It must be an evidence of the many sidedness of the Obasanjo persona. Contrary to his earlier view that he did not accept that being decked in Western suit, for instance, is a mark of being civilised, he now dresses in suit. It might have been just for once but it has caught media attention.
Chief Obasanjo in traditional outfit with another African ‘bigman’, Thabo Mbeki, former president of South Africa
Again, Obasanjo in agbada pictured with Bill Clinton, former President of the US
It shows that no one needs further evidence that the Ota farmer, two-time president of Nigeria and diplomat extraordinaire is still expanding his space, including what looks like a shift in his dress code.
It is either the former president is so happy with himself or a bit disturbed. The theory is that , for most African ‘big men’, the evening can be turbulent. Applied to Chief Obasanjo, it means this must be a very tense moment because he has had the very best of opportunities to have supervised the rebirth of Nigeria. He would say he tried his best. But the verdict on his exercise of power will require more than what he says. The evidence on the ground is a Nigeria in tatters, a reality he has liability because he has been a permanent shareholder.
So far, he has not got much categorical entries in his favour in terms of performance that is, by consensus, phenomenal. Only last April in Lagos, Prof Segun Osoba who co-authored the Minority Report on the 1979 Constitution offered a score of the former president in the new introduction to the document. he said “Obasanjo can be regarded as the most important single factor in the chaotic system of governance that has developed in Nigeria from the enactment of 1979 Constitution and the inauguration of Shagari’s government on 1st October 1979 to date. Given the moral and intellectual standing of the former OAU, Ile-Ife Historian, a standpoint of this nature could create problems for Obasanjo’s place in history.
But the jury is still out there. History making can be a complicated thing.
