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Author: UCHE UMUOLO
Posted to the web: 5/28/2006 5:40:38 AM

Why were people shocked to learn that President Olusegun Obasanjo was not a democrat? The fact that he wears an Agbada and sounds like a democrat maketh not a democrat. To be a democrat requires more, and I'm afraid, there's nothing in the President's background or training to indicate that he understands, let alone know what a democrat is or ought to be. And, if you look closer at this man, with the many years that he has been in public service, President Obasanjo has been one of the luckiest man in Nigeria, always at the right place at the right time, to claim the opportunity that others have worked and sacrificed lives, blood, sweat and tears. So, to think for once that this man is capable of understanding what true democrats suffered, endured and sacrificed to get Nigeria to this position, is perhaps expecting too much from a guy who failed miserably at MONS.  Take the 1976, when he arguably reluctantly accepted the Head of State appointment after the assasination of Gen. Murtala Muhammed. Was he the most deserving to Head the government of Nigeria at that time? Well the jury is still out on this question. However, one thing is clear, he got the job. Why he got the job or how he got the job is left to the insiders to tell us.
The fact is, we all got fooled, and suckered by President Obasanjo into believing that he gives a damn about Democracy, Nigeria, its people, and the Constitution. Well, think again.   Now, I know the President has served Nigeria in various capacity as a soldier, Head of State, Federal Minister and so on. For this, we owe him some gratitude and a few brownie points. But, seeking a third term and misleading the public in his various public pronouncements on this issue in the newspapers, was a bad idea--a colossal mistake. For that, President Obasanjo owe us all an apology. No one is above the rule of law; and our Constitution, as imperfect a document it is, should not be tinkered with 'just because you can buy your way' through a few corrupt members of the legislative branch.
 
To avoid such events from occuring again, we need the Attorney General of the Nation to begin an investigation into what ever influence peddling took place during this ugly episode, to see whether members of the National Assembly were, yes, 'bribed' to support the bid to amend the Constitution to permit President Obasanjo to run for a third term. To sit still and go on with business as usual would endorse the abuse to our Constitution and the rule of law that took place here, and ignores the danger and assault on our Democracy. No Nigerian should be above the rule of law, that includes President Obasanjo, brownie points notwithstanding.