LIKE AWOLOWO LIKE OBASANJO!

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 ln July 1981,Papa Awolowo"having studied the economy of the nation and observed its poor management by Sheu Shagari's NPN government.

Awowolo wrote a letter to then President warning him about the imminent danger:"There is a frightful danger ahead,visible for those who care and are patriotic enough to look beyond their narrow self-interest.Our ship of state is fast approaching a huge rock and unless you,as the Chief helmsman, quickly rise to the occasion and courageously steer the ship away from its present course, it shall hit the rock and the inescapable consequence will be unspeakable disaster such as it rare in the annals of man.

Rather than thank the sage for his advice and make necessary adjustments, Shagari, probably resenting the fact that the content of the letter was made public, scornfully replied:You are not serious when you refer to our economy as depressed. Ours is acknowledged world wide as one of the fastest growing economies in the world,thanks to our economy policy.He also dispatched his Finance Minister, Party Chairman and other top government functionaries to London to address a "World Press Conference"

where they debunked the claims of Awolowo and called him unprintable names.It was soon obvious who was not serious because some months later,Shagari was compelled to adopt austerity measures to stem the slide of the economy.

But already, the damage has been done.Some commentators have argued that Awolowo ought to have seen him in private and offered his counsel.Maybe, Maybe not.But Proverbs 27:5-6 says,Better is open rebuke than hidden love.Wounds from a trusted friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.The government was at the end terminated by the beret Generals in December 31,1983,another set of robbers,the consequence of the coup is still lingering on till today.Ask General Buhari. 

ln 2020 President Obasanjo only echoed what was  the common talk in the beer parlours and pepper soup joints across the country.Let me repeat what the former President Obasanjo and elder statesman said "Nigeria is fast drifting to a failed and badly divided state, economically our country is becoming a basket case and poverty capital of the world, and socially, we are firming up as an unwholesome and insecure country. He said these manifestations are the products of recent mismanagement of diversity and socio-economic development of our country.Old fault lines that were disappearing have opened up in greater fissures and with drums of hatred, disintegration and separation and accompanying choruses being heard loud and clear almost everywhere.The signs are more obvious in now than when the observation was made. 

Let me quote Professor Williams Adebayo to butress Obasanjo valid point,infact the respected wordsmith wrote this quotation during Abacha regime and quote,"This is the moment that has stolen upon us.As the country lurches and staggers from one crisis to another,as one measure is hurriedly abandoned for even more inept solutions,as the rule of law is recklessly abandoned at all levels of government for rule of man, it is clear that we are faced with what is known as an “organic crisis”Nations are also like human beings and when an affliction becomes terminal, when suffering is unbearably acute, when human misery is so stark and remorseless, it is time to consider the virtues of euthunasia" end of quote.

Looking through the glass,the herdsmen crisis,the Boko Haram insurgency, clamouring for Biafra and Oodua Republics,the high level of corruption and looting across government’s MDAs,it is glaring that we have in our hands a classic recipe for organic crisis.Calling Obasanjo names by President aides was  not new,it was exactly how Shagari aides did to Awolowo.

Regardless what enemies may say , restructuring  of the country is not negotiable.Our history is not our enemy but the way we deal or not with our history could be our enemy. A country that has not really faced its past cannot decide on her future.

Olufemi Aduwo 

olufemi. aduwo@ccdiltd. org