Shocker: Obasanjo Calls For a Revolution

During a recent conference on youth employment in Dakar, Senegal, former President Olusegun Obasanjo shocked his audience by openly calling for a revolution in Nigeria.

Also, it will be recalled that the former President called Nigerians to come out en masse for a Nigerian type “Arab spring (revolution)” during a workshop on economic diversification and revenue generation in December 2011 at the June 12 Cultural Centre in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Obasanjo’s call was hinged on the prevailing high rate of youth unemployment, which he estimated to be about 72 per cent. If the audience in Dakar was shocked, then the residents of Warri in Delta State were utterly astonished when he commented on President Goodluck Jonathan’s handling of the crisis in the North.

Most Nigerians are unable to understand why and how a former President could incite the people to the path of revolution as a measure to check unemployment.

They become jittery when such comments come from a retired Army general of the calibre and stature of Obasanjo. His insistence on a revolution has become an unpalatable cliché that Nigerians must decipher.

Obasanjo’s statements are more unsettling because he has unrestrained access to Aso Rock to advise and even brief Jonathan on such issues relating to national security.

Also, he has the opportunity to meet Jonathan one-on-one during their monthly National Council of State meetings in Aso Rock. And so why does the former President rage and attempt to pull down what he has helped in building?

Like all human beings, the former President has his own shortcomings. The most prominent of these is his pay-back mentality for any request scorned or denied.

He believes so much in the myth that he is a superhero. As Nigeria’s patron saint, he believes that he is the best President this country ever had.

Today, Obasanjo’s call for a Nigerian type Arab Spring has revealed his short-sightedness.

The Arab Spring or Arab Uprising started in Tunisia on December 18, 2010 when a Tunisian unemployed graduate Mohamed Bouazizi set himself ablaze to protest police corruption and brutality.

The ensuing protest spread throughout Tunisia with increased violence. The result was that the then Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia on January 14, 2011.

The protests spread through North Africa and the Gulf States engulfing Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria. Echoes of the Arab Spring resounded in Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Djibouti, et cetera.

Today the dregs of the Arab Spring are yet to settle. President Hosni Mubarak was forced to flee on February 11, 2011. And till date, Egypt does not have a stable government as Tahrir Square has become a symbol of the peoples’ solidarity.

Even with the democratic election of President Mohammed Morsy of the Moslem Brotherhood, Egypt is as unstable as an ancient blackboard standing on three legs, with the hind leg broken off.

Obasanjo’s call for a revolution because of youth unemployment is misplaced. People like him should not pray for a revolution, not even for their children because revolutions are cataclysmic, destructive and unpredictable. The no-nonsense former President needs some tutorial on revolutions.

In his recent role as the moderator for Bishop Ayo Oritsejafor’s 40th anniversary on the pulpit, he lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan’s weak response to the Boko Haram crisis.

Obasanjo flaunted his genocidal and criminal demolition of Odi in Bayelsa State, where unidentified militants killed 19 soldiers. Some day, he will appear at the War Crime Tribunal at the Hague to answer for heinous crimes against the residents of Odi.

The former President speaks of unemployment, but he has forgotten that he laid a solid foundation for this by wasting $16bn on electricity generation without any impact on Nigeria’s electricity generation and distribution.

At the time he handed over to the late Umaru Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s electricity megawatts was a paltry 2000 for a population of 140 million people while South Africa boasts 50,0000 megawatts for its 45million people.

Industries started folding up and relocating to Ghana during Obasanjo’s government with hundreds of thousands of workers thrown into the unemployment market. He built a personal library in Abeokuta worth N7bn and coerced Nigeria’s richest businessmen, some of who are his business partners, to bank-roll the project which he cunningly named the Presidential Library Project.

What more can we mention now? Is it the pauperisation of Nigerians due to the increase in the price of commodity items like rice, sugar, cement, flour and noodles, which were licensed to only one man to import, or the quarterly increase in the price of petroleum products?

God save Nigeria.

24 COMMENTS

  1. Honestly speaking,
    this may be funny! But Fmr President, Abasojo is right…..
    This country need a revolution.
    We all talk of weak point of our president, but what about the people(leaders) pressurising the president to do wrong… Why didn’t we also put them into account….
    I bet u! I would be so glad if nigerians come out in mass to fight this weakend government in power…..
    Thank you Mr Obasojo! We are counting on you to always work for the masses.
    I supported OBJ motion…..

  2. Obasanjo remains the greatest President Nigeria has seen todate relatively.
    I’m a great Fan of GEJ but we are all tired and dissappointed over the deteroriating state of affairs, Economy, Security and apparent complacency
    And indifference of the Presidency.
    Building up defence for this government in the face of great disgust and disaffection is leaving with a time Bomb. All suggestions propositions on way forward has fallen on deaf ears. So did OBJ warn the Shagari administration before it collapsed. Clinging on to power and not using it to advance the frontiers of development and growth of the Economy will only bring choas with time. Leave the messenger address the message.

  3. Look at north africa,hundreds of thousands have died.
    But they got rid of the enemies of their countries by fighting them.
    The rich of nigeria are our enemies,dont lets fool ourselves any longer.
    millions die from hunger and filth,millions scavenge on rubbish dumps while our rich politicians do what?
    STEAL
    The east will rise up,the north will rise up,the west,my people,yoruba,we go just dey talk big big grammer asking why you no go die first?
    Are we cowards?Or do we want others to die first?
    nigeria will only change when corrupt rich thieves and enemies of the nation are dealt with.
    Oya make una begin yabb me.
    The truth hurts.

