Nigeria’s Pontius Pilate

Comfort Obi

I am fascinated by the two Biblical characters of Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate. And I am in sympathy with them. They have been unfairly maligned, and stigmatised. They were victims of an already written script. I have always thought about them. What if they had refused to play the roles assigned to them? Then, perhaps, there would have been no Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. Yet, they stand stigmatied. It is in this light that former President Olusegun Obasanjo earned the name Pontius Pilate. But his does not fit. The Biblical Pontius Pilate was a victim of a written script. In Obasanjo's case, he was the writer, the producer, and the actor of his own script.
When in 2007, Obasanjo arm-twisted other PDP presidential aspirants into stepping down for Umaru Yar’Adua, those who knew about Yar’Adua’s health challenges worried aloud. Obasanjo discarded all security reports on Yar’Adua's health. During the campaigns, candidate Yar’Adua never campaigned. He was not strong healthwise. Nigerians never had the opportunity to know him, or hear directly from him what his agenda was.
Since his presidency, our hearts have been on a constant pound. And it is not because he is no good. He could be a performer. Problem is: His health has not allowed him to settle down. He has spent more time attending to his health, than he has spent attending to Nigeria. His latest trip is the most annoying. For over 60 days, Nigeria has been in nobody’s hands. The question from most people is: Who gave us this man? It is not that Nigerians are not sympathetic over his health. They are. It is just that it is an untidy business, very poorly handled. And so, their anger is directed at Obasanjo who saddled them with President Yar’Adua. All kinds of reasons have been given as to why he imposed a President with serious health challenges on the country. The following have been alleged.
One: His third term agenda failed, so he decided to punish us with Yar’Adua. Two: He wanted to rule by proxy since he knew Yar’Adua would be bed-ridden for the most part of his tenure. Three: He wanted Yar’Adua to die during his campaign period, and so abort the 2007 election. And in the confusion, continue as president. Four: He knew that a sick Yar’Adua would perform below expectation, and wanted Nigerians to compare the two of them, and see him as the star. Five: He wanted to punish the North, which presidential turn Yar’Adua seems to be wasting, by picking a sick man to take their slot because a Northerner, the late General Sani Abacha, jailed him.
I cannot confirm any of these. Only Obasanjo can explain. And penultimate week, he finally did. But since then, criticisms have been coming like claps of thunder. My take: He deserves them, and more.
I don’t want to call Obasanjo a liar. I like him. Ignore some of his gra-gra. He did some good for Nigeria. For good or bad, he had presence. Africa, and the world knew during his tenure that somebody was in-charge. So, let me just say that Obasanjo was very economical with the truth. Check out the reasons he gave for imposing Yar’Adua on Nigeria. After he ruled out the South for the presidency, he explained, three things guided him. They were: Intellectual capacity, high personal integrity, and sufficient broad-mindedness. These are good points. But what is he talking about?
At what point did Obasanjo rule the South out of the presidency? After his third term agenda failed? Or isn’t he a Southerner? Why was he behind the Southern political leaders conference in Enugu? That conference came out with a communiqué which insisted that the presidency stays in the South. Isn’t it true that he became disenchanted with the communiqué when it read that the presidency should go to either the South east or South south, instead of just the South, which would have favoured his designs, especially, his third term agenda? And talking about intellectual capacity, PDP had many aspirants parading that from the North.
Yes, Yar’Adua has a masters degree in Analytical Chemistry, but he was not the most read. Among many others, were Jerry Gana, a Professor, and Mohammed Marwa, who has two Masters Degrees from two of the best universities in the world. Personal integrity? Okay. But Yar'Adua was no better than a couple of others. And, if we are to believe former Minster of the FCT, Mallam El-Rufai, Yar’Adua had questions, like some of his colleagues, to answer at the EFCC. El-Rufai should know. He was one of those who promoted Yar’Adua. As for broad-mindedness, perhaps. But let nobody over-look the fact that Yar’Adua, as Katsina State Governor, introduced Sharia, and refused to pardon a young Muslim woman who was condemned to death by stoning, until the Court of Appeal stepped in. But more important, Yar’Adua cannot be broad-minded without being a good mixer. He seldom socialised with his governor-colleagues. Not many people outside Katsina knew him. I don’t know any journalist outside Katsina who visited him. A former Deputy Governor whose boss sent to Katsina to represent him at a function at Government House did not know Yar’Adua. He had to ask a Northern governor, who sat by him, to show him the governor of Katsina State.
The climax of Obasanjo’s expose was when he asked Yar’Adua to do the honourable thing if he is no longer capable of leading Nigeria. Did Obasanjo realise that today? It was obvious from the campaign period. But the most laughable was when he called on God to punish him if he deliberately imposed a sick President on Nigeria. So, what did he do then? By his own confession, he knew Yar’Adua was sick. But between him and Yar’Adua, he told us that Yar’Adua, a known kidney patient, presented medical reports which showed he had stopped dialysis. The doctors, he told us, confirmed. Who are these doctors? And didn’t they tell him that one of the causes of kidney failure is stress? Apparently, the stress of leading Nigeria is too much for Yar’Adua’s already weak kidneys, and so, the frequent relapse. If anything happens to him, his family know who to hold partially responsible.
Finally, God is slow to anger. But, He seems to have answered Obasanjo's prayers before he even asked. The curses Nigerians are heaping on whoever knew of Yar'Adua's ill-health, and still imposed him on them, seem to me, enough punishment. No?