The Danjuma interview

LET me state upfront that I am not a big fan of Obasanjo. In spite of my personal conviction that he's not the worst president that this country has so far witnessed, contrary to what many would have us believe, I still feel he has a lot of shortcomings as a leader. He is unpolished, raw, obnoxious, obstinate, self-indulging and is unapologetically very ignorant of the core principles of democracy if his actions during his tenure were anything to go by. I still recall with certain shame how he embarrassed on public radio a female reporter who had asked him a legitimate question during his public outings while he was at the helms.

Or can I ever forget his conduct when he visited Canada during his first term in office? I was visiting a cousin from the U.S. and he had invited me to join other excited Nigerians, all in very colorful traditional outfits, who went to welcome Obasanjo at the Prayer Palace which arguably was the most popular and multicultural church in the whole of Toronto. The white pastor did a good job of organising an ensemble of entertainers to pour encomiums on the visiting president.

Throughout the whole ceremony, Obasanjo maintained a very cold and unfriendly posture, like he wasn't supposed to be there in the first place...not even when the cute mostly white children rendered our national anthem to please him. It was a very hot day indeed for the confused pastor, the very embarrassed Nigerians and other visibly irritated church members. Yes, the man is certainly not your most ideal leader.

Then I read The Guardian newspaper interview of T.Y. Danjuma, our erstwhile Defence Minister, published on February 17 and 24. I was drawn not necessarily because the former Army general's interview read very well, a fact which I think should not be controversial among readers, but because of the sheer scale of arrogance, vanity and insincerity that jumps at you from his story. The first thing I noticed was how he repeatedly condescends to everyone that he has come across in his life's journey while implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) edifying himself. Name calling came very natural to this retired General too. Or how else could you rationalise calling a sitting president "spineless" without a modicum of respect or self-restraint. Is this the sort of military discipline that is consistent with an officer in the Army, let alone a general? What lesson in the art of deferring to a constituted civilian authority can a younger generation of military officers learn from the self-acclaimed kingmaker? Whatever happened to the responsibilities and civic duties that come with freedom of speech and expression?

Wow! It is quite amazing how many people the General touched their lives in a deep and profound way. He was so impressed by Obasanjo's minutes-taking efficiency that he had to impose him on the Supreme Military Council against his (and others') will. Murtala Muhammed would not make any important state decisions without carrying him along even though his office was in far-away Marina (I guess Murtala can't attest to that now, can he?); the powerful General single-handedly appointed Shehu Yar'Adua (instead of the inflexible Buhari) as the Chief of Staff to the Head of State. He accused Babangida of inefficiency for allowing Dimka to escape arrest.

He accused Ekwueme of incompetence while he was No. 2 to Shagari, hence he could not support his candidacy for PDP presidential nominee. He saved the lives of the civilians on the grounds of Ibadan Government House after the arrest of the governor and the head of state. He saved the life of Ironsi's ADC who felt guilty for not being able to save his boss's life and even gave the ingrate who distorted the version of the murder some money. Bravo! Perhaps someone should give the ex-General some lesson in humility?

In this rather glory-seeking and self-serving interview, I read how Danjuma judges people by their antecedents and therefore was convinced after he met Obasanjo that the latter was "a good soldier" who had a brilliant idea about how to quickly bring the civil war to an end as commander of the 3rd Marine Commando, a command which he admitted was ineffective before the advent of Obasanjo. Elsewhere, he gave kudos to the man who he claimed to be a "first class Chief of Staff" to the late former head of state Murtala Muhammed. That was as far as the encomium for his old friend went. From there on, it was a classic case of mudslinging.

First he portrayed Obasanjo as a coward, especially based on events that followed the assassination of Muhammed. It is no longer news that Obasanjo was reluctant to assume the saddle of leadership of a very unstable country and an unprofessional regionally hegemonic military. While his behaviour was inexcusable and unbecoming of a No. 2 man, some historical watchers may argue that Obasanjo's wanting to bail out was informed by the prevalent situation at that time, the Northern domination of the armed forces in the country. Who was to say that the highly suspicious Northern officers would not rush to silence Obasanjo if he was to assert himself publicly?

Even our esteemed General admitted that there were some junior officers at the Supreme Military Council meeting who openly voiced their displeasure at the prospect of a head of state of Southern extraction after Murtala's demise. Besides, Nigeria has a long history of lack of professionalism in her military institution, some of which played itself out even in the interview. Apart from disrespect for the civilian populace and the knack for seizing political power wily-nilly, the Nigerian military personnel have been known to use every little excuse to disregard the chain of command. Having served as a Captain in the U.S. Army myself, I understand the sanctity of this code of conduct too well to notice its absence elsewhere.

In his story of Ironsi's arrest and subsequent murder by the vigilante-type Northern soldiers, it was pretty clear the extent of lawlessness in the Army. Other examples are in abundance. Abacha's former ADC Al-Mustapha's disrespect and humiliation of superior officers with four or five ranks above him is legendary. I have heard from a close Nigerian friend of mine who served as an officer in ECOMOG force how soldiers flagrantly disobeyed platoon and troop commanders at war time in Liberia because they did not want to put their lives in harm's way. So why then would Obasanjo jump readily at the prospect of presiding over a country which had been seized at the neck by a highly tribalised and disloyal rag-tag military organisation?

The former Defence Minister's account of his role in Aguiyi Ironsi's callous murder was even more laughable, if not downright an insult to the sensibilities of Nigerians. Any smart high school student could easily pick out several inconsistencies in that cock and bull story. How is it possible to travel with the convoy of the Commander in Chief to Ibadan the previous day without knowledge of any malicious game plan and still play a leading role in the botched arrest of your boss? Why did you decide suddenly to arrest your superior officer in Ibadan because some soldier whispered in your ear in the middle of the night that there had been a military insurrection in Abeokuta involving the killing of some South-Eastern soldiers?

Why would Garba Paiko, an Adjutant to the Brigade Commander and a 2nd Lieutenant take control of the operations which hitherto was being run by you? I'm sorry: this story just doesn't add up. From General Danjuma's account, all doubts of his culpability in the late Ironsi's death seem to quickly disappear. Personally, I think he pulled the trigger! But that's just me. It is the General that would need to reconcile his version of the story with his conscience and his Maker at some point. I wonder whether Paiko is still alive to corroborate the General's story or, more importantly, if he would be willing to? It does look like we have a moot point here.

In the haze of venom, condescension, arrogance and the unbridled display of a God complex that jumps right at you in the interview, the question that seems to pop into one's head is why? What's the point? Does the General love this country so much that the only way to prove this was to expose a monster in the polity, the worst do-no-gooder ever born on a Nigeria soil? Or was the General's intention even more sinister and dishonest? Was it all about those oil blocks that were fairly and duly repossessed by the Obasanjo-led government perhaps because they didn't belong to the General in the first place? What moral justification could be conjured for someone all the way from Taraba State to have owned such a natural source of stupendous wealth from Bayelsa State? What business acumen, what foreign connections, what family pedigree could be attributed to the scale of wealth that informed Nigerians know that the aggrieved General has?

Nigerians need not be reminded of the immoral wealth of her past military leaders who should legitimately have been on public servants' wages. If Nigeria ever had a Jerry Rawlings-type government today, how many ex-military Generals would be walking as free men as we speak? I strongly feel that the General is looking at the world (and indeed Obasanjo!) through rose-tinted spectacles. He should go back to his Bible to understand the simple concept of casting the first stone only if you were without blemish.