As reactions continue to trail the
recent statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the state of the
nation, the Council of Progressive Yoruba Youths has apologized to Nigerians.
The youth group said the latest
missive in circulation entitled “Points For Concern And Action by Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo” was off-point and should be discarded in its entirety.
Speaking at a news conference in
Lagos on Tuesday, the National President of the group, Kola Salawu, said
Nigerians needed to forgive Obasanjo for the eight years he wasted as a
civilian president and for the wrong path he set the nation on.
Salawu said the Yoruba race was
deeply ashamed that a so-called elder from its ethnic stock decided to remain
in a muddy gutter by penning such nauseating content.
He claimed that Obasanjo sowed
the seed for extremism that birthed terrorism.
The youth leader said, “In Yoruba
land, we take pride in answering our names. Only a bastard will deny his name.
In practical terms this translates into us standing by our decisions and
actions, irrespective of what outcomes they produced. Where the outcomes are
good our head swell with the accompanying accolades; where the results of our
actions are undesirable, we accept responsibility with honour and explore how
to make amends so that we remain an integral part of the society. Of course, in
the ancient past, where the failing is too grievous and involves a king that
remained recalcitrant the relevant powers will have to present him, with an
empty calabash.
“This is a level of honour
Obasanjo has never possessed and is incapable of learning. Had he such honour
he would have accepted that the current insecurity he ranted is the outcome of
his misrule that is only now yielding fruits. The poverty that makes it
possible for terrorists, militants and separatists to gain new recruits was
first instituted under his watch as president. The extremism that the nation
today grapple with first surfaced under him with some states declaring Sharia
rule, which was the incentive that made terrorists started demanding nationwide
strict implementation Sharia.
“In the entire eight years he
held office, Obasanjo was in mortal fear of being overthrown because of the
unpopularity of his government. His solution to this was to destroy the
military in the belief that there would be no way to plot a coup against him if
there is no virile military. In addition to embarking on massive sacks and
purge that deprived the military establishment of crucial institutional memory,
he also ensured that the military inventory was depleted without replenishment
or procurement to make sure that the military was incapacitated.
“The destruction of the military
armory at Ikeja Cantonment about this time of the year in 2002 has now been
confirmed to be part of Obasanjo’s desperation to de-tooth the military. A
military plane crash that killed a dozen generals under Obasanjo’s watch in
2006 is equally put down to part of his obsession to gelatinize the military.
He seemed to have succeeded with it.
“The taint on the military from
Obasanjo’s directives for troops to disregard rules of engagement in Odi and
Zak-Ibiam remains an obstacle to the military. Even when their recent and
ongoing operations meet the global standards for the rules of engagement, the
stain from the Obasanjo years remains a perspective from which the military is
perceived. This affects the ability of the military to procure arms when they
need it and the same tyrant under whose watch this happened is today playing
the saint.
“In essence, Obasanjo sowed the
seed for extremism that birthed terrorism. He backed this up by ensuring that
the military was emasculated and unable to respond to the threat he has
created. What has saved Nigeria from Obasanjo’s evil intent was the timely
turnaround being witnessed under President Buhari, who has high regards for
institutional memory in the military.
“The whole of Nigeria became his
enemy and he has never lost on any perceived opportunity to exact vengeance on
all citizens. May we refresh our memory that Obasanjo reportedly trained 1000
killer snipers abroad with the intention of using them to assassinate those who
stand in the way of his ambition. These snipers formed part of the pioneer team
of killers that have remained loose in the country till date.
“The outcome of that election
produced Mallam Umaru Yar’Adua as president and it was a matter of months
before Obasanjo started wishing him dead because he turned out not to be the
stooge that Obasanjo expected. Yar’Adua’s demise paved way for Goodluck
Jonathan, whom Obasanjo did much to mislead and abandoned after he incurred the
anger of Nigerians pleasing the former President. If Obasanjo thought he would
have a pliant President Buhari following his opposition of Jonathan he was in
for a rude shock.
“If Obasanjo supported Yar’Adua
and later disowned him over ill health, supported Jonathan and later disowned
him for consulting others and supported Buhari and now disowning him for not
bending to his wishes, then maybe it is not these president that something is
wrong with. The problem is Obasanjo. He feigns support for successive
presidents in the hope of being able to use them as puppets and continue as a
life president while they act as the symbolic leaders. Such deviousness is not
the Yoruba way because it is without honour.
“We do not want to go into the
past of an Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), whom Obasanjo
convinced Nigerians to be a very corrupt person. The same person God will not
forgive him for forgiving. He has turned around to tell Nigerians that this is
the same person to vote in the hope of acquiring a new puppet. A Yoruba elder
will not be caught doing such, it amounts to being incitement, which is
unbecoming of anyone that has become a grandfather.
“We apologize for the eight
wasted years of Obasanjo as a civilian president and for the wrong path he set
the country on, which we are now all trying to correct. We apologize for his
callous thinking that had projected that Buhari would die in office. We
apologize for the unbecoming tantrum he has been throwing for not having his
way as a puppet master of successive presidents. We apologize to you all
Nigerians because what Obasanjo is does not reflect who the Yoruba are.”
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you have no respect for elders who speak the truth ,Yoruba have a very good tradition ,maybe your genecology is mixed somewhere ,
ReplyDeleteSome youths are so senseless, if they give them N1 they are ready to sell their future over just N10,000 fools! without knowing their left from their right sorry is you peoples' name, seat down and be hailing Sai Baba until your future is ruin
ReplyDelete