Where is OBJ's Wada Nas?

Comfort Obi

“Looking at Obasanjo within a year after the expiration of his tenure, nemesis is beginning to catch up with him” – Ayo Fayose, former Ekiti State Governor, in an interview on March 23, 2008

"He (Obasanjo) will pay for everything he has done. If you do evil, if you repay good with evil, evil will never leave your house" – Chief Stephen Bakare, business mogul, and one of those who bank-rolled Obasanjo’s campaign in 1999, in an interview with The Daily Sun on March 24, 2008.
I don’t know if you still remember Wada Nas. Nas, in case you have forgotten, is the oquacious aide, and rabid loyalist of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, who never let a word against Abacha go unreplied. He gave the opposition hell during the Abacha regime. When the Abacha goons pumped bullets into the car of elder Statesman, Chief Abraham Adesanya, in a bid to kill him, Nas accused Adesanya of being behind his own assassination attempt in a bid to discredit the Abacha regime. He could spin stories. Yet, inspite of all that, I loved Wada Nas. In my quiet time,I ask God to give me loyal friends and relations like him. When he died, I mourned him. He was a friend worth having. He loved Abacha unconditionally. He loved the man, not just his office – something that is very rare in Nigeria.
In and out of office, Nas defended Abacha. When Abacha died, he became even more loyal to him. He used his money to advertise his views in defence of Abacha and his family. For years, until he died, he was one of the two who still remembered Abacha on the anniversary of his death. The second person is Maryam, the late dictator's wife.
I remember Wada Nas here today because of former President Olusesgun Obasanjo. And I ask: would any loyalist and/or friend of Obasanjo kindly stand up for recognition? Day by day, it is becoming obvious that none of those who ran around Obasanjo, and fondly called him Baba, is willing to stand up for him in his hour of need. He may be putting up a bold face, but he must be hurting. Everything suddenly seems to be crashing around him. Everything is suddenly pointing to the unbelievable fact that Obasanjo packed his cards badly. His friends are nowhere to be seen. If anything, he is losing them in droves. Those who Nigerians thought were his friends are cursing him. They are calling him a disaster. They are calling him a destructive character. They are saying he takes pleasure in destroying others, and whatever they had achieved in life. Read the quotes above again.
The first came from the former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose. You know Fayose’s story. He was the young I-don’t-care guy who Obasanjo foisted on Ekiti State in 2003. Obasanjo had entered into a partnership with the then AD governors. He had asked them to back him, give him a political base, and that in exchange, his party, the PDP, would give them no challenge in their bid for a second term. They did as he requested. But he reneged on the agreement, and swept them out of office. Only the street-wise Bola Tinubu of Lagos State survived the Obasanjo – engineered Tsunami.
Fayose was the beneficiary in Ekiti State. When the youngman was in charge, Obasanjo praised him, adding that he cannot afford not to love a son who was behaving like his father (Obasanjo). But in the last months of Fayose’s tenure, Obasanjo bared his fangs. He unleashed his political attack dog, the EFCC, on him. Some people allege it was over a business deal gone sour. They point at the poultry project which turned out to be Fayose’s nemesis. Fayose had once hinted that Obasanjo was a beneficiary of the project. But Obasanjo looked the other way, and Fayose was hounded out of office in a most undemocratic manner.
Now, Fayose, inspite of his own problems, is mocking Obasanjo. His words: “Obasanjo is not a good man, he is a very, very bad man. Nigeria should not pray to have people like Obasanjo in the history of politics again…. Looking at Obasanjo within a year after the expiration of his tenure, nemesis is beginning to catch up with him.”
The second quote comes form Chief Stephen Bakare, founder of the defunct Metropolitan Bank, and owner of the famous Oluwalogbon Motors. In a heart-rending interview with the Daily Sun of March 24, he told his story with Obasanjo. He talked about how he went round Yorubaland selling Obasanjo when the Yoruba rejected him. He said he was one of those who funded Obasanjo big-time during his presidential campaign in 1999. He said Obasanjo was even a shareholder in his bank, the defunct Metropolitan. But what did he get in return? Ruination. He said he did not ask for any special treatment from Obasanjo, except an enabling environment to operate, to run his business – the same he gave to some people. Obasanjo denied him.
So, Chief Bakare is crying. And has taken his case before God. He said he struggled all his life to be where he is today. He said he has never taken anybody to any court, or a police station before. He runs to God. The elderly man has taken the same path in Obasanjo’s case. The hurt and betrayal run deep. He is quoting the Holy Bible for the ex-President, who incidentally says he is a born-again christian. Bakare refers him to the Book of Proverbs: "God says in Proverbs, chapter 17, verse 13, that if you repay good with evil, evil will never leave your house.” Is that what is happening to the ex-President now?
No one can tell. But look at it this way. Obasanjo is on trial from left, right and centre. His own son publicly accused him of incest. He is losing grip on the PDP. His candidate for the National Chairmanship was publicly humiliated. His BOT chairmanship is shaky. His tenure is being investigated. And the revelations so far, especially, from the House Committee on Power, which is probing why Nigeria is in darkness, is shocking. Others may follow suit. The jury seems out already. Last week, a news magazine, writing on the power probe scandal, labelled him a saboteur. His former friends, associates and colleagues, are calling him names. He burnt his bridges, and humiliated all those who stood by him. Now, nobody remembers any good that he did. And he did some good.
But who will defend him? Where are, esepcially, a couple of his loquacious aides? There is no Wada Nas amongst them. And it is a shame.