Ex-president under fire over remarks

Prominent Nigerians and organisations yesterday took former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the cleaners over his attack on President Muhammadu Buhari.

Former National Chairman of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) Alhaji AbdulKarim Daiyabu, the All Progressives Congress in Osun State, Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) faulted the ex-president.

Daiyabu

Daiyabu, who is also the leader of Forward with Buhari, said Olusegun Obasanjo has no moral right to criticise the President as he is moreguilty of the offences he is accusing the President of.

Daiyabu, who spoke at a news conference in Abuja, said Nigerians should ask the former President to account for the huge revenue generated under his watch including the $16 billion wasted on the power sector which produced no power.

He also said Obasanjo committed about 125 impeachable offences during his eight years rule, while saying that the PDP was only crying of rigging plots because they were afraid of losing the elections and are looking for excuses to advance for their loss.

Daiyabu alleged that Obasanjo and his former deputy have hidden agenda which led to the sudden support of the former President for his estranged deputy.

He said: “We are not surprised about what he says outside the prison. If you could remember, he was sentenced to prison for life. But somehow, some people brought him out and made him President. What Nigeria made from 1999 to 2015 from oil is more than what the country made from 1914 when it was amalgamated till 1999. Where is the money?”

“We know that we have $16 billion in his hand from elections.

INEC

INEC chairman Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu said the commission was not under pressure to do what was wrong.

Yakubu spoke at a meeting with the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, and other senior police officers yesterday in Abuja.

“This is to be expected in an election year when people make all sorts of insinuations.

“I want to tell you that we as a commission have never been under any pressure to do what is wrong.

“We will never compromise our integrity to do what the law says that we shouldn’t and for the 2019 general elections, I want to assure and reassure Nigerians that votes and nothing but votes will count. With this level of cooperation from the security agencies, I want to assure you that Nigerians will have a pleasant voting experience in 2019,” he said.

Osun APC

Osun APC chided the former President over his comment on the Osun 2018 governorship election.

In a statement by the party’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy,  Kunle Oyatomi, the APC said: “It’s a pity that our respected former President is using the privilege of his position to express an opinion that is subjudice to a case that’s already in court and is currently being litigated.

“His comment on the Osun governorship election of last September is a matter that should be left to court to decide. Expressing an opinion on it at this stage is not only unlawful, it is a glaring disrespect for the rule and process of the law. This is more so because Ex-President Obasanjo is using that case which is still disputed to illustrate unfairly his allegation that INEC cannot be trusted to run a free, fair and credible presidential election next month.

“We advise Chief Obasanjo to limit his comment on a matter that is subjudice, otherwise, he would be laying a precedent that would be unhelpful to the rule of law

“Under our electoral law and the provisions of our constitution, INEC has the function of conducting all elections in the country and it is also empowered to declare an election valid or invalid if there is sufficient lawful reasons to do so.”

Yoruba Ronu

The Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum, a socio political pressure group, said Obasanjo’s allegations were unfair to the President.

The group also said Obasanjo’s comments were insufficient to sway power to his preferred presidential candidate in the coming election.

Its Secretary General, Mr Akin Malaolu, said the allegations were not only inaccurate but also a tragedy of an unusual kind in this era of information.

Read also: Osinbajo, Oshiomhole, Tinubu attack Obasanjo

 BMO

The BMO said the allegations against the President were calculated to divert attention from the misdeeds and maladministration of the former President’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

The group, in a statement by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke, said they were praying for long life for Obasanjo so that he may give the right testimony on Buhari.

PDP to Buhari: stop insulting Obasanjo

But the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) knocked Buhari for hauling insults at Obasanjo.

The PDP chided the President for allowing one of his media aides, Mallam Shehu Garba, to cast aspersions on the former President.

In a statement Monday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party accused President Buhari of setting a very bad example for younger Nigerians by fouling national values and heritage.

The PDP said Buhari made unsubstantiated negative assertions on the health of another leader.

The statement said: “President Buhari may have seen how Nigerians have been registering their disappointment on his resort to personal attacks on former President Obasanjo, instead of responding to the germane issues raised by the former President.”

“Nigerians have weighed all the concerns by former President Obasanjo, particularly the manifest desperation by the Buhari Presidency to undermine our democratic institutions, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the judiciary and the legislature as well as plots to use security forces to subvert the will of the people at the polls.

“Instead of attacking former President Obasanjo, President Buhari should have been sobered and retrace his steps in the interest of the corporate existence of our country which he is pushing to the precipice.

“The PDP therefore urges President Buhari to note that his resort to personal attacks on the critics of his administration cannot distract Nigerians from their resolve to rescue our nation from the stranglehold of his administration by voting him out of office, come February 16, 2019”.