter commissioned as an officer in the Nigerian Army.
He was also trained in India at the Defence Service Staff College, Wellington and the Indian Army School of Engineering. He served at No.1 Area Command in Kaduna.
Promoted to Chief Army Engineer, he was made Commander of Two Area Command from July 1967, which was redesignated Two Division Rear, and then the Ibadan Garrison Organisation.
During the Nigerian Civil War (1967-70), he commanded the Army’s Three Marine Commando Division that captured Owerri, effectively bringing an end to the civil war.
Although Brig. Obasanjo did not participate in the coup of July 29, 1975 that overthrew General Yakubu Gowon and led by Brig. Murtala Mohammed, he supported it and was named Murtala’s deputy in the new government, becoming Chief of Staff at the Supreme Headquarters.
On February 13, 1976, coup plotters, led by Army Colonel Dimka, marked him, Murtala and other senior military personnel for assassination. Murtala was killed during the attempted coup, but Obasanjo escaped death.
The low-profile security policy adopted by Murtala had allowed the plotters easy access to their targets. The coup was foiled because the plotters missed Obasanjo and General Theophilus Danjuma, Chief of Army Staff and de facto number three man in the country. The plotters failed to monopolise communications, although they were able to take over the radio station to announce the coup attempt.
Obasanjo and Danjuma established a chain of command and re-established security in Lagos, thereby regaining control. Obasanjo was appointed as Head of State by the Supreme Military Council to keep the chain of command established by Murtala. Obasanjo pledged to continue the programme for the restoration of civilian government in 1979 and to carry forward the reform programme to improve the quality of public service.
The second Republican Constitution, which was adopted in 1979, was modelled on the Constitution of the United States of America, with provision for a President, Senate and House of Representatives. The country was prepared for local elections to be followed by national elections, in the hopes of returning Nigeria to a civilian rule.
On October 1, 1979, Obasanjo handed power to Shehu Shagari, a democratically elected civilian President, hence becoming the first military Head of State to transfer power peacefully to a civilian regime in Nigeria. In late 1983, the military seized power again, following violence emanating from the general election of that year. General Muhammadu Buhari and General Babatunde Idiagbon took over, but General Ibrahim Babangida also seized power from them in 1985.
As has been noted earlier, Obasanjo, who had relinquished power willingly and had become an elderly statesman, was incarcerated during the dictatorship of Sami Abacha (1993 – 1998). After his release from prison, Obasanjo became a born-again Christian.
The Nigerian strongman was, however, not done yet. In the 1999 elections, the first in 16 years, Obasanjo decided to run for presidency as a civilian candidate of the PDP, sweeping the strongly Christian South East and the predominantly Muslim North, but decisively lost his home region, the South West, to his fellow Yoruba and Christian, Olu Falae, the only other candidate.
Obasanjo spent most of his first term travelling abroad. He succeeded in winning at least some Western support for strengthening Nigerian’s nascent democracy. Britain and the United States in particular were glad to have an African ally who was openly critical of abuses committed in Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe at a time when many other African nations (including South Africa) were taking a softer stance.
Obasanjo was re-elected in a tumultuous 2003 election that had violent ethnic and religious overtones. His main opponent, fellow former military ruler, General Muhammadu Buhari, was a Muslim and drew his support mainly from the north. Capturing 61.8 per cent of the polls, Obasanjo defeated Buhari by more than 11 million votes.
Obasanjo was embroiled in controversy regarding his “Third Term Agenda,” a plan to modify the Constitution so he could serve a third, four-year term as President. This led to a political media uproar in Nigeria and the bill was not ratified by the National Assembly.
Consequently, Obasanjo stepped down after the April 2007 general election.