By ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES
By the standard of governance we operate in Africa, Obasanjo performed exceedingly, excellently as President. He instituted more than 80% of the beneficial reforms that the Yar'Adua/Jonathan administration continued to implement.
No administration since 1999 has also fought corruption more determinedly than the Obasanjo administration. Yes, there were obvious lapses, but compared to what is happening today, Obasanjo's was exceedingly excellent. And, I am talking about the African governance standard.
Even the so much vaunted subsidy removal that has been steadily mismanaged by successive administrations was been gradually implemented by Obasanjo, without much discomfort to the ordinary people.
The APC has shown Nigerians more pepper than any administration since amalgamation has ever shown Nigerians. Everything is crumbling to the grounds, and it will be a political wonder worth being studied in Harvard, if Nigeria remains a single entity after the APC is done dealing with us.
Obasanjo excelled, the modest extent he did, because he has an obvious undying love for learning and education. He is amenable for knowledge, and during his time as President, he sought for and got some of Nigeria's best brains from different parts of the world and engaged them to help in fixing Nigeria.
After his tenure, he sought for and got those that were clearly better educated than himself, and made them President and Vice-president. He also looked out for good heads to support as governors of various States in Nigeria, where he had interest. Most of those he succeeded in helping to power in some States, didn't perform as poorly as most of the handpicked governors of the APC regime.
Obasanjo wasn't a perfect leader, in fact, by the right standard of governance, he was failure, but we can deny the fact that no one who has governed Nigeria since independence, genuinely love Nigeria as Obasanjo does. Some of his personal weaknesses played in and rubbed off on his vision for the country, but in comparison with the disaster we have in place today, I personally feel we might have been better off if we allowed Obasanjo to take a few more time at the presidency and probably helped stabilise our democracy and stopped some of these imbeciles who found their way to power from materialising in our system.
Maybe, at the appropriate time, Nigerians will come together either at Eagles Square, Unity Fountain or Tafawa Balewa Square to hold vigils of apology to Goodluck Jonathan. He is one President who seemed to have the best plan for total removal of subsidy, and he rolled these plans out before attempting to remove subsidy. Yet, at the time he partially removed subsidy, Tinubu and his gang of APC supporters took Jonathan to the cleaners and organised some of the most effective protests ever held in this country.
Today, without a single refinery working, without a single palliative in place, without stability in the forex market, with absolutely no plan in place, Tinubu pulled off the subsidy, with his very first speech as a contested President.
Which dentist would pull a tooth without preparing the patient with medication that would help douse the pain? What Tinubu did is like a dentist walking into a patient, finding out that he has a decayed tooth and immediately puts his forceps into the patient's mouth and pulls the tooth.
Subsidy is fraud, no doubt. But it is only an insensitive and clueless moron who would apply what he thinks is a measure for treating an ailment without applying the necessary analgesics.
With the cost of living shooting up so sporadically, people have their hearts in their hands and any little spark can throw us into a political inferno that is worse than the wildfires of Maui, Hawaii. I pray we avoid it.
But I know that prayers alone don't work, because even the Great One whom we pray to had already admonished us that; "Faith without work is useless". If things continue on this rapid descent, Nigeria will explode, and I am not a prophet, talk less of being that of doom, but I am a realist. I wouldn't even want any disruption of the system, because I have tender children whom I wouldn't want to experience the trauma of nation in crisis, but I know that certain things are inevitable, and it appears, fate brought Tinubu to catalyse Nigeria's revival, through other means.
Nothing unites a people more than hunger. Everyday that I move around and interact with people; in the markets and elsewhere, I cannot but feel, in very tangible forms, their pains, frustration and anger. These things they have managed to bottle up, but soon their worse fears might give way and they would be ready for the worse.
MAY NIGERIA PREVAIL!
