Presidency fires back at Obasanjo for comparing Buhari’s tenure to Abacha era
The face-off between ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo and the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari takes a new twist as the Presisdency talks tough at Obasanjo.
Obasanjo who had earlier accused President Buhari of leading the country into another era of Abacha with his “hatchet men” who are running an autocratic government that uses institution of the government to intimidate his perceived enemies, is being put on the pedestal for his statements.
After saying that President Buhari empowered Boko Haram by paying ransom to them, and is currently putting machineries in place to rig the forthcoming election, the Presidency responded by saying that it is absurd for Obasanjo to make such submissions.
The Presidency further said that Obasanjo is being troubled by his past misdeeds and was quoted as saying that the election of 2007 would be a “do-or-die affair.”
Presidential spokesman, Adesina went on to ask if elections were free and fair under him.
“The sixteen-page letter the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari and released this afternoon is the last push by desperate politicians who can’t handle the President politically and have resorted to subterfuge,” the statement read.
“Our first message to the former President is that he needs a good doctor for good treatment and to say to him, ‘Get well soon’.”
“As repeatedly said of him, since Chief Obasanjo left office in 1979, he never let every succeeding leader of the country function freely, and this included the one he personally handpicked against all known rules drawn up by the party that put him in the office of the President. But Chief Obasanjo is jealous because President Buhari has more esteem than him and the sooner he learns to respect him the better.
“It is a notorious fact that in dealing with any leader that he failed to control, he resorted to these puerile attacks. As the grand patron, more correctly the grandfather of corruption as described by the National Assembly, Chief Obasanjo released today’s letter purely for the reason of rescuing his thriving corruption establishment.
“The elections starting in February will be free and fair as promised the nation and the international community by President Buhari.
“What Chief Obasanjo and his co-travelers in the PDP should expect is that from the outcome, we will teach them a political lesson that they will never forget. This margin will be much bigger than we had in 2015.
“As for his attacks of the administration’s records in fighting corruption, what the former President said is no more than evidence that President Buhari’s war against corruption is succeeding. They thought it is all a joke.
“A leader who took USD 16 billion “upfront” to supply electric power yet failed to add a single megawatt to the national grid and to date, there is no trace of the money is jittery that he will be called to account. He is a coward.
“This language of his 16-page letter, likening President Buhari to General Sani Abacha, a man he dreaded and the one who jailed him under military laws is most unfitting from a former President of Nigeria.
“The claim that President Buhari has put in place rigging machinery is both outlandish and outrageous. We are unable to get the words to describe a 90-year old liar, except to say that by the publication of this tissue of lies against the President, he Obasanjo, not the President will fall from everyone’s esteem,” the statement further read.
It is worthy of note that Obasanjo also cast this same vote of no confidence on Goodluck Jonathan prior to the election that kicked him out of office.
Although we’re yet to see an end to this debacle, but the glaring question is if this will affect President Buhari’s chances at the poll next month.
