Olusegun 'St' Matthew' Obasanjo, Afe Babalola And Interim Government By Richard Odusanya

Former President, 'St' Matthew' Olusegun Aremu Okikiola Obasanjo, was among those, who conceived the Interim National Government, ING, in 1993, against popular expectations for the declaration of the Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO), of the blessed memory as the winner of June 12 presidential election. To be clear: Aremu Obasanjo, with some military officers and eminent Nigerians conceived the idea of putting an Interim Government in place before and after the exit of then Military President, Gen Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. The plot birthed the short-lived government of Ernest Sonekan an Egba-man from the same clan with Obasanjo and Abiola.

Again, recently, in the build-up to the 2015 general elections. Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo, at a private meeting with two former aides and a former minister (while they were still hibernating in the All Progressive Congress, APC), he encouraged them to ensure that Goodluck Ebele Jonathan did not return as President in 2015. At a time when the cluelessness of Nigeria’s presidency was manifestly waxing more embarrassing by the day, given the significance of the coming elections then and couple with a First Lady that had become uncontrollable. Obasanjo’s move appeared altruistic. Nigeria needed to be saved from the "Jonathanians" – or so it seemed.

Furthermore, Obasanjo who had wanted to be a life president is now urging the nation to start thinking about the post-Buhari era. At about the same time during Obsanjo’s reign, rumors were rife that millions of dollars in bribe money were being distributed to legislators to engineer a constitutional amendment that would have made Obasanjo a god and truncated our democracy. Again, in April 2022, Are, Afe Babalola, Obj's long standing friend and associate echoed the same sentiments: he described the interim government as “a child of necessity urgently needed to serve as a veritable launch pad to a new Nigeria where the government’s actions and decisions will be guided by provisions of a new autochthonous legal framework that will replace the military-imposed 1999 Constitution.” here we go again. In the midst of the uncertainty, the questions that is likely to be agitating the minds of many of our compatriots are numerous:

1. Would there be an election as scheduled for 25th of February 2023?

2. Is there a likelihood of an Interim "Government" if the past military leaders supporting Obi failed in their bid?

3. Are the masses particularly the restive youths of Nigeria educated enough to live and act above the state of excitement that is now being strengthened by OBJ through his letter?

4. How does the scenario being considered taking into account the roles of the SENATE and HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES who are the bastion power in presidential system.

5. How would the potential disappointment that could be experienced by having a National Assembly that will be dominated by ruling party APC and to some extent the main opposition party PDP if Obi emerged winner of the race and cannot perform the expected magic?

6. Who would manage the likely fallouts and disappointments given the current unguarded character of the so-called "Obidient"?

The answers to all of the above is rooted in post Buhari's presidency. Will our beloved country Nigeria still remain one single entity and survive the plots of dismemberment effect?

To be clear: Olusegun Obasanjo, Afe Babalola and their surrogate; Peter Obi, are working for Interim Government. They know for sure that elections are not decided on the basis of sentiments and emotion. Their strategy is to discredit the 2023 Elections, which Obi and Atiku have very slim possibility of winning given the lack of cohesion of the opposition parties. They may then incite the Youths to take to the streets in protest to provide an opportunity for military takeover. Sadly, they're unmindful of the previous errors, because the military will not take over for them, military will take over for the military. They may in fact be among the first victims of such an adventures - it seems that Obj's recent letter inciting the gullible masses particularly the restive youths is part of a wider agenda to achieve his lifelong agenda 'president4life'

Olusegun Obasanjo's endorsement of Peter Obi did not come as a surprise to some of us. He had been working underground for very long, putting in place the weapons of instabilities. Firstly, the idea of third-force was conceived and developed under his tutelage and birthed a self-advertised (packaged messianic product) Peter Obi. It is interesting for some of us who fought him to standstill when he embarked on self destructive ill-fated third term gambit to watch Obj attempt to mount a moral high horse as someone a self-sacrificing patriot. Never, he cannot be the moral compass to navigate us through the storm as a nation.

Obasanjo wasted more than a billion dollars on his evil agenda the failed third-term bid, and also supervised the sells of most of our patrimony including critical assets of the nation. Let me conclude with a recent profound statement of Prof Bolaji Akinyemi former Nigerian external affairs minister, he had said: "Obasanjo is part of the foundation of Nigeria's problem... He has had this time and should not present himself as a problem solver when he was part of those that created it...."- Bolaji Akinyemi. It should be noted that Obi's win, God forbids, is Obj's third-term. Obasanjo believe that he is the only wise man in Nigeria.

It is against this backdrop that, we appeal to all well-meaning citizens and the international community to call Obasanjo, Afe Babalola and other incendiary members of the opposition to order. They should be held responsible since they are the ones that have been propping up the groups and individuals named in the planned attacks. The international community must make it clear to these elements that any contraption that emerges from truncation of Nigeria’s democracy will not be accepted. They should prevail on Obasanjo and his co-travellers to desist from the plot to heat up the system so that we can rewrite the story of our beautifully imperfect lives.

-sahara reporters