Tony NnadiAs bitter altercations about the worth or worthlessness of the endorsement of candidate Peter Obi by former President Olusegun Obasanjo continue amongst rival political parties in Nigeria, this rejoinder written from the perspective of NINAS shall concern itself with the more weighty Question of whether 2023 elections are the solution to the damaged constitutional basis of Nigeria now in urgent need of total reconstruction or a transitioning to rework the basis.
In raising this Question, searchlights shall be beamed on the central role of Obasanjo as the Prefect of the Class of ‘66, in the destruction of the Federal Constitutional Basis of Nigeria and the creation of the Frankenstein Monster that Unitary Nigeria has become for its trapped Constituent Components and therefore the Feeling of Deceit, Dishonesty, and Insult to our Collective Intelligence evoked when the same Obasanjo assumes his default-mode messianic toga of pointing the rest of Nigeria to the way of Redemption.
Next, below is the offending excerpt from the said January 1, 2023, Open Letter by Obasanjo where, in a miserable obvious blindfolding gambit, he was admonishing the Younger Generation of Nigerians from whose school curriculum Obasanjo and his Confederates yanked off the Teaching of History, to ‘Leave the Past and Face the Future’:
Here is the Excerpt:
“Can we let the past go? I appeal to young Nigerians to stop inheriting other people’s prejudices and enemies. Make your own friends and stop inheriting your father’s enemies.
“Let’s stop criminalizing and demonizing one another on the basis of the civil war on which we are all wrong. And let’s praise and thank God for preserving the oneness of Nigeria. The Scripture says that if God would take account of all our wrongdoings, nobody would be able to stand before Him. While not suffering from amnesia, let us stop still fighting and reacting to the civil war in our hearts, minds, heads, and our attitude acrimoniously. Let’s stop living on our different wrongs or mistakes of the past: treasonable felony, the Tiv riot, and its handling, the first military coup and its aftermath, the second military coup, Araba, pogrom, and the civil war, all in the 1960s. And more recently OPC, Egbesu, MASSOB, IPOB, Boko Haram, and banditry. No region can claim to be innocent or to be saintly. And no justification will suffice. In our respective individual or regional positions, we have done right and we have done wrong. It is therefore not right for any of us to be sanctimonious to see ourselves as saints and the rest as devils incarnate.
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Just let us agree to move forward together in mutual forgiveness, one accord, inclusive society, equality and equity” – OLUSEGUN OBASANJO
January 1, 2023
In this dubious sermon of Forget-the-Past-and-Face-The-Future, Obasanjo, even whilst admitting the Pogroms and Genocide that was visited on Nigeria’s Eastern Region, concealed from the Nigerian Youth, the following important historical facts:
(1) That Nigeria as One Political Union was Agreed to be a Federation of Autonomous Regions in which each Region had its Sovereignty, its Own Constitution, Owned and Controlled its Economic Assets, and Developed at its Pace, Using its Resources and Contributing an agreed Percentage (15%) of its Income to the Center (i.e., the. Federal Government) for the upkeep of the Center and for financing the execution of the limited responsibilities delegated to the Center by the Federating Regions.
(2) That it was the Military Class of 1966 to which Obasanjo belongs that toppled and Dismantled the Federal Basis of Nigeria and imposed the Unworkable Unitary Constitutional Order which Confiscated the Sovereignties and Economic Assets of the Federating Regions, fractured by Decrees into the 36 Emasculated States that now grovel at the feet of an omnipotent Federal Government which now Centrally Controls all Governmental Powers and Economic Assets by way of the 68-Item Federal Exclusive Legislative List contained in the current Constitution of Nigeria.
(3) That he (Obasanjo) on behalf of the Caliphate and the Military Class of 1966, presided as Head of State, over the processes by which the 1979 Unitary Constitution was imposed on Nigeria and that he (Obasanjo), also presided, as President over the 1999 Resuscitation of the 1979 Constitution as “1999 Constitution” midwifed by another Member of that Class of ‘66 called Abdusalam Abubakar. (It is now past debates that all the Dysfunctions of Nigeria and Miseries of Nigerians flow from this Imposed Unitary Constitution of Nigeria, manifesting in the Killings, Insecurity, Pervasive Corruption, Impunity, Decayed Infrastructure, Massive Poverty, we see and resulting in the many Regional Agitations we see across Nigeria, so much so that the Report of a 2019 UN Special Rapporteur Mission on Nigeria led by Agnes Callamard, which investigated the widespread Extrajudicial Killings in Nigeria described the Unitary Constitution of Nigeria, as a “PRESSURE-COOKER FOR INJUSTICE” fueling those killings and driving Nigeria towards a violent disintegration that will create an unprecedented Global Refugee Crisis.
