Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
Names five presidents in the administration Calls Atiku a blatant,
shameless liar, insists Tinubu is corrupt.
Kashamu to press for
criminal contempt
Despite a court order obtained by Kashamu Buruji, a close associate of
President Goodluck Jonathan, stopping the publication of former
President Olusegun Obasanjo’s autobiography, the book, “My Watch”, was
released to the public on Tuesday at a public presentation held at the
Lagos Country Club, Ikeja, Lagos.
In the book, Obasanjo said after observing Jonathan and listening to
him and people around him, he came to the conclusion that the president
lacked the capacity for the number one job in the country and had not
surrounded himself with those who could help him.
“Although he might wish to do well, he does not know how nor does he
have the capacity to. To compound his problem, he has not surrounded
himself with aides sufficiently imbued with the qualities and abilities
to help him out.
“Most of them are greedy hangers on or hungry lacklustre characters
interested only in their mouths and their pockets,” said Obasanjo.
Obasanjo also said that corruption is so pervasive under the current
administration that requests are now being made “from the presidency for
ministries, departments and parastatals to make contributions to
dubious private projects,” while Abdulrasheed Maina, the alleged
mastermind of the pension fund scam, was “allowed to disappear to save
those in the presidency who shared in the loot”.
On the political front, Obasanjo said the president does not care about
anything beyond just staying in power for which he will sacrifice
anything.
He disclosed further that the president made a commitment before the
2011 elections that if he was allowed to run then, he would not seek
another term in 2015, a promise on which he has reneged.
“Immediately after the elections, it would appear that contrary to the
position taken by Jonathan before the elections to be a one-term
president, all his moves were towards the idea of a second term.
“I wondered, could it be that his aides were manoeuvring and
strategising on his behalf? But I would not buy the idea of presidential
innocence.
“After watching, reaching out to, studying, talking to, and listening
to the president himself and the people around him, I came, sadly, to a
number of conclusions that mark Jonathan out as a man of adequate
intelligence to run the affairs of Nigeria but lacking in broad vision,
knowledge, confidence, understanding, concentration, capacity, sense of
security, courage, moral and ethical principles, character and passion
to move the nation forward on a fast trajectory.
“Let me start with the handling of the zoned political offices after
the election. Jonathan made a case for retaining David Mark as senate
president.
“However, the issue of the speaker being zoned to the South-west was so
poorly and awkwardly handled that the office of the speaker and that of
the vice-president went to the North-West, with the South-west being
deprived of what politically was legitimately zoned to it.
“That was the beginning of the cry of marginalisation by the
South-west, and it will not go away, no matter what is stuffed into the
mouth of the so-called Afenifere.
“The president insisting on Mulikat Akande as against Saubana Ajibola
Muraina, who had been presented by Adebayo Alao-Akala for the South-west
and endorsed and sold by the South-west to the House, was an act of
political misadventure. And the misadventure cumulatively built up.
“After the election, the president should have kept strictly to the six
geo-political zones and should have quickly undertaken a thank you
visit.
“Rather, E. K. Clark took it upon himself to insult all and sundry as
though the position is a birthright; and the president was incapable of
calling him to order. Ethno-politics and ethno-interest are being
substituted for national politics and national interest.
“On issues of personal interest and concern to him, the president will
pay any price, make any sacrifice and dump anything or anyone he regards
as not important.
“With the 2011 elections, heavy financial prices were paid to Lagos and
Ondo State opposition political leaders to secure the vote for the
president, against the interest of PDP at the state level. ‘If the
president is safe and secure, nothing else matters’ – this seems to have
been what the president’s actions indicated.
“Although he took the title of the party leader, he really never plays
that role. One of our party chieftains described him to me as, ‘The
party leader who pursues only Goodluck Jonathan’s interest and not the
party’s interest. How can he then be trusted?’
“I had watched Jonathan and stood close to him in picking the national
chairman of the party and chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) that
succeeded me. What I saw and heard from him disgusted me to no end.
“It was, ‘This one will not support me, this one’s interest will be
against my interest, this one said something against me.’ How can the
president classify some governors belonging to his party as enemies
because they hold contrary views to his?
“The handling of the removal of Timi Sylva as Governor of Bayelsa, for
example, was crude, even though Timi was Jonathan’s worst enemy. But as
time went on, the Timi Sylva case turned out to have been much better
handled than that of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Rotimi
Amaechi and his alleged involvement in the impeachment of governors.
