— June 2, 2014
One of the very few things that
helped to heal the deep physical and psychological wounds inflicted on the
dissipated former Biafrans after the 30-month civil war was the savoury
episodes of heroic exploits told by the ex-combatants. The war-weary
demobilised soldiers, drawn from boys and men of variegated background, would
be surrounded regularly by relatives and friends, listening attentively and in
awe, as they lapped-up stories of exploits at the different theatres of the
war.
The length, style and flavour of those accounts varied from person to person, depending on the expertise and disposition of the ex-soldier. But every returnee had a story. Of course, there were those who, stunned and still traumatised by their experiences, remained tongue-tied and only uttered a few words when they were compelled to. But, as it later became evident to those who listened to those told-and-retold heroic accounts – with more salt and pepper being added with every subsequent retelling – those who weaved the loftier stories of the war exploits turned out to be those who might not have even gone to the warfronts, but had only performed the less tasking chores at the ‘rear’.
Many of those ex-soldiers, were mostly recognisable through their dresses, which consisted of different varieties of worn-out military dresses and always of old boots. The boots were the most distinguishing features of the ex-soldiers in those days. There was this John whose very grandiose stories must have shown-off as one of the bravest and most gallant soldiers in Biafra, had started attracting a lot of doubts on account of their mutation into several versions. Soon, the impression grew that he might not be telling the truth. In fact, very soon, many people started doubting if, indeed, he even served in the army, especially as he never ever wore a pair of boots.
Nobody mustered enough courage to challenge John until on one bright day, a daring 12-year old boy, aware of the general skepticism that John’s antics had evoked in the community, stood up and queried him: “Dee John, ka igara Army, olekwanu boot gi? (Bro John, if you were in the Army, where are your boots?)”
The non-relenting, and now, nauseating tendency of President Olusegun Obasanjo to see himself as the only cock crowing in the yard in Nigeria’s affairs and as the man who has the ultimate and exclusive knowledge of the right things to do at every situation has continually evoked the memory of Dee John to me. Last week Obasanjo was at it again, talking down on the present administration under President Jonathan, who, he had, in his ultimate wisdom, enthroned as his co-successor. In interviews with the Channels TV and the US-based Bloomberg, Obasanjo, in his usual omniscient scathing ways, wrote off the present government in many ways.
The rough storm raised by the very un-presidential 18-page public letter which he addressed to President Jonathan early this year and which was roundly condemned by all including his own daughter, has hardly settled before he has now launched into another series of attacks on the government’s handling of the Boko Haram issue. He is also attacking the government’s handling of the Chibok kidnap issue as well as what he sees as the inappropriate tactics of the military in its ongoing challenging efforts to stem the tide of terrorism and more urgently, to rescue the school girls, still in captivity.
The need to respect a man of Obasanjo’s stature is never in doubt to any Nigerian, in and out of politics, especially on account of his age and precedents. However, and it is a pity that the fact that respect is earned and not commanded seems to have been lost permanently on President Obasanjo, as he persists on the delusion that a kingmaker would also remain the king. Many discerning observers see Obasanjo’s regular and unrelenting swipes at the Jonathan leadership as a sign of frustration for not being allowed to dictate to those at the helm, both in the top civil and military positions. It would have been normal for him to be content with proffering advice to the leadership on a variety of issues, but he should have also been the first to appreciate that no leader is bound to take every advice. It was even Obasanjo himself who had popularised the saying that he was not compelled to accept an advice of his own appointed advisers.
The tragedy of Obasanjo’s intrusive politics is that he has refused to accept his huge inadequacies both as the leader who institutionalised many of the vices which have held the country hostage today, like corruption and electoral malpractices. Today, he refuses to bat an eyelid when he sanctimoniously stands aloof and pours invectives in the mien of a man who instructs that, others do as he says but not as he did. Because there was nothing redeeming about the Obasanjo’s tenure as president, he has always lacked both the moral and statutory right to breathe down the neck of subsequent governments with prescriptions. One is even irked the more by Obasanjo’s pretentions to superior knowledge on military matters presumably because he served as a field commander during the war against a ragtag Biafran army or because he was a military head of state. Obasanjo had in “My Command”, a book of his exploits during the war, painted a picture of a very tactically competent and intelligent military strategist. His hyperbolic accounts of personal heroism where only puny credits were grudged others were later found to be like those heroic accounts of Dee John after the civil war. Those who knew him and his performance during that era of appropriated military heroism have since given a lie to most of those claims.
