9 Most Bizzare Things Obasanjo Did While He Was President, No. 3 Will Haunt Him For The Rest Of His Life

9 Most Bizzare Things Obasanjo Did While He Was President, No. 3 Will Haunt Him For The Rest Of His Life

Most Bizzare Things Obasanjo Did While He Was President, No. 3 Will Haunt Him For The Rest Of His Life

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo remains, perhaps, the most controversial but relevant political leader in Nigeria.

Since the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999, apart from serving two-term as president, he had played prominent roles in making and unmaking presidents.

According to the opinions of the majority, Obasanjo laid the foundation for corruption in the Nigerian government and his rule book (manual) has become a template for successive government to divide and rule Nigeria.

Below are some of the bizzare things he did while in power:

1. Obasanjo was alleged to have used security agencies to rigged all his elections during his tenure as president. For Baba, elections in Nigeria was a “do or die” affair. No wonder, the All Progressive Congress, APC, adopted same approach to return to power in 2019.

2. On his command, the World witnessed one of the most tragic abuse of human rights and a genocide which repeated itself in Odi community, Bayelsa state, in his second coming.

The Odi massacre was an attack carried out on November 20, 1999, by the Nigerian military on the predominantly Ijaw town of Odi in Bayelsa State. The attack came in the context of an ongoing conflict in the Niger Delta over indigenous rights to oil resources and environmental protection.

People generally say that the massacre was ordered by the regime of former president Olusegun Obasanjo and vice president Atiku Abubakar . The military has often defended its action saying it was ambushed on its way to Odi. As a result, tensions rose prior to entrance into the village.

A wide range of estimates have been given for the numbers of civilians killed. Human Rights Watch concluded that “the soldiers must certainly have killed tens of unarmed civilians and that figures of several hundred dead are entirely possible.” Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action, claims that nearly 2500 civilians were killed. The government initially put the death toll at 43, including eight soldiers.

3. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, APC Chieftain in December 2011 said this about Baba: “What integrity has Obasanjo in terms of his legacies for Nigeria to speak on elections? Apart from his aborted third term ambition, he brought about and left a legacy of electoral corruption in the country.

What is Obasanjo talking about? He should go away and retire in shame politically. He should leave the political landscape of this country alone. He brought a whole salad of corruption, manipulation and failures.”

4. One of the most serious problems that plagued us as a people during Obasanjo’s second time in power was his disdain for the rule of law, and in particular, the laws of the land. A president who would not obey his own laws, forfeits moral grounds to enforce such laws? That was the main reason for the general increase in lawlessness in our society during Obasanjo’s civilian leadership.

Court decisions taken against him or his regime were ignored. For example, his holding on to huge funds legally due to Lagos State Councils was against the advice of two courts of the land, including the Supreme Court. His disrespect for court decisions became so frustrating that lawyers in the country had to go on strike by boycotting court sessions for a couple of days in March 2006, to protest against Obasanjo’s high-handedness.  And in a speech on May 31, 2006, the retiring Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Muhammed Uwais, described government’s disregard of Court judgments as, “evidence of bad government.”

5. President Obasanjo allegedly used his position to “corner” considerable shares of Transcorp, a blue chip company that was formed overnight to corner juicy contracts and make fat company acquisitions. It was incorporated in November 2004 and officially launched on 21 July 2005, at the Presidential Banquet Hall, State House, Abuja, with Obasanjo as the special guest of honour. The former president used his influence to sway the purchase of NITEL and Nicon-Hilton Hotel in favor of Transcorp, a practice which Fawehinmi regarded as “a corrupt act and violation of the code of conduct.

6. What about the endless estacodes he garnered from traveling around the world during his 8 years in office. He also shelled out N9.3 billion (US $72 million), for a new power toy, a Boeing Business Jet 737-800 series for exclusive use, bringing to six, during his tenure, the number of aircraft in the presidential fleet.  In other words, our President had six assorted deluxe jets, while the US Air Force had only two aircraft available for the use of the US President.

7. Back in December 2013, his daughter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello penned a heavily worded letter to her father in response to a similar one he wrote ex-President Jonathan. The letter brought to the fore the deep rooted trouble in the Obasanjo family (before and after his presidency) despite his domineering influence outside. The ex-leader also had major beef with his first son Gbenga, a development that caused a stir in the family.

8. The former Nigerian leader was the same man that tried to changed the constitution to attempt a third term in power but was confronted headlong.

9. On 16 May, 13 days to the end of his tenure, Obasanjo shocked the entire nation when he announced via the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, the award of contracts worth N756 billion. Till date, there has been no trace of how the money was spent. Even the $16Bn power project remains pending.

To be continued..

*Please note: some of these allegations have not been proven in a law court.

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