Re: Obasanjo Attacks Buhari, Senators, Reps, Judges by Ahmed Adoke

I wish to respond to the above subject matter published in The Nation newspaper of  Thursday November 24, 2016, pages 6 and 47.
The best friend is that courageous person who points out the shortcomings of  others with a view of making amends in the interest of the generality. One of such persons is former Nigerian president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, whom I interacted with during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-70.
Thus far, I have not seen any positive response from those Obasanjo accused of impropriety that is contributory to our present hardship. Apart from name- calling, fagging him the ‘grandfather of corruption’, in truth, the issues raised by Obasanjo have not been addressed.
Much as Obasanjo cannot exempt himself from blames over our present economic imbriglio, well meaning Nigerians will appreciate that we have somebody blunt enough to point out mistakes of those in governance.
Experience, they say, is the best teacher. Obasanjo has seen the two sides of the coin in governance, military and civilian; hence, those in the present government should listen to his advice rather than castigate him.
The poor Nigerians who have suffered so much from past governments hope that President Muhammadu Buhari has a magic wand that would automatically ease their suffering, but,
unknown to them, the fraudulent wrongs of the past military and civilian governments, inclusive of the two tenures of Obasanjo, through to Jonathan, have so much heaped unimaginable fraud in the annals of the country.
Obasanjo is very blunt in his analysis  of what the Nigerian youths can resort to if no immediate economic remedy is taken. Nigerian leaders have never witnessed the inevitable avowed anger of hungry youths.
Time shall come. If no remedy is taken to ameliorate the present hardship in the land which has turned most Nigerians to live on the edges of survival, forced the down trodden into compulsory beggars – that it could warrant them preferring to die than look helplessly as their wives go awhoring and children telling their parents they didn’t beg them to bring them to the world.  Obasanjo used the word ‘revolt’.
As for the National Assembly members who resorted to name-calling rather than addressing issues raised by Obasanjo on state of the nation, could they be described as outlaws in view of their cabal-like behaviour – for refusing to allow Nigerians who voted them know how much self-serving interests they allocated to themselves?
It is sad that the corruption inherited by President Buhari is so enormous, so much so that there is no Law Enforcement Agency and judiciary that could check it largely because of the rub-my-back-I-rub-yours syndrome in the system.
Our present condition in Nigeria is such that if you want to steal, steal big enough to enable you share with security agents (including some rogue anti-graft officers), the Judiciary and the lawyers. By this, your case will enjoy consistent adjournments so much so that the prosecution witness will tire out. It is unfortunate, and saddening, how most Nigerians take it out on the ‘innocent’ hungry thief, like the recent Lagos incident where a teenager out of hunger allegedly stole a cup of garri and was beaten and burnt to death.
As for the military, some of the past military heads of state, including Obasanjo himself, contributed gravely to the present woes of the Armed Forces, even before the advent of Boko Haram. It is, therefore, a good thing that Obasanjo remarked on the gross fraudulent misconducts of some Armed Forces Officers (Army, Navy, Air force and Police respectively involved in the Boko Haram finance/hardware saga.
There is remarkable departure from unmilitary behaviours in terms of keeping militarily fit and less fraudulent since President Buhari assumed office, his second coming, this time as civilian president. Not all are happy with his present anti-corruption stance even within the military, high-level civil servants, and some top officials who Buhari so much trusts within the Presidency. You cannot rule out fifth columnists within any set up in Nigeria against those who want it right.
For sake of brief introduction, I have witnessed so many civilian and military administrations since 1964 as a reporter and, God’s mercy sparing my life to date, I can say a few positive and negative occurrences from the time of the Wild Wild West crisis of 1965, 1st Nigerian Coup of 1966, and the Civil War of 1967-70. There is none of the notable civil war combat officers I have not interacted with, at the warfront or at the rear. Notably, those still alive include Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Gen. Abubakar Abdulsalam, Maj. Generals Chris Ali, Zamani Lekwot, Oladipo Diya, David Jemigbewon, I.B.M. Haruna, Muhammed Jega (present Emir of Gwandu), and present President Muhammadu Buhari.
As Obasanjo said, drastic problems deserve drastic solutions. If the NASS members behave seemingly as outlaws by being secretive about their budget, President Muhammadu Buhari should as well go drastic for the sake of our collective prosperity and posterity.
– Adoke, a public affairs analyst, wrote in from Adavi LGA, Kogi State.

ref: http://leadership.ng/opinions/563947/re-obasanjo-attacks-buhari-senators-reps-judges