It is now clear that a de facto comprehensive probe of the administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has been launched by the National Assembly. This is not the first time a former government has had its activities examined by a succeeding administration. In the 1960s, the Coker Commission examined the affairs of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s government during his reign as Premier of the Western Region. The government of General Murtala Muhammed launched a series of enquiries into the conduct of military governors and civil servants during the administration of General Yakubu Gowon. In the end, many civil servants were compulsorily retired while only two (Generals Mobolaji Johnson and Oluwole Rotimi in Lagos and the Western States respectively) were exonerated out of the twelve military governors of the time.
Ex-President Obasanjo himself set up the Christopher Kolade Enquiry into contract awards and transactions carried out under the administrations which preceded his election to office in 1999. At the State level, many succeeding governors, military or civilian have often set up review panels to examine general or specific matters carried out under previous regimes. However this is the first time the legislature is pioneering a probe of a previous civilian administration. No one has formally declared that the Obasanjo regime is in the dock, but only someone who is deaf, dumb and blind will not perceive that Obasanjo is in the process of undergoing a most exhaustive examination of his activities as President between 1999 and 2007.
The unfolding scenario is at first curious given that Obasanjo was President under the same Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform as his successor, President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. Indeed Yar’adua as we all know was the personal choice of Obasanjo, as PDP candidate and Nigeria’s President, and he went around the nation campaigning vigorously for his endorsed successor. Both chambers of the National assembly are exhaustively dominated by members of the same party and in deed many of them were the products of elections which the whole world (apart from Professor Maurice Iwu) believes were thoroughly rigged in favour of Obasanjo’s party’s candidates. The fact that many of the PDP candidates emerged as party candidates through a process many have characterised as selection by governors and party chieftains rather than through a system of internal party democracy was supposed to guarantee the loyalty of the legislators to Obasanjo’s legacy. This is so especially because before the 2007 elections, the Ahmadu Ali and Bode George-led PDP had carried out a de-registration of party members whose loyalty to Obasanjo could not be guaranteed. It now appears that in spite of their best efforts, not a few disloyal elements appear to have made it into elected offices!
Actually this illustrates more than anything else Obasanjo’s failure to internalise the nature of true and enduring leadership. You can not secure loyal supporters through any means other than shared values and aspirations and through a process of mutual respect and loyalty between the leader and his followers. Leadership especially in politics flows from a belief that the leader understands the interests of the followers and will protect those interests even when it may not be convenient or expedient. True leadership is securing the spontaneous cooperation and commitment of the led, because they trust and believe in the integrity and commitment of the leader. A true leader will elevate the motives of his supporters rather than descend to the base motivations of the crowd, not to talk of exploiting their fears and weaknesses. True power derives from influence over people, whether or not formal sanctions of political or bureaucratic office are attached thereto.
The probes also confirm that Obasanjo never quite fully understood the nature of political power in Nigeria, in spite of having being a military Head of State for three years and an elected President for eight. Obasanjo believed it is possible to erect a power base on the infrastructure of an artificial political creation such as the PDP. He did not quite figure out how shallow the PDP’s roots are politically speaking, nor did he appreciate that real power in Nigeria is constructed on structures with deeper connections with the people-their communities, ethnic and religious organisations and subliminal loyalties. If Obasanjo understood this, he would have understood that it is impossible to build a national political power base merely based on personal interests and alliances, without a superstructure with deeper roots. Perhaps the ex-President’s greatest error was insulting the young speaker of the House of Representatives (and in effect the whole House) at a time when he had many reasons not to attract their ill will.
Anyway, the ex-President has made his mistakes and now, for good or for ill, his legacy is in question, less than one year after leaving office. The House of Representatives has destroyed whatever remains of Obasanjo’s public goodwill with the revelations at the power sector probe. The national anger over the management of the power sector between 1999 and 2007 is well justified. I personally believe the government abused the trust and expectations of the people in its management of the sector. Power was a major national priority, but instead of doing what it knew was required to deliver power, many cynical measures were introduced time and again designed in my view not to give us power, but to award lucrative contracts. I believe the real questions the House of Representatives should be asking is examining the cost of those contracts relative to similar contracts in other parts of the world.
The Senate probe of Abuja land deals has being more problematic. I agree that clearly it seems that much arbitrariness characterised the previous administration’s policies in the FCT administration, and politically-connected individuals appear to have benefited from the confusion. Many others have had their buildings destroyed, their allocations revoked and re-allocated to better-favoured persons all in questionable circumstances. There was neither transparency nor consistency, it seems clear in the sale of the federal government’s properties in Abuja and in other parts of the country. However there are good grounds to agree with those who have questioned the credibility of some of the panel members. It is against the rules of natural justice for individuals who appear to have conflicts of interests to sit over matters in which those interests may be called to play. Already there is talk of a probe into the aviation sector and road construction contracts during the Obasanjo years and a potentially explosive enquiry into the oil sector is about to be launched.
Whatever happens, we hope all the reports of these panels will be handed over to the EFCC, ICPC and the Police to see if any crimes were committed by any individuals so that after all the drama, the law will then take its course.
Agbaje is the Senior Consultant/CEO of Resources and Trust Company (RTC) a strategy, business advisory and consultancy services firm. RTC POLICY is the policy, government and political consultancy arm of RTC
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