“It was a shameful and debasing thing for the president the way he
handled these issues. A 22-year-old squash partner of mine said to me
once during a game break, ‘Sir, advise the president to be presidential
on the Governors’ Forum issue. It is becoming mean.’
“I told him I would and I spoke to (Godswill) Akpabio, the Governor of
Akwa Ibom State. But where Jonathan’s interests are concerned there can
be no decorum. Everything can be ‘rofo rofo’, and no party or national
interest matters,” he said.
On corruption, Obasanjo said Jonathan had been paying nothing but lip service to the issue: “At best, only lip-service is paid to fighting corruption.
On corruption, Obasanjo said Jonathan had been paying nothing but lip service to the issue: “At best, only lip-service is paid to fighting corruption.
“But to publicly deny the existence of corruption in Nigeria, as the
president did in the Amanpour CNN interview of early 2013 was not only
laughable but the greatest act of playing the ostrich.
“A Chinese national once told me that he was taken to Aso Villa and was
asked to pay one million US dollars to enable him to see the president.
When he refused, he was permanently denied access to the president,
even though Nigeria would have benefitted from such access.
“Having heard many rumours in the past but now with concrete evidence
from a victim, I was incensed enough to bring it to the knowledge of the
president, who asked, ‘Who can that be among my staff?’ I replied, ‘You
know those responsible for your programmes and visitors.’
“That was the last I heard of the issue. On several occasions in the
past, and based on Transparency International reports, what I have
observed and heard, I have made public comments on Jonathan’s lack of
political will to fight corruption. I was called names and pilloried.
“I had also pointed out that the track records of some people employed
to speak for and on behalf of the president and his administration do
more harm than good to the president. Doyin Okupe is one man whose case I
know so well.
“The familiarity and closeness of some staff of the president and, by
extension, the president himself with those in charge of parastatals who
made returns to the presidency, the request from the presidency for
ministries, departments and parastatals to make contributions to dubious
private projects, and the treatment of the official found stealing
police pension funds, Abdulrasheed Maina, who was allowed to disappear
to save those in the presidency who shared in the loot, left a very bad
taste in the mouths of most Nigerians.
“Some people have inferred that the grand corruption around the
presidency has actually encouraged corruption within the legislature and
the judiciary, and that this constrains the president’s ability to curb
it.
“The greatest show of shame in this respect was the scandalous pardon
granted to DSP Alamieyeseigha. I was so shocked that I had to write to
the president.
“There are many melancholically amusing stories I have heard about
Goodluck Jonathan that prove his limitations, and that he cannot give
what he does not have.
“Most of these stories, which are verifiable through his actions, reactions and inactions, reflect stunningly on the character and ability of Goodluck Jonathan as a man, a leader, and a president.
“Most of these stories, which are verifiable through his actions, reactions and inactions, reflect stunningly on the character and ability of Goodluck Jonathan as a man, a leader, and a president.
“Within eighteen months or thereabouts of his presidency after the 2011
elections, I heard complaints from Ministry of Finance sources that the
amount of money being spent on the Amnesty Programme was unsustainable.
“I took up the issue with the president, who claimed that the amnesty
was meant to be a two-year programme but that it seemed to have
developed a long life of its own.
“He reacted as though he would cut its life short almost immediately.
He has not been able to do it. If anything, the situation had gotten
worse.
“At about the same time, I asked a very discerning minister for a
candid view and opinion of his boss. I believe that he was being honest
when he said, ‘I think the man is basically a good man, but if he wants
to do good, for which he may have inclination, he has not the knowledge,
the know-how, and the ability to do it and he has not surrounded
himself with close aides that can help him to.’
“What a pity! A schoolmate of his, speaking from personal experience,
said that one should not believe the president’s words, but should
believe only his actions. The president seems to display the habit of
pretending to have no knowledge of the very things he sanctions.
“The news was fairly well-circulated that an elder statesman who formed
a close relationship with President Jonathan very early in his
presidency came to the conclusion, after six months, that the president
has not got what it takes to lead.
“It was the same elder statesman who reportedly tried to jolt the
president into action by telling him that there were five presidents in
Nigeria, and these were his wife the first lady, Diezani
(Alison-Madueke), Stella (Oduah), Ngozi (Okonjo-Iweala) and the
president himself, and that he was the weakest of the five.