(4) That a Blanket Absolute Immunity Clause, covering a Period of Thirty-Three Years was inserted into the “1999 Constitution” at Section 6, Subsection 6(d), to PERMANENTLY shield the perpetrators of all the Atrocities committed by the notorious Class of ‘66 between January 15, 1966, and May 29, 1999, from any kind of probe or sanction including for the Mass Killings that Obasanjo has now confessed in his Letter, but particularly for the Seizure and Expropriation of Humongous Economic Assets including Oil and Gas, Solid Minerals, Ports which were shared as War Booty in the form of Oil Blocs and Various other Concessions amongst the ringleaders of the Class of ‘66, which they hold to date; not forgetting the Grand Larceny titled “Land Use Decree of 1978” by which all Lands in Nigeria, particularly Southern Nigeria, were forcefully hijacked from the Original Owners and the choicest acreages redistributed amongst the marauders in power and their cronies; otherwise Obasanjo should explain to his Younger Generation Friends the roots of title to his famous Otta Farms.
(5) That on Obasanjo’s watch as Military Head of State (and Muhammadu Buhari as Petroleum Minister),
(i) A sum of N2.8 Billion (then about US$12 Billion equivalent) of Oil Money grew wings and flew away;
(ii) “Unknown Soldiers” invaded Fela’s abode, known as ‘the Shrine’ in Jibowu area of Lagos, killing, maiming, burning, and throwing down the 78-Year Old mother of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Madam Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, who was also one of the Founding Mothers of Nigeria, (along with Founding Fathers Azikiwe and Awolowo) from a Storey Building, fracturing her old bones and causing her Death, just because Fela dared to call out the many evils of the era through his music.
(iii) What about the Dehumanizing Ita-Oko Detention Facility during Obasanjo’s tenure as Military Head of State?
(iv) On Obasanjo’s watch as President (1999-2007) the Odi and Zakibiam Massacres took place.
(v) On Obasanjo’s Watch as President, US$16 Billion yanked off the Treasury in the name of Electricity did not add any megawatts to the grid as recently confessed by his then Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
(vi) Are we to talk about the cold-blooded murder of Chiefs Harry Marshall, Dikibo, and Bola Ige during the Presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo?
(vii) Are we to close our eyes to the shady shenanigans that shrouded the Green Tree Agreement, by which Nigeria’s Bakassi Peninsula was signed over to Cameroon; the sordid private motives including the angling for a UN Top Job for that “Peace Deal” or the War-Time origins of the cession Transaction?
Aggregating the Quantum of State Sanctioned Killings, Looting, and Injustices Perpetrated during the cumulative period of Eleven Years that he Presided over Nigeria as Head of State and President (1976-1979 & 1999-2007), Olusegun Obasanjo stands out as the Bastion of Evil and the Personification of Corruption who should be worrying about the prospects of being put back in his handcuffs and Prison Cell for his many crimes against the Nigerian People, the Nigerian State, and Humanity.
Add to all these, the fact that Obasanjo as sitting President between 1999 and 2007, adamantly opposed all efforts we initiated to peacefully resolve the Nigerian Question, particularly PRONACO (2005-2006) which he (Obasanjo) declared Treasonable on National Television when in 2004 Chief Anthony Enahoro first announced our resolve to Convene a Sovereign Conference of Nigeria’s Ethnic Nationalities to Renegotiate the Failing Nigerian Union.
Then to these, add the unpardonable crime of foisting Muhammadu Buhari whom he knew so well, on Nigeria as President in 2015.
It is an insult to our Collective Intelligence that a shamelessly Partisan Politician Olusegun Obasanjo, will unabashedly thrust himself to our faces as the Statesman he is not, praising himself generously as he did in the January 1, 2023, Open Letter to Nigerians and inviting all of us to just forget the atrocities of the past that have not been accounted for, nor addressed and come with him to continue the Construction of Nigeria and its Democracy on the Completely Damaged Constitutional Foundation he was pivotal to destroying?
At a time all Statesmen are rallying the Peoples of Nigeria towards a Grand Union Renegotiation for the Reconstruction of the Damaged Constitutional Basis of Nigeria, destroyed by the Class of ‘66, Obasanjo is diving deep into the Partisan Political Mud and pointing Young Voters to the Candidate that has openly declared that the Unitary Constitution of Nigeria is not the Problem with Nigeria.
NOW TO THE ENDORSEMENT OF CANDIDATE PETER OBI FOR THE 2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION:
Let me enter a quick caveat here. If there was an undisputed Nigerian Union in search of a Better Leadership by way of Election 2023, there is no doubt whatsoever that Candidate Peter Obi stands clearly taller than the other two Frontline Presidential Candidates namely Atiku Abubakar and Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I have also had cause to posit publicly, several times since the emergence of Candidate Peter Obi that if the 2023 Elections were to happen under the Humphrey Nwosu Option A-4 Model of 1993, Peer Obi will score more Votes than all the other Candidates put together. To this extent, any endorsement of Peter Obi ahead of the other contenders cannot be impugned on any ground of merit.
