Chuks Okocha And Juliana Taiwo
16 March 2008
Abuja — Former president Olusegun Obasanjo, his former deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and former chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, yesterday openly threw verbal jibes at each other, criticising one another's role in the nation's political history in the last decade.
The occasion was the tenth anniversary of the late Major General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, the senior brother of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. Late Yar'Adua was Obasanjo's deputy when he served as military head of state between 1976 and 1979. He was also leader of the People's Democratic Move-ment (PDM) in which both Atiku and Anenih were prominent figures.
The three PDP gladiators in the nation's recent political history who were once united through their allegiance to a common ideal drifted apart, to become sworn enemies, after Obasanjo's first tenure, in which they occupied prominent seats in that government.
Today, there is, obviously no love lost between the three, evidence of which was the verbal taunts they flung at one another, yesterday, in both explicit, coded and subtle terms, leaving no one in doubt that their disagreement was yet unresolved.
Anenih threw the first salvo. While saying the opening prayers for the commencement of the memorial lecture. Anenih, the former Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees said, "Thank God for the President we have now. We pray that God will give you the courage, wisdom and political will to clear the rot you inherited from the previous administration."
With the prayers done, it was time for former President Obasanjo to deliver the welcome address. Reading the protocols before his speech, he acknowledged Atiku as the former Vice President and Turakin Adamawa, but vented his spleen on Anenih who he indirectly accused of abandoning Yar'Adua in his hour of need. Obasanjo said, "some people stood by the late Tafida in his hour-of-need, while some chose to abandon him."
This apparent betrayal was what Shehu Musa Yar'Adua suffered when Anenih mobilised members of the National Constitutional Conference to campaign for the administration of late General Sani Abacha's to continue in office. This happened when Yar'Adua was setting a time-limit for the Abacha Junta to quit power. Shehu Musa Yar'Adua had moved, along with his men in the PDM, that Abacha should quit within a year.
Obasanjo fired more salvo when in his speech, he commended the good sense of administration and judgment of Shehu Yar'Adua. He also commended the late Yar'Adua for his quest for unity. "Yar'Adua unites Nigerians even in death, because here today, there are people who, ordinarily, would not like to sit together," he said.
The former President also commended the resilience of Yar'Adua in his adherence to democracy and democratic principles, his sense of judgement and his commitment to the rule of law. "If not for Yar'Adua," he added, "those seated here would not be here to talk of corrupting themselves or self-aggrandisement."
When it was his turn to speak, Atiku paid tribute to the late Yar'Adua. He then opened his irritation with his former boss, Obasanjo, in a comparative analogy of the late Yar'Adua and Obasanjo's management of men. He said that "the late Tafidan Katsina would not use power to terrorise any body."
According to the former Vice President, the Yar'Adua dynasty has been ruling Nigeria for the past eight years, no matter how imperfect it has been. He also stated that "late Yar'Adua stood for good governance, free and fair elections and does not use power to intimidate anybody, even his opponents, and sees politics as a means of bringing people together for the common good."
It was the first time since they left office that former president Obasanjo and his former deputy, Abubakar sat together under one roof. Obasanjo and Atiku ceased to find comfort in the same room since October 2006 when Atiku stopped attending the Federal Executive Council meetings.
When it was time for President Yar'Adua to speak, former President Obasanjo caused another stir. He did not stand up when everyone stood up as a mark of honour for the office of the President.
In his address, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua listed the daunting challenges facing Africa today to include poor infrastructure, weak government institutions and structures, resulting from economic and political mis-governance, mindless corruption, ethnicity, self-service, politics of intolerance, and a lack of commitment to national ideals.
He said rather than put the blame on colonial rule and the unstructured partitioning from which emerged a number of poor and fragile states, there is no escaping the fact that much of Africa 's woes have been either self-inflicted or self-perpetuated. The President said the continent's regeneration must be championed by Africans themselves.
"No one from outside the continent is coming to face up to our developmental challenges on our behalf. Africa must evolve a crop of focused, committed, service-oriented, and God-fearing leaders imbued with the requisite courage, focus, dedication, clear vision, and patriotism to drive the continent's transformation.
At the event, which featured a memorial lecture with the theme "the Challenges of Nation Building" by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Yar'Adua said his administration has outlined the roadmap to Nigeria's transformation in a Seven-point Agenda, which encapsulates its covenant with the people.
"The Agenda represents our short to medium term response to the challenges inherent in Nigeria's desire to belong to the club of the world's twenty biggest economies by the year 2020," he said.
He commended President Kagame for honouring Nigeria with his presence at the annual tribute "to the memory of a true son of Africa who lived and died in the defence of the time-honoured ideals of service; honesty; courage; integrity; industry; loyalty; dedication; and faith in God and country".
Anenih: "Thank God for the President we have now. We pray that God will give you the courage, wisdom and political will to clear the rot you inherited from the previous administration"
Obasanjo: "Some people stood by the late Tafida in his hour-of-need, while some chose to abandon him...If not for Yar'Adua, those seated here would not be here to talk of corrupting themselves or self aggrandisement"
Atiku: "Late Yar'Adua stood for good governance, free and fair elections and does not use power to intimidate anybody, even his opponents, and sees politics as a means of bringing people together for the common good"
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Chief Tony Anenih, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo must remember the Glin's Rules of General Reality - Reality sucks, Truth is subjective and they must deal with it.
All of them had something to do with the rot left by the last administration. At least they have one thing in common - they belong to PDP. The whole world knows what PDP did with the general election from the local,state and federal.
For the Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, he must remember that the "evils that men do lives after them and the good is often in-tied with their bones". However, I must suggest that Alhaji Atiku and Chief Anenih should give the Former President, Obasanjo a break. He did fairly in certain areas of Nigeria Economy - in communication. Before he came to the office, I used to stand in line for five hours at Nitel Office to make a phone call. Right now, I can pick up my cell phone and call any one, any where in the world without stepping out of my living room. On the other hand, the Former President got an "F" in the power sector. Under his watch, his administration spent over ten billon dollars to generate more power shortages across the country.
A time has come for President,Yar'Adua to move ahead with his own plan to solve the power/energy problem in the country. He must not blame Mr. Obasanjo if he fails to solve the energy problem in his first term in the office. One day, God will bless Nigeria with a president who cares about the interest of all Nigerians.