Former
President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday, in a blistering and
excoriating 13-page statement has called on President Muhammadu Buhari not
to seek re-election in 2019.
Mr.
Obasanjo, in a special press statement entitled, “The Wat Out: A Clarion Call
for Coalition for Nigeria Movement” said Mr Buhari has performed far below
expectation and should honourably “dismount from the horse” to join the league
of the country’s former leaders whose “experience, influence, wisdom and
outreach can be deployed on the side line for the good of the country.”
Mr
Obasanjo, a two-term president on the platform of People Democratic Party
(PDP), said he feels disappointed by Mr Buhari, whom he supported during the
2015 election over then incumbent and candidate of his former party, Goodluck
Jonathan.
Mr
Obasanjo had written a condemnatory open letter in December 2013 titled “Before
it is Too Late” where he highlighted the numerous failings of the Mr Jonathan
administration.
Mr
Obasanjo argued that his decision to go against Mr Jonathan, at the time was
the right one as events in the last three years have since proved, was for the
good of the nation and nothing personal.
“Even
the horse rider then, with whom I maintain very cordial, happy and social
relationship today has come to realise his mistakes and regretted it publicly
and I admire his courage and forthrightness in this regard,” Mr. Obasanjo said.
“He has
a role to play on the side line for the good of Nigeria, Africa and humanity
and I will see him as a partner in playing such a role nationally and
internationally, but not as a horse rider in Nigeria again.”
Likening
the state of the nation to lice-invested clothes, he said the country’s fingernails
is stained with blood as it tries to kill the lice by pressing them in-between
two fingernails. According to him, in other to make sure that our fingernails
remains blood-free we must do what it takes rid our clothes of lice.
“The
lice of poor performance in government – poverty, insecurity, poor economic
management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeed – if
not outright encouragement of it, lack of progress and hope for the future,
lack of national cohesion and poor management of internal political dynamics
and widening inequality – are very much with us today,” he wrote.
“With
such lice of general and specific poor performance and crying poverty with us,
our fingers will not be dry of ‘blood’,” he added.
While
thanking Mr Buhari for the effort of his administration in rolling back the
Boko Haram insurgency and his fight against corruption, Mr Obasanjo said Mr
Buhari has ultimately failed in other areas where he had thought he would be
efficient.
The
octogenarian, who bagged a PhD over the weekend, admitted he knew Mr Buhari was
weak in handling the economy, he went ahead and voted for him because at the
time “it was a matter of ‘any option but Jonathan’” and because he thought Mr
Buhari would appoint qualified Nigerians to help out in that area.
He
slammed Mr Buhari for turning a blind eye to corruption within his government
saying it amounted to condonation and cover-up saying whoever is “going to
justice must be with clean hands.”
He also
berated Mr Buhari for allowing the clashes between herdsmen and farmers to go
“sour” and messy saying the endorsement of the President by some governors to
seek re-election barely 24 hours after 73 people who were killed by herdsmen in
Benue State were given mass burial was “a sad symptom of insensitivity and
callousness.”
But Mr
Obasanjo reserved his harshest words for what he described as Mr Buhari’s
clannishness, lack of understanding of the dynamics of politics, and his
tendencies to pass the buck of his government’s inadequacies to the immediate
past administration.
“But
there are three other areas where President Buhari has come out more glaringly
than most of us thought we knew about him. One is nepotic deployment
bordering on clannishness and inability to bring discipline to bear on errant
members of his nepotic court. This has grave consequences on performance
of his government to the detriment of the nation. It would appear that
national interest was being sacrificed on the altar of nepotic interest.
What does one make of a case like that of Maina: collusion, condonation,
ineptitude, incompetence, dereliction of responsibility or kinship and
friendship on the part of those who should have taken visible and deterrent
disciplinary action? How many similar cases are buried, ignored or
covered up and not yet in the glare of the media and the public?
“The
second is his poor understanding of the dynamics of internal politics.
This has led to wittingly or unwittingly making the nation more divided and
inequality has widened and become more pronounced. It also has effect on
general national security.
“The
third is passing the buck. For instance, blaming the Governor of the
Central Bank for devaluation of the naira by 70% or so and blaming past
governments for it, is to say the least, not accepting one’s own
responsibility. Let nobody deceive us, economy feeds on politics and
because our politics is depressing, our economy is even more depressing
today. If things were good, President Buhari would not need to come
in. He was voted to fix things that were bad and not engage in the blame
game.”
Buhari
and the APC do not have the answer
Mr
Obasanjo thus argued that neither Mr Buhari nor his party, the All Progressives
Congress hold the solution to the country’s problems. He suggested that Mr
Buhari was not healthy enough to withstand the rigour associated with running a
country like Nigeria neither does his party capable of providing the answer
needed to sail the country through its difficulties.
Mr
Obasanjo said Buhari should step down at the end of his first term with honour
and dignity and attend to his health and should not listen to the his
“self-serving so-called adviserswho would claim that they love him more than
God loves him and that without him, there would be no Nigeria say.”
