Since Olusegun Obasanjo, former President and Nigeria’s longest living leader with a record of 11 years, plus came out with his endorsement of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), on Sunday, the Nigerian polity has been suffused with a thick dust.

The impact of the revelation made in his New Year message has generated has continued to echo ever since.

Indeed, only the totally naive, imbecilic or politically-blind would have been surprised about the choice of the former President. What surprised many who knew or knows the General, was the tune that stripped of the veneer of the vintage Obasanjo outings Nigerians are familiar with.  A vintage Obasanjo is not that temperate or clement with words.

This suggests even while being firm with his decision, he still considered the feeling and ego of Obi’s opponents as could be gleaned in his depiction of President Muhammadu Buhari. We have moved from the frying pan to the fire and from the mountain top to the valley. Vintage!

But hear how he went about others: None of the contestants is a saint but when one compares their character, antecedent, their understanding, knowledge, discipline and vitality that they can bring to bear and the great efforts required to stay focused on the job particularly looking at where the country is today and with the experience on the job that I personally had, Peter Obi as a mentee has an edge.

It was clear Obasanjo, was in no mood for a fight. He simply wanted to pass his message on his choice and state the reason. Otherwise, there was no reason to come with the proviso of saying that none of them was a saint.

Now, did Obasanjo lie in stating that Obi towered above others in the criteria he used in making Obi his choice? He calls it TVCP: Track record: Vision; Character; and Physical and mental capability.

In which aspect of this guide he provided would any unbiased assessor score Obi lower than his opponents not only in the race to the Aso Rock Villa, but the mission of rescuing the country, even without Obasanjo saying so? Which of the candidates would, for instance, run government without borrowing, as Obi did in Anambra?

Are Obasanjo’s critics not aware that Obi ran Anambra for eight good years without borrowing a kobo. Yet, it was within the same period that Anambra beat other states in virtually all yardsticks for human development. Yes! It was that period that Anambra moved from number 26 in WAEC and NECO to number one, which it has maintained till date, such that indigenous students, are admitted in federal institutions with the highest score in the country.

When Obasanjo speaks about track records, should he for whatever reason ignore that Obi became the best governor in terms of attaining all the indices set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – the measurement barometer for the success of government at that time, beating the rest of the 35 other governors, including Tinubu, his then contemporary in government?

Should Obasanjo have ignored the fact that Obi did all these by cutting the cost of governance and plugging most, if not all the loopeholes for the mindless pillaging of public resources? If Obi, had demonstrated this in Anambra, would it not follow naturally that he would possibly do the same at the Presidency, where for instance, billions are voted yearly for the Aso Rock Clinic, yet without common syringes or cough syrups being provided?

Would he ignore the fact that Obi left zero debt to the state on the day he was leaving office – paying off all the contractors for the jobs generated, paying off the pensions and gratuities of retired workers unlike in many other states? Are his critics saying they’re not aware that Obi left N75billion in savings, in the coffers of Anambra on the same day?

Okay, there’s the point that a government was not supposed to save money in the face of yawning needs. How infantile! But, does a father pull exhaust his yam ban because his children are hungry? If yes, what does he eat during famine? Where does he get the seedlings for replanting?

But Obi’s explanation captures a nobler intention. Right from his first day in office, he began planning for the future – to save a fraction of the state earnings so that in the next decades, the state would have built a pool of massive funds with which it could finance some mega projects capable of launching the state into the status of some Asian Tigers. That was the plan as opposed to just storing money, as many assail him for. He even saved in dollars to avoid depreciation. What vision could be greater?

Yet this is the money he could have stolen conviniently like others. Obi tells anybody that cares to listen that Anambra had not bought him a sachet of pure water since he left office. Should Obasanjo have been blind to this if he was truly on a mission to rescuing Nigeria from the vice grip of the brigands and marauders in government?

It even goes further with Obi daring Nigerians to point to any land allocated to him or any member of his family, and he would halt his presidential quest. The same he declares about anyone pointing to another private house outside Onitsha where he lives.

Now, check the records of his contemporaries elsewhere, including those he is currently contesting with and determine therefrom who else comes close to possessing the right attitude and the concomitant template to pulling Nigeria from the brink in Obasanjo’s context. Are the reputations of his opponents with issues of land-grabbing and itchy fingers over public till, not public knowledge?

Are you now saying that Obasanjo, should overlook all these, just to be nice? Okay, how many times have you seen Obi travelling to London with a retinue of aides and hangers-on? Ask yourself from whence those indulging in this pastime of corralling hundreds of people into a plane to private visits abroad fund the hobby. Ask yourself what would happen when a man who could not travel from Abuja to Lagos without a convoy of cars or planeload of hangers-on to Paris would do with government money.

A simple comparison of an Obi at the airport as against Atiku or Tinubu for instance, tells the full story. Aside being a matter of lifestyle there comes a time to say that magic word – ENOUGH! Having spent almost all his life pursuing and acquiring wealth, he seems to have come to a point, where money and what it could buy, apparently means nothing. Is it not obvious that he’s imbued with the more rewarding, nobler and more satisfying goal – giving back to the society through public service?

Is it not evident that Obi has totally weaned himself of the taste for acquisition of wealth? Is it not clear that he has been able to strip himself totally of the heavy load it imposes on the less-endowed and now feels lighter and freer?

Like Solomon who did not discover the futility of acquiring women until he got to a record 1,000, not discovering the point of termination of the desire for earthly acquisition and glory, is takes a heavy toll on humanity. Only very few men attain the point in life Obi seems to be today.

Why would a departing governor, instigate and institute a life pension mechanism capable of leaving a gaping hole in the coffers of his state and leave the people poorer, even when he had used his position to catapult himself to the zenith of individual wealth outside the Solomon Syndrome? What is that bug that would make someone who shakes like a leaf, suffers from obvious mental imbalance, speech impairment and other visibly debilitating conditions, to push on for power he knows he’s completely unfit for?

Yes! It is the quest for vainglory that would push a politician to deliberately destroy the party that catapulted him to the top, destroy its essence and the unity of the larger society in pursuit of power even when everything else speaks against such a quest.

Only the likes of Obi would find it easy to look the other way from a whopping N75billion he could have pocketed with very minimal consequences. Only his likes could easily turned his back on the hundreds of millions he would have been drawing from Anambra State today, were he to be the ordinary politician.

That he has chosen the direct opposite, is what gives him the edge, Obasanjo spoke about. That edge, is the turning point for Nigeria. When Obi tells you that he’ll use government money to work for the people, it is more believable, because from the look of things, it is obvious that unlike others, he has few mouths to feed. His baggage is minimal and manageable.

Instructively, Obasanjo’s letter was to the youths of Nigeria. Having seen with the eyes of an elder, the rest is left for those young Nigerians. It is said that it’ll be the fault of the mouth that fails to speak and the fault of the ear that fails to hear. Between Obasanjo and Nigerians, which would it be?