Obasanjo, decency and the unresolved matter of presidential libraries

I believe strongly in record keeping. In fact, I love it. Unfortunately, one of our shortcomings as a country is our very poor habit of keeping national records and appropriately documenting our history with a view to preserving them for the future. Of course, this is in spite of the establishment of the National Archives based at the University of Ibadan in the late 1950s and the various museums we have around the country. You only need to find time and visit any of our public museums to discover that they are nothing to write home about when compared to museums in other parts of the world. You can’t take your foreign friend who’s come visiting you there; you will be embarrassed.

That was why I wrote in this column about two years ago after President Buhari’s APC government came into power that we need to project and sell Nigeria to the world far more than we are currently doing. It was a suggestion to the administration. With dwindling oil revenues, tourism can be the next huge money-spinner for our country. There’s a whole lot of revenue to be generated, a massive industry to be created. Unfortunately, it’s like we are blind and can’t see the vast opportunities we are missing and wasting. And our politicians seem perpetually deaf to wise counsel and sound advice which can help in nation-building as often expressed by many of our columnists. To make matters worse, most of them who have even travelled far and wide are too lazy to engage their minds and plan for the future like their counterparts elsewhere have so brilliantly done for their country and people.

And so, when a man like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who I believe is one of the most intelligent leaders our country and indeed Africa has yet produced, decides to devote his energies into setting up his Presidential library which was commissioned about a fortnight ago in Abeokuta as part of activities marking his 80^th birthday anniversary, I have nothing but absolute admiration and respect for him. Our country needs such institutions.

The Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), which took 12 years to complete, is a repository for archival materials including 15 million documents, two million books and 4, 000 artefacts and memorabilia spanning the former president’s life. With the impressive museum, conference hall, souvenir shop, and a number of outdoor facilities like the amphitheatre, Bamboo Park, a wildlife park, children’s amusement centre, a dam for boating, rowing, fishing and a picnic area, it’s a place Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike can visit to learn and of course also unwind.

For those who have followed this column consistently, I’ve always pushed this viewpoint: Every one of us must be posterity-conscious. Obasanjo exhibits the trait well. And let’s be clear on this. What he has built at Abeokuta isn’t just a personal monument. It’s a worthy legacy and contribution to our country. It helps in preserving part of Nigeria’s history especially the period of his Presidency in a country where it’s difficult to get useful materials on previous governments several years down the line.

And concerning getting useful materials on previous governments, I was discussing with a well-known editor in the country some months back. He had just written a book. Our discussion delved into how he was able to tidy up the whole project, more so, when it involved getting relevant historic information from ministries, departments and agencies of government. He told me that in the course of his work, he discovered, to his shock, that nobody was really keeping official records for our government institutions. He had written to all the ministers and their ministries. Of all, barely five, which he was gracious to tell me by the way, kept their information well and met his expectations.

According to him, majority of our federal ministries don’t even have photographs of some of their former ministers and permanent secretaries. It was that bad. He added that when his team also wrote to state governments requesting for information on former governors or administrators of their respective states, this was equally a herculean task. That is why I want to stress the point that an initiative like Obasanjo’s deserves very strong commendation.

Hate him or love him, we just must acknowledge this fact about Baba Iyabo: He’s got brains. He’s certainly not among the clueless. The man is deep even though he can be very vindictive and petty. An author of many books and a lover of knowledge, he is an intellectual who can engage and hold his own anywhere in the world.

Therefore, while I rejoice with the former President for joining the octogenarian club, where I disagree with him, on the matter of his Presidential library, however, is the manner in which he went about the whole thing right from the very beginning. By virtually forcing state governors and arm-twisting top members of Corporate Nigeria to donate to his foundation in 2005 while he was still President, Obasanjo did a right thing the wrong way. Watching the fundraiser on live TV, it was pure executive daylight robbery. It was an abuse of his office and position as President for personal gain and benefit. Plain and simple.

Although Obasanjo would later argue in his book, My Watch, that he had done nothing wrong, he threw decency to the dogs. It was presidential extortion without scruples, more like the end justifying the means. And that fact cannot be swept under the carpet as it’s forever filed in the annals of our national history despite the very distinguished leaders he put on the board of trustees of the library, great minds, erudite professors, patriotic Nigerians and wonderful souls in their own right like Dr. Christopher Kolade, Professor Akin Mabogunje, Professor Peter Okebukola, Chief Onaolapo Soleye, Professor Joy Ogwu, Chief Bisi Akande and General Martin Agwai (rtd) among others.

In South Korea where their President, Park Geun-hye was recently ousted, the accusation against her was that she abused her office by helping her confidante and adviser, Choi Soon-sil, raise donations for the foundation the lady runs by forcing companies to donate millions of dollars. Now stripped of her immunity, Park risks prosecution. Meanwhile, the donations that caused the trouble weren’t even for the former President or her foundation. Compare what Park was accused of to what Obasanjo did; the difference is clear. His case is worse.

Were Obasanjo to be a South Korean, he definitely would not have completed his second term in office let alone pulling the strings behind the scene to have a third term, albeit unsuccessfully. He would have been impeached and denied the honour of handing over to his successor aside being liable to prosecution. Unfortunately, in a country where we still haven’t summoned the courage to make scapegoats and public examples of our erring leaders, we allow illegalities to pass under the bridge and sweep glaring corruption under the carpet.

In avoiding the Obasanjo scenario for the future, therefore, I feel we need to put in place a template for future Presidents who might be interested in having their own Presidential libraries at the expiration of their tenures. While I’ll admit, that, in the US, a sitting President sets up a foundation to build his presidential library while still in office and starts raising the funds including where the library would be located, what is also correct is that the complex, when completed, is then handed over to the government, specifically the National Agency for Records and Archives (NARA), for operation and maintenance.

In Nigeria where our maintenance culture is terrible as well as shameful, it would be unwise to suggest we hand over such responsibility to government. That is why we need to iron out what fits our situation and environment. Part of the funds Obasanjo used in constructing his library came from public money donated by governors. I know he’s not contemplating handing it over to government like being done in the US where he copied the concept. But before another President steps forward to mute the idea of building his own Presidential library, it is important the right laws and framework are put in place in guiding the way this is handled in future. I do not claim to have the complete answers but I suggest the National Assembly looks into it. This is a matter we need to debate, discuss and resolve once and for all. Trust me; it’s in the national interest. It’s for our collective good. God bless Nigeria.

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