At a meeting with journalists at the weekend, former Ogun state governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba dropped some home truth for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria.
Osoba, a veteran journalist, fell out with Obasanjo following the rigged governorship election in 2003. But he knows him well enough and posted some bitter home truths to the retired army general, accusing him of being egocentric and of being blind to the ennobling qualities of people around him.
“I would not like to judge Chief Obasanjo because as I am trying to put the facts straight, I don’t want to join him in condemnation of individuals. I respect him for his own strong points and weaknesses. But one thing I disagree with him is his condemnation of virtually everybody and even those around him.
“Wole Soyinka is not good, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is not good, Atiku Abubakar is not good, Reuben Abati is useless, Doyin Okupe is not to be associated with. Who then is good?”
Obasanjo, Chief Osoba said also talked ill of the dead, such as MKO Abiola, who gave his life for democracy.
“Whether he likes it or not, MKO Abiola will forever be the symbol and hero of modern day democracy in Nigeria. When Abiola couldn’t negotiate his freedom by signing away his mandate to General Sani Abacha, he laid down his life and I expect Chief Obasanjo to understand the fact that he became a beneficiary and should see Abiola as a hero.
“Nobody can claim to be the only hero in any society. Society is a team. Within our Egba community, the Ransome-Kutis are heroes. Their mother was an activist, Fela was an acitivist, Beko Ransome-Kuti was an activist. Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti took his father’s nature. He was a gentleman but was also an activist with his philosophy of primary healthcare.
“Wole Soyinka is a hero, Ebenezer Obey is a hero; he recorded over 50 records and delivered philosophical lyrics. Akintola Williams, an Egba man, is the first accountant and is still worshipped today. Society is the totality of a team. A tree can never make a forest and that is where I disagree with Chief Obasanjo. To reduce Soyinka to a wine connoisseur hurts me.”
The veteran journalist, who described Obasanjo’s book, ‘My Watch’, as a distortion of history, said Awolowo was unanimously elected as the leader of the Yoruba in 1966 shortly before the civil war.
