Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was an election rigger without peer and
is responsible for most of the flaws in the Nigerian political economy
since 1999.

Tinubu said this in response to Obasanjo’s letter to
President Buhari accusing him of planning to rig elections among many
other things.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the national leader
of the All Progressives Congress gave this view in Lagos on Tuesday in a
letter entitled: ‘Chief Obasanjo -At War Against his Own Deeds’.

Tinubu wrote the letter in response to
Obasanjo’s earlier letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, in which
Obasanjo chastised Buhari and his administration, claiming, without any
proof, that the president was preparing to rig next month’s poll.

In Tinubu’s view, Obasanjo in
levelling the uncorroborated accusation was merely projecting on to the
APC the electoral misconduct he would have perpetrated if still in power

Tinubu, also the Co-Chair of the APC
Presidential Campaign, said Obasanjo was handed Nigeria on a silver
platter in 1999. But he chose to squander the opportunity of leadership.

“This
man should have positioned himself to be the father of the nation. All
the goodwill that could be granted a political figure was bestowed on
him. The global economy was such that it should have fuelled our growth.

”Everyone wanted Nigeria to succeed after
emerging from years of noxious military rule. Despite the flawed
exercise that rendered him president, we all bit our tongues in hope
that he would say and do the right things that would move Nigeria
forward.

“Instead of being a unifying figure as
Commander-in-chief, he lowered himself to being a divisive, vindictive
conniver. There was no table which he neared that he did not upset and
overturn, ” he said.

Tinubu said that Obasanjo had the
opportunity of placing the economy on the path to durable growth and
shared prosperity through diversification, industrialisation and
creation of a social safety net for the poor.

”He tried to convert our young democracy
into a one party state. His PDP boasted that they would rule for 60
uninterrupted years. Never did they boast that they would govern us well
during even one year of the sixty.

”Instead, he handed the economy over to a
tight group of cronies, turning what should be a modern economy into a
version of the mammoth trading companies that dominated the 17th and
18th century.

“We hoped that Obasanjo would personify
statesmanship, thus showing the way to a more benign political culture.
Instead, he bickered and feuded with his vice president and mostly
anyone who dared remind him that he was human and thus infallible.

“Given the vast margin between the good he
could have achieved and the nebulous feats that comprise his true
record, Chief Obasanjo is the person most responsible for the flaws in
the Nigerian political economy since 1999, ” he said.

Tinubu also described the former president as an election rigger without peer.

According to Tinubu, the ways of Obasanjo are not those of the APC. And this difference has meant the better for Nigeria.

“There is no election which occurred under
Obasanjo’s watch or in which he participated that did not involve
cheating on his part.

“Even the late President Umaru Musa Yar
‘Adua admitted he was the beneficiary of a flawed election engineered by
none other than today’s vociferous complainant.

”Former President Obasanjo is many things to many people; but he is all things unto himself.

”This election will be a free and open
exercise of the people’s right to choose their leaders. Obasanjo makes
fiery allegations against this right but offers no corroborating
evidence; he presents only reams of words.

”This is because Obasanjo is projecting
onto the APC the misconduct he would have wrought if still in power.
Yet, the ways of Obasanjo are not those of the APC. And this difference
has meant the better for Nigeria,’ he said.