IYABO OBASANJO, SENATE, OGUN CENTRAL (PDP) – NOT ON THE LIST
It is quite illuminating to see the list of allegedly corrupt individuals who are unfit to hold political offices. Elementary understanding of the word corruption invokes the following imageries: dishonesty, sleaze, bribery, fraud, vice, distortion, etc. First, let me make it clear that I am not a personal acquaintance of Lanre Tejuosho so do not intend to advance his cause here. However, as follower of the political goings-on in Nigeria, I note that Iyabo Obasanjo, Ogun PDP, is contesting from the same Senatorial District as Lanre Tejuosho, Ogun ANPP, and therein lays the problem I have with the recently published list. Lanre’s name has been picked out of the published list as an illustration of the odious puss flowing throw, and out of our political system like molten lava!
In addition, it was recently in the news that hired killers were sent to snuff the life out of Lanre but, as providence would have it, the man survived the attack. Well, it should now be obvious to any reasonable person from whose catapults the stones aimed at Lanre were fired! Why should a matter of contesting an election be a matter of life and death? The Procurers of the angels of death do not give a hoot about the fact that here is a trained medical doctor whose potentials will be courted in other civilised parts of the world. Not in Nigeria; a country where the chief law officer, Chief Bola Ige (SAN), was assassinated with the connivance of the powers-that-be hence the reluctance to catch his killers!
According to this warped list, we are supposed to believe that:
Lanre Tejuosho is corrupt, but not Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo;
Lanre Tejuosho is corrupt, but not Ibrahim Babangida;
Lanre Tejuosho is corrupt, but not Peter Odili;
Lanre Tejuosho is corrupt, but not the fake Dr Andy Uba;
Lanre Tejuosho is corrupt, but not Chief Olabode George;
Lanre Tejuosho is corrupt, but not Justus Olugbenga Daniel;
Lanre Tejuosho is corrupt, but not Otunba Alao Akala;
Lanre Tejuosho is corrupt, but not Chief Olusegun Agagu;
Lanre Tejuosho is corrupt, but not Goodluck Jonathan;
Lanre Tejuosho is corrupt, but not Olabode George? This man took the NPA to the cleaners!
I have always found it hard to believe that Nuhu Ribadu would allow himself to be unwittingly used to prosecute this delusional war against corruption embarked upon by the corruption-ridden PDP administration and as one of the admirers of Commissioner Ribadu, I am particularly worried at the latest development. If it is true that the list submitted had been doctored by the Presidency before releasing it to the public then Nuhu Ribadu owes it to his conscience to tender his resignation immediately. In this regard, I hope Nuhu Ribadu recollects what the retired Colonel Dangiwa Umar did when it became clear to him that his(Umar’s) conscience was about to be mortgaged. I also hope that Nuhu Ribadu will not offer the same lame excuses that Atiku Abubakar gave for not resigning from the PDP government when he ought to have done so.
However, out of curiosity, and in the interest of justice and fairplay,
I want to use this medium to implore the EFCC to make public the investigation conducted into the affairs of Lanre Tejuosho, culminating in his certification as corrupt and unfit for election. I am sure a lot of people would be interested in knowing what a private businessman, which I think Lanre is, has done so far as to impugn his integrity so as to make him unfit to put himself up for an election. Whilst doing so, perhaps the EFCC would want to explain to Nigerians how Peter Odili, who has become synonymous with corruption, and the uneducated PhD holder from Anambra, purchaser of
Farming equipment for Obasanjo Farms using laundered money, FBI laureate, ‘Dr’ Andy Uba has managed to pass the corruption test. There is no way, Gbenga Daniel will pass the corruption test, whilst Lanre EFCC release lists of candidates adjudged corrupt and unfit for electionsLast View on Wed 18th March, 2009
Last Modified on Sat 10th February, 2007 4:26:27 pm
Author: Admin Sahara
Tejuosho, who was never the executive governor of any state, nay local Council Chairman, will fail that test. Let me make it clear that it will be arrant nonsense and a betrayal of what Nuhu Ribadu stands for if all he is going to do is to throw his hands up in the air and say he had done his part and expected the Presidency to act on his recommendation! Did the same Ribadu not castigate Otunba Alao Akala and Lamidi Adedibu, ‘buroda alamala ni Ibadan’, a leach and an incurable thug?