A recent book by the very cerebral retired Brigadier-General Godwin Alabi-Isama, entitled “On-the-Spot Account of the Nigeria-Biafra War in the Atlantic Theatre”, showed how most of the earlier claims of Obasanjo about his military prowess were falser than vows made in wine (apologies to Shakespeare). In other words, Alabi-Isama, like the courageous Igbo boy after the war, seemed to have asked Obasanjo, “Where are your boots?”
I am personally miffed about the flippant tendencies of Air Marshal Alex Badeh, a man who currently runs the Nigerian military, in my belief that he often puts his mouth in motion before engaging his mind in gear. I was pained when as he was being sworn in only a few months ago, he claimed, rather gratuitously, that the Boko Haram terrorism would be ended by April. Again, when last week, he claimed that the military knows where the kidnapped Chibok girls are, I had raised eyebrows but some of my military friends suggested that the statement must have been made to achieve certain effects and to generate certain reactions. Not used to questioning strategies of people in their areas of expertise, I held my peace and adopted the siddon-look attitude.
But Obasanjo, obviously in order to show how much superior knowledge he has about the Boko Haram insurgency and military strategies started making very dangerous insinuations about both, aimed at blaming the government for the escalation of the Boko Haram, and showing off his excellent record in religious harmony management. Obasanjo conveniently forgot that Boko Haram was created more by economic factors rather than religious ones, and that in the field of economic management, he cannot claim to have done better than the Jonathan administration.
Let me end with a story of an encounter between President Obasanjo and his then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Victor Malu who got so exasperated with Obasanjo’s tendency of always wanting to lecture senior officers on military issues that one day, Malu, like the courageous Biafran boy, frontally confronted him with a few home truths about the changing times in the military, like with everything else in life.
“Sir, you left the military after 17 years as a lieutenant-general”, General Malu reportedly observed, “today I am in the Army as a lieutenant-general after 34 years in service. If you enter a tank today, you will not recognise anything because they are now mobile computers, and a far-cry from your days. So Sir, things change…”
So, is there no one who can nudge Obasanjo and urge him that it is time to go for a most deserved retirement, having become a dinosaur in most aspects of life?
The length, style and flavour of those accounts varied from person to person, depending on the expertise and disposition of the ex-soldier. But every returnee had a story. Of course, there were those who, stunned and still traumatised by their experiences, remained tongue-tied and only uttered a few words when they were compelled to. But, as it later became evident to those who listened to those told-and-retold heroic accounts – with more salt and pepper being added with every subsequent retelling – those who weaved the loftier stories of the war exploits turned out to be those who might not have even gone to the warfronts, but had only performed the less tasking chores at the ‘rear’.
Many of those ex-soldiers, were mostly recognisable through their dresses, which consisted of different varieties of worn-out military dresses and always of old boots. The boots were the most distinguishing features of the ex-soldiers in those days. There was this John whose very grandiose stories must have shown-off as one of the bravest and most gallant soldiers in Biafra, had started attracting a lot of doubts on account of their mutation into several versions. Soon, the impression grew that he might not be telling the truth. In fact, very soon, many people started doubting if, indeed, he even served in the army, especially as he never ever wore a pair of boots.
Nobody mustered enough courage to challenge John until on one bright day, a daring 12-year old boy, aware of the general skepticism that John’s antics had evoked in the community, stood up and queried him: “Dee John, ka igara Army, olekwanu boot gi? (Bro John, if you were in the Army, where are your boots?)”
The non-relenting, and now, nauseating tendency of President Olusegun Obasanjo to see himself as the only cock crowing in the yard in Nigeria’s affairs and as the man who has the ultimate and exclusive knowledge of the right things to do at every situation has continually evoked the memory of Dee John to me. Last week Obasanjo was at it again, talking down on the present administration under President Jonathan, who, he had, in his ultimate wisdom, enthroned as his co-successor. In interviews with the Channels TV and the US-based Bloomberg, Obasanjo, in his usual omniscient scathing ways, wrote off the present government in many ways.
