Former
governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday in Abuja stopped
short of asking former President Olusegun Obasanjo to mind his own
business, saying he had not at any time been named as an adviser to
President Muhammadu Buhari.
Oshiomhole,
who was at the Presidential Villa made this remark, while reacting to a
13-page statement issued by the former president on January 23, in
which he told Buhari to forget a re-election bid in 2019 as a result of
his alleged failure in many areas.
On
the same day, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress
(APC), and former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, also came down on
Obasanjo, saying he was playing politics with the letter he wrote to
Buhari.
The
former president had accused the incumbent of running a government of
nepotism and literarily running the economy aground while showing
indifference to mindless killings by Fulani herdsmen in various parts of
the country.
But
Oshiomhole, who said he was in the Presidential Villa yesterday to
reassure the president of his perpetual loyalty and support not only to
his government but also for his re-election come 2019, recalled that
having warned his erstwhile advisers that he was not bound to heed their
advice, Obasanjo also lacked any right to offer Buhari any advice.
“I’m
not sure when I see the list of the advisers, that Obasanjo is one of
the advisers. But I also recall with respect that the day Obasanjo was
swearing in some of his advisers, he did say that anybody who is his
adviser can advise him, he will make his own decisions. And I think that
principle still stands,” he stated.
Affirming
the necessity of his visit to Buhari this precarious moment in the
nation’s history, Oshiomhole stated that it was important for the
president to know that he still has men and women who believe in his
leadership.
According
to him, the president has had to contend with acute challenges which he
said heralded his advent to the seat of power as he blamed the
prevalent case of stagnation, underdevelopment and abject poverty in
Nigeria on corruption which he claimed the president had had to contend
with in the past two years.
He
also argued that the president’s decision to identify the pitfalls of
corruption threatening peace and progress in the country and battling
it, underscores that he was focused as he proceeded to blame the
previous administrations for the acute challenges confronting the nation
today.
Claiming
further that the president had done well, Oshiomhole reasoned that his
administration’s policy of giving a stipend of N5,000 to poor and aged
persons in the society was second to none and hence, described it as an
important decision in the annals of the country’s corporate existence.
“Let’s
trace the route of poverty. It is not something that developed over the
past few weeks or few years. If you review all your newspaper
editorials from my days as president of the NLC, the challenge has been
how do we ensure that the Nigerian economy work for the betterment of
the majority of the people particularly the forgotten rural majority?
“I
think people have to realise the amount of damage done by the previous
governments. You know when people say no blame game, maybe yes, maybe
no. But where I am come from, people say that it is only a fool who will
be working on the road, get into a pot hole and fall and then get up
and continue the journey, go to the hospital and treat himself.
“But
a wise man must interrogate how and why did I fall? And maybe in the
course of doing that, find that there is a pothole. The first and simple
thing to do is to fill that pot hole before you continue your journey
and then go ahead and treat yourself.
“Nigeria
was below ground level and from what you guys reported that I read, we
have always had challenges but never, in terms of scale, magnitude, what
President Buhari inherited is difficult to describe. So, I have said so
before that when you meet such a situation, your first task is to halt
the drift. When you halt the drift, then you stabilise before you begin
to go. There is no miracle about it.
“So,
yes there are challenges. There are things we need to begin to do and
reinforce but there is no question that a lot has begun and a lot is
being done. There is no miracle in the life of a nation. So, the fact
that the president has lean resources and huge debts that he inherited,
and despite the cost of servicing those debts, the president insists
that the poorest amongst us who are victims of these several years of
misrule, that they must have something to give them a sense of belonging
under the social programme which seeks to transfer cash of N5,000 and
several other instruments that have been put in place, that is to
recognise that they are really people who are so poor that N5,000 can
make a difference. That recognition for me is important in a country
where nobody has discussed this category of people before.
“However,
the challenge of getting that done is huge given the paucity of data.
All the investments we have made in national identity card, you guys
know how much previous governments have spent, trying to organise a
national data without which really, you can’t deliver a couple of things
because you need a data base that is reliable to be able to identify
who is poor, where is he located and how do we deliver something to him?
“But
for me, there is a commitment. I can see a heart that cares for the
poor. But that doesn’t mean caring for the poor will make the poverty
disappear overnight. But that is a starting point because if you don’t
recognise that we have these people amongst us and they are in millions,
then you are not even likely to reflect on how to deal with their
problems. For me, in terms of values, I can see a lot,” Oshimhole said.