Whilst some of the names on this list, e.g. Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu are welcomed additions, there is no doubt that some, if not most, of the people on that list are perceived threats to the ambition of the PDP to superimpose a one party state on Nigeria, come the next general election. In addition, the list is replete with the names of the anti third-term legislators One must be an eternal optimist or delusional to believe that the PDP is not bent on a mass rigging exercise during the next general election. Nigeria is a country where we never learn from experience. During the failed second republic, the NPN massively rigged the elections and prior to those elections, the handwriting on the wall was clearly discernable. What happened next? We are on the same road to perdition now and the players then, military and civilians are still turning our wheel of fortunes. There is no point engaging in semantics and saying God will save us from these arrogant thieves, designated as rulers. Gone are those days when God sends down pestilence to deal with ignoramuses. We must acknowledge that our leaders are already down the path of self-destruction with the hubris disdain for the feelings of the majority Nigerians. It is elementary and trite to say that only good governance can keep away a military interregnum or a revolution of the people. There are already widespread feelings on the part of the people that they might as well be dead but are the so-called leaders of this artificial nation called Nigeria listening and watching events? No, they are too busy jaunting all over Europe and America, arranging sham stakeholders meetings designed to massage their empty egos! Historians will recall the situation in one of the Eastern European countries when the Army was called out to quell a revolution of the people but instead of doing so folded their arms and allowed justice to be meted out to the oppressors of the people. Let Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and their scions continue to delude themselves that they will always rely on the loyalty or gullibility of the Army to bail them out when it matters. The same Nigerian Army, who constitute an insignificant minority, will surely realise someday that it is time to reposition itself, defend the sovereignty of Nigeria by doing us all a big favour by cleaning our affliction with borrowed soap and water from Jerry Rawlings of Ghana! Those who want to snigger and brand me a military apologist are welcome to say so and I make no apology for my belief that this country has been taken over and in need of urgent liberation from its hostage takers! However, may we never get another Ibrahim Babangida or Abacha in Army uniform, politicians in Army uniforms? It s only a matter of time and it will happen! We need someone or a group with a clear sense of purpose, those who will not be selective in a complete cleanup of the present mess we have in Nigeria.
There is no way the PDP will win a free and fair election in Nigeria, based on its record card for the last eight years! Just as the people emphatically rejected the NPN back then, so will they unequivocally reject the PDP all over the country? Were Lanre Tejuosho left to compete against Iyabo Obasanjo of the PDP, I have no doubt that the ANPP of Tejuosho will carry the day, thus truncating the ambition of this President to have his daughter as the Senate president in the coming dispensation. General Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd), you are tactless, predictable and shameless! You had less than thirty thousand Naira when you came out of prison but now, due to the bank loans advanced to you (yea right…..pigs might fly…!!), you have suddenly metamorphosed into a multi-billionaire….all at our expense. Whilst your lackeys, e.g. the corrupt Justus Olugbenga Daniel (indicted by the EFCC); the absolutely corrupt Peter Odili (also indicted by the EFCC); and the thieving Olusegun Agagu (indicted by a judicial panel of inquiry headed by Justice Obiora Nwazota for fraud and embezzlement totalling 3.6 million dollars) were left out of the cooked list of corrupt politicians, you expect us to believe that the reason for lumping Lanre Tejuosho amongst your biased list is not because of your daughter? Baba Iyabo, na wa o! Only in Nigeria, where leaders have no qualms about imposing their wives (e.g. Mrs Alli, wife of the equally morally bankrupt PDP Chairman) and children (Iyabo Obasanjo) on the hapless electorates! History has a way of repeating itself and providence has a way of righting wrongs for the oppressed. It remains to be seen how the PDP hopes to rig itself back into power and hold on to that power for long. It failed during the first republic, during the second republic and it will fail this time around. This country has gone to the dogs and it is time those dogs are put to sleep!
Abdul-Aziz Jimoh
London, UK
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