Elder statesman and former Senate
President, Ameh Ebute, has slammed former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, for
dissipating energy on writing memos capable of causing disaffection in the
polity.
Ebute asked Obasanjo to show
remorse for the pains and crises he brought upon the country.
The former Senate President in a
letter addressed to Chief Obasanjo entitled, “Re: The Way Out: A Clarion Call
For Coaliation For Nigeria Movement”, advised
Obasanjo to walk the path of statesmanship by thinking of solutions to help
solve the problems he created in his eight years Presidency.
The former Senator who briefed
journalists in Abuja on Tuesday on the content of his letter, said he had
cautioned Obasanjo when he wrote former President Jonathan in a similar letter
that it was not in the interest of the unity and peace of the nation as it is
an affront on decency and decorous behavior by publicly attempting to ridicule,
malign and assault the seat of power.
Read full letter below:
Your Excellency,
Chief Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo,
Former President of Nigeria,
Obasanjo Farms,
Otta, Ogun State.
Your Excellency, Sir,
Re: THE WAY OUT: A CLARION CALL
FOR COALITION FOR NIGERIA MOVEMENT
I am bemused to again read a
public letter/special press statement from you addressed to President Muhammedu
Buhari GCFR, titled “The Way Out: A Clarion Call For Coalition For Nigeria
Movement.” I recall that in 2013, you wrote a similar letter to former
President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR, which you captioned, “Before It Is Too
Late.”
In my considered and carefully
drafted response to that letter to former President Jonathan, I faulted the
contents of your epistle variously and returned the verdict of guilt and
condemnation you irreverently, dishonestly and selfishly handed down on the
administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan back to your doorstep. As an erstwhile
President of Nigeria, I was riled and never concealed my anger against your
grandstanding, passion and obsession with open letters to serving leaders,
instead of a silent advice on presumed wrong steps as required of your status.
In that letter, you explained
that stepping out publicly was because President Jonathan had ignored previous
letters you discreetly mailed to him, which caused the public outburst. In
spite of the unconvincing excuse, I proceeded to advice that a former President
genuinely interested in the peace, unity and progress of his country does not
toe such path, which diminishes his self-esteem, dignity and character. I
erroneously thought you would harken to my counsel.
But today, I am proved wrong, as
you have again trampled on decency and decorous behavior by publicly attempting
to ridicule, malign and assault the seat of power with a repeat letter to
President Buhari. In truthfulness, would you again claim President Buhari
ignored your secret/private letters to him which has necessitated the public
interrogation of issues of governance and leadership under the Buhari
Presidency? The answer is certainly no! And this posturing has finally erased
the tiniest modicum of respect and trust in you from Nigerians.
In the current instance too, you
have reeled out a torrent of subsisting problems and perceived deficiencies of
the Buhari Presidency very hypocritically and in utmost contempt for the office
and personality of President Buhari. It is all in veiled pursuit of your secret
agenda for the absolute ruination and destruction of Nigeria, a foundation
faultily laid by you between 1999 and 2007, when you served as President of the
country.
Each time you embark on your
voyage of self-destruction, you endlessly adumbrate on pervading unresolved
national problems, you created and nurtured to fester. The issues of poverty,
insecurity, poor economic management as trumpeted in your letter have existed
with Nigeria and aggravated under your reign as President. Precisely, poverty,
hunger and disease are cardinal components of the Millennium Development Goals,
(MDGs), which you claim to be spearheading efforts in the guise of “Zero
Hunger” initiative; but gave no attention to it when you wielded power at Aso
Rock. This is the pretence and deception that have become your trademark and
uprooted or alienated you from Nigerians.
And in your repulsive character
of appropriating what belongs to others to yourself, you are preaching about
targets, the Zero Hunger goal would reach by 2025 in Nigeria with the
participating states. Therefore, a mindset like this prefers not to see or much
more acknowledge the laudable initiatives of the Buhari Presidency in achieving
food security and self-sufficiency such as the Anchor Growers Programme for
rice production and the various agricultural loans to Nigerian farmers and the
revitalization of hitherto moribund fertilizer plants across the country. These
steps have placed Nigeria on the map of countries in the world earning foreign
exchange from exportation of agric produce.
No one is surprised that you
disparaged President Buhari’s efforts in curbing the monster of corruption and
insurgency, which flourished under your administration and became untameable,
with the reserved commendation by declaring that “it is not yet uhuru!” You
display the lack of capacity to wholeheartedly appreciate the efforts of other
leaders. Rather you preferred to flaunt the African spread of your Presidential
Library, which Nigerians have severally and collectively accused you of
corruptly funding it.
It is quite funny the failure to
acknowledge that the EFCC under Buhari has unprecedentedly recovered looted
public funds in assets and cash, trillions of naira never before known to the
history of Nigeria’s anti-graft war. Today, you frequently accuse your former
Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as very corrupt, but could recover and
publish any kobo you recovered from him back to national treasury. The
foundation for the dubious sale of national public assets like NITEL, PHCN etc
was laid by you.
