The Iron Fist

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I have always felt that the best president Nigeria ever had was Olusegun Obasanjo. Man was fit for the job, although some people would beg to differ.

Severally, when I talk about how Nigeria was such a peaceful space during his tenure, people are often quick to talk about and condemn his actions as a civilian president utilizing a military style of governance.

They condemn the mass killing he ordered at Odi. Citing that there were better approaches to resolving that conflict, but truthfully, in Obasanjo's time, everybody maintained, contained, and bottled their grievances against the state affairs, especially as regards the oil revenue.

Notably, during the said regime, we had no news of banditry or pipeline vandalization. I think the only crisis that the country had to put up with was the Warri crisis in Delta State over the control of crude oil activities. And as soon as Obasanjo called the then governor of the state to order, threatening to impeach him, that was the moment we experienced a ceasefire.

You know there is a way that I do get information on situations that happened in the past. Just like the divided opinion on the Obasanjo regime, I approached my mom and asked for her opinions. Like me, my mom is someone who judges without sentiment as she says things the way they are.

Satisfactory, so my mom didn't disappoint, as she said the nature of the Obasanjo regime was neutral, unlike what we had after.

According to my mommy, life was peaceful and MSS was moderate. A lot of the working class then could actually afford a decent life. Also at the time, petrol was 65 naira, and a dollar was between 50 to 80 naira to one dollar, but then immediately Obasanjo left;

We started battling with the removal for subsidy. Although Obasanjo’s regime observed the removal of petrol subsidy but, it was a reasonable or significant amount that would not destruct economic activities.

Again, Obasanjo really understood the economy. Sadly, same cannot be said for his successors, as they just assumed power and left the country in shambles.

It started with Ya’adua administration, which came immediately after that of Obasanjo. Notably, it was during the Ya’adua administration, that we started having terrorist attacks and banditry.

What actually gave rise to these attacks was the vice president, Good luck Jonathan who used his influence in government to facilitate the granting of the amnesty program to the Niger Delta people because he’s from there.

Commendably, the said act of his led to the opening of so many funding programs/project for the Niger Delta region. These projects although amounting to billions of naira monthly, has no visible impact in the economy as we see the funds diverted to the pocket of the political stake holders of the region.

Visibly, the economy is still in shambles and least develop in the country.

Unlike the Obasanjo regime, the Yar’adua regime and that of his successors led to the mismanagement of funds and resources. Zero accountability and wastage became the order of the day. Not to mention terrorism/banditry that we are still battling to date.