Training Of Snipers: Why National Assembly Must Summon Obasanjo Now!

Nigeria is such a funny country! Nothing exemplifies that more than the recent letter from former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan where he levelled weighty allegations against the president, not the least of which is that the president is training snipers where Abacha trained his killers. In other words Jonathan wants to do to his opponents as Abacha allegedly did to his own opponents. Since this letter which was earmarked more for public effect than as an honest advice to a president has generated various reactions, but the most surprising of the responses are those saying that Jonathan must address the allegations raised by Obasanjo. Some of those making this request from the president are people who you ordinarily considered reasonable and intelligent. But when some people in the National Assembly joined the ignoramuses asking Jonathan to prove that he is innocent of the charges, I then knew that something is amiss. The Bible says that my people perish for lack of knowledge. And it appears that knowledge is in short supply even in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly despite the fact that the legislative bodies i.e. Senate and House of Representatives are brimming with lawyers of all hue. There is a legal maxim which perhaps originated from German Philosopher, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) which states in Latin that, Affirmanti incumbit probatio---meaning: “ He who alleges something must prove it”. Therefore the burden of proof lies with the party that makes the charge! I do not believe that National Assembly lawmakers in whom the lawyers among them include the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Tambwal and Deputy Senate President, Ekweremadu are not aware of this legal maxim. If they are aware of it as I assume they should, why are we then hearing silly suggestions that National Assembly needs explanation from the president over the allegations levelled by Obasanjo. It is Obasanjo that must be invited quickly by the legislative body to prove his allegations without delay as it is very weighty indeed and ominous. He must also appear before the National Assembly  in public with TV cameras beaming it to Nigerians, there is nothing national security about it requiring that he appear in camera. Since his letter was a public letter he must also defend his allegations in public so that Nigerians will be among the judges and not National Assembly members alone. Nigerians will like to know the geographic location where Abacha allegedly trained his killer squad and where Jonathan is allegedly training his own. He should also make available those who are recruited and being trained and they must also appear to defend themselves. It is when Obasanjo has appeared before the National Assembly that the president can then be invited to defend himself. Of all the allegations this is the most weighty and far more important than his(Obasanjo’s) sabre rattling about corruption, since the former president is the most corrupt leader alive today as confirmed by Transparency International which in reports after reports during Obasanjo’s eight years in power stated that the most corrupt geographic area in Nigeria was Obasanjo’s Presidency in Aso Rock. Obasanjo even usurped the minister of petroleum portfolio  for eight years and was accountable to no one to this day. It is time to revisit that era when Obasanjo was petroleum minister and president since we are now committed to transparent disbursement of revenue from NNPC to Central Bank. That is by the way.

Perhaps history will be the guide in National Assembly inviting Obasanjo to tell Nigerians what he knows and when he knows it and why he was so sure of the evidence before him that he wrote about it with such authoritative posture in his letter to Jonathan. In February 9, 1950, United States Senator, Senator Joseph McCarthy in a speech made on Lincoln Day to the Republican Women’s Club of Wheeling, West Virginia said, “ I have here in my hand a list of 205-a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the communist party and who never the less are still working and shaping policies in the State Department.” The US senate summoned McCarthy, one of their own, to substantiate his allegations. He ended up naming so many innocent people as communists that in the end he was unable to prove his sensational charges. It was an angry United States Senate that censored McCarthy. But before then he had succeed in ruining the lives and careers of many public servants and celebrities who he accused of being communists. Today McCarthyism is a euphemism for making unsubstantiated and false allegations against one’s political opponents. However, to appreciate what happened then is to under that it was a period of stiff competition between Communist USSR and capitalist United States and being a communist means you are spying for USSR against United States. That is treason and subversion of national security in United States. In Obasanjo’s case he did not only allege that snipers are being trained, he also alleged that 1000 people are on watch list. We will like to know who compiled the list and how Obasanjo came in possession of the list on National Televisions with our lawmakers unravelling the truth. Nigeria must be uncovered now!