Yemi Adedeji, Abuja
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says President Muhammadu Buhari has performed poorly since he assumed office and advised him not to seek re-election in 2019.
He also berated the President for turning a blind eye to corruption within his government saying it amounted to condoning and cover-up, adding that whoever going to justice must be with clean hands.
Obasanjo, in a 13-page letter to the President entitled, “The Wat Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria Movement” said Buhari has performed far below expectation and should honourably “dismount from the horse”.
He lamented that Buhari’s clannishness, lack of understanding of the dynamics of politics, and his tendencies to pass the buck of his government’s inadequacies to the immediate past administration.
Obasanjo also berated Buhari for allowing the clashes between herdsmen and farmers to go “sour” and messy saying the endorsement of the President by some governors to seek re-election barely 24 hours after 73 people who were killed by herdsmen in Benue State were given mass burial was “a sad symptom of insensitivity and callousness.”
The former president described the state of the nation has been lice-invested clothes, stressing that the country’s fingernails is stained with blood as it tries to kill the lice by pressing them in-between two fingernails.
He stated: “in other to make sure that our fingernails remains blood-free we must do what it takes rid our clothes of lice.
“The lice of poor performance in government – poverty, insecurity, poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeed – if not outright encouragement of it, lack of progress and hope for the future, lack of national cohesion and poor management of internal political dynamics and widening inequality – are very much with us today,” he wrote.
“The lice of poor performance in government – poverty, insecurity, poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeed – if not outright encouragement of it, lack of progress and hope for the future, lack of national cohesion and poor management of internal political dynamics and widening inequality – are very much with us today,” he wrote.
“With such lice of general and specific poor performance and crying poverty with us, our fingers will not be dry of ‘blood,
“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? How many similar cases are buried, ignored or covered up and not yet in the glare of the media and the public?
“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. Let nobody deceive us, economy feeds on politics and because our politics is depressing, our economy is even more depressing today. 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,” Obasanjo stated.
