Un-Making Obasanjo’s Evils

The onus to cleanse Nigerian society of all the evils that Olusegun Obasanjo inflicted on the land in the eight years he was in power has fallen on the judiciary. So far, it seems like the judiciary will summon the courage this time to redeem itself and give the polity another chance. The Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Governor Peter Obi’s petition for the Court to imbue him with the legitimacy to finish his four-year term as governor, and the court ruling last week too, authorizing the release of the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who has been in indefinite detention by Obasanjo since 21 months ago, are indicators of that fact. The indefinite detention of Dokubo-Asari and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra's, MASSOB Ralph Uwazurike indicated not only Obasanjo’s evil side, it also made a mockery of the rule of law, which was supposed to be the basis of civilian rule.

Mujahid Dokubo-Asari’s release is just the beginning. Uwazurike should be allowed to return home as well.

Discharging the obligation to cleanse Obasnajo’s evils will not be easy. It will take courage though. It will entail serving justice to all petitioners at the various election tribunals that were established to examine the massively rigged elections this April. All the allegations of corruption leveled against the governors who presided in some of the states in the country in the last eight years must be examined and looked into without fear or favor. The sale of public corporations, the allocation of oil blocks to friends and cronies of Mr. Obasanjo are the other areas that must be investigated and cleaned up. The other big task will be to attend to the recent suit brought by Chief Anthony Enahoro and others challenging the validity of the 1999 Constitution. It is an unparalleled fraud for the country to operate a constitution in the name of the people when there is no such document that was established on their mandate. The cleansing would not take people who are geniuses. It can be done.