Enter Olusegun Okikiola Aremu Obasanjo, Ph. D.

We may never all agree on the places of our leaders in history. When juxtaposed against the timeless assertion of Jesus Christ that a prophet is not recognised in his own country, it becomes even more understandable why great leaders are often subjected to hardly justifiable vilification at home. However, take it or leave it, love him or hate him, Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, FNSE and former President of Nigeria has etched his name on marble as a pacesetter who will, forever, be remembered as an exemplary leader and whose antecedents will continue to inspire generations yet unborn. When he launched the Obasanjo Presidential Library, in the nature of things, a few vocal individuals chose to see the project from the perspective of the morality of how it was being funded. That was in spite of the fact that no known law was breached. Yet, the sublime inspirational aspects of the project were completely ignored: that here is a leader who, rather than acquire private jets for himself elected to establish a solid memorial for learning and scholarship; here is a leader who, rather than revel in the grandiloquence of hosting and sculpturing discredited leaders, chose to emulate great foreign leaders by establishing educational monuments that would outlive him; here is a leader who, rather than mingle with dubious businessmen elected to attract to Nigeria, global icons whose lives would inspire present and future generations.

Prior to the presidential library project, Baba, as I choose to call him, had established the African Leadership Forum (AFL) as a center for mentoring and incubating future leaders for Nigeria and Africa. I had the privilege of attending several “Farm House Dialogues” at the AFL center in Ota, Ogun State where Dr. Dr. Ayo Aderinwale held sway as executive director. In those days, attending the farm house dialogue was an intellectual carnival of sorts. Leaders: established and emerging, young and old of both gender, converged, for two or three days at a time, to dissect one aspect or the other, of national life. I recall one occasion when, as a very young editor of the Daily Champion in 1989 or so, I was privileged to be in the group that discussed the national question! Great leaders such as Alhaji Ali Munguno, Dr. Gloria Chukwukere who later became a commissioner in Imo State, Mallam Abba Dabo, journalist and former chief press secretary to President Shehu Shagari and Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau who was minister of agriculture under President Shehu Shagari were all members of the “class” on the national question. You can imagine how long ago that, as a private individual, Obasanjo occupied, and has always preoccupied himself with how to move Nigeria forward, believing always that education was the most effective instrument for eradicating distrust and creating an egalitarian and inclusive society. In this, he has never pretended.

I attended the University of Ibadan when Obasanjo was head of state, when every effort was made to ensure that no Nigerian child was denied access to education because of the family’s financial standing. To understand Obasanjo’s passion for education is to read Nelson Mandela’s time-honoured characterization of the subject matter. Hear the Mandiba: “Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine; that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation”. Obasanjo carried his love for education a notch higher when, an assumption of office as President in 1999, he restored the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). He did not stop there. I believe he registered as a student of the institution, not just because he wanted to acquire a university degree (after all, he already had a higher national diploma as before becoming head of state) but because he wanted to disabuse the minds of prospective students who were not sure of the status of NOUN. I was at the NOUN convocation when he bagged his diploma in divinity.

I recall that I sat with minister of sports under him, Mr. Bala Kao’je and we pondered the humility of this national icon whose exemplary pursuit of higher education was bound to light a lamp of hope for many educationally disenfranchised Nigerians. You can imagine my joy to read that he has just bagged the Ph. D. of the NOUN in Christian theology. What a splendid achievement. At over eighty, Obasanjo, like the motto of Zik’s West African Pilot newspaper, continues to show the light so that the people will find the way. He has shown that age is not a barrier to education, that you can achieve all you want to be if you are remain steadfast and refuse to be distracted. He has earned respect not only for himself but for Nigeria because he has demonstrated, beyond reasonable doubt, that Nigerian leaders can be emblematic of national renaissance and paradigmatic of global leadership. Think about his Ph. D. topic: “Resolving the Unfinished Agenda in Liberation Theology: Leadership, Poverty and Underdevelopment in North Eastern Nigeria.” How much more sublime, how much more nationalistic, how much more scholarly can one be? Obasanjo works his talk. Like his idol, Nelson Mandela, he believes that “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. Little wonder he commands instant admiration and great respect all over the world.

In 1990, I had the privilege of being invited to join his entourage to the Africa Leadership Forum conference in Kampala Uganda. Bilikisu Yussuf, (former Editor, New Nigerian-deceased) Nosa Igiebor (Editor-in-Chief, Tell) and Abiola Oloke (African Business magazine) were also on his entourage. Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and President Yoweri Museveni graced the occasion with other serving and former heads of state whose names I cannot immediately remember. I always respected Obasanjo before then. But that was one occasion that almost turned him into a deity in my eyes. At one point during a break from deliberations, as we filed out the corridor of the imposing Kampala Sheraton, you could see that all the African Presidents and other dignitaries had mounted what looked like a guard of honour, with each taking turn to shake his hand. That moment was not lost on me. Though not up to six feet in height, as I stood there literally flummoxed, I felt I was taller than seven feet. It was a great moment for me, for Nigeria, to have a former Nigerian president commanding such elaborate recognition in East Africa! The NOUN deserves to be congratulated for this historical development. All well meaning Nigerians will definitely share the joy of Dr. Samaila Mande, dean, postgraduate school of NOUN over the fact that the former president happened to be one of the pioneer students to bag PhD in Christian Theology under his management.

There is no doubt that the feat will be celebrated during the convocation. His worry should be crowd control amidst the challenge of protocol and security. But more than that, what should be of greater concern to Mande and the rest of us is the fact that, beyond the euphoria of Obasanjo’s illustrious leadership model, it may yet take us time to appreciate what God has endowed us with. But there is no gainsaying that, as we navigate the convoluted trajectory of our national life, as we wade through the murky waters of our tortuous development, notwithstanding tribe or tongue, belief system or cultural values and preferences, we should tap the genius of national icons like Obasanjo, if only to ensure that this generation of Nigerians will not be the ones that lost a proud endowment simply because the members chose ignorance over knowledge; and laziness over hard work.