The ghosts of Olusegun Obasanjo’s presidency are haunting Aso Rock again. And for good reason.
As bandits and terrorists turn Nigeria into a killing field, many citizens are clamoring for President Bola Tinubu to embrace the uncompromising, scorched-earth tactics of the former military ruler-turned-democrat. Obasanjo didn’t just talk about security. He unleashed the full weight of the state. He ordered entire villages wiped out. He publicly humiliated his own vice president. He turned the EFCC into a weapon that handcuffed the Inspector General of Police and jailed a Senate President.
Now, with the nation bleeding, the question is clear: Will Tinubu be decisive enough to follow that path, or will he let emergency activists and democracy alarmists tie his hands?
In 1999, Obasanjo made a vow that still echoes. “I cannot promise to give Nigeria everything, but I can promise to give Nigeria leadership. Try me there and you will not find me wanting.” He kept that promise. In Odi, Bayelsa State, on November 20, 1999, after a gang killed policemen and soldiers, Obasanjo ordered the military to destroy everything. Every living thing, including animals, was wiped out. When asked on national television, he said: “What was I expected to do, fold my hands?” That brutal lesson sent a chilling message across the nation. For years, no one dared ambush security forces.
He also took on the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC). His order was simple: anyone calling themselves an OPC member should be arrested. If they resisted, shoot them on sight. He didn’t flinch when human rights groups cried foul. He argued that a nation cannot allow hoodlums to take over in the name of democracy.
Obasanjo’s institutions were ferocious. The EFCC, under Nuhu Ribadu, was so powerful that it handcuffed the sitting Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, in public. A Senate President was disgraced out of power. Another was jailed. Obasanjo cycled through five Senate Presidents in six years, humiliating each one when they crossed him. His own vice, Atiku Abubakar, faced investigative panels that left him politically scarred to this day.
Now, the same Nuhu Ribadu serves as Tinubu’s National Security Adviser. The man who once ran the most feared anti-corruption agency in Africa is back in the corridors of power. He knows the playbook. He knows how to make institutions bite.
The call for Tinubu to emulate Obasanjo is not just nostalgia. It is a desperate plea from a nation tired of being held hostage by criminals. The Gen Zs who never lived through Obasanjo’s iron rule must understand what they are asking for. It means no hesitation. No hand-wringing over due process for terrorists. It means using the EFCC to hunt down sponsors of banditry, using NAFDAC and NDLEA to choke the drug supply that fuels these gangs, and using every legal instrument to incarcerate or neutralize those who threaten the state.
Tinubu cannot promise Nigeria everything. But he can promise leadership. He must ignore the emergency patriots who will scream about democracy and the rule of law the moment he gets tough. The truth is, no democracy truly survives when anarchy is allowed to flourish. Even the United States defined its democracy to suit its own political culture. It is time for Nigeria to define its own.
If Tinubu wants to be remembered as the leader who saved Nigeria from the abyss, he must learn from Obasanjo. The blueprint is there. The man who executed it is still alive and offering advice. The question is: Will the president be too big to be pocketed, or will he fold his hands?