“I understand the president tried to make excuses for everyone, but
President Jonathan is not too weak to be able to butter his bread and,
if necessary, to engage the services of Satan to achieve his
self-centred interests on the altar of all else.
“The longest period that I have met one-on-one with the president was for one hour and ten minutes. That whole time, the president talked about nothing that was in the interest of Nigeria; instead he kept pointing out his supposed enemies and various matters that would not serve his interests...”
Also, in the book, Obasanjo identified his former deputy, Atiku
Abubakar; former Lagos State Governor and chieftain of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Chairman of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) BoT, Chief Tony Anenih; and former
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai,
among others, as people who have worked against the progress of Nigeria.
Obasanjo described Atiku as a “blatant and shameless liar”, Tinubu as
“definitely one of the worst cases in terms of corruption”, and el-Rufai
as “a brilliant man but economical with truth”.
In what indicated his preference for former military Head of State and APC
presidential aspirant, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, Obasanjo referred to him as a leader who “would not be a good economic manager but who will be a strong, almost inflexible, and a courageous and firm leader”.
presidential aspirant, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, Obasanjo referred to him as a leader who “would not be a good economic manager but who will be a strong, almost inflexible, and a courageous and firm leader”.
Speaking during the book launch yesterday, one of Obasanjo’s harshest
critics during his tenure in office and the book’s reviewer, Mr. Patrick
Okigbo, said the third volume of the book “presents the chronicle of
what the author believes are President Jonathan’s missed, missing and
lost chances.
“He leaves no one in doubt that he considers the current administration
inept and a colossal failure and wishes to see some significant
changes”.
According to him, “My Watch is an account of my relentless journey and
struggle in life to excel and do good for the majority of people. It
captures my commitment to Nigeria, my country, to put it on course and
move it forward at a steady and good pace in unity, stability, dignity,
integrity, justice, equity, comprehensive development and durable
progress.”
The first of the books, which comes in three volumes, focuses on his
early years and military days while the second book focuses on his
military career, combat operations in Congo, the first military coup,
his close friendship with Chukwuma Nzeogwu – leader of the 1966 coup –
his command during the Nigerian civil war and his first time as military
head of state.
Situating his legacies in the context of various reform efforts of his
administration in the context of economic, financial management, social
welfare, civil service, administrative enhancement, fuel energy and
power reforms, conflict resolution and the truth and reconciliation
commission, Obasanjo, in the book, addressed almost every aspect of
national life in Nigeria.
Convinced that the book would stir some reaction among the political
class, Okigbo noted that with the publication of the book, some of those
affected by its content by the former PDP leader who has had a
no-love-lost relationship with President Jonathan in recent times, are
expected to react.
“The book is very important because it may motivate the various
political actors who have been taciturn on the inner workings of
government to defend their integrity, explain their actions, and provide
context. Readers should eagerly await the subsequent dialogue that is
sure to ensue,” Okigbo said.
Speaking on the court order stopping the publication of the book,
Obasanjo yesterday assured the audience at the book launch that he would
“never be part of illegality”, explaining that the court order had
sought to stop the publication of the book when it had already been
published.
THISDAY gathered that several thousand printed copies of the book have
already gone into circulation while the electronic version, which is not
within the jurisdiction of Nigerian courts, will be released online
soon.
However, reacting to the book’s launch, Buruji said Obasanjo’s action
has again confirmed his knack for lawlessness and arbitrariness.
In a statement, he said: “Everybody knows that good governance is based
on the rule of law, due process and respect for constituted authority.
It beats my imagination that this man can be sermonising about the good
governance when he shamelessly advertises all the elements of bad
governance.
“In short, he is bad governance personified. He is the worst
advertisement for the product he is trying to advertise – good
governance. He has shown that he does not have respect for the
judiciary, and that he is above the law.”
Buruji said he had instructed his lawyers to press criminal contempt
charges against him and all those who assisted him in flouting the
orders of the court.
He added: “I will ensure that they are all dragged before the court,
and particularly, Obasanjo, without his cap, to show why he should not
be punished for criminal contempt.
“By his unruly conduct, Chief Obasanjo has shown for the umpteenth time
that he is indecent and uncivilised. Certainly, President Goodluck
Jonathan and his predecessor, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and
others he criticised in the controversial book, which I am reliably
informed he did not write, are made of a sterner stuff than him. They
are true democrats and gentlemen to the core.”
Source: ThisDay Online
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