Posted by By PHILIP NWOSU on
Whoever came up with the idea of naming human beings surely made a major contribution to life existence probably without even appreciating the magnitude of that achievement.
Whoever came up with the idea of naming human beings surely made a major contribution to life existence probably without even appreciating the magnitude of that achievement.
On their part, Yoruba value names so much that it is part of the culture that behind every name is the need to distinguish a culprit in the society.
Even then, naming human beings is not without its problems or handicap, especially in Nigeria, when those on the receiving end are related to controversial figures in the society.
This is the plight and indeed misfortune of Gbenga Obasanjo, son of President Olusegun Obasanjo. In recent months, the poor young man has been severely criticised and accused not only maliciously but also baselessly for exercising his inalienable right under the Nigerian constitution to earn means of livelihood.
It is not Gbenga's fault that he is the son of President Obasanjo or any other person's fault for that matter, for being the son/daughter of their father. But in Nigeria, according to critics, it is not only a handicap but also a crime. And when the man concerned is Gbenga Obasanjo, it is so convenient for the critics to visit on him the sins of his father, President Obasanjo, understandably, under whose administration for the past six years, life has become tougher for the high and the low. But then, that should not deny the son the right to join fellow Nigerians to struggle for legitimate means of livelihood.
In another vein, President Obasanjo in his second coming has been obsessed with wiping out corruption from Nigeria as if corruption is peculiar to only this country. Critics are therefore too eager to rubbish Obasanjo's self-imposed anti-corruption struggle as a sort of humbug, in which his son, Gbenga is cited as vivid illustration of his father's inability, if not unwillingness, to sincerely tackle corruption.
Legitimate criticism is even different from ignorant assumptions, falsehood and concoctions. If the man, Gbenga Obasanjo was not accused of oil insider deal, he was claimed to have a colossal sum of $20 million (twenty million dollars) in an unspecified American bank. The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria must have been aghast to publicly deny this allegation.
Such malicious falsehood hurts and only the victim feels it. The post-June 12, 1993 crisis offered opportunity for all types anarchists to malign everybody from IBB down to his lieutenants, no matter how innocent. I was similarly accused in a gutter publication of engaging in oil deal and saving 3 million pounds in a London bank. I never engaged in any oil deal, neither did I have money in a London bank.
It is therefore understandable if Gbenga Obasanjo feels upset in his present controversy.
The criticisms and falsehood about him are groundless except for being the son of President Obasanjo. It is also not the case that the young man is the only one among his generation engaging in legitimate means of livelihood.
For purposes of argument, let us even concede that Gbenga Obasanjo lifts oil and obtains contracts from the Federal Government. If the young man is to be faulted on any score, it must be established that he is being favoured only as President Obasanjo's son over other contractors and oil dealers especially if the latter category offered better quotations to the government. But if Gbenga and other contractors/oil dealers offered the same quotations acceptable to the government, and he was among those selected (be they Nigerians and foreigners), the young man should have no apology as he is simply exercising his right under Nigerian constitution to earn legitimate means of livelihood.
And if foreigners come here to engage in oil deals/government contracts, why should it be a crime for a Nigerian to earn his living as a citizen? Must he disown his father to enable him qualify for government contracts/oil deals? Or must Gbenga Obasanjo surrender his constitutional right to legitimate means of livelihood simply because he is the son of Nigerian president?
If the man bids for a contract in a ministry or oil bloc before the committee concerned and any of the two establishments panics or feels intimidated by Gbenga's identity, that is not the young man's problem. Neither should that bother President Obasanjo as long as he did not influence the decision by directing the minister or the oil allocation committee to favour his son, who, it must be repeated, is a bonafide Nigerian with the right to earn means of livelihood.
Those who shout most about moral standard and against corruption have emerged more criminal and more corrupt. We have seen them in this country especially under the present dispensation. We have seen them - governors, ministers, lawyers, special advisers, political party functionaries, journalists, student union leaders, professional union leaders, members of state and national assemblies, various members of the bench and bar, etc.
Gbenga Obasanjo or anybody in his position with any political leader anywhere in the world has a separate identity (from his father) and the right to sustain himself in life. Or are we suggesting that for the entire eight years of his father's tenure, the young man should remain idle, unemployed and unemployable, living off his father or on charity?
