Truth is bitter' is a popular saying which applies to all cultures, religions and ethnic affiliations. Truth is that concept universally based on facts, not imagination, manipulation or invention.It pricks our conscience whenever we do something wrong but because of the satanic fundamentals behind the actions of some individuals, groups or countries, anybody telling them the truth will always be seen as an enemy. Not an enemy in the sense that he doesn't want the society to change but a foe because he has the audacity to challenge existing and entrenched demonic forces and interests.Last week, I published a demonic speech by former South African President, the late Pieter Botha, against Blacks in my column and many readers called (I don't even know where they got my number from).Majority of them lambasted Botha who died in 2006, calling him and his parents, who died decades ago, unprintable names. I politely asked some of them: 'Did Botha lie when he said 'Blacks cannot rule themselves. Give them guns and they will kill one another'''They could not really defend their positions on the matter but one of them replied: 'It is Botha's curse that is affecting Nigeria'.If that is true or not, I don't know but what I am sure of is that the challenges facing this country are self-inflicted. Self-inflicted in the sense that everything is now taken for granted in Nigeria. Nothing shocks us again. People talk of billions of naira as if it is synonymous with just buying a loaf of bread at a bakery.Panels are being set up everyday on how some people allegedly embezzled billions of naira and the reports will never see the light of the day. A recent example is the panel set up to investigate how Federal Government properties were sold during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. Obasanjo himself was allegedly fingered as to having a hand in one deal or the other but the former President is untouchable, still moving from one section of the country to the other, telling the government that there would be a revolution if the Goodluck Jonathan administration does not urgently do something about the decay in the system, as if Obasanjo did not lay the foundation for the rot in the polity between 1999 and 2007.A friend recently reminded me of the calculation done by a former minister on how a Nigerian with N1 billion does not need to work again in his life but we hear people fingered in alleged embezzlement of billions of dollars and with the current exchange rate, we are talking of trillions of naira.He said: 'Just do the calculation. If N1 billion is given to an average Nigerian, he will be spending N50,000 everyday and he will finish spending the money in 54 years. So, a 40-year-old Nigerian can just go to sleep and be eating and the money will end when he is 94 years old'.Funny as it sounds, the reality of the situation, if we must tell ourselves the truth, is that morally, we have lost it.If not, Obasanjo will not, as he did on Monday, be telling Nigerians that there was a disconnect between the Federal Government and the people.At a workshop in Abeokuta, Ogun State on 'Economic diversification and revenue generation', Obasanjo said the disconnect between the Jonathan administration - bordering on poverty, economic hardship, unemployment, thuggery, insecurity - and Nigerians was capable of leading to a revolution as recently witnessed in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.Stressing the discontentment in the land, Obasanjo said: 'There is the possibility of having the Arab Spring in Nigeria if similar conditions, hardships and un-employment which gave birth to it, are not addressed.'Citing Libya and Egypt as countries that witnessed the 'Arab Spring', Obasanjo said though there was appreciable economic growth in those countries, their people revolted because there was 'a disconnect' between the 'economic growth' in those Arab nations and 'employment generation' for their people, which created 'discontentment'.He said: 'It doesn't matter which way you look at it today. People are now talking of Arab Spring. And some people will say, is Egypt not developing' On economic scale, after South Africa, it is Egypt in Africa. Has Libya not got resources''At one time with a population of about five million, Libya was producing as much oil as Nigeria. But there was still discontentment because, yes, in terms of Gross Domestic Products (GDP), it was growing well but in terms of employment generation, there was a disconnect.'That is one of the elements that led to the Arab Spring. There are others but let me take this one that is relevant to our discussion today. Agricultural business is important to creating jobs for our teeming youths.'The former President lamented that for far too long, the nation has been 'mobilising and sharing revenue' from only one source - oil - and stressed that the time had come for federal and state governments to devise ingenious ways of expanding their revenue base by venturing into agriculture, tourism and manufacturing.Good talk from Obasanjo but a human rights activist, Comrade Olayide Olatokunbo, said: 'Obasanjo warned of an imminent popular revolt similar to those that occurred in the Arab world. When the Nigerian revolt finally occurs, those it would consume already know themselves'.I am sure Olatokunbo read the minds of millions of Nigerians when he replied Obasanjo.Officially, Nigeria is not in a state