President Goodluck Jonathan has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of ridiculing Nigeria before the international community and of scaring investors away from the country by his consistent criticism of his administration.
In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, Mr. Jonathan said Mr. Obasanjo, by his utterances, was creating the impression that Nigeria is a country on the verge of collapse.
Mr. Jonathan therefore advised the former president to be civil in his criticism so as not to create the impression that the country is in crisis.
“For one reason or the other, Obasanjo may disagree with me as his first political son. You can even disagree with your own biological children, as a human being, not to talk of disagreeing with your political children. So, he can agree or disagree with me, but the utterances have to be managed in a way that it does not affect the economy and security of this country.
“But I will use this opportunity, because you asked, to just plead with my father that he is a leader, a former president of the country. He has led the country more than anybody — eight years of democratic governance and almost four years of military governance. No other person has that kind of record.
“The stability of this country is critical in terms of the economy of this country. Rating agencies downgrade countries that are going into elections because the feeling is that there would be crisis. When you paint the colour of instability for your own nation, you are doing so much injustice to the country because it affects the economy of the country, not just affecting the country in terms of security and social issues alone. It affects the economy directly. So, I plead with very senior citizens that Nigeria is dear to us; we don’t have any other country than Nigeria.
“So, actions and inactions, or utterances, should be guarded so that we don’t expose our country to the international community as if it is a country in danger, a country that is about to collapse. You are frightening investors, especially those who invest hot cash, to pull out their money from the country and that would affect the stock market and it would affect the economy.”
Mr. Jonathan however insisted that he remained a political child of Mr. Obasanjo, saying he owes his rise to political prominence to the influence of the former President.
“First and foremost, Obasanjo is a father to me. By divine providence and the grace of God, I am the President of Nigeria today. It is not by my strength. But God uses human beings to actualise His own blessings on human beings. And he used so many Nigerians, including former President Obasanjo, to play one role or the other for me,” he said.
“I became the deputy governor of a state, became the governor, the vice president and president. I have no issues with him, and I really don’t want to join issues with President Obasanjo. I think it is not necessary,” he added.
The relationship between both men worsened after Mr. Obasanjo’s wrote an 18-page open letter to Mr Jonathan on December 2, 2013, blaming the president for failing to deliver on his promises to Nigerians. He also accused him of making no effort to check the growing corruption in the country and allowing insecurity to degenerate.
In the letter, Mr. Obasanjo also accused Mr Jonathan of hounding prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party opposed to his second term ambition.
Since then, Mr. Obasanjo has relentlessly criticised the Jonathan administration and all efforts by party chieftains to reconcile both of them have failed.
Matters got to a head last Monday after Mr Obasanjo, who apparently got wind of a plan to expel him from the party, dumped the party before the plan was executed. On the occasion, Mr Obasanjo, not one to leave without creating a spectacle, asked the PDP ward leader to tear his membership card.
He also announced his retirement from active politics and expressed his desire to be a statesman. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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What child! U no sabi ur papa logo?lol ( pls pardon my joke). Mr president no one needs to say a word international communities can see already how Nigeria had degenerated there's nothing hidden under the sky the fact is you don't have to be in a country before knowing what's going on in that country in this era so make we hear word.
ReplyDeleteThis is a civilized response with every humility and condescension. I thank God for such grace given to you. I think personal issues between father and son can be settled without destroying the family institution. God bless Nigeria and bless our leaders past and present.
ReplyDeleteIs this the kind of president we should hv for another 4 year? When he was told about the dangers posed by bokoharam, he did nothing and now telling we Nigerians he made a mistake for taking the issue for granted. Now he is been warned about the degeneration of the economy bt here he is saying the economy is not in crisis. Is he deceiving Nigerians or himself. In the face of high insecurity, devalued naira, falling crude oil price, high unemployment rate, high poverty rate, almost empty foreign reserve, high corruption rate, growing foreign and domestic debt, jst to mention a few. And yet this man still think the economy is not yet in crisis. If he cant see that the economy is in crisis and even wen his attention is being drawn to it like it was with the bokoharam issue before going out of hand, he still feel the economy is doing great, then Obviously he lack wat it takes to be the president
ReplyDeleteIs this the kind of president we should hv for another 4 year? When he was told about the dangers posed by bokoharam, he did nothing and now telling we Nigerians he made a mistake for taking the issue for granted. Now he is been warned about the degeneration of the economy bt here he is saying the economy is not in crisis. Is he deceiving Nigerians or himself. In the face of high insecurity, devalued naira, falling crude oil price, high unemployment rate, high poverty rate, almost empty foreign reserve, high corruption rate, growing foreign and domestic debt, jst to mention a few. And yet this man still think the economy is not yet in crisis. If he cant see that the economy is in crisis and even wen his attention is being drawn to it like it was with the bokoharam issue before going out of hand, he still feel the economy is doing great, then Obviously he lack wat it takes to be the president
ReplyDeleteI don't know why Nigerians are giving Obasanjo any audience. He promised to rule for 1 term and hand over to his vice president who represented the PDM faction of the party. He reneged on that promise, tried to finish the vice president, did a second term and was trying to amend the constitution to allow him a third term. He still believes in ruling the presidency by proxy. Nigerians have a very short memory. He talks about security, yet his serving Attorney General was assassinated in his bedroom with impunity. His was the first regime to undertake a police coup against a governor Ngige, all he had to say was that Ngige failed to keep his agreement with Uba! Thereby agreeing that Ngige should have been sharing the state allocation with Uba as agreed before his election. What about all assassinated politicians too many to mention including Funsho Williams? Nigerians have very short memory. God save us.
ReplyDeleteThe Lord who defends the helpless will defend you Mr President. Thank God and thank you for this response. Please, don' t join issues with Baba OBJ. If God still wants you on the seat, He' ll make it happen. Maintain your disposition of not seeing your re-election as a do or die affair.
ReplyDeleteGod will certainly deal with all the enemies of progress and saboteurs of our great nation Nigeria. Power belongs to God. He will do what He deems best for us as a nation. God bless Nigeria.