MUSIKILU MOJEED: BEARING WITNESS TO HISTORY

There are leadership lessons to glean from Olusegun Obasanjo’s remarkable life, writes Kayode Fayemi

At the time I gave my word to be present at the public presentation of The Letterman on December 1st, 2022 – exactly two months ago, little did I know that my new responsibilities as Head of the Forum of Governors in Africa will take me all the way to Sao Paolo, Brazil to the Brazil – Africa Forum on this day. I’m happy though that I was able to lay my hands on an advanced copy of The Letterman and it was a beautiful companion all the way from Abuja to Sao Paulo.

Musikilu Mojeed has done us a huge favour by putting these letters together in a single volume with excellent annotations. To many of us, some of these letters are not new. They were indeed the subject of dinner table discourses in many homes when they were officially released or stealthily leaked. At the time, reactions ranged from those who saw them as Baba’s supposed penchant for self glorification to those who regarded them as his obsessive predilection for painting his successors black to very rare commendation for speaking truth to power and approximating the feelings of the people in periods of stress and angst as the voice of the voiceless.

Read together with other letters seen for the first time in this volume, one is bound to have a renewed sense of respect and admiration for our former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. For me, if one is in any doubt, these letters written over a period of 60 years demonstrate a high level of remarkable consistency of thought and action. Even when you disagree with the logic of his argument in his letters, you cannot doubt the courage of his conviction.

Musikilu was also able to demonstrate indubitably through this published volume Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s prodigious intellect, his attention to detail and tireless capacity for record keeping, his native intelligence, his transparency and accountability, his generosity of spirit which runs contrary to the widespread impression of Obasanjo as a stingy man who won’t give shishi, his religious piety, his ability to show appreciation as a person who never forgets a favour nor forgive a slight, his unquestioning patriotism and loyalty to Nigeria and his irrepressible Pan-Africanist inclinations.

One is also astounded often by the speed with which he churns out these letters. But then maybe one should not be surprised. After all, I once travelled from Addis Ababa to Lagos on an Ethiopian Airline flight, sitting next to him. Baba wrote all through the four and a half hour flight non stop. And he went on to deliver the paper he wrote in Lagos same evening.

What is clear from the language of the early letters to the most recent ones is that they are uniquely Baba’s. These are not letters written by aides with him only appending his signature. They are correspondences that carry Obasanjo’s imprimatur whether written in the war front in the 60s or as a retired President in 2020. The language, proverbs, self-deprecating humour, outright abuse of the subject, wise cracks and jokes are unmistakably Baba’s.

In the last few months, I’ve had cause to ask myself – how does he do it? I’ve encountered Baba in Oslo, New York, Nairobi, London, Addis Ababa, Abuja, Dubai – not having fun but always working in the service of humanity, the latest being the remarkable feat he accomplished with the Ethiopian Peace Settlement between the Tigrayan rebels and the Ethiopian State. Many of us thought it was a futile effort when he started but for Baba – once he puts his mind to something – he gives it his best shot. His self confidence and abiding faith in God pulls him through against all odds. It is no exaggeration to venture to suggest that Baba has achieved more for our foreign policy profile as a non state actor in the last decade.

What Musikilu also achieved with this publication without necessarily meaning to do so is the manner he surreptitiously exposed Baba’s softer side through insightful revelations in some of the letters. Especially how his prison years brought him closer to God to the point of rescuing many offenders who would have been worse off in prison. Or expressing heartfelt condolences to the widow of the man who threw him in jail, Hajia Maryam Abacha at a time that the late stormy petrel, Gani Fawehinmi, roared on the BBC that the hottest part of hell should be reserved for the late maximum ruler.

As our country proceeds in search of a new leader, there’s a lot of leadership lessons to glean from Baba Obasanjo’s remarkable life – from his success and also from his foibles. While many of us may not appreciate the worth of Obasanjo now, just the way Winston Churchill was rejected at the polls in the aftermath of his World War Two victory, only for him to be reelected Prime Minister later and crowned  “Man of the Century” by the BBC, there is no doubt that history and posterity will be kind to Olusegun Obasanjo.

Thank you Musikilu for bearing witness to history. Thank you for bringing out the essence of letter writing as a window to the world of Olusegun Obasanjo.

Dr Fayemi is the immediate former Governor of Ekiti State