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MONDAY QUARTER-BACKING: Top Ten Questions That I Would Have Asked Mr. President Aremu Obasanjo in Atlanta
By: Mobolaji E. Aluko, PhD , Burtonsville, MD, USA
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September 11, 2000
Introduction
Let me make two confessions: first, I did not go with President Clinton to Abuja. Secondly, although I registered for the Presidential dialogue with Nigerians in the Diaspora, I also did not go to Atlanta to see President Obasanjo. That, in my books, was symmetrical, poetic justice.
But why was I not in Atlanta? Quite frankly, I reserved my plane ticket, but cancelled it at the last minute when I heard that about 1,000 people had registered, and I wondered what kind of dialoguic jamboree it would turn out to be.
In any case, I had a number of friends who were going to be there, who would make great contributions in my absence, I believed, so I chose to monitor the events from my basement fortress in Burtonsville, Maryland.
I wish I had gone, not because of the committee meetings (I heard one or two strange things about some of those!), but to improve the quality of the question-and-answer period.
For example, the one question that got the characteristically undiplomatic "Go to Hell!" response from President Obasanjo apparently was well-deserved, because what President Obasanjo was reported to have said about Ndiigbo in a PostExpress write-up was quite unbelievable and mischievous. (After an unbelievably crude "Ikere-Ekiti prostitutes-dog-sex" write-up in the Post-Express, I ain't believing much of PostExpress these days.)
More importantly, if he had said it, and Ndiigbo leaders like Ekwueme and Nwabueze and some others were present, and if they did not respond both instantly and publicly thereafter, and are now leaving it to a whispering campaign, then the Ndiigbo probably deserved to be told what was reported that Obasanjo said.
That is why I don't believe that he said what he said, because I do not believe that Ndiigbo leadership would be so chicken-hearted and lilly-livered.
Or was it the hapless questioner who wondered why President Obasanjo was recycling old members and crooks into his cabinet, and when he was asked to mention one of them, the joker mentioned IBB! To which the president is reported to have lectured him that IBB was not in his cabinet, and that if he had proof of any rogue in his cabinet, he was prepared to fire him right away.
The guy was reported to have put his tail behind his legs and departed, beaten.
Or is that my sister, the emotional Itshekiri woman who talked about "apartheid" and marginalization in her own country, only for president to display uncharacteristic chivalry, and guide her into the proper question to ask?
I myself wondered last week - like the president is reported to have wondered, maybe not in these exact terms - how it was that while the Ijaw and the Urhobos had been fighting the Itshekiris lately, now suddenly when a 13% derivation bone is dangled before all of them, the Itshekiris, the Isokos and the Ijaws are suddenly talking about together forming an unimaginatively-named "Coastal State" (why not "Itshokojaw State"?), leaving the Urhobos to fend for themselves, and the Aniomas to either also form their own state or join up with Anambra?
What money can do to principles!
And on and on!
You guessed it - I was a fly on the wall, listening to all the questions!
Well, I had my own suite of ten unasked questions, so here goes:
My Top Ten Questions
Question 1: Over-centralization
Mr President sir, I hear that you sleep no more than 3 - 4 hours a day because the affairs of state weigh you down so much. You are even quick to tell people so. People are hanging around your Aso Rock office from morning to night, and you attend to them like an "Olori Oko", holding court. It even reminds some people of some departed unlamented soul, a previous occupant of Aso Rock.
They say that you are your own foreign minister (apparently Sule Lamido does not like traveling, ko?), oil minister (Dr. Rilwan Lukman still likes his OPEC ties, ba?), defence minister (General Danjuma is not feeling well these days, ngbo?),
etcheram, etcheram.
Just as the government is still an untrue federal one, centralized in Apo Rock, there is the criticism that your government is a personalized one, centralized at Aso Rock, in constant apposition to Apo Mansion. When will this change, Mr. President sir? When will have a non-monarchical true federalism, sir?
Question 2: Self-Evaluation
Sir, when I asked one of my friends who attended the Atlanta meeting to grade you, he gave you an 80 out of 100 for performance there - border line between B and C in the United States.
Mr. President sir, I know that you are still learning the ropes of this nascent democracy sir. But what grade would you give yourself right now, and why? Please forget the grades that the First Lady gave you the other day, which ranged from E (for husband-ry) to B (for leadership) to A (for patriotism), if I
remember rightly. You are known to be very honest and frank with people, and we trust that you will do the same for yourself.
Question 3: On Sharia
Excuse me sir, this Sharia thing bothers many of us! When it was only Zamfara, you said that "This Sharia thing will fizzle out." Now there are 8 states that have adopted the full criminal code of Sharia, and you now say only that "The political Sharia will fizzle out, but the religious Sharia will remain." Em, sir, could you explain that sir?