  4. Let every body stop bragging and let’s move for action because OBJ has said it well and writer don’t know that revolution is all about blood alone is about standing for what is right that is what is happening in egypt now and some other part of the world.

  5. Why would uncle Shegey (OBJ) be shooting himself on foot? A country he helped built. For OBJ to be calling for a *revolution* now means theres a hidden agenda to it. As an elder stateman, its expected of him to give the currrent administration all the support and assistance needed to move the country forward, assuming there are no personal gratifications. If OBJ is inciting the poor masses for a Revolution, let him be informed that firstly all his family members would be in fore front as to enable us know how to fight better, at least he was once a soldier. I believe one day all these corrupt leaders will regret their actions, posterity will tell. Nigeria go beta o

  6. He has been president for so long, yet what did he accomplish in combating unemployment? Was there any reduction of unemployment during all his tenure as president? Now he wants a revolution during GEJ tenure. Goodluck didn’t create the mess of unemployment, it is the mess he OBJ and other past leaders in Nigeria that Goodluck is trying to clean. So he should spare me the mumbo-jumbo of a revolution. Whose blood does he want to spill?

  7. @Tolu, nobody is yabbing, u aired ur view and u are entitled to ur humble opinion, but i *do not* think thats the way forward. There would be no more shedding of blood in this country and i cant shed mine bcus of what someone who has lost focus had suggested. Think it through.

    • Chanttella,if you didnt have food or hope,you would understand that my life means nothing.
      As long as i get a chance to take someone who caused my hopeless situation with me im not afraid to die.
      Its better than being a criminal/robber.
      Uncle OBJ included will have to run with his family.
      Nigerian youth will not be content with area boy status forever.
      Not when we see what the gun is doing in north africa.
      My sister mark my words and that of a silent majority,the wick has been lit.
      Do you really think that with arms the poor cannot fight?
      Maybe you havnt picked trash from rubbish dumps for a living thats why you still believe in a peaceful solution.
      The only language these killers of our masses understand is run b4 we die.
      Time is running out for those with disdain for the millions of nigerians starving and living in filth while corruption decays us daily.
      We all have a dream,and mine is that we will eradicate these vermin by force.
      I know it sounds extreme my dear but when your life is a living hell why not try to force a change?

      • Tolu
        you are absolutely right, i get it all that u’ve said. Baba is right for calling the shots too. This country is even overdue for revolution. All the conditions that necessitates for revolution are present here in Nigeria. The working class must stand tp squash these thieves called the economic elites, just like the way serfs defeated the feudal lords.. As for the reporter, he is bias but i care less, what is important is the massage ‘Revolution’!!!

  8. It is not only persons in prisons that are criminals. More of persons that are commiting crimes are often free in the streets. OBJ was involved in a coup plot against ex and late Abacha and he was let free due to the death of the late guru. What he is doing now is a continuation of what he wanted to do to distalise nigeria. GEJ should if he is clever offered him a rest room in prison. OBJ is reponssible for the problems of nigeria not IBB. Chief D.O. Dafinone who was a chairman of senate account commission in Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s NPN administration said it. OBJ is a criminal and not a stateman. With his military advantages, why was he unable to give nigerian uninterrupted power supply instead governors during his administration were building refineries in other countries? As for me it is a shame to nigeria that someone like OBJ is considered better than IBB. Watch yourself is my advice for GEJ!

  9. Let us look at it in a comprenhensive manner,it is not easy to be a leader.As far as i am concerned this man is a man of all yorubas in Nigeria.i will like to credit him for what he had done for this country.

  10. The problem of Nigeria in all its ramifications did not start today. The idea of revolution is absolutely uncalled for and in fact, its belittling the personality of OBJ. Let us therefore support President Goodluck Jonathan to move Nigeria to the next level. Long live Nigeria!

  11. Well, i believe some are mentally derained, the writer point out some disadvantages of revolution and yet some are still calling for revolution (ignorant is a disease)…….. Hw can you call for revolution, inasmuch as you know the disadvantages…….. Deluded…

  12. Himm…. op this is not politically motivated calling sha? although BABA is right to some extent can u imagine mr President dat said he want to fight curroption, where is the money from subsidy? despite d fact dat d rate of unemployment is high he said last week dat we need another banquet hall despite d fact that we have 1 already if we construct another one what are we going to use the former 1 for?
    curropt leaders

  13. Baba is a soothsayer, take it or leave it, in this generation, l have`nt see who is as boast as Baba to tell Nigeria The bitter truth.So he is a creation that can not be ex
    lined by human understanding.

  14. Why are we posting about this? Well, it’s Wednesday, so I say, why not? Today in random but tasty news, we have L.A. Clipper Ronny Turiaf pictured at his birthday party with a custom Louis Vuitton Cake. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I have a major sweet-tooth, and something about a cake being made to look like a bag just gives me happy feelings. It’s funny when you think about it, because creations like this cost a lot of money (for a cake), but it goes to show that the handbag is the king of not just the accessories world, but sometimes, also of the food world. Have you ever had a handbag cake for an event?

  15. My fellow Nigerians’what are we talking about,revolutio! revolution!!revolution!!!here who is fooling who?to me i disput & discredit the OBJs’opinion,let have a second thought.There will never be a revolution without blood flow,you & i as a nigeria who is ready to make blood sacrifice,now the major fact is late 60s during civil war,my father testify to me that,both religious in N/C,N/E,N/W,& S/W,put their heads together with this ACRONY that say GO ON WITH ONE NIGERIA.GAWON.In which the dream was actualised.To day can christian in northern shade blood with christian easthern region of this country?pls i need answer.