of war but the number of people being killed everyday is more than those killed in the Libyan civil war between February and October this year.If you don't believe this, just check newspapers everyday. There is one killing or the other. And newspapers can only cover, may be, 10 per cent of the killings in the country. Tens of Nigerians die everyday for any reason and no reason because of the state of lawlessness in the land, the foundation of which was laid during the Obasanjo administration when thuggery was used as an instrument of state policy.It is clearly stated in the Constitution that for any governor to be impeached, at least two thirds of members of the House of Assembly must okay the action.Obasanjo instigated the removal of many governors, using one-third and zero-third of members of the Assembly for the inglorious action. The governors were only returned to office through the instrumentality of the law.If that singular action was not enough to lead to instability today in the system, I don't know what else can cause insecurity.The former president once said publicly that a godfather told him that the 2003 election in Anambra State was rigged and he did nothing about it. Instead, the whole state was almost razed when hoodlums were encouraged to burn government properties because Obasanjo was determined that the then governor, who is now a Senator, Dr. Chris Ngige, who was not in his good books, must vacate office, one way or the other.This action was after Ngige was abducted for more than three hours.What Obasanjo did for eight years was similar to the order given by German dictator, Adolf Hitler, to his soldiers during the Second World War: 'Close your minds to pity, act brutally'.You don't build something on nothing. If Obasanjo had given Nigerians democracy dividends during that eight years in Aso Rock, the admonition he gave on Monday would not have been necessary.Thank God he mentioned oil in his 'Abeokuta Sermon', confirming the considerable economic growth in Libya under the late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. In eight years, what did Obasanjo do to Nigeria's oil while he was in power as the president and in charge of the oil portfolio' How much was a litre of oil being sold when he became president on May 29, 1999 and how much was the same quantity sold when he left on May 29, 2007'We all know that Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) does not like Obasanjo, fine. But, he said something which Obasanjo has not been able to find an answer to: that the money Obasanjo made for eight years was more than all the money made by his predecessors.I am not an economist and I have never worked in government so, I don't know how far that is true but Obasanjo, as the father and mother of modern Nigeria, should, at least, debunk what Buhari said.Is it not a scandal that Obasanjo could not fix electricity for eight years' There was the report of a $16 billion (N2.5 trillion) power scam when he left office as president. Up till now, he has not said anything to defend himself. When General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) raised the issue in August, Obasanjo did not address the matter. Instead, he abused Babangida, calling him a fool at 70. Thank God Obasanjo is a farmer and he mentioned the importance of agriculture to a nation's growth in his Abeokuta message but in what way did Obasanjo help agriculture when he was president'Anytime I travel to Ondo and I see the wasted land stretching from Lagos to Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Ondo, I just shake my head.From 1999 to 2007, Obasanjo was charged with the responsibility of nursing our hard-earned democracy but he did the exact opposite. Everything was militarised and Boko Haram is one of the results of that militarisation of the polity.It is an irony that Obasanjo is warning Jonathan, one of his creations, that a revolt is imminent if the precarious socio-economic conditions of the citizenry were not urgently addressed. Who is Obasanjo trying to impress with his seditious speech' Is it in 2011, four years after leaving office, that he has just realised the existence of grinding poverty and economic hardship caused by under-employment, job loss and unemployment in the land' Is the current economic situation worse than when he was in charge' Did he read the mutinous speech in Abeokuta because he no longer control the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)'One thing is certain. The Obasanjo I know, with that rebellious outburst, is up to something.Remember, he moved against the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in January, 2010 when he realised that Yar'Adua was not going to make it. He even cursed himself, saying that God should punish him if he imposed Yar'Adua as his successor in 2007. Nigerians will recall that Obasanjo, who handed over power to Alhaji Shehu Shagari on October 1, 1979, said a similar thing in 1983 when he accused the Shagari administration of having lost touch with Nigerians. A few months later, Shagari was removed.Prof. Wole Soyinka, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN), Mohammed Fawehinmi and other activists can rise against Jonathan and tear to pieces his economic policies, but not Obasanjo.Is Obasanjo trying to incite Nigerians against Jonathan' What is Baba Iyabo's latest game plan
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