Posted by By RAZAQ BAMIDELE on
Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) has warned that if something drastic was not done to curtail President Olusegun Obasanjo whose third term ambition was truncated recently, the fate of the nascent democracy would be in jeopardy in 2007.
Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) has warned that if something drastic was not done to curtail President Olusegun Obasanjo whose third term ambition was truncated recently, the fate of the nascent democracy would be in jeopardy in 2007.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Saturday Sun in Lagos, Fawehinmi cautioned that 'a defeated dictator is a wounded lion," stressing that 'Obasanjo's attitude to 2007 would be if I can't get it, you also won't have it."
'Obasanjo has the means and capability to truncate democratic process in 2007," the renowned lawyer and social critic further warned.
He speaks further: 'Obasanjo's attitude in 2007 would be Kaka k'eku ma je sese, a fi se awadanu (a Yoruba proverb, which translated loosely means 'Rather than a rat missing eating out of a bowl of cereals, it would spill it." He has the means.
He has got the money. He has the platform (PDP). He heads the government. He can cause assassination. He can cause bloodbath. He can harm people.
'There are lot of negative people who are ruling this country. And a lot of negative people who have lost power now would not like to allow the process to succeed. Negative people meeting negative thoughts that would not love the country to progress. It is like irresistible force meeting an immovable object. That is cataclysm. That is what we are facing now.
'So, by and large, I think if we are not careful in 2007, I pray we don't lose democracy. We are confronted with three dangerous trends. The first is represented by Obasanjo. That trend is a dangerous one. A defeated dictator is a wounded lion.
'He can harm people. It is a case of you say you don't want me, and you also won't get it. Obasanjo would even prefer the military. His mind would be, you don't want me, then, you won't get anything. He is a devilish man.
'Obasanjo lives and strives in devilish thoughts. That is the first trend which is dangerous to 2007. We have to contain Obasanjo so that he does not truncate democracy. He has the means to do it. He has capacity to do it. He is mentally equipped to do evil.
'The second trend is the character of the people who are coming to contest election in 2007. A man who brought corruption to the fore in Nigeria. A man who suffocated Nigerians with all sorts of programmes. A man who scuttled the freest and fairest election in the history of this country. A man who does not believe in democracy. A man who does not love democracy.
'Third, we have an Atiku who is a part in reform programme which has murdered Nigerian masses. It has almost killed Nigerians to the extent that NEEDS has now become National Economic Enslavery and Dehumanising Strategy. Atiku has been part of the programme. He has benefitted materially, politically and by all means.