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Tag: Obasanjo

  • What does Obasanjo really want?

    Sir: An illustrious presence in Nigeria’s political history, Olusegun Obasanjo is expected to have had his fill by now. His military career was capped with the office of head of state, yet he served two terms as a civilian president. There are the privileges of a statesman amid continental and global visibility. Wealth, health, family. He owns a huge ego massaged even by powerful political actors in the country. It is a man lucky enough to command both meaningful and vainglories who, however, want some more—some more power.

    Power, in the sense of continued relevance, is the curse of all men of mighty ambition. Irrelevance is for an ambitious politician what poverty is for an entrepreneur—a fundamental factor to resist, one which, though motivates all actions, remains feared. Becoming an ordinary citizen is a depressing anti-climax for men of power. They cannot understand a life without a prominent opinion, without charm and public spectacle, without a capacity to shape affairs on a large scale. Except for those who had power thrust upon them without their quest for it, a silent existence is misery.

    Obasanjo was created for power. Serving out his tenure with the likelihood of obscurity, he went back to school for a Ph.D. With that in the bag and his bones strong enough to carry him forward, he embraced the current intervention to unseat President Buhari, a political outcome bearing his imprint.

    On its own, ambition is not a bad thing. While his military contemporaries are content as moneybags, Obasanjo is drawn to letters and higher thought. We have seen a few books and a consistent visibility engaging Africa. A library too. None of his peers has earned that kind of recognition, nor are they willing, nay, able to apply themselves to the intellectual rigors of international engagement. In reaching such glories in addition to the banality of money, he must be basking in a certain air of superiority over them. “Read chapters 41, 42, 43 and 47 of my book,” he recently instructed President Buhari, performing the stated arrogance. In the context of Nigeria’s dark gathering of leaders, there is something different about Olusegun Obasanjo—in positive and negative measures.

    In fairness, his motives for power show some dints of altruism, even if incidental. For a man whose military generation and personal choices led Nigeria and indeed Africa into dictatorships, these global interventions may be a form of redemption. He is chairman of the African Export-Import Bank; chairman, West African Commission on Drugs; a Special UN Envoy who has mediated in some conflicts and spoken at prestigious global forums, he is shaping up the image of a pan-African statesman garlanded, yet again, with a new worship as “Baba Africa”. These recognitions draw from the impact of his various headships of African bodies during his time as Nigeria’s President, especially from NEPAD.

    This imagined redemptive drive may issue from a sense of history. With learning comes a consciousness to prop oneself up for history’s generosity. Obasanjo’s quest for relevant power seems poised to replace old legacies with newer ones, deepen historical acceptance, and in the process shape a continent that can leverage its potential. He appears genuinely in love with Africa and is doing his remaining bit to right wrongs. Although mixed, public opinion about him at both local and international levels shows, by and large, a man admired in spite of himself.

    Still his motives will be questioned and rightly so too. His current positioning and undertakings contrast with a past in brigandage and abuse of power. Obasanjo’s Peoples Democratic Party ran wild with impunity, sometimes with his silence if not collusion. He has been cleared of some corruption charges, but public opinion remains understandably cynical. A purported third-term agenda, unconvincingly denied, lingers in blemish, further deepening the eternal suspicion of the Obasanjo character. His current political initiatives therefore become a casualty of public incredulity, of a mixed past whose negatives are hard to forget. In wanting to unseat President Buhari, his popularity goes on trial.

    Yet a tireless Obasanjo persists in trying to get what he wants. What does he really want? To assert relevance, court public acceptance, and leave a legacy? Escaping death by the whiskers during the military era, he has since outlived several death rumours, running around with the health and agility of one who has just begun. But Buhari wants to lock him up, he alleges, never mind that in “My Watch”, he said he would rather be locked up than have Goodluck Jonathan continue in office. He recently asked the president to read four chapters of the book; the man may have over-read and seen the dangerous wish.

     

    • Immanuel James Ibe-Anyanwu, Lagos.

  • ‘Buhari has shamed Babangida, Obasanjo’

    Dr. Ore Falomo was the physician of the late Chief Moshood Abiola, the symbol of the historic June 12, 1993 presidential election. The medical doctor, who is also an in-law of the late politician, relives his experience during the five years Abiola was in solitary confinement. In this interview with Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN, he also speaks on the lessons of the election’s annulment.

    How do you feel with the honour done to Abiola by President Buhari’s declaration?

    Ah! I feel elated, I feel justified. I am very happy that at long last truth has been elevated over lies and conspiracy at the highest level against Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. He had triumphed over his enemies live or dead. Being a living witness of the grave injustice meted out to Abiola in the past 25 years, I and other associates of MKO had carried on the struggle for the recognition of June 12 by the powers that be to no avail. Until Buhari said enough of this, we should stop deceiving ourselves; MKO won June 12 presidential elections. With that pronouncement, President Muhammadu Buhari has declared Abiola President posthumously. I don’t know why some people are so wicked about June 12, an election that was adjudged by local and international observers as the freest and fairest election in the history of Nigeria. The election was the most acceptable by Nigerians, compared to others before then and since then. I can’t believe that Buhari would be the one to restore Abiola’s mandate, because they were not friends when Abiola was alive. I cannot estimate my joy over what Buhari did on June 12 presidential election. Thank you Mr President for healing the wounds inflicted on us by the military cabal.

    Are there lessons to learn from Abiola’s travails?

    The lessons are many for those at the helm of affairs. They should know that power is transitory. No position is permanent in life. When you are doing something, don’t do it for what you are going to benefit. You should consider what it will benefit the country, because tomorrow will judge your actions. Those who do things for personal benefits will perish. Twenty five years after, we are still celebrating Abiola, because of his good deeds when he was alive. We are celebrating as if it happened only yesterday. No matter the gang up by the opposition, