Metaphorically speaking, no sane Nigerian politician will accept an ‘Obasanjo’(a comic expression of the controversial former President of Nigeria) who prompted the ward chairman of his new found party- the All Progressives Congress to tear into pieces the membership card of his well-entrenched party – the People’s Democratic Party that made him two term President in the full glare of the print and electronic media, as a friend, even in his or her dream. Ironically, with the benefit of a discerning-conscience, the immediate past President of Nigeria- Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR should remain indebted in gratitude to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR, amongst other reasons, for his courage in outlining critical areas that would mar his 2nd term ambition; against the backdrop of a pre-existing gentleman agreement that the former Governor of Bayelsa State and Acting President of Nigeria, following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar Adua GCFR will serve ONLY one term as elected President; it came to be seen by discerning minds that indeed, there was a gentleman’s agreement which pre-dates the 2011 Presidential election.
Eventually, what some pen-activists in Goodluck Jonathan’s Government referred to as dooms day prophecies turned out to be very profound predictions that materialized; presenting Jonathan as a man who learnt in the hard way. His inability to discern between real friends and sycophants (eye-service practitioner) cost him his defeat to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari GCFR of the All Progressives Congress in the March 28th Presidential election.
In the Nigerian political landscape especially, the concept of friendship has been tainted with intriguing colorations depending on the mutual or thrust benefits that the consigned persons set out to gain or garner for themselves, individually or collectively. “Ita’ma or’ose…” is a Benin epistemic maxim that reinforces the doctrine of corresponding responsibility to one another at the nick of critical decisions. If the decision to contest the 2015 Presidential election by Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR on the platform of the PDP in 2015 is taken as a ‘critical decision’, it was expected that the so-called friends of ‘Mr. President’ will walk to him and bare their sincere minds, depending on their perspective of the journey.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo having seen the dangers that lie ahead of a young man who he ‘imposed’ on the PDP as her Vice Presidential candidate; because there are incontrovertible evidence that rumor Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was in fact a delegate to the National convention of the PDP, apparently disposed to the emergence of Dr. Peter Odili who was a major contender for the PDP Presidential ticket. Apart from the indefatigable fact that Dr. Jonathan was not in contention for the Vice Presidential race; it was on the eve of the National Convention, and at the Presidential Villa where Dr. Peter Odili was bluntly dismissed by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, that he announced Alh. Umaru Musa Yar Adua as the preferred Presidential candidate; and he asked his aides to immediately invite Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to the Villa. Apparently depressed by the unimpressive countenance of his man (Dr. Odili), as he was stepping out of the Villa corridor, Dr. Jonathan who was walking into the Villa corridor had no premonition of what laid ahead of him; until he appeared before Baba (Obasanjo) and he was presented to Yar Adua as his running mate to the amazement of Jonathan, Yar Adua, Gen. Patrick Azazi and other members of the cabal.
Chief Obasanjo decided to write an open letter dated 2nd December 2013, having regards to several failed attempts to see President Jonathan in private to convince him against the idea of running for a second term. The controversial letter (Before It Is Too Late) went viral as loyalists of President Goodluck Jonathan (as he was then refered) took turns in lashing at Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in the print and electronic media. For me, to say that Chief Obasanjo is Goodluck Jonathan’s benefactor is like a simile, when we say that the Earth is spherical. My beloved dad (Late Arc Bishop John Enoyogiere Edokpolo JP) used to counsel us (his forty two children) that “Aigbe-obo-n’kpenomwan” – a Benin proverb which restrains beneficiaries from ungrateful tendencies towards their benefactors. I wish Jonathan had good counsellors, or selfless aides, he wouldn’t have been a victim of the disastrous, and yet, avoidable pitfall.
A forensic inquest into the factors that strayed the duo’s relationship is not unconnected with pressure on Goodluck Jonathan to seize control of the PDP’s structure from Obasanjo (the PDP chairman Board of Trustees as it where), in a bid to further his chauvinistic utilitarian ambition for 2015 Presidential ticket. He swooped on the National Secretary of the party, Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was Chief Obasanjo’s ark-loyalist. He eventually succeeded in easing him out of the party’s Secretariat, despite court orders recognizing the former Governor of Osun State as the authentic Secretary of the party. For Chief Obasanjo, “this boy was going too far into the wilderness of political oblivion”, and he was said to have made several patriotic moves to sensitize Goodluck Jonathan on the danger that lie ahead for his 2015 2nd term ambition. These moves were allegedly rebuffed by Goodluck Jonathan or his kitchen cabinet, because of their narrow ambition which eventually cost the former largest party in Africa their hold on the Presidency.
Finally, the open letter affirmed the speculations that there was in fact, a gentleman agreement by the ‘caucus’ that Goodluck Jonathan was to serve one term of four years as President in order to complete the joint ticket (Yar Adua- Goodcluck Jonathan) . Amongst other hitherto hidden secrets; the open letter was an uncommon exposition all together. Alleged secret and intelligence booby traps against top opposition figures particularly of the All Progressives Congress facilitators and other behind-the-scenes political threats aimed at foisting the 2nd term agenda of Mr. President, who were penciled down for one ‘bloody’ treatment or the other were revealed. The eighteen page letter by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo began with the following note “I am constrained to write this open letter to you for a number of reasons.” And it ended thus  “I  crave  your  indulgence  to  share  the  contents  of  this  letter,  in  the  first instance,  with  General  Ibrahim  Babangida  and  General  Abdulsalami  Abubakar, who,  on  a  number  of  occasions  in  recent  times,  have  shared  with  me  their agonizing  thoughts,  concerns  and  expressions  on  most  of  the  issues  I  have raised  in  this  letter  concerning  the  situation  and  future  of  our  country.  I also crave your indulgence to share the contents with General Yakubu  Danjuma and Dr.  Alex Ekwueme, whose concerns for and commitments to the good of Nigeria have been known to be strong”.
A President who is endowed and surrounded by prolific-pathfinders would have probed into the opening phraseology of the ‘controversial letter’ as in, why was the author (Chief Obasanjo) constrained to make the letter an open one, instead of a private letter; and secondly, why would he end the letter on the note of reference to former Heads of State of Nigeria whom he alleged had complained to him bitterly within the context of his own grievances with Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. As a village man; I am quick to reflect on our cherished adage or maxim in periscoping why things happened the way they did. By any stroke of imagination, the Benin proverb (Ita’ma or’ose) I asserted earlier illustrates why Chief Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR is my judgment Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s best friend. I and other altruistic Nigerians would be saddened, if after Ex-President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan return from his touted long overseas vacation, he refused to pay Chief Olusegun Obasanjo the first and very special honorary visit; above all, to seek forgiveness for disparaging, underrating and undermining his private counsels and even the substance of the controversial open letter.
By party allegiance, I am an astute member of the All Progressives Congress, Edo State chapter; but I write as a patriot, not minding whose ox is gored, because above all, I want to be judged not by the mere interpretation of my writings(which could be deviously misinterpreted by mischiefs); but by the spirit of uprightness behindthem. Nigeria’s democracy stands to be vigorously strengthened if we have a vibrant opposition at the State and National levels; and the People’s Democratic Party squarely fits into that expectation IF, a top-bottom reconciliation mechanism is earnestly installed.