ALI BABA, BABA  IYABO TAKE YOUR TIME O

By Farouk Martins, Omo Aresa

faroukomartins@aim.com Oct 17, 2006

It is one of many characters to be known as stubborn, good or bad. Obasanjo has attributed it to his Owu heritage, fine. When this hard headedness crossed the path of the law, we are in a different ball game altogether. I have been wrongly accused of supporting Baba Iyabo against the Forty Thieves. All I have done is count Ali Baba as the least of all the evils among the Forty Thieves for daring to come out and expose them. The governor of Lagos State, Tinubu has never enjoyed my support, nor does he need it from grassroots like me. I have always been uncomfortable about Tinubu’s character, even before the latest revelation by my dear friend, Nuhu Ribadu.

Our honorable former Chief Justice, Uwais, courageously came out and condemned Obasanjo’s Government for disobeying the law of the land by cunningly misinterpreting the judgment of the highest Court on withholding Lagos State allocation. One would think that after that reprimand from someone no less that the head of the Court that interpreted that law, Ali Baba would find a way out to pay Lagos State in our nonmilitary government experiment. He has now denied over 16b naira to local government?

Seriously, how many local governments in the Country can afford to loose that much money without undue hardship to the common man? Even in Lagos, I know people who complained of hunger at home because they were not paid for some months. It is a case of elephants fighting while the grass suffers. Millions or billions of anything means nothing to these politicians.

If we support Ali Baba’s tactics against corruption, because it takes a cunning man to catch a thief, what role does denial of allocation got to do with corruption or violation of the rule of law? Is he keeping the money because Tinubu will embezzle it? This man is shooting himself in the foot, knowing that you do not light a match if you are covered with gasoline. As much as we need him to stand against his cohort, he never fails to aggrandize himself to a fault.  

No! Obasanjo can not still see straight as a result of a lingering effect from Abacha’s dungeon. Both of them have something in common anyway: it is this disdain for the people of Lagos. In spite of Marwa’s invitation in their military days, Abacha rightly refused to visit Lagos. Obasanjo has shortchanged Lagos before by allocating Lagos’s share of appointments to Awolowo’s son. In spite of Lagosians unquestionable love for Awo, fair is fair. You do not rub Peteru to pay Suberu.

The days some people claimed that there are no qualified candidates from Lagos are long gone. We work hard these days. We are venturing into politics more than ever. Yes, I sometimes wonder about that too, especially after Funso Williams. But the good people of Nigeria have come to our defense against Ali Baba withholding our share. He still continues to do so in spite of the law and people of “timber and caliber” all over Nigeria on our side. Ali Baba, did we send you to Military School with the Vulture Class?

After all, Akhigbe has come out in the defense of his colleagues that your trainings are too valuable to deny your cohorts the opportunity to rule Nigeria. Is that what you are trained for, to be hard headed, plan a coup, steal money and use the money to perpetuate your selves as the rulers of Nigeria?

I am calling on the good people of Nigeria to send Obasanjo to the house of Baba Monkelegbe in Lagos for cure. Please reserve your energy to fight the Forty Thieves. There is no reason for side show to prove that your are very tough on Lagos State. We have never been subdued; Obasanjo will not be the first to do so.