The rough storm raised by the very un-presidential 18-page public letter which he addressed to President Jonathan early this year and which was roundly condemned by all including his own daughter, has hardly settled before he has now launched into another series of attacks on the government’s handling of the Boko Haram issue. He is also attacking the government’s handling of the Chibok kidnap issue as well as what he sees as the inappropriate tactics of the military in its ongoing challenging efforts to stem the tide of terrorism and more urgently, to rescue the school girls, still in captivity.
The need to respect a man of Obasanjo’s stature is never in doubt to any Nigerian, in and out of politics, especially on account of his age and precedents. However, and it is a pity that the fact that respect is earned and not commanded seems to have been lost permanently on President Obasanjo, as he persists on the delusion that a kingmaker would also remain the king. Many discerning observers see Obasanjo’s regular and unrelenting swipes at the Jonathan leadership as a sign of frustration for not being allowed to dictate to those at the helm, both in the top civil and military positions. It would have been normal for him to be content with proffering advice to the leadership on a variety of issues, but he should have also been the first to appreciate that no leader is bound to take every advice. It was even Obasanjo himself who had popularised the saying that he was not compelled to accept an advice of his own appointed advisers.
The tragedy of Obasanjo’s intrusive politics is that he has refused to accept his huge inadequacies both as the leader who institutionalised many of the vices which have held the country hostage today, like corruption and electoral malpractices. Today, he refuses to bat an eyelid when he sanctimoniously stands aloof and pours invectives in the mien of a man who instructs that, others do as he says but not as he did. Because there was nothing redeeming about the Obasanjo’s tenure as president, he has always lacked both the moral and statutory right to breathe down the neck of subsequent governments with prescriptions. One is even irked the more by Obasanjo’s pretentions to superior knowledge on military matters presumably because he served as a field commander during the war against a ragtag Biafran army or because he was a military head of state. Obasanjo had in “My Command”, a book of his exploits during the war, painted a picture of a very tactically competent and intelligent military strategist. His hyperbolic accounts of personal heroism where only puny credits were grudged others were later found to be like those heroic accounts of Dee John after the civil war. Those who knew him and his performance during that era of appropriated military heroism have since given a lie to most of those claims.
A recent book by the very cerebral retired Brigadier-General Godwin Alabi-Isama, entitled “On-the-Spot Account of the Nigeria-Biafra War in the Atlantic Theatre”, showed how most of the earlier claims of Obasanjo about his military prowess were falser than vows made in wine (apologies to Shakespeare). In other words, Alabi-Isama, like the courageous Igbo boy after the war, seemed to have asked Obasanjo, “Where are your boots?”
I am personally miffed about the flippant tendencies of Air Marshal Alex Badeh, a man who currently runs the Nigerian military, in my belief that he often puts his mouth in motion before engaging his mind in gear. I was pained when as he was being sworn in only a few months ago, he claimed, rather gratuitously, that the Boko Haram terrorism would be ended by April. Again, when last week, he claimed that the military knows where the kidnapped Chibok girls are, I had raised eyebrows but some of my military friends suggested that the statement must have been made to achieve certain effects and to generate certain reactions. Not used to questioning strategies of people in their areas of expertise, I held my peace and adopted the siddon-look attitude.
But Obasanjo, obviously in order to show how much superior knowledge he has about the Boko Haram insurgency and military strategies started making very dangerous insinuations about both, aimed at blaming the government for the escalation of the Boko Haram, and showing off his excellent record in religious harmony management. Obasanjo conveniently forgot that Boko Haram was created more by economic factors rather than religious ones, and that in the field of economic management, he cannot claim to have done better than the Jonathan administration.
Let me end with a story of an encounter between President Obasanjo and his then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Victor Malu who got so exasperated with Obasanjo’s tendency of always wanting to lecture senior officers on military issues that one day, Malu, like the courageous Biafran boy, frontally confronted him with a few home truths about the changing times in the military, like with everything else in life.
“Sir, you left the military after 17 years as a lieutenant-general”, General Malu reportedly observed, “today I am in the Army as a lieutenant-general after 34 years in service. If you enter a tank today, you will not recognise anything because they are now mobile computers, and a far-cry from your days. So Sir, things change…”
So, is there no one who can nudge Obasanjo and urge him that it is time to go for a most deserved retirement, having become a dinosaur in most aspects of life?
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