Of course, as an adult with the necessary education, the chances are that Gbenga Obasanjo has improved his lot in life because of the policies of the government headed by his father. Could Gbenga Obasanjo have been the only one among his generation to have so improved his lot? Children of less known Nigerians (who, anyway, do not head governments) have in fact, recorded astronomical rise in their economic power. They are so visible in the oil industry, telecommunication industry, privatised industries. Nobody has proved or even claimed that President Obasanjo specially disadvantaged any Nigerian competing with Gbenga Obasanjo.
Accordingly, if the oil deal and other contract allegations are true, Gbenga Obasanjo simply traverses the economic scene along with the Wale Tinubus, Aliko Dangotes, Femi Otedolas, Mike Adenugas and countless others in the banking, insurance, real estate sectors. That nobody has built controversy round these lucky Nigerians is simply because they are not President Obasanjo's children. Critics should therefore face the fact that Gbenga is a Nigerian with all constitutional rights (equal rights at that) with fellow citizens. Better still, once again, critics should prove that when he lifted oil, his father, President Obasanjo, favoured him to quote less or bid less for oil blocs than other competitors. That is, assuming that the man actually lifted oil.
In the private sector for the past 20 years, Nigerians of President Obasanjo's age group regularly exploited, manipulated, distorted and cornered successive government policies to create financial empires and thereafter make life easy for their offspring as yuppie chief executives of their respective economic conglomerate. Some of these chief executives are younger than Gbenga Obasanjo.
President Obasanjo has not appointed his son to any government post. If he had, criticisms would have been torrential. We were in this country when the late Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, as Federal Minister of Health under the IBB regime, appointed his younger brother, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti as chairman of the Management Board of Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
In 1960, the then American President, John Kennedy, appointed his younger brother, the late Robert Kennedy as the General Attorney-General. There were no qualms because Beko-Kuti is a qualified medical practitioner and his blood tie with the brother, Koye, did not militate against him. Robert Kennedy, as a qualified lawyer, also did not suffer any handicap at the Senate hearings to confirm his appointment.
Today, so far, President Obasanjo has appointed the children and grand-children of Zik, Awo, Akintola, Richard Akinjide, Abraham Adesanya, Wole Soyinka to government posts. Yet, Gbenga Obasanjo, for no other reason than being the son of President Obasanjo, should remain idle? If it can be proved that while other oil dealers were quoting and indeed paying $50 (fifty dollars), Obasanjo favoured his son to pay less, then he (Obasanjo) would have committed impeachable offence while the man and his son would also have committed economic crime against the state.
The son of Libya's Colonel Ghadaffi is involved in oil and government contracts. The royal family, mainly princes are involved in oil business in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Quarta. The current American President, George Bush Jr. was in oil business before he was elected governor of the state of Texas and that was at a time his father George Bush Sr. was the incumbent President of the United States.
Gbenga Obasanjo has been accused of being involved in the sale of oil to Ghana. This so far is mere allegation but if true, cannot be unprecedented. Mark Thatcher is the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Throughout her tenure, the son, Mark, was similarly involved in major contracts throughout the Middle-East.
Not long ago, a special United Nations' probe report completely exonerated Secretary-General Koffie Annan from allegations of influencing award of contracts to his son, Cudjoe Annan in the UN's Oil for Food Scheme in Iraq. But the same report not only separated son, Cudjoe Annan's identity from his father, but also upheld Cudjoe Annan's right as a citizen of the world eligible to bid for the UN Oil for Food contract with other competitors.
That is the same right we must confer on Gbenga Obasanjo as the son of his father. At any rate, if his natural status as the son of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo does not or must not enhance the young man's prospects in life, must the same status militate against him for being president Obasanjo's son?
On a final note, should President Obasanjo crack under criticisms and interfere with or inhibit Gbenga Obasanjo's business/or oil contracts, the young man should drag President Obasanjo to court for violating his constitutional rights as a Nigerian not to suffer discrimination or personal indignity.
This is not the time for the Yoruba saying, that 'After court litigation, we are no longer the same family." The defendant in this case will not be Gbenga Obasanjo's father but the Nigerian president against a lawful citizen.
The same principle applies to all matters affecting Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mrs. Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello. If President Obasanjo could appoint children and grand-children of fellow Nigerians to public posts, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello also has constitutional right to be appointed to public post, especially at a lower level of government.