Success Damian:
Chief
(Dr.) Olusegun Obasanjo, the former President has written to President Muhammadu
Buhari urging him to “honourably dismount from the Horse” and join the
league of the country’s former leaders whose “experience, influence, wisdom,
and outreach can be deployed on the sideline for the good of the country.”
“He has a role to play on the sideline for the
good of Nigeria, Africa, and humanity and I will see him as a partner in
playing such a role nationally and internationally, but not as a horse rider in
Nigeria again.”
“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’,” he added.
OBJ
thanked Buhari for the way he handled the Boko Haram crisis but pointed out
that he failed to be efficient in other areas. He admitted knowing that Buhari
was weak in handling the economy, he went ahead and voted for him because at
the time “it was a matter of ‘any option but Jonathan’” and because he thought
Mr. Buhari would appoint qualified Nigerians to help out in that area.
He
slammed Mr. Buhari for turning a blind eye to corruption within his government
saying it amounted to condonation and cover-up saying whoever is “going to
justice must be with clean hands.”
He
also berated Mr. 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.”
But
Mr. Obasanjo reserved his harshest words for what he described as Mr. 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.
“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.”
Mr
Obasanjo thus argued that neither Mr Buhari nor his party, the All Progressives
Congress hold the solution to the country’s problems. He suggested that Mr
Buhari was not healthy enough to withstand the rigour associated with running a
country like Nigeria neither does his party capable of providing the answer
needed to sail the country through its difficulties.
Mr
Obasanjo said Buhari should step down at the end of his first term with honour
and dignity and attend to his health and should not listen to the 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.”
“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. His place in history is already assured. Without impaired health
and strain of age, running the affairs of Nigeria is a 25/7 affair, not 24/7.
“I
only appeal to brother Buhari to consider a deserved rest at this point in time
and at this age. I continue to wish him robust health to enjoy his retirement
from active public service. President Buhari does not necessarily need to heed
my advice. But whether or not he heeds it, Nigeria needs to move on and move
forward,” he said.
“I
have had occasion in the past to say that the two main political parties – APC
and PDP – were wobbling. I must reiterate that nothing has happened to convince
me otherwise. If anything, I am reinforced in my conviction. The recent show of
PDP must give grave and great concern to lovers of Nigeria.
“To
claim, as has been credited to the chief kingmaker of PDP, that for procuring
the Supreme Court judgement for his faction of the Party, he must dictate the
tune all the way and this is indeed fraught with danger.
“If
neither APC nor PDP is a worthy horse to ride to lead Nigeria at this crucial
and critical time, what then do we do? Remember Farooq Kperogi, an Associate
Professor at the Kennesaw State University, Georgia, United States, calls it “a
cruel Hobson’s choice; it’s like a choice between six and half a dozen, between
evil and evil. Any selection or deflection would be a distinction without a
difference.” We cannot just sit down lamenting and wringing our hands
desperately and hopelessly.
He ruled
out the PDP and the ruling APC of possessing the panacea to the malaise that
ails the country. Mr Obasanjo therefore called for a movement he termed
Coalition of Nigeria, which he offered to be a part of, to wrest power from the
present ruling class and lead the country into the path of rebirth.
“We
can collectively save ourselves from the position we find ourselves. It will
not come through self-pity, fruitless complaint or protest but through
constructive and positive engagement and collective action for the good of our
nation and ourselves and our children and their children. We need moral
re-armament and engaging togetherness of people of like-mind and goodwill to
come solidly together to lift Nigeria up. This is no time for trading blames or
embarking on futile argument and neither should we accept untenable excuses for
non-performance.
“Let
us accept that the present administration has done what it can do to the limit
of its ability, aptitude and understanding. Let the administration and its
political party platform agree with the rest of us that what they have done and
what they are capable of doing is not good enough for us. They have given as
best as they have and as best as they can give. Nigeria deserves and urgently
needs better than what they have given or what we know they are capable of
giving. To ask them to give more will be unrealistic and will only sentence
Nigeria to a prison term of four years if not destroy it beyond the possibility
of an early recovery and substantial growth.
“The
development and modernization of our country and society must be anchored and
sustained on dynamic Nigerian culture, enduring values and an enchanting
Nigerian dream. We must have abiding faith in our country and its role and
place within the comity of nations. Today, Nigeria needs all hands on deck. All
hands of men and women of goodwill must be on deck. We need all hands to move
our country forward.
“We
need a Coalition for Nigeria, CN. Such a Movement at this juncture needs not be
a political party but one to which all well-meaning Nigerians can belong. That
Movement must be a coalition for democracy, good governance, social and
economic well-being and progress. Coalition to salvage and redeem our country.
You can count me with such a Movement. Last time, we asked, prayed and worked
for change and God granted our request. This time, we must ask, pray and work
for change with unity, security and progress. And God will again grant us. Of
course, nothing should stop such a Movement from satisfying conditions for
fielding candidates for elections. But if at any stage the Movement wishes to
metamorphose into candidate-sponsoring Movement for elections, I will bow out
of the Movement because I will continue to maintain my non-partisan position.
Coalition for Nigeria must have its headquarters in Abuja.
“This
Coalition for Nigeria will be a Movement that will drive Nigeria up and
forward. It must have a pride of place for all Nigerians, particularly for our
youth and our women. It is a coalition of hope for all Nigerians for speedy,
quality and equal development, security, unity, prosperity and progress. It is
a coalition to banish poverty, insecurity and despair. Our country must not be
oblivious to concomitant danger around, outside and ahead. Coalition for
Nigeria must be a Movement to break new ground in building a united country, a
socially-cohesive and moderately prosperous society with equity, equality of
opportunity, justice and a dynamic and progressive economy that is self-reliant
and takes active part in global division of labour and international decision-making.
“The
Movement must work out the path of development and the trajectory of
development in speed, quality and equality in the short- medium- and long-term
for Nigeria on the basis of sustainability, stability, predictability,
credibility, security, cooperation and prosperity with diminishing inequality.
What is called for is love, commitment and interest in our country, not in
self, friends and kinship alone but particularly love, compassion and interest
in the poor, underprivileged and downtrodden.
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