The seeds of Boko Haram
insurgency was sown under your administration in Borno and exploded, soon after
you were forced to relinquish power after the failure of the infamous third term
bid. The subsequent leaders you imposed on Nigeria could not handle the
problem, until President Buhari came on board. As clever and astute as you
claim in leadership, you had no solution to the puzzle of militancy in the
Niger Delta or the communal clashes that plagued most communities in Nigeria.
President Buhari is leading
Nigeria at its most tumultuous and tormenting era, with virtually all regions
of the country embroiled in violent crises simultaneously. But he has
significantly reduced the tempo of these conflicts and enthroned peace in most
conflict areas. The herders/farmers conflict is unfortunate, but the President
has not relented either. Apart from drafting security to the affected areas,
Buhari has inaugurated an Economic Team headed by the Vice President, Professor
Yemi Osinbajo to work out a permanent solution to the conflict based on its
economic undertone.
The claim to team work and
collaborative efforts is spurious and porous. There is no such leadership
content in you, exhibited throughout your years of leadership of Nigeria.
Indeed, your close political associates often accuse you of resenting advice
and it has earned you the epaulet of Mr.Know All. It is unconscionable to
attempt to reinvent your character and perception of leadership different from
what is associated with you simply because you want to impress yourself with
tirades against Mr. President.
Furthermore, it belies the truth
the postulation that the decision to denounce your party, the PDP to join the
change train in 2015 was for altruistic reasons. The disagreement with former
President Jonathan stemmed from his failure to seek your counsel and protect
your strategic interests resulted in this decision and the shameful and
un-statesmanly manner you reacted. This is a fact in public domain and it is
faulty to claim otherwise. At every point, you are economical with the truth,
by serving Nigerians with a menu of lies.
Therefore, when you publicly
declared that you have withdrawn yourself from partisan politics, it bemused
many Nigerians. What else could be the colour and face of politics, when in
your letter to Buhari, it expressed concern about the endorsement of President
Buhari by some State Governors for a second term? What else is political, when
you offer the unsolicited advice to President Buhari not to contest the
presidency again in 2019? How else is politics played, when you incite public
anger against a sitting President, by conjuring all manner of half-truths or
outright falsehood against his administration?
No former President of Nigeria
who knows the poor state of the economy President Buhari inherited in May 2015
would not appreciate the efforts and measures adopted in revamping the economy.
Nigeria was in recession, had an empty treasury, while public debts piled to
frightening levels, most especially in salaries of public workers and local
contractual debts, fraudulent oil subsidy claims and so forth. Meanwhile, crude
oil price, the major national revenue source had dropped to as low as $28 per
barrel.
In spite of the precarious
situation and paucity of national resources, President Buhari navigated his way
through the tough terrain, offsetting public debts, diversifying the economy,
funding public expenditure and executing capital projects across the country in
amounts never before expended on funding capital projects. He has been able to
raise the emptied Nigeria’s foreign reserves to over $40 billion in two years
and the Nigerian Stock Market value has risen to an all- time high of over N15
trillion. When ordinary, Nigerians expect an immediate impact of an economy
which has just freed itself from recession, it’s understandable. But when
someone like Obasanjo makes the same assumption and claim mismanagement of the
economy, it is outright blackmail, and mischievous.
Rightly, like you asked yourself
the question, “what does Obasanjo want again?” But the answer you offered is
also steeped in lies because Nigerians are not convinced that you are genuinely
after “the best for Nigeria and Nigerians.” There is a masked political
interest in your outing and as reflected in this open letter, which you
revealed yourself as movement for the “Coalition for Nigeria”, (CN) for a
strange redemption mission only defined in your senses. It is this smart way of
launching an alternative platform that you have condemned unreservedly the
ruling APC and the opposition PDP. Thereafter, you proceeded to paint a picture
of gloom and dark clouds in Nigeria reminiscent of the 1999 experience, which
you could not make better, but shamelessly sermonized its baseless rebirth in
the current dispensation.
Chief Obasanjo, you must realize
that there is absence of any solid legacy from you to remind any Nigerian of
your status as a leader who once ruled Nigeria. So, enough of this bashing of
every Nigerian leader. During your time, you performed abysmally, but Nigerians
did not ask you to either resign nor not to re-contest. Contrary to your
misguided belief, Nigerians are impressed with the ruling APC and the Buhari
Presidency for what it has recorded so far.
Nigerians know President Buhari
is capable of offering more, if he continuous in office to 2023 with the
support of Nigerians. Former President Obasanjo, you can keep your advice, but
President Buhari is sure to coast to victory in 2019 to engender more development
for Nigerians. Nigerians should all be alert to avert your distractions or the
“Obasanjo syndrome” as you have unleashed in the polity to disrupt harmony and
peaceful co-existence in the country.
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See this one! What is he saying? Sycophant Ebute.
ReplyDeleteHe recovered Trillions and is not affecting the masses, yet our economy is still the worst. You claimed that Jonathan's government embezzle our money yet during his time we have more than enough to eat, there was no much hunger in the land, now that Buhari government has recovered the so called Trillions which Nigeria has never recovered in the history of this country, why still hunger? stealing? corruption in highest level? -people selling their children? stealing pot of soup on the fire? kidnapping here and there? herdsmen all over? people committing suicide? all kinds of evil in the land??? on the rise, eh? Ebute
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