Question 4: On Odi
Excuse me, sir, the village of Odi was wiped out sometime back. I have been DEFENDING YOU, believe me, DEFENDING YOU that you did not give the order for that dastardly act! The person that I was talking to said, "Ok, if he did not give the order, has he PUNISHED anybody who exceeded his actual orders?"
Sir, I could not give an answer to that one, and I said hat when I get to Atlanta, I will ask that question if they call me when raise my hands. Sir, will you ivestigate the Odi massacre since I onestly believe that you did not give the order to wipe out mans, womans, childs and goats?
Question 5: Poverty Alleviation or Prosperity Creation?
When you came first time - I mean 1976- 1979 - you left us with OFN -Operation Feed the Nation. In fact, you continued with it in what one stupid Western paper uncharitably called " a ramshackle farm in Ota." Now you have started PAP - Poverty Alleviation Programme. Sir, can you rename it "Prosperity Creation Program", PCP? Sure, to alleviate poverty, you can just give 200,000 people cash each every month until the cash runs out, but to creation of prosperity is a continuous process, as the Nigerian saying goes?
Sir, don't you think that those N10 billion dollars should be used to set-up medium-scale and small-scale businesses and extend micro-credit to Nigerians, create jobs via infrastructure building (roads, rail, bridges, houses, etc.) rather than use it as a party largesse, party dole? Please sir, reconsider, will you not?
Question 6: Have Plane Will Travel
Excuse me, sir, you travel too much, I think you travel too much! Abi, don't you think so? But tell us sir, do you still nurse ambitions to be Secretary-General of the UN when - or if - your presidential term is up, whether in 2003 or 2007? Please don't be angry if this is just idle speculation.
Question 7: The Clinton Visit
Don't mind those people who say that Bill came to visit you, and not Nigeria! At least, he went to the National Assembly without you, and went to Ushafa, without you, I believe! But sir - I hope that you read his speech to the National Assembly in which he urged greater cooperation between between you and my brother Senator Gbenga?
Actually, President Clinton named quite a number of names, but skipped over Gbenga's name (he could not make out how to pronounce "GB"!) More seriously, sir, fighting, fighting the National Assembly nor good, sir! For example, please sign the NDDC bill - a veto is a veto. After a veto, a president signs - no
hard feelings! I know that it is hard, but that is democracy, sir!
Question 8: MKO Is Still Our Man O!
Don't tell me to go to Hell, o, sir, because I am a Christian like yourself, o! I mean, how the hell did Mr. Clinton not mention MKO's name, when he could mention Sunny Ade and Yar'Adua? Ehn, I know that you did not write that Clinton speech, but Mr. President sir, can you sir tell us what you have against Chief MKO Abiola, if at all, sir?
I am staring at a picture here where in the mid-1950s, in Baptist Boys High School, MKO (looking quite bigger than you then in size and health) was sitting in front, and you were sitting in the back. I hope, sir, that it has nothing to do with back then? Why I ask, sir, is that since he died, you have not even had it ONCE in your Christian heart to pay ANY tribute to MKO sir, much to the chagrin of Hafsat, daughter of Kudirat and MKO, and Lola Abiola-Edewor, who recently shed tears that even President Clinton did not have the decency to mention MKO's name EVEN ONCE during his recent visit.
Some of us, sir, believe that you told him not to mention MKO's name. Is that true, sir? We have so many more questions than answers here, sir, and it just plain hurts some of us, especially born-again Christians like yourself. Please tell us when you will honor MKO for paving the democratic way for you, sir.
Question 9: Proud Patriot of Owuland?
You are 60-something years old sir, ee pe fun wa o! However, Nigeria, as a country, will be 40 years old on October 1. Are you, sir, a Yoruba man before being a Nigerian, or a Nigerian before being a Yoruba man? Think carefully, sir, before you answer my question - don't just jump to answer - because when you were born, sir, Nigeria was not a country yet, just a British colony. E ro o re, sir!
Question 10: The Unforgettable Non-Handshake, A Plea for A Handshake
This one is a personal question, very personal sir. Can I come and shake your hands now, sir? Last time I saw you sir, on Monday July 17, 2000, to be exact, at about 6:00 pm, on the grounds of Apo Mansion in Abuja, just many minutes before your great "juju" dance with ex-Third Lady Mrs. Chuba Okadigbo (with the Oyi of Oyi rocking with "nwanyi ocha, nwanyi oma" First Lady Stella), my hands were out to shake yours.
After shaking the hands of other members of my extended family, but because it had grown suddenly dark, you did not see my own hands, although you acknowledged my face with a wry smile. Sir, can I shake your hands now? Can I take a picture too? :-)
Epilogue
Thank you sir. No more questions for you sir, President Aremu Obasanjo.
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Published with the permission of Dr. Bolaji Aluko
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