Sunday, April 27, 2008
POWER IS TOO EPHEMERAL!
Who could have imagined in his wildest dream that the medicine man of Otta, Babalawo Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo would one day be so sidelined from power that his daughter Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello will be hiding in a basement somewhere trying to evade arrest by EFCC for her role in a 300million Naira corruption scandal?
Now who could have imagined that an "ordinary" Abuja chief magistrate court would order the arrest of the national coordinator of Police Equipment Foundation (PEF) and a brother in-law of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Mr. Kenny Martins, over allegations against him bordering on fraud and misappropriation of N50 billion meant for the purchase of police equipment.
Who could also imagine that Babalawo Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo's own title "UBANYAKIN ZURU" could be taken away from him and bestowed on his former jailed-enemy, Retired General Bamayi by the Gwandu Emirate of Zuru? Emir of Zuru, Alhaji Muhammadu Sani Sami Zuru disclosed that the emirate council has withdrawn the traditional title of Uban Yaki conferred on former President Olusegun Obasanjo and conferred same on the former jailed Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ishaya Bamayi.
Not this blogger in his farthest dream! That men could go to the extent they go in search of power even if it means dining with the proverbial devil just to get it is beyond every sensible imagination of this blogger. This is so because of the ephemeral nature of power and Babalawo Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo is a living example of a man presently without power, who has fallen from grace to grass. Gradually but surely, the matching boots of the arresting enforcers of the state are closing their distance from his Otta farms to finally seal up his faith as a powerless ex-dictator. That Obasanjo will be arrested, is just a matter of time. And Arewa Consultative Forum has also decreed so!
Now the former chairman of PDP and one of the henchmen of Olusegun Obasanjo, Dr. Ahmadu Ali is also piling up on Obasanjo. This is very regrettable because this very Dr Ali been an Obasanjo man-friday since the seventies when he served Obasanjo's regime as Education Minister and earned the infamous "Ali must go" war cry of rioting NANS students. How is the mighty fallen and why is everybody deserting this Titanic? It is the foolery of men of power who think that they are beloved only to be left marooned when the power goes out!
If anyone has been wondering why the death grip on power which African leaders has been known for, they should look no further but at Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo. Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo is a case study that once you are out of power, you become a mere sitting quarry whom the new men of power can decide to "incinerate" at any time. In other words such an ex-leader is chased away into the jungle where he is left at the mercy of vapid vampires eager at the slightest sign of weakness or vulnerability to make a mince meat out of such a walking cadaver. Imagine Zuru Emirate Council stripping an Olusegun Obasanjo of a title which they had hitherto conferred on him; and just to spite him further, re-conferred that same title on an Obasanjo-jailed enemy General Bamayi. Bamayi it would be recalled has been a prison-guest of Olusegun Obasanjo, throughout his presidency, but was recently freed from detention after eight years of just awaiting trial. In essence Bamayi was in detention throughout Obasanjo’s eight years in office between 1999 and 2007, only to be finally set free because the grounds for his initial detention was frivolous.
And Icheoku would like to ask, how does one get compensated for a lost eight years of his life especially when there was no basis both in law and in fact for the initial detention and loss of liberty?
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