Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has taken a swipe at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the late President Muhammadu Buhari, describing their administrations as marked by inefficiency.
Obasanjo made the remarks in his new book Nigeria: Past and Future, one of two works he launched in March to mark his 88th birthday. The second book is titled Lest We Forget: Slavery, Slave Trade, Emancipation and Reparation.
In the opening chapter, From the Beginning Till Now: The Missing Key, Obasanjo reviewed Nigeria’s leadership since independence and concluded that Buhari’s administration was the “worst civil administration regime” in the nation’s history.
“Only Bola Tinubu’s administration seems to be competing with Buhari’s for now,” Obasanjo wrote.
He recalled Buhari’s early criticism of President Shehu Shagari’s government, which he once described as “corrupt, rudderless, and self-serving,” only for Buhari himself to return as a civilian president without addressing those very challenges.
“Words are cheap, and what needed to be done was left undone during Buhari’s civil administration from 2015 to 2023 – the worst civil administration so far in Nigeria’s history. Maybe those ideas and thoughts were not his; he just read them as written for him. Otherwise, how do you explain the gulf between what he said then and how he governed later?” Obasanjo queried.
Reflecting on his own role in Nigeria’s history, Obasanjo said his writings have always been aimed at inspiring national development.
“I have had the honour of serving this country as a military Head of State and later as President. So, it might be said that I have sat on both sides of the fence. Now, I am getting close to my departure lounge, maybe without picking my boarding pass yet,” he remarked.