‘Obasanjo again!’ I’m sure, that was the initial reaction of most Nigerians when they woke up, Monday morning, to another hike in the pump price of PMS, or petrol. They were jolted to see pumps, nationwide, adjusted (for the umpteenth time) to N75 per litre. I can’t remember how many times our immediate past president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, had increased the pump price of fuel without bothering how the price spikes would impact on the hapless populace, majority of whom scrounge the streets on end to eke a living.

Call the latest increase ‘Obasanjo’s revenge,’ and you would have hit the nail right on the head. Or else why would a president, who had promised that he would never again hike fuel prices (after the last increase), now turn round to hit the people below the belt? The reasons are simple. Didn’t Nigerians tell Baba not too long ago that he could never have his tenure extended, even for one day? Didn’t we all bruise his messianic ego by telling him he was not THE ANSWER to all of our problems and should, therefore, leave our lives and retire to his chickens (now relocated from Ota to Ibogun) at the end of his second term? Did we show enough appreciation to his economic reforms that thoroughly pauperised Nigerians but which we were constantly told would bring a strong beam of light to our dark financial tunnels in the long run?

So, the man simply bid his time to force another bitter pill down our throat. But was I surprised? Unlike most people, I was not shocked. Having watched Chief Olusegun Obasanjo over the years, I have learnt never to put anything beyond him. Like a General that he truly is, he is a master of surprises. He can shock and jolt people to their wits end and will never betray any emotion or show remorse.

But Generals can also turn jelly, you know. They can melt like butter before hot knife when faced with, for instance, imminent death. They can stand ramrod in fear or shake violently like fish out of water at the end of their hard tenure. They can behave like a General, who once ruled like a mythical king over a thousand thrones, but about to drift into political irrelevance and the dungeon of history.

It’s not easy to lose power or any position of influence, for that matter. It is not easy gliding off a world where money, influence and women of different shapes, sizes and complexion and other paraphernalia of power reign supreme.

When I read reports of former President Obasanjo weeping at the handing over of the Villa Chapel to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, I agreed with the suggestion that he may have been wondering about how beautiful it would have been had Stella, his delectable late wife, been around to share the sobering moments with him. That’s a possibility. He may also have been thinking that, like all good things, is this too coming to an end? I read the latter vividly in the face of the former president as he stepped aside for President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on Tuesday to begin his own journey in our nation’s history. Baba just stood there, very lonely in his world, unsmiling, appearing lost in his thoughts as Yar’Adua regaled in his inaugural address. I have never seen Obasanjo so sober.
Well, such is life.

Such is the transient nature of power. Like all good things, power ultimately leaves its holder and changes hands, like we saw on Tuesday. The lesson, therefore, is for all in the corridor of power, both new breed and expiring ones, to know that they hold power in trust for the people, and ultimately for God, and consequently strive to use it for purposes that benefit man at all times. That is the only thing that will stand the holder in good stead whenever power decides to relocate, as it ultimately does.