Obasanjo in Tinubu’s Infinity Look: Genuine Statesmanship or Political Theater?

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

This happened at the recent opening of Gateway International Airport in Iperu Remo, Ogun State. Obasanjo’s agbada was the day’s “aso-ebi,” and wearing this adire made him the center of attention, even though he was surrounded by his administration’s trillionaire business moguls, like Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Abdul Samad Rabiu, and even leading current political figures in the country, such as 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, even though he was the president, bowed to show respect for the Yoruba way of showing respect to elders. Obasanjo, who has a history of only setting good examples when he has an audience to impress, lived up to his dishonest expectations by making suspiciously nice comments about Tinubu’s leadership at the event. That moment was a sight to see. Obasanjo’s attitude toward Tinubu was completely opposite to what it had been before, which made people wonder if he was really acting like a statesman or just being his usual dishonest self as he stood in front of dignitaries and was broadcast to the whole world.

Obasanjo has never tried to hide how much he hates Tinubu since he was governor of Lagos State. Obasanjo tried everything he could to bring down Tinubu as he ran for president, but it was all for nothing. Obasanjo has painted Tinubu as someone who doesn’t have any good ideas or plans for Nigeria since he became president in May 2023. He never sees anything good about the current president’s administration, and he showed this through what he said and did. One wonders what has changed to make him celebrate Tinubu during the day when his hypocritical opposition figures are plotting with him at night to get rid of the president.

Looking back, Obasanjo, in his typical hypocritical way, never thought that any civilian or military government was good, except for himself or the governments he led as a soldier and as a civilian president.

This writer has a history of being allergic to bad leadership and leadership hypocrisy because hypocrisy is one of the biggest problems that leaders around the world have. The former president, who was born in Owu-Abeokuta, knows all about the hypocrisy of leaders. So, to Obasanjo’s hypocritical self, he’ll do anything to take advantage of this fact, even though he thinks that no other leader is better or has good ideas to lead our country than he does. But he is still the most ruthless democratic leader this country has ever had. His kangaroo-style electoral credentials, which caused pain, were set by Professor Maurice Iwu, who was then in charge of the electoral body. These credentials are what led to 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 used his presidential power to defeat everyone and everything he could, except for Lagos, where Tinubu was in charge. In 2007, at the height of his power, he chose a president who was sick as his successor on purpose. Now, he’s running around acting like he’s a victim of a dirty but avoidable political situation that he made up for his own benefit. To this day, the country is still having trouble getting out of the leadership mess that this greedy dictator in civilian clothes caused for all of us.

Once more, Obasanjo did try to bring down Tinubu while he was president and even now that he is no longer in power. His main problem right now, as it always has been, is that Tinubu is much better than him 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, stingy, and has never had a strong sense of purpose. He lacks political credibility because he has damaged his democratic integrity. This is mostly because he tried to run for a third term too soon and then refused to follow the rules and disrespect the Constitution.

Obasanjo, despite his well-known hypocrisy when it comes to traveling the world, can never be a trustworthy or credible mentor of power, whether in Nigeria or anywhere else. One day, diligent historians will validate this claim when a historical examination illuminates Obasanjo’s despotic governance of this nation. To hide his shady political past, he made it illegal to teach history in schools all over the country while he was in charge. That decision, which wasn’t very popular, has recently been thrown away.

In one of my Friday columns in the Vanguard newspaper in 2003, I warned then-Governor Bola Tinubu, who is now President, to be very careful with 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. What does Obasanjo want from Tinubu? Only time will tell.

It’s time to remember: in 2003, Obasanjo was nice to the Alliance For Democracy governors, except for Tinubu, who never fell for his tricks. In the end, he was the one who planned the untimely exit from power of the unsuspecting AD governors in Ondo, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, and Ekiti states.

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. Obasanjo told Seye Ogunlewe, the minister of works, to do everything he could to make Lagos unstable and get Tinubu out of the governor’s office. In 2007, Obasanjo did everything he could, even if it was against the law, to make sure that Tinubu’s successor did not 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 opponents are growing stronger, wearing the Tinubu costume in public requires caution instead of letting your guard down. Obasanjo’s history of betrayals makes him seem untrustworthy, no matter how nice you are to him. There are many examples of this. Even though Osoba gave him the large Presidential Library land in Abeokuta at his request while he was governor, Obasanjo ended up betraying Akinrogun. He was at Osoba’s dining table on Election Day in 2003, while his assigned electoral agents were on the political turfs planning how to get the then-Ogun helmsman out of office as governor.

In August 2000, while 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 on the dance floor. On that day, he acted like he was okay with Okadigbo, but days later, he told his legislative goons to get Okadigbo impeached. That is the true dishonest nature of the man named Obasanjo who wore the Tinubu costume last weekend. I also remember how Obasanjo made Audu Ogbe resign as chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party after he went to his house in Abuja without telling him in January 2005. Obasanjo had a bad reason for asking for and getting a delicious pounded yam meal from the wife of the chairman of the national ruling party while he was president. After a good meal, he pulled a typed resignation letter out of his pocket and gave it to Ogbe to read and sign in front of his whole family. Obasanjo is like that: he has no compassion at all. What could be the reason this time that Obasanjo is getting along with Tinubu?

Obasanjo, who still thinks Peter Obi is the best candidate for president, shouldn’t be taken seriously when he prays for, talks about, or praises Tinubu in the best possible terms. People who know a lot about recent history should work together to warn President Tinubu about 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 selfish ones. Obasanjo has nothing to offer you, President Tinubu. Just because you survived him in the past doesn’t mean you should ignore his scary dictatorial history and the current bait he is offering you.

Obasanjo is the kind of person who would “cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump to make a speech for conservation.” Sorry to Adlai Stevenson, a famous American diplomat and politician. This is the double-edged sword that Tinubu should be ready to deal with now that he loves the Obasanjos of this world. Once again, President Tinubu, watch out for Obasanjo’s tricks!