, celebrated his eighty seventh birthday amidst pomp and pageantry. The encomiums and plaudits were rousing and heartfelt in most cases.
One can now reveal publicly for the first time that some while ago, one had been approached by a publisher and journalist, one of the finest in the land, to review an autobiographical expose written by Obasanjo’s estranged first wife, Madam Oluremi Obasanjo nee Akinlawon. There are some exceptional figures of history, extraordinary personages whose personal conduct does not fit the prism of conventional ethical framework or mundane moralism. Obasanjo may well be one of these. Charles De Gaulle, the great French wartime leader, military genius, philosopher, muse of history and extraordinary prose stylist, called them “sacred monsters” obviously including himself.
Watching the military consolidate their political annihilation of the Nigerian political class with the ascendancy of General Ibrahim Babangida was like watching some cruel blood sports whose outcome had been known beforehand. It was said that when some of Chief Awolowo’s surviving disciples approached him that something queasy and unsettling was unfolding the old sage from Ikenne simply told them that they would have problems with the young man. The titan promptly took his terminal exit.
If you rub Obasanjo the right way or if he takes a personal liking to you on the basis of antecedents, he can be such a wondrous and entertaining host. Meeting up with such a larger than life behemoth, a fascinating and intriguing personality can be a moveable feast of outlandish humour and rare historical vignettes.
“Is that so? Oh my God!! Please bring my food o jare!!! I thought it was all this Savage, Fernandez, Macgregor, Vera-Cruz, Bucknor and and Eric Moore,” the general exploded in bucolic mirth. But his mood darkened immediately as he remembered one big man from one’s town who had maltreated his niece in the course of a turbulent marriage which broke up eventually.