I am almost certain that the heading will raise some eye brows. In short, some people will wonder whether John has lost his mind to even dream of stopping Obasanjo. But, wait for it, we stopped Obasanjo and I will tell you how. If you are disturbed over how I got the power to write about this, I will give you three (3) reasons (I love the number 3 when I write):
- From my days as a student of Mass Communication, I learnt that a journalist should magnify his headlines to achieve a number of results, one of which is to attract attention. Why write that the politician stole 500 Million Naira when you can write that he stole half a Billion Naira. So, if you are still reading, I am succeeding in that regard.
- I learnt from my Literature in English teachers that the poet (and indeed the writer) enjoys some freedom when he/she writes. They called it poetic license. So, I have the freedom to coin my headlines the way I write and just like our legislators enjoy legislative immunity for anything said in the National Assembly, I will be free from your harassment.
- I am actually writing about facts, so I have the power of history behind me.
Now to the real story of how we stopped Obasanjo.
The year was 2000; I was a member of the Student Representative Council of Nnamdi Azikiwe University and Obasanjo was the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The President was visiting Anambra State to flag off what they called ‘Tree Planting Campaign’. For those of us from Anambra State, it was an insult that Obasanjo’s first visit to Anambra State as a civilian president was to plant a tree, not to commission a bridge or lay the foundation stone of a big project. So, we decided to come into the picture, one way or the other.
Those of us in the Students Union Government met and decided that we would not allow the President to go to Mgbakwu (that was the name of the town beside Awka, the Capital City of Anambra State, where Obasanjo was to plant the tree) without entering the premises of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The plan was to get him to see the poor state of infrastructure in the University and extract some promises from him. We believed that if we succeeded in doing that, the visit of the President would be a success. Much better than planting a tree. The heavens were on our side because the President had to pass through the temporary site of our university before he can go to Mgbakwu. So, we planned to block Obasanjo’s route and force him into our university.
On the appointed day, the President arrived Anambra State amidst a lot of fanfare. The then Governor of Anambra State, Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju (Odera) received the President at the border town between Enugu and Anambra States called Amansea. They drove down to Awka and made a U-turn at the popular Kwata (corrupt form of Abattoir) Junction and now faced the short drive to UNIZIK Junction (for the ‘un-initiated’, UNIZIK is another name for Nnamdi Azikiwe University). Of course, presidential security moved ahead of the president’s convoy. We had mobilised hundreds of students to block the whole of UNIZIK Junction so the president’s convoy would not be able to pass. The idea again was to get the President to come down and address us. But members of the president’s security team had other ideas. They decided to use maximum force to get the students out of the way. And that was when hell broke loose.
The security men pulled out their guns and tear gas. The students pulled out stones and associated weapons. The student leaders rang out different songs to motivate the students: police go shoot us; army go give them order; say make tribunal jail us; if they like make them jail us forever; we must yarn amen; we must yarn, amen; we must yarn, amen; students we must yarn, forever; we must yarn, amen. Everywhere went berserk. Soldiers and policemen shot into the air. Tear gas flowed freely. Stones were hauled front and back. The lily-livered from both sides ran for cover. Many fainted. One died. Some were injured. But we stood our ground.
After about two hours of total resistance from the students, the news came to us that President Obasanjo had cancelled the trip to Mgbakwu. The President’s convoy left Kwata Junction for the Governor’s Lodge and from there the President flew back to Abuja. We later got the news that Obasanjo wanted to walk down and address the students himself but his security personnel advised against it.
Ladies and gentlemen, that was how we stopped Obasanjo. We stopped him from going to plant a tree in a state begging for infrastructure. We stopped him from passing through UNIZIK to Mgbakwu without saying ‘hi’ to the great students of UNIZIK. We stopped him from going to Mgbakwu without making some pronouncements on his plans for the university named after the great sage.
I need not tell you that there were consequences. But that is a story for another day. Let us do this again next month.
Thank you.
