PRESIDENT OLUSEGUN OBASANJO MUST GO
BY:BODUNDE BABATOPE MOSES
After the battle against military dictatorship in Nigeria had been won, the people were looking for a leader to lead them to the promise land in 1999 after a lot of suffering under the military rule. Unfortunately, Obasanjo was imposed by the Mafia through the massive rigging of the election. The government is being run in a Mafia-like administration. However, many people believed that his prison experience would guide him to favour the poor masses who are suffering in the midst of plentiful. Apart from dancing to the tune of the Mafia who put him in power through their ill gotten wealth, he added to the suffering of the people through his anti-people programmes.
Many people and organisations including the leader of Yoruba group Afenifere Pa Abraham Adesanya and the former minister for Mines and special duties, Alhaji Wada Nas had asked President Obasanjo to resign for his inability to move the Nation forward. He has failed to improve the living standard of the people, corruption is the order of the day, lives and properties are not safe, massive rigging and fraud during elections, using force to protect the multinational oil companies in the Niger Delta resulting in the killing of several people. The government of Obasanjo has nothing to offer the suffering Nigerian masses.
He has imposed several unpopular socio-economic policies such as privatisation, deregulation, liberalisation, devaluation of the currency, withdrawal of subsides on social welfare services. All these policies increased the poverty and suffering of the people. No developing economy has ever survived these policies dictated by the world Bank and IMF which Obasanjo is blindly implementing.
The rate at which police are killing unarmed civilians during any peaceful protest is alarming, while failing to curb armed robbery, assassinations and other crimes. Also the use of military force to settle communal conflicts which has resulted in the massacre of innocent civilians and villagers in Zaaki Biam in Benue state remains a state policy of the Obasanjo regime.
The famous lawyer and activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi and the retired police Inspector General (DIG) Mr. Parry Osayande accused the government of Obasanjo of involvement in the death of the Vice-Chairman (South-South) zone of the PDP, Chief A.K Dikibo. This accusation which was never refuted is a huge indictment of the Obasanjo regime.
He institutionalised corruption while squandering public fund on a hypocritical anti-corruption crusade. There is wide spread corruption among his cabinet and nobody has ever been brought to book since his anti-corruption crusade.
He circumvented the will of the people through massive rigging and fraud during April 2003 general elections. He imposed himself on the people by manipulating the elections to his favour.
He refused the conveyance of a Sovereign National Conference where Nigerians can discuss ways by which they can live together peacefully. This Sovereign National Conference is very important for the stability of Nigeria which the president is not willing to convey.
When the civil rule came into place in 1999, people were full of great expectations of good things of life. The Obasanjo government only offered anguish, tears, and blood. This trend should not be allowed to continue, something must be done because the government has shown no sign of listening to the yearnings of the people.
Recently he unilaterally increased the prices of petroleum products without the approval of National Assembly. As the people were still groaning under the crushing weight of the increase from N26 to N34 per litre of petrol, the government instructed the marketers to stick to the price set by Governement. It was the resilience of the Nigeria Labour Congress and civil societies protests that prevented him from placing another tax increase on petroleum products.
All civil society, opposition political parties, social cultural organisations, self determination groups, Nigeria Labour Congress, students and Youth organisations and other social forces oppose to the current state of decadence in Nigeria should join hand together and force Obasanjo to resign. This should be through the use of protests, picketing, stay at home and other forms of civil disobedience. A government that breaches that social contract by taking delight in inflicting suffering on the people ceaselessly, as Obasanjo government has done should reckon with the inevitability of popular revolt. The Obasanjo government is a dictatorship in a civilian dress and must be fought in the way every dictatorship should.
People should fight the battle as it was against the military dictatorship of hi predecessors. Obasanjo and his mafia click should go.