“President
Buhari needs a dignified and honourable dismount from the horse. He needs to
have time to reflect, refurbish physically and recoup and after appropriate
rest, once again, join the stock of Nigerian leaders whose experience,
influence, wisdom and outreach can be deployed on the side line for the good of
the country. His place in history is already assured. Without
impaired health and strain of age, running the affairs of Nigeria is a 25/7
affair, not 24/7.
“I only
appeal to brother Buhari to consider a deserved rest at this point in time and
at this age. I continue to wish him robust health to enjoy his retirement
from active public service. President Buhari does not necessarily need to
heed my advice. But whether or not he heeds it, Nigeria needs to move on
and move forward,” he said.
“I have
had occasion in the past to say that the two main political parties – APC and
PDP – were wobbling. I must reiterate that nothing has happened to
convince me otherwise. If anything, I am reinforced in my
conviction. The recent show of PDP must give grave and great concern to
lovers of Nigeria.
“To
claim, as has been credited to the chief kingmaker of PDP, that for procuring
the Supreme Court judgement for his faction of the Party, he must dictate the
tune all the way and this is indeed fraught with danger.
“If
neither APC nor PDP is a worthy horse to ride to lead Nigeria at this crucial
and critical time, what then do we do? Remember Farooq Kperogi, an
Associate Professor at the Kennesaw State University, Georgia, United States,
calls it “a cruel Hobson’s choice; it’s like a choice between six and half a dozen,
between evil and evil. Any selection or deflection would be a distinction
without a difference.” We cannot just sit down lamenting and wringing our
hands desperately and hopelessly.
Coalition
of Nigerians
Having
ruled out the PDP and the ruling APC of possessing the panacea to the malaise
that ails the country, Mr Obasanjo therefore called for a movement he termed
Coalition of Nigeria, which he offered to be a part of, to wrest power from the
present ruling class and lead the country into the path of rebirth.
“We can
collectively save ourselves from the position we find ourselves. It will
not come through self-pity, fruitless complaint or protest but through
constructive and positive engagement and collective action for the good of our
nation and ourselves and our children and their children. We need moral
re-armament and engaging togetherness of people of like-mind and goodwill to
come solidly together to lift Nigeria up. This is no time for trading
blames or embarking on futile argument and neither should we accept untenable
excuses for non-performance.
“Let us
accept that the present administration has done what it can do to the limit of
its ability, aptitude and understanding. Let the administration and its
political party platform agree with the rest of us that what they have done and
what they are capable of doing is not good enough for us. They have given
as best as they have and as best as they can give. Nigeria deserves and
urgently needs better than what they have given or what we know they are
capable of giving. To ask them to give more will be unrealistic and will
only sentence Nigeria to a prison term of four years if not destroy it beyond
the possibility of an early recovery and substantial growth.
“The
development and modernization of our country and society must be anchored and
sustained on dynamic Nigerian culture, enduring values and an enchanting
Nigerian dream. We must have abiding faith in our country and its role
and place within the comity of nations. Today, Nigeria needs all hands on
deck. All hands of men and women of goodwill must be on deck. We
need all hands to move our country forward.
“We
need a Coalition for Nigeria, CN. Such a Movement at this juncture needs not be
a political party but one to which all well-meaning Nigerians can belong.
That Movement must be a coalition for democracy, good governance, social and
economic well-being and progress. Coalition to salvage and redeem our
country. You can count me with such a Movement. Last time, we
asked, prayed and worked for change and God granted our request. This
time, we must ask, pray and work for change with unity, security and progress.
And God will again grant us. Of course, nothing should stop such a
Movement from satisfying conditions for fielding candidates for
elections. But if at any stage the Movement wishes to metamorphose into
candidate-sponsoring Movement for elections, I will bow out of the Movement
because I will continue to maintain my non-partisan position. Coalition
for Nigeria must have its headquarters in Abuja.
“This
Coalition for Nigeria will be a Movement that will drive Nigeria up and
forward. It must have a pride of place for all Nigerians, particularly
for our youth and our women. It is a coalition of hope for all Nigerians
for speedy, quality and equal development, security, unity, prosperity and
progress. It is a coalition to banish poverty, insecurity and
despair. Our country must not be oblivious to concomitant danger around,
outside and ahead. Coalition for Nigeria must be a Movement to break new
ground in building a united country, a socially-cohesive and moderately
prosperous society with equity, equality of opportunity, justice and a dynamic
and progressive economy that is self-reliant and takes active part in global
division of labour and international decision-making.
“The
Movement must work out the path of development and the trajectory of
development in speed, quality and equality in the short- medium- and long-term
for Nigeria on the basis of sustainability, stability, predictability,
credibility, security, cooperation and prosperity with diminishing
inequality. What is called for is love, commitment and interest in our
country, not in self, friends and kinship alone but particularly love,
compassion and interest in the poor, underprivileged and downtrodden. It
is our human duty and responsibility so to do. Failure to do this will
amount to a sin against God and a crime against humanity.”
Comments
Post a Comment