Unfortunately, in the face of the raging Union Dispute occasioned by Grave Constitutional Grievances, there is no Nigeria in place for anyone to Govern, especially the Nigeria defined by the 1999 Constitution.
As the fate of Nigeria as One Political Union hangs precariously in the balance and as Nigerians wait agonizingly for an end to the nightmare currently masquerading as governance, Politicians and Statesmen are offering totally different remedies to the same dangerous and fast degenerating Nigerian situation.
Knowing that the Intractable Nigerian Quagmire is rooted in the Imposed Unitary Constitution of Nigeria, the Statesmen, led by NINAS, insist on the suspension of further National Elections under the 1999 Constitution and the initiation of a Transitioning Arrangement in place of the 2023 General Elections, to undertake the Inevitable Constitutional Reconstruction of Nigeria.
The Politicians on the other hand are only interested in who gets to power to continue the construction of Nigeria on the rickety Foundation of the same Unitary Constitution that produces all the outcomes we currently behold including Gross Insecurity, Monumental Corruption, Separatist Agitations, Bad Leadership, Infrastructural Decay, Mass Impoverishment, and General Hopelessness, manifesting every known symptom of State Failure. This is tragic
It is against this backdrop that the January 1, 2023, Epistle of Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Recommending Candidate Peter Obi to the Nigerian Electorate, presents itself as the sad evidence that Obasanjo who should ordinarily be counted as a Statesman has failed woefully to rise above the mundane pedestal of a Partisan Politician at a time Nigeria is in dire need of Statesmen to steer the Distressed ship of the Nigerian State from the turbulent waters in which it is currently struggling.
This is tragic particularly because this Politician whose only real concern had always been about the next Election, by this Open Letter of January 1, 2023, attempts to pass himself off to the Youth of Nigeria as a Statesman who was concerned about the future of the Nigerian Youth.
The unworkable Unitary Constitution of Nigeria is the reason everything is upside down in Nigeria, resulting in gross insecurity, Bad Leadership, Serial Electoral Heists, Humongous Corruption, Mindless Impunity, infrastructural Decay, and General Hopelessness.
Those who desire to see meaningful change in the affairs of Nigeria and the condition of Nigerians MUST start their quest from the Self-Evidently Accurate Diagnosis of Nigeria’s Debilitating Ailments, namely – the Imposed UNITARY Constitution of Nigeria. The Appropriate Remedy is to find the most viable way to ease out the Unworkable Unitary Constitution of Nigeria like South Africa eased out its Debilitating Apartheid Constitutional Order. The Orderly Mechanism for undertaking that Inevitable Task is to Halt Further National ELECTIONS (2023) under the Rejected 1999 Constitution and instead initiate the kind of TRANSITIONING that South Africa had initiated in 1990. #
If instead of addressing this clearly identified Cause Factor for Nigeria’s Failures as a State, we direct our energies to the scramble for who will get to power under the same Unitary Constitution, that will be tantamount to proceeding in MISDIAGNOSIS.
The result is that the Patient will Die. That Patient is from the Nigerian State. The Collateral Damage from the Demise of the Monstrous Nigerian State would be the Death and Dislocation of Millions of People who call themselves Nigerians but who are largely unconscious of ongoing angry discussions and debates relating to the resolution of the Union Dispute represented by the Disputations around the Nigerian Constitutional Arrangements.
Looking back at Ahmadu Bello’s Mission Statement and Battle Script to his lieutenants in October of 1960 to wit:
“The Nation called Nigeria should be an Estate of our Great-Grandfather Uthman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of Power. We use the Minorities of the North as Willing Tools and the South as a Conquered Territory, and Never Allow them to Rule over us and Never Allow them to have control over their future.”
It is clear that the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria represents the full implementation of that Battle Script with everyone playing the role assigned by the Script – the Inheritors, the Willing Tools, and the Slaves of the South. The ruthlessness that attended to the 1967-1970 Genocidal War and the imposition of the Victory Charter from that War as the “1979 Constitution”, carried forward in 1999 as 1999.
Considering the central role played by Obasanjo in foisting the 1979 Constitution and resuscitating that Constitution in 1999, Obasanjo’s endorsement of Candidate Peter Obi who expressly declared that Nigeria’s Constitution is not the Problem with Nigeria might well be a recruitment of more hands to preserve the Caliphate-Owned and Caliphate-Operated Unitary Nigeria envisaged by the Ahmadu Bello Mission Statement of October 1960. The rest of the Class of ‘66 including Ibrahim Babangida Will of course hail their Prefect and the Head Slave in the Conquered South.
By Railroading Nigeria to the 2023 Elections under the 1999 Constitution, Obasanjo is loading stranded Passengers into a Vehicle with a Knocked Engine
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