Former President Olusegun
Obasanjo on Saturday alleged that
President Goodluck Jonathan had a
grand plan to scuttle the coming
elections for fear that if General
Muhammadu Buhari(retd) of All
Progressives Congress succeeds
him, Buhari would send him to jail.
He said this at his Hilltop
presidential residence in Abeokuta,
Ogun State while talking with
journalists. He said he broke his
promise not to talk till after the
elections because the elections
were postponed.
Obasanjo spoke just as Nobel
laureate and playwright, Prof. Wole
Soyinka, warned President
Goodluck Jonathan not to use
security agencies to scuttle the
current democratic dispensation.
Soyinka’s warning to Jonathan was
contained in a letter he sent to one
of our correspondents on Saturday.
In another letter that was made
public on Saturday, former
chairman of the National
Population Commission, Chief
Festus Odimegwu, called on
Jonathan to ensure that the polls
were free and fair.
Obasanjo, who just returned from
foreign trips, said, “I believe the
President’s fear is particularly
motivated by whom he sees as his
likely successor, that is, Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari. I believe
people would have been telling
him that Buhari is a hard man; he
will fight corruption and he
(Jonathan) may end up in jail if not
in the grave. I think people would
have told him that sort of thing and
he is not the only one afraid of
Buhari.”
But Obasanjo said Buhari should
have learnt his lessons and might
not be contemplating sending
people to jail to fight corruption.
“If he has not learnt his lessons, he
would be probably the most
unlearning human being. Now if he
has learnt his lessons, he will know
that you do not fight corruption by
putting people in jail for 200 years.
This was done by my predecessor
in office, Gen. Abdulsalami
Abubakar. He recovered over $750m
from Abacha’s estate without
putting anybody in jail and without
harming or hurting anybody.
“When I took over, we recovered
over $1.25bn from the same Abacha
without hurting anybody and
without harming anybody. What is
rather unfortunate is the fact that
our lawyer who is still alive, who
was chasing this money all over the
world, said to us that there was still
well over $1bn to be recovered
from the Abacha estate.”
On the allegation that Jonathan had
a grand plan to scuttle the coming
polls, Obasanjo likened Jonathan to
the former president of Cote
d’lvoire, Laurent Gbagbo, who
shifted election dates until he
believed the odds were in his
favour.
Obasanjo said, “President Jonathan
has a grand plan to ensure that he
wins the election by hook or crook
and if he loses, he scuttles it and
brings chaos and confusion in the
whole country.
“It looks to me that the President is
trying to play (Laurent) Gbagbo.
Gbagbo was the former President
of Cote d’Ivoire and Gbagbo made
sure he postponed the election in
his country until he was sure he
would win and then allowed the
election to take place. He got an
inconclusive election in the first
ballot and I believe this is the sort
of thing Nigeria may fall into if I am
right in what I observed as the
grand plan.
“Then in the run-off, Gbagbo lost
with 8 per cent behind (Alassane)
Quattara and then refused to hand
over. All reasonable persuasion and
pleading was rebuffed by him and
he unleashed horror in that country
until nemesis caught up with him. I
believe that we may be seeing the
repeat of Gbabgo or what I called
Gbagbo saga here in Nigeria, I hope
not.”
Obasanjo noted that the Chairman
of the Independent National
Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru
Jega, must have been boxed to a
corner by the powers that be,
before announcing the
postponement of the elections.
He recounted how world leaders
confronted him over political
developments in the country,
saying, “I was away because I had a
number of assignments abroad
which took me to Morocco, Munich,
Nairobi, London and New Delhi.
Exactly a week today, when we
were in Munich for what they called
the Munich security conferences
annual event, everyone in the
security community was there.
“I refused to make any categorical
statement on this issue because I
wanted to come back home and
learn what actually transpired and
what was going on, and it turned
out to be a forced decision on the
INEC, because it was alleged that
the security chiefs were unable to
provide security and as a result, the
Chairman of INEC had to postpone
the elections, in accordance with
the dictates of the so-called
security chiefs.
“For me, that was a bad precedent
for democracy in Nigeria. It meant it
doesn’t matter what preparation or
lack of preparation any electoral
body could make in Nigeria, the
final decision on whether election
will take place on the day
scheduled for it lies in the domains
of the security, it is a sad day for
democracy in Nigeria.”
He said he was worried that
President Jonathan had said in his
recent media chat that he knew
nothing about the postponement
of the elections.
“I want to believe that this was
forced on them (security chiefs). I
want to believe that whether it was
forced on them or it was their
initiative, it was bad, very bad. I
hope we will never have a repeat
performance of this in this country
again.
“It was even made worse when the
President in the media chat on the
11th of this month claimed not to
have knowledge or not to have
authorised it. I get worried, very
worried that if the President of
Nigeria is not in charge of security,
maintenance of law and order and
such a decision can be taken
behind him, assuming that it is
true, then the President must be
reigning and not ruling.”
While puncturing a hole in the
excuse of the Boko Haram
insurgency as a reason for the
postponement, Obasanjo said it
remained to be seen how the war
against Boko Haram which could
not be won since 2009, could be
won in six weeks.
Obasanjo also appealed to the two
leading political parties, Peoples
Democratic Party and the All
Progressives Congress not to heat
up the polity.
He said, “I have offered some
warnings but let me also offer
some appeals and the appeals for
me will be for President Goodluck
Jonathan. I appeal to him not to do
anything to destroy the fledgling
democracy that we are enjoying,
democracy is not a destination. It is
a process and the more we
strengthened the process of
democracy, the institutions and the
factors, the better it is for us.”
