>Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has gone on the record to lambaste President Muhammadu Buhari–his best friend.
And it doesn’t sound pretty.
The venue was the annual Akintola Williams lecture series in Lagos.
As downtown traffic snarled and thickened in chaotic Lagos, Obasanjo let fly:
“The blanket adverse comments or castigation of all democratic administrations from 1999 by the present administration is uncharitable, fussy and uninstructive”.
Obasanjo was pissed. Pissed that the present administration has spent more time blaming its predecessors than it has doing the work it was voted in to do.
Pissed that Buhari has often pointed the finger at past administrations in Nigeria; taking potshots at previous administrations at will and blaming them for the empty treasury he says he inherited.
This was ‘Baba Iyabo’ (as Obasanjo is fondly called) at his acerbic best. The man was taking his gloves off and hurling them into the audience.
“Politics apart, I strongly believe that there is a distinction between the three previous administrations that it would be unfair to lump them all together. I understand President Buhari’s frustration on the state of the economy inherited by him. It was the same reason and situation that brought about the cry for change, otherwise, there would be no need for change if it was all nice and rosy”, Obasanjo thundered, a smirk playing on the corner of his lips.
Obasanjo wants his administration to be adjudged on its own merit; away from that of Goodluck Jonathan.
He wants Buhari and the rest of the country to remember correctly and judge him fairly.
“I know that President Buhari has always expressed concern for the plight of the common people but that concern must be translated to workable and result-oriented socio-economic policy and programme that will turn the economy around at the shortest time possible”,
Obasanjo added.
“We cannot continue to do the same thing and expect things to change.”
But there was more. Obasanjo took aim at the Buhari administration’s plan to borrow $30B.
“I am sure that such a comprehensive policy and programme (that will move Nigeria forward) will not support borrowing US$30 billion in less than three years….”
And Obasanjo castigated the Buhari administration for interfering with the operations of the Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN).
A few weeks ago, Department of State Security Services (DSS) personnel were commissioned to force the country’s exchange rate by raiding the parallel market.
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