OBJ v. Atiku: self-righteousness meets self-deception

OBJ v. Atiku: self-righteousness meets self-deception

Weeks of recriminations between ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo and his former deputy, Atiku Abubakar, have left the country seething in controversy. Allegations of dishonesty, betrayal, ungratefulness, and excessive ambition have combined to prolong and worsen the disagreement between the two leaders who were once political sweethearts in the opening years of the Fourth Republic. With Chief Obasanjo exhibiting self-righteousness and Alhaji Atiku engaging in self-deception, the war promises to get much worse than it has been for decades. Only death, it seems, can mollify or part the vengeful, malicious old men.

The problem was, however, avoidable. Despite his self-righteousness, the former president showed poor judgement, if not incompetence, in making Alhaji Atiku his vice president. Not only does the choice of his running mate indicate his lack of depth in understanding leadership principles, a deficiency he replicated in 2007 when he singlehandedly foisted the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan on Nigeria, it also showed how superficial he was and remains.

Nominating a vice president who might assume the presidency if a president is forced to leave office is so weighty that it is shocking how Chief Obasanjo in 1999 and 2007 selected the controversial Alhaji Atiku, the ailing former Katsina governor Yar’Adua, and the rather unforceful and hesitant Dr Jonathan to perform roles they were not suited for. Chief Obasanjo has no reason to be self-righteous. Indeed, the former president shares a larger part of the blame for the leadership conflict that broke out in the presidency before 2003 as well as the subsequent debacle that convulsed the country between 2007 and 2015.