Obasanjo in Tinubu’s Infinity Costume: Statesmanship or Political Deception?

Things that seem impossible are happening in politics right now. Things that people thought were impossible and unthinkable in politics are happening now. One of these things was seeing former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has publicly criticized President Bola Tinubu, GCFR, wearing a locally made adire agbada outfit with Tinubu’s infinity symbol clearly written on it.

This happened at the recent opening of Gateway International Airport in Iperu Remo, Ogun State. Obasanjo wore an agbada that was the “aso-ebi” of the day’s dignitaries. Even though he was surrounded by his administration’s trillionaire business moguls like Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Abdul Samad Rabiu, and even current political leaders like Senate President Godswill Akpabio, serving and former governors, top-class legislators, and an elder statesman, Akinrogun “Segun Osoba.

People saw Obasanjo greet the president, who, despite his high status, bowed as a sign of respect and humility in the Yoruba way of showing respect to elders. Obasanjo, who has a history of only setting good examples when he has people watching to impress, lived up to his dishonest expectations by making suspiciously positive comments about Tinubu’s leadership at the event. That was a great show. Obasanjo’s attitude toward Tinubu was completely different from what it had been before, which made people wonder if he was really being a good statesman or just being his usual political liar as he stood in front of important people and was seen by the whole world.

Obasanjo has never tried to hide how much he dislikes Tinubu since he was governor of Lagos State. Obasanjo tried everything he could to bring down Tinubu on his way to winning the presidency. Obasanjo has called Tinubu someone who doesn’t have any good ideas or plans for the country since he became president of Nigeria in May 2023. He never has anything good to say about the current president’s administration, and he showed it through his words and actions. One wonders what has changed to make him celebrate Tinubu during the day while at night, his hypocritical opposition figures from all over the country are plotting with him to get rid of the president.

Looking back, Obasanjo, as he always did, never saw anything good in any of the previous governments, whether they were civilian or military, except for himself and the governments he led as a soldier and as a civilian president.

This writer has a history of being allergic to bad leadership and hypocrisy in leaders. Hypocrisy is one of the biggest problems that sitting leaders face in many countries around the world. The former president, who was born in Owu-Abeokuta, knows a lot about the hypocrisy of leaders. From there, to Obasanjo’s hypocritical self, he will do anything to take advantage of this fact, even though he arrogantly thinks that no other leader is better or has good ideas for leading our country than he does. But he is still the most brutal democratic leader this country has ever had. His kangaroo-style electoral credentials, which were based on pain and suffering, were set by the henchman of the electoral body he appointed, Professor Maurice Iwu. These credentials set the stage for the electoral problems that the country is seeing on the political stage today. Obasanjo and Iwu made up fake election results that clearly showed they didn’t care about voters’ choices and wanted to help his chosen candidates. He conquered every place he could with his presidential power, except for Lagos, which was ruled by Tinubu. In 2007, at the height of his power, he chose a president who was not fit to lead the country as his successor. Now, he’s running around acting like he’s a victim of a dirty but avoidable political situation that he made up for himself and other defenseless Nigerians. So far, the country is still having a hard time getting out of the leadership mess that this greedy dictator in civilian clothes caused for all of us.

Again, it’s not that Obasanjo didn’t try to get rid of Tinubu while he was president or even now that he’s not in power. His main problem now, as it has always been, is that Tinubu has shown that he is much better at strategic thinking, being kind, and using street smarts, especially when it comes to enjoying timely grace and the kindness of providence. Obasanjo, on the other hand, is greedy and selfish, and he still doesn’t have a strong sense of purpose. He needs political credibility badly because his democratic integrity is in tatters. This is mostly because he tried to run for a third term too ambitiously and then refused to follow the law and destroy constitutional institutions.

Obasanjo, despite his well-known hypocrisy when it comes to traveling the world, can never be a trustworthy or credible mentor of power, either in Nigeria or anywhere else. One day, careful historians will do justice to this claim when they look back on Obasanjo’s cruel rule of this country. He banned the teaching of history in schools across the country while he was in power to hide his shady political past. Recently, that unpopular choice was thrown away.

In one of my Friday columns in the Vanguard newspaper in 2003, I warned then-Governor and now-President Bola Tinubu to be very careful about how nice Obasanjo has been to him in public lately. The Balogun Owu-Abeokuta always walked in a way that made him look nice to people he wanted to hurt or needed something from. Once more, what does Obasanjo want from Tinubu? Time will tell.

It’s time to think back on what happened: Obasanjo was nice to the Alliance For Democracy governors in 2003, but Tinubu never fell for his tricks. And in the end, he planned the untimely departure from power of the unsuspecting AD governors in the states of Ondo, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, and Ekiti.

If it weren’t for divine fate, Tinubu would have lost power by now, and he probably wouldn’t be the president of the country today. As minister of works, Seye Ogunlewe was told by Obasanjo to do everything he could to destabilize Lagos and remove Tinubu from the governorship seat. Obasanjo did everything illegal in 2007 to make sure that Tinubu’s successor didn’t win the election for governor. The rest is history now.

Again. What does Obasanjo want from Tinubu this time that makes him tone down his hypocritical criticism of the president and his government? At this point, when his opposition figures against this administration are growing, it is better to be careful than to let your guard down by wearing the Tinubu costume in public. No matter how nice you are to Obasanjo, his history of betrayals makes him seem unreliable. There are many examples of this. Even though Osoba gave him the large Presidential Library land in Abeokuta when he asked for it, Obasanjo ended up betraying Akinrogun. On Election Day in 2003, he was at Osoba’s house having dinner while his assigned electoral agents were out on the political turf planning the then-Ogun helmsman’s departure from office as governor.

Also, in August 2000, when Obasanjo was secretly planning to impeach Chuba Okadigbo as Senate president, he went to Okadigbo’s birthday party and even danced with Okadigbo’s wife. That day, he acted like he was okay with Okadigbo, but days later, he told his legislative thugs to get Okadigbo impeached. That is the real dishonest nature of the man who wore the Tinubu costume last weekend. Another thing that comes to mind is how Obasanjo made Audu Ogbe step down as chairman of the People’s Democratic Party after he visited his home in Abuja without telling anyone in January 2005. Obasanjo asked for and got a delicious pounded yam meal from the wife of the chairman of the national ruling party while he was president. After a nice meal, he took a typed resignation letter out of his pocket and gave it to Ogbe to read and sign in front of his whole family. That’s Obasanjo for you: he has no compassion at all. What could be the reason this time that Obasanjo is hanging out with Tinubu?

If Obasanjo still thinks, like he did during the 2023 general elections, that Peter Obi is the best person to be president, he shouldn’t be taken seriously when he prays for, talks about, or praises Tinubu in the best possible terms. Anyone who knows a lot about recent history should tell President Tinubu to be careful of how close Obasanjo is to him and his family.

It’s clear that the former president’s recent visits to the Aso-Rock Presidential Villa are not for good reasons, but for bad ones. Please keep in mind, President Tinubu, that Obasanjo has nothing to give you. Just because you got through him in the past doesn’t mean you should ignore his threatening, tyrannical past and the current bait he’s offering.

Obasanjo is someone who would “cut down a redwood tree and then stand on the stump to give a speech about conservation.” Sorry to Adlai Stevenson, a famous American diplomat and politician. This is the harsh truth that Tinubu needs to be ready for in his new relationship with the Obasanjos of this world. Once more, President Tinubu, watch out for Obasanjo’s tricks!