Tinubu: Obasanjo’s Playing Politics with his Letter to Buhari
In
a related development, former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu,
yesterday alleged that Obasanjo was playing politics with the open
letter he wrote to Buhari.
Tinubu
said that if the former president meant well, he would have met with
Buhari to talk about the issues he raised in the letter since he was
senior to Buhari both in the army, as head of State and as President.
Tinubu,
who spoke after visiting Governor Rochas Okorocha in the company of the
pioneer National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande at the Government
House Owerri, noted that Obasanjo could have, in several ways, met with
Buhari to discuss the issues raised.
He
said: “They both had the same background. So, I believe that would have
been the conversation of retired Military Heads of State. They have
unfettered access to each other either through the Council of States or
any other means; he could see the current President privately. He,
Obasanjo was also his senior in the army; I think Obasanjo was playing
politics with the public letter. That is all I see. They also met at the
African Union meeting too. He has a way of discussing with the
President any time he wants”.
On
what brought him to Owerri, Tinubu said: “I am here to see a very good
friend of mine, the governor, Owelle Okorocha and then pay respect to
the gentleman, nationalist, great leader of our generation, late Alex
Ekwueme”.
Falana Picks Holes in Obasanjo’s Letter
Also
yesterday, Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana, called
on Obasanjo to “desist from insulting the collective intelligent and
memories of Nigerians having instituted the culture of impunity under
the democratic dispensation in Nigeria while serving as the president of
the country.
Falana
also picked holes in the recent judicial pronouncements on Magu, the
EFCC acting chairman, saying there was nothing to celebrate “because it
is still the prerogative of the president to make such appointment so
long as the man does not act beyond the statutory period.”
Falana,
who spoke in Benin City, while reacting to questions bordering on the
state of the nation, said Obasanjo had the opportunity to make the
country great “by providing good leadership and getting rid of
corruption, but he failed to do that as a president.”
He
said: “If Obasanjo who ruled this country for eleven and half years had
institutionalised democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights, we
will not be in this mess.
“So,
please, let Obasanjo and others be honest to admit that they brought us
to this shameful episode. So, nobody should grandstand when it comes to
the misgovernance of Nigerian.
“Nobody
has apologized. The fact is that between 1999 and 2007, this country
made close to $500 billion from the sale of oil. What is there to show
for it? Permanent darkness?
“The
more they spend on energy, the more darkness we get. What is there to
celebrate? Mass unemployment, sale of the assets of the country to a few
boys who were closed to the presidency and rigging of elections.
“Obasanjo
is entitled to form his own political party or his own movement but he
should please desist from insulting the collective intelligent and the
collective memories of Nigerians.
“With
great respect to former Obasanjo, apart from the allegations of
nepotism and clannishness against Buhari, which cannot be disputed,
every other allegation made is nothing to write home about. In other
words, all the other allegations took place under Obasanjo and in fact,
he institutionalised the culture of impunity under a democratic
dispensation in Nigeria.
“Many
of us have forgotten about the abduction of the then governor Chris
Ngige. Many of us have forgotten the fact that the National Assembly
displayed bales of Naira with which the presidency allegedly wanted to
use to bribe the legislators.
“Many
of us have forgotten about the third term agenda or the fact that many
people close to the seat of power then were treated like sacred cows
even in the fight against corruption. I do not want to join issues with
Obasanjo for now on his letter so that one would not be seen as
endorsing impunity in our country. Other than the allegations of
nepotism and clannishness which the presidency is notoriously noted for,
I think, they are birds of same feathers.”
On
the judicial pronouncements on Ibrahim Magu, Falana said the court
never made any pronouncement on the appointment of Ibrahim Magu as the
acting chairman of the EFCC, and as such, there was nothing to
celebrate.
“It
is not a judgement to celebrate with great respect. I have read the
judgement of the case filed by a private lawyer based in Abuja, Mr. Tolu
Ajaomo, against the Attorney General of the Federation and the Senate.
Mind you, EFCC is not a party. Magu was not a party, so no court in
Nigeria can make order against a person who was not joined in any suit.
“But
having read the ruling, with great respect, the case was struck out. If
a case was struck out, you cannot rely on it. The court held that the
lawyer has no locus standi to have filed the action and therefore struck
it out.
“However,
in an academic exercise, the court said, having regard to section 2, 3
of the EFCC Act, the Senate has the power to confirm or reject the
nomination of the president. The court never ever made any pronouncement
on the appointment of Magu as the acting chairman of the EFCC.
Comments
Post a Comment