Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Monday, again, blasted President Muhammadu Buhari and All Progressives Congress saying it would be foolhardy to re-elect them in 2019.
The former President spoke at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital during a consultation visit by a sociopolitical group, New Nigeria 2019 group.
Obasanjo who bemoaned the blame game by Buhari’s administration said the ruling party wouldn’t have had a taste of power if not for those challenges which APC is complaining about today.
According to him, economy of the country and small businesses would have been better if not for the ineffectiveness of Buhari-led APC government.
Obasanjo, sharing his military experience, said Nigerians should not re-inforce failure by attempting to vote for the ruling party in 2019.
He also slammed the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, on his recent apology to Nigerians saying people should not accept the apology.
He added that neither the APC nor PDP can take Nigeria away from the current mess but a grassroots platform which will involved all stakeholders.
According to him, both the PDP and APC are majorly peopled with leprous hands, advising that little clean hands in the two parties should be integrated into the new grassroot platform.
He said, “But this time, for us to make it, we need all hands on deck. You see, I have publicly said and I mean it, that as a party, neither PDP nor APC can get us there as they have been. Never mind about reforms and apology and all that.
“And yet we have to get there. I asked one of the foundation members of PDP, the PDP when we started, was it a grassroots party? He said it was an elitist party. Really, we have never had the so-called grassroots party. Even NEPU which we could say is the nearest was not grassroot enough.
“And I believe strongly that we must have a strong popular grassroots movement to bring about the change, sustainability and stability that we need in our democracy and development.
“The truth is this, when you have an ineffective and incompetent government, we are all victims. And don’t let anybody deceive you, those of you who are in business, your business could have been better today if we have a competent and effective and performing government.
“As I said, stop giving excuses; we met challenges. If there are no challenges, then we wouldn’t need you to come. You come in because you know there are challenges and then giving us excuse that you have many challenges, that is why you haven’t achieved results.
“And then you still want to go. The first lesson I learnt in my military training is never reinforce failure. What we have now is failure. Never you reinforce failure. Let failure be failure. And if you do not see what you should see, you will then be a victim of what you don’t like because it’s only when you see what you should see and you do what you should do that you put away what you do not like. And if you don’t see what you should see and you don’t do what you should do, you will be a victim of what you don’t like.
“There are good people. I said PDP is leprous hand, APC is leprous hand, but there are some clean fingers in them. So, let’s take those clean fingers in them and graft the clean fingers in our own. That is the way to go and if we go that way, we will get there, we will move together, and we will will move fast and we will move far.”
While advising Nigerians and especially the youths not to take anything for granted, Obasanjo warned of likelihood of divide and rule by those he tagged power addict.
He also advised the movement not to throw away the baby with bathing water as some members of both political parties still have integrity and can still help the ideology and movement succeed.
“I am happy to meet with you, but don’t take anything for granted. There will be a lot of work that we have to do. What those I call power addicts would want to do is to divide you based on gender, age, tribe, religion and region. You have one commonality – interest of Nigeria. And it doesn’t matter where you come from. We had that interest.
“But let us bring together all these movements because we are pursuing the same thing. If we allow ourselves to be taken piecemeal, it is finished.”
It will be recalled that the former President had, late January asked Buhari not to seek re-election for second term saying he and the ruling party has given their best which, he said, is not good for Nigeria.
The Ebora Owu has he’s fondly called by admirers, in a special press statement made available to journalists in Abeokuta, accused Buhari of running a nepotic cult bordering on clannishness at the detriment of national interest.
Obasanjo said he knew the weakness of President Buhari which borders on lack of understanding of the economy and foreign affairs sector but that the President has also shown a poor understanding of internal politics and dynamics and engage in passing bulk.
In the statement titled ‘The Way Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria Movement’, Obasanjo appealed to the Buhari not to over-push his luck or over-tax the patience and endurance of Nigerians by seeking re-election in 2019 saying its time for the President to honourably consider a deserved rest.
Obasanjo said the lice of poor performance in government which is evident in poverty, insecurity, poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeed, lack of progress and hope for the future, widening inequality, amongst others, are very much with Nigeria today.
He said, “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.
“The situation that made Nigerians to vote massively to get my brother Jonathan off the horse is playing itself out again. First, I thought I knew the point where President Buhari is weak and I spoke and wrote about it even before Nigerians voted for him and I also did vote for him because at that time it was a matter of “any option but Jonathan.”
He said further, “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.
“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.
“But whatever may be the state of President Buhari’s health today, he should neither over-push his luck nor over-tax the patience and tolerance of Nigerians for him, no matter what his self-serving, so-called advisers, who would claim that they love him more than God loves him and that without him, there would be no Nigeria say.
“President Buhari needs a dignified and honourable dismount from the horse. He needs to have time to reflect, refurbish physically and recoup and after appropriate rest, once again, join the stock of Nigerian leaders whose experience, influence, wisdom and outreach can be deployed on the side line for the good of the country.”