FormerPresident Olusegun Obasanjo publicly dumped President Muhammadu Buhari
yesterday when he told him to consider a deserved rest at his age,
rather than heeding the calls of re-contesting in 2019.
He called for a coalition of movement of
well-meaning Nigerians to salvage and redeem the country, saying
national interest was being sacrificed on the altar of nepotism by
Buhari’s administration.
This was contained in his 18-page letter
entitled: “The Way Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria
Movement”, made available to newsmen in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Obasanjo likened Buhari’s government to
“lice in the clothes,” saying that the lice of poor performance in
government heightened poverty, insecurity, poor economic management,
nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeed, lack of
progress and hope for the future.
He added that lack of national cohesion
and poor management of internal political dynamics and widening
inequality, also bedevilled Buhari’s administration.
He said: “Wherever I go, I hear Nigerians complaining, murmuring in anguish and anger. But our anger should not be like the anger of the cripple.
“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.
“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.
“Einstein made it clear to us that doing
the same thing and expecting a different result is the height of folly.
Already, Nigerians are committing suicide for the unbearable
socio-economic situation they find themselves in. And yet Nigerians love life.
“We must not continue to reinforce failure and hope that all will be well. It is self-deceit and self-defeat and another aspect of folly.
“The situation that made Nigerians to vote massively to get my brother Jonathan off the horse is playing itself out again. First,
I thought I knew the point where President Buhari is weak and I spoke
and wrote about it even before Nigerians voted for him and I also did
vote for him because at that time it was a matter of “any option but
Jonathan” (aobj).
“I know that praise-singers and hired
attackers may be raised up against me for verbal or even physical attack
but if I can withstand undeserved imprisonment and was ready to shed my
blood by standing for Nigeria, I will consider no sacrifice too great
to make for the good of Nigeria at any time.
“I knew President Buhari before he became
President and said that he is weak in the knowledge and understanding
of the economy but I thought that he could make use of good Nigerians in
that area that could help.
“There were serious allegations of
round-tripping against some inner caucus of the Presidency which would
seem to have been condoned. I wonder if such actions do not amount to corruption and financial crime, then what is it?
“Culture of condonation and turning blind eye will cover up rather than clean up. And going to justice must be with clean hands.
“The herdsmen/crop farmers issue is being wittingly or unwittingly allowed to turn sour and messy. It
is no credit to the Federal Government that the herdsmen rampage
continues with careless abandon and without finding an effective
solution to it.
“And it is a sad symptom of insensitivity
and callousness that some governors, a day after 73 victims were being
buried in a mass grave in Benue State without condolence, were
jubilantly endorsing President Buhari for a second term! The timing was most unfortunate.
“The issue of herdsmen/crop farmers’
dichotomy should not be left on the political platform of blame game.
The Federal Government must take the lead in bringing about solution
that protects life and properties of herdsmen and crop farmers alike and
for them to live amicably in the same community.
“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?
“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.
“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.
“Our Constitution is very clear, one of
the cardinal responsibilities of the President is the management of the
economy of which the value of the naira forms an integral part.
“Kinship and friendship that place
responsibility for governance in the hands of the unelected can only be
deleterious to good government and to the nation.“Notwithstanding Buhari’s health today,
he should neither over-push his luck nor over-tax the patience and
tolerance of Nigerians for him, no matter what his self-serving,
so-called advisers, who 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 sideline for the good of the
country.
“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.”
Obasanjo also took a swipe at the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), for the recent show of shame where Supreme
judgement was “procured” by a faction of the party, asking “if neither
APC nor PDP is a worthy horse to ride to lead Nigeria at this crucial
and critical time, then what do we do?
“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.”
In a similar development, Second Republic
federal lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, pointedly asked Buhari to resign
his position before the 2019 general elections.
Junaid, a member of Northern Elders Forum
(NEF), told Daily Sun in a telephone chat that, Buhari and his current
team lacked the competency required to turn the country around close to
three years in power.
He said: “Nigerians have to decide who
leads them come 2019. I don’t believe APC under Buhari has anything to
convince Nigerians in 2919.
“It will be better if Buhari can resign
before that time because he has failed us as a people and as a country.
That will save him from possible embarrassment he may witness.
“Those endorsing him here and there for
second term when he has nothing to show for the first term did not love
him but want to use him to return too.
“But Buhari should allow the people to
elect who they want to lead them and he should also be reminded that,
Nigerians would not condone any form of rigging.”
He said Buhari did not consult well before coming out with his colony idea as a means of resolving the Fulani/farmers crisis:
“What does he know about colony? He
should have consulted widely, he should have called for people who can
think right, people who have the deeper knowledge of colony and its
modus operandi.”
But the national chairman of the United
Progressives Party (UPP), Chekwas Okorie, said: “Obasanjo is delving
into an area which is within the personal purview of President Buhari.
To me, the advice comes across as though Obasanjo is being a busy body
because it is not his business if Buhari chooses to run or not.
“After all, didn’t he (Obasanjo) want to
perpetuate himself in office when he did everything in his power to get a
third term for himself?
“However, Buhari himself has not governed
well. If he were a fantastic president, no one would say that he
doesn’t have the capacity to run again.”
The spokesperson of Afenifere, Yinka
Odumakin, disagreed with Okorie: “For once, I agree with Obasanjo that
Nigeria needs a fresh pair of hands in 2019. This country cannot survive another four years of Buhari.
“As for the fears that the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) may not conduct a free and fair
election, all I can say is that Nigerians should brace up and ensure
that we have free and fair elections whether INEC wants it or not. When
Nigerians are ready, a million INECs cannot stop them from enforcing
their will.
“It happened in Kano in 2003 when the
powers that be tried to rig out former Governor Ibrahim Shekerau, but
the will of the people prevailed because he was the one the people
wanted.”