In its reaction, the Presidency on
Saturday said it was aware of a plot
by Obasanjo and some unnamed
persons within and outside the
country to thwart the forthcoming
general elections and foist an
unconstitutional Interim National
Government, which Obasanjo
hopes to head, on the nation.
Special Adviser to the President on
Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben
Abati, said this in a statement made
available to journalists in Abuja.
Abati said, “We find the false claims
and allegations reportedly made
against President Goodluck
Jonathan by Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo on Saturday in Abeokuta
very odious and repugnant.
“As we have had cause to say
before, it is most regrettable
indeed that a man like Chief
Obasanjo, who should know better,
chooses to repeatedly, wantonly,
and maliciously impugn the
integrity of a sitting President of
his country for the primary purpose
of self-promotion.
“It is obvious from Chief Obasanjo’s
serial vituperations against
President Jonathan who is doing
his best to positively transform
Nigeria for the benefit of all of its
people that he has willfully chosen
to close his eyes to the present
administration’s good works and
intentions. For reasons best known
to him, Chief Obasanjo has set his
mind on regime change by fair or
foul means.
“Otherwise, it would be completely
senseless, irrational and out of
place for Chief Obasanjo, who still
claims to belong to the same party
as the President, to accuse
President Jonathan of plotting to
win the rescheduled presidential
elections by ‘hook or crook’ and
planning to plunge the nation into
crisis if he loses the election.
“For the record, President Jonathan
has no such intention and will
continue to give the greatest
possible support to INEC and other
relevant federal agencies to ensure
that the rescheduled elections are
successfully conducted.
“Chief Obasanjo’s plot with others
within and outside the country to
thwart the general elections and
foist an unconstitutional Interim
National Government, which he
hopes to head, on the nation is well
known to us, but by the Grace of
God Almighty, his odious plan to
return to power through the
backdoor will fail woefully.”
Also, the Peoples Democratic Party
Presidential Campaign
Organisation said it was not true
that Jonathan was planning to
retain power at all cost.
Its Director of Media and Publicity,
Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, said this in a
statement.
He said, “It is sad and unfortunate
that President Olusegun Obasanjo,
a father of the nation and a man
that we all revere and have
immense respect for, could have
misread the situation so badly.
“It is simply not true that President
Goodluck Jonathan wishes to
remain in power at all costs and the
suggestion that he has a hidden
agenda or that he somehow
imposed his will on INEC by getting
them to postpone the elections is
baseless and absurd.”
In a related development, Soyinka,
in his letter titled, ‘Under-reading
violence’, noted that the use of
security operatives to intimidate
the populace other than to protect
them, is a “new low in the life of
this nation,” adding that it is a
serious threat to the future of
democracy in Nigeria.
“It bodes ill even for the postponed
elections. Is the postponement
truly to ensure enfranchisement for
the entire electorate or to fine-
tune a new strategy for the
absolute and total cooption of the
uniformed services?” Soyinka
asked.
The Nobel laureate also flayed the
deployment of soldiers to the
Lagos house of a chieftain of the
major opposition party, the All
Progressives Congress, Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu.
The human rights activist reminded
Jonathan of how security
operatives allegedly prevented the
then governor of Ekiti State, Kayode
Fayemi, “from exercising his civil
rights.”
Concluding his letter, Soyinka
called on the President to lift the
military siege on his political
opponents before it is “too late.”
In the same vein, Odimegwu who
ran into trouble with Jonathan’s
government when he faulted the
2006 census, raised the alarm over
the safety of Buhari, saying
Jonathan, Nigerians should secure
his safety to avoid a replication of
what happened to the late
business mogul, Chief MKO Abiola,
following the controversies which
trailed the June 12, 1993
Presidential election.
Odimegwu, a former chairman of
Nigerian Breweries Plc, in a blunt
article entitled, ‘The challenges
before President Buhari’ which he
e-mailed to SUNDAY PUNCH in Abuja,
advanced seven reasons why
Buhari would be a better choice for
Nigeria.
According to him, Buhari is dreaded
by many that have looted Nigeria
dry, adding,”I am happy in this
worthy company of free citizens of
the world and institutions that
endorses General Buhari and
recommends him to all Nigerians.”
He said, “It is imaginable, given the
annulment of June 12 under unclear
circumstances, that this six weeks
delay can have more supporters
than are known. President Jonathan
himself can lose control as during
the trying time of the 1993 election
crisis. It is imaginable that some
vested interests may not want both
President Jonathan and General
Buhari and may work alone or in
cooperation with others to impose
a contrived and orchestrated
interim government that is now
gaining traction.
“On coups or coup baits that are
being mentioned, worsened also
by giving security agencies more
roles over election matters than
necessary. The forces that aborted
June 12 could still be alive. General
Buhari in many ways reminds one
of MKO. Nigerians must shine their
eyes beyond the ordinary and the
conventional. Things seem to me
now like the more one looks, the
less one sees.”
He also warned that the Federal
Government, as distinct from the
ruling party, must take steps to
secure the life of General Buhari “as
these intrigues thicken.
“Nothing should happen to him. He
may not be a saint. Even Mandela
rightly said he was not. No one is.
But he now personifies the new
hope for Nigeria. Nigerians need
him. Nigerians need change. What
happened to Yar’Adua Senior, MKO
and even Abacha must not happen
to him.”
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
