Sir: Sometimes when a nation finds itself in a very deep quagmire with so many problems that have become seemingly intractable or insurmountable, there will always be the need to look back and probe the genesis of such daunting woes.

If there is anyone who God has truly favoured in terms of unplanned appointments at crucial moments of the Nigeria’s history, it is no other than Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo. The regrettable assassination of the then Head of State, Gen. Ramat Murtala Mohammed by Dimka and his gang ushered in Obasanjo as the new leader and in that position, Obasanjo supervised the transition from military to civil rule in 1979.

The top candidates for the number one seat included Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Alhaji Ibrahim Waziri, and Alhaji Aminu Kano. In the ensuing election, there was no clear-cut winner and then the formula of ‘twelve two-third’ cropped up which was upheld by the then Supreme Court to declare Alhaji Shehu Shagari as the winner.

How a military government known to rule by decrees ended up using a Supreme Court to validate its hidden agenda rather than deploy a military fiat to usher in what was best for the country is what Nigerians ought to probe.

That action of the military regime, however, represented a disservice to the entire Nigeria. Many Nigerians believe that it would not have taken Obasanjo much stress to convince all his subordinates about the benefits the country stood to gain from Awolowo’s leadership since all the evidences and records were there for even the entire world to see.

This is far from being a tribal or ethnic campaign but an overview of what could have taken Nigeria out of the woods longest time ago. Nigerians are obviously the losers as none of those who have ruled the country since 1979 till date has been able to take the country to greater heights according to the people’s aspirations and yearnings the way Awolowo could probably have done.

There are other instances and records of how Obasanjo usually distanced himself from the progressives and always pitching his tents with rival groups. The same was reflected in his attitude towards MKO Abiola’s aspiration to occupy the number one seat as he claimed that Abiola was never the Messiah Nigeria deserved.

Ironically, against all the clandestine moves of all his detractors, Abiola still recorded what was adjudged as the fairest and freest election in Nigeria in his favour but the junta would rather annul it and eventually, the same Obasanjo became the beneficiary of what Abiola laboured for since when the interim government put in place by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan was swept aside by Gen. Sani Abacha.

Abiola was later arrested and incarcerated for illegally declaring himself as president However, after Abacha died while battling a serious ailment and Abiola was released by the Gen. Abdulsalam Abubarkar regime, Abiola died in a mysterious circumstance and the next army arrangement placed the crown of the number one seat on Obasanjo’s head once again in a bid to mollify the Yoruba for losing one of its illustrious sons, Abiola the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and also to protect the interest of the military.

Obasanjo got to power, drew the best hands Nigeria had at the time but acted like Mr. Know All.  He spent a greater part of his regime travelling around the world ostensibly to woo investors and nobody could convince him that the first step was to fix his country. He allegedly settled Nigeria’s foreign debt but ignored the internal hunger as most pensioners suffered untold hardship under him.

He viewed politics as do or die, and because of his political ambition, allowed members of the National Assembly a free hand to do whatever they liked and, therefore, bequeathed to Nigeria successive National Assembly that appropriates most of the nation’s resources to themselves by smuggling what is termed Constituency Project into one of their so-called oversight functions.

In short, Obasanjo’s first and second opportunity into the number one position in Nigeria, far from being a blessing, is one of the reasons for Nigeria’s stagnancy. If Obasanjo had acted in the best interest of Nigeria at his first and second shots at governance, Nigeria, by now must have attained greater heights and the citizens would not have needed to face such untold hardship and excruciating pains as they do today.

Jide Oyewusi is coordinator of Ethics Watch International Nigeria.