Apparently miffed by critical comments against the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his public letter in which he endorsed Mr Peter Obi for president in the 2023 general elections, the presidency has hit back at Obasanjo, saying his tenure as present was a bad time for Nigeria and her democracy.
Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, in a statement made available to journalists yesterday in Abuja, listed four issues on which he tackled the former president.
He said, “One is that he will not stop attacking President Muhammadu Buhari because the former president won’t stop being jealous of anyone who beats him to a new record in the nation’s development process.
“President Buhari is ahead of Chief Obasanjo in all fields of national development and to do that is cardinal sin to Obasanjo whose hallucinations tell him that he is the best ever to lead Nigeria and there will never be another one better than him. President Buhari just completed the world class edifice that is the Second Niger Bridge after three decades of failed promises. It is now awaiting commissioning.
“Obasanjo laid the sod for the bridge in his first term as elected president and work never started.
“When he sought re-election for his second term in office, he returned to the site to turn the sod for the bridge the second time. When the Obi of Onitsha, forthright and scholarly, reminded him that he had done this in the past, Obasanjo told the foremost Southeast traditional ruler that he was a liar, in the full presence of the chiefs and oracles in his palace.
Shehu said Obasanjo lied to the Southeast to get the region’s votes, adding that President Buhari didn’t get their votes but built the bridge because he believed it was the right thing to do.
Shehu further stated that President Buhari had been bagging awards and encomiums for trying to do that which the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says a leader should do: serve one, or a maximum of two terms and go.
“President Buhari has been stating and restating that he will supervise a better election than the one that brought him to office and to leave as and when due.
“Having tried tenure elongation and failed, Obasanjo’s fictitious mind must be telling him that he is the one under attack. But he is not on President Buhari’s radar because experience has shown, especially lately in West Africa where there have been at least three successful coups and many other failed attempts, that third term or tenure elongation is a recipe for political instability,” he said.
Shehu also recalled that African leaders appointed President Buhari the Anti-Corruption Champion of the continent.
“You can’t be an anti-corruption champion if “you meddled and bent the rules,” carrying the putrid responsibility of what happened to national assets in the name of privatisation as documented by the Nigerian Senate in 2011.
“As an insight, the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria, ALSCON, which was set up with $3.2 billion, was sold to a Russian firm, Russal, for a paltry $130million. Delta Steel, which was set up in 2005 at a cost of $1.5 billion, was sold to Global Infrastructure for just $30 million. ALSCON got $120 million for the dredging of the Imo River, which was never carried out.”
The third point Shehu pointed out is the growing profile of President Buhari as the Champion of Democracy not only at home and in the West African subregion but the African continent as whole, as opposed to the former president.
“As president, Obasanjo destabilised internal democracy by orchestrating impeachment after impeachment of governors who were not compliant with his highly imperial administration.
“As we said sometime back, Mr. Obasanjo’s tenure, 1999-2007, represented the dark days of Nigeria’s democracy due to a slew of assaults on the constitution.
Shehu said “former president deployed federal machinery to remove governors Joshua Dariye, Rashidi Ladoja, Peter Obi, Chris Ngige and Ayo Fayose from office. They were the then governors of Plateau, Oyo, Anambra and Ekiti, respectively, unjustly removed using the police and secret service under his control.
“Under him, a five-man legislature met at 6am and “impeached” Governor Dariye in Plateau; 18 members out of 32 removed Governor Ladoja of Oyo from office; in Anambra, APGA’s Governor Obi was equally impeached at 5am by members who did not meet the two-thirds required by the constitution.
“Lawmaking powers of the Rivers State legislature were transferred to the federal parliament to punish Governor Amaechi for shifting his political alliance.
“Moreover, he damned the Supreme Court and unlawfully held back Lagos State revenues due from federal sources on account of his pettiness against Governor Bola Tinubu.”
Conversely, the presidential spokesman, said in Washington a few weeks ago, the US President Joe Biden at a meeting with African Heads of States and Government described President Buhari as a champion of democracy and role model for the leaders of African states.
Shehu criticized Obasanjo for describing the situation in Nigeria at this time as “frying pan to fire”.
“’Hell’ for Obasanjo is when a president, any president that comes after him, refuses to be his own puppet, to do as he wishes on all matters and at all times.
“He then keeps attacking out of frustration. Obasanjo’s vengeful attitude towards President Buhari is the height of selfishness and little short of moral squalor,” he added.
Campaign Councils Trade Words Over Content Of Letter
Meanwhile, the campaign councils of the three major candidates, APC’s Bola Tinubu; PDP’s Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Peter Obi have clashed over the content of Obasanjo’s letter endorsing Obi.
The spokespersons for the candidates who featured on Channels TV’s political and current affairs programme, Politics Today, disagreed over the import of the endorsement as well as whether Obasanjo has the moral standing politically to make such endorsement.
The spokesperson for Atiku campaign, Daniel Bwala, faulted Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi, faulting Obasanjo’s tendency to project himself as Nigeria’s messiah.
He recalled that under Obasanjo’s presidency, serving governors, including Joshua Dariye of Plateau and Rashid Ladoja of Oyo, were illegally impeached.
He also claimed that Obasanjo traded off Bakassi in order to get the United Nations Secretary General position, and how Zaki Biam was attacked by soldiers during Obasanjo’s presidency.
The spokesman added that Obasanjo never wants anybody to be better than him.
On his part, a Tinubu supporter and chairman of the Buhari Media Office, Niyi Akinsuji, also criticised Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi.
He said it was unfair of Obasanjo to criticise the Buhari administration in his endorsement of Obi, adding that Nigeria had a lot of resources during the Obasanjo-led PDP administration, unlike the case in Buhari’s tenure
He however added that in spite of the resource challenge, the Buhari administration has been able to execute landmark projects.
The spokesman of the Obi Campaign, Kenneth Okonkwo, who supported Obasanjo’s endorsement, said the attacks on the former president were unfair considering that he isn’t on the ballot.
He pointed out that Obasanjo merely asked Nigerians to focus on the candidate that has the requisite qualities to preside over Nigeria, like a sound mind, integrity and vitality among others
He said Obasanjo only pointed out the bases to elect a credible leader.
Opposition Jittery Over Signs Of My Victory – Tinubu
On his part, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said sounds of his resounding victory in the February 25 presidential poll is making his opponents to become jittery.
He noted that the signs of his victory in the forthcoming presidential election were clear and as such, it is creating fake news to smear his name.
The former Lagos governor spoke in a telephone interview with a Kano-based radio station, Freedom Radio, while performing the lesser hajj at the weekend.
“We are reaching each and every Nigerian. We decided that rallies are not always enough. We need to engage all Nigerians from all parts of the country and across all sectors of our socio-economic life. We have engaged businessmen, farmers, miners, industrialists, entertainers, labour leaders, and so on.
“By the engagements we are having it is clear that we are going to win this election. As the elections are coming closer the signs are clear and that is why our opponents are jittery. They have now resorted to peddling fake news and quoting some of my statements out of context just to score cheap points,” Tinubu stated.
Tinubu said he was in Saudi Arabia on a trip to undergo spiritual rebirth.
“I like coming to perform the Umrah every now and then. It is an opportunity to connect with Almighty Allah. We need his guidance. Nigeria is in need of prayers and that is why we are here praying for our country, self and the society,” he stated.
He assured that under his leadership the right of citizens to freely express their views on government policies and activities will be guaranteed.
On insinuations that the federal government under his leadership would remove fuel subsidy even if there was protests against the decision, the APC candidate said he is a respecter of democratic rights for citizens to disagree with government in a legitimate way.
“I couldn’t have opposed people expressing their own position on this. I believe in consultation and guaranteed by democratic values and norms. I respect opinion of people and I would not be party to stifling dissenting views or any legitimate protest.
“I am a veteran of protests myself. So why should I say people should not embark on well-intentioned protest? There is no excuse for that and there is no abuse of power intended,” he said.
Tinubu however reiterated that fuel subsidy has outgrown its usefulness as it benefits the rich more than the poor.
“I said I will ensure we end the wastage and re-channel the money to the people who truly need it. This is one position that almost all the candidates are united about. We all agreed that the subsidy regime is abused and it favours the rich more than the poor. It has to go,” he added.
Responding to a question on his health status, Tinubu said he is fit to perform the functions of the office of the president, saying he also has the best ideas and capacity needed to run the office.
“I told you where I am now. I just finished performing the the umrah. I did the seven rounds of tawaf, I did the seven trips between safa and Marwa. Can a sick person do that? That is stale news, my brother. People who are making those insinuations have nothing else to say but lies and rubbish.
“I have moved round, spoke at different platforms and stood for hours to address different audiences. Before they said I could not walk, they said I could not stand, they are shamed. Since the campaign started I have marshalled more original ideas than anyone else. I have demonstrated knowledge, experience and great capacity to be on top of issues in the country.
“And this job is about ideas and issues regarding leadership of our country. I have all it takes to be the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and I am asking people of the country to have confidence and respect for that, look at my background and my previous assignments. I want to serve the country and serve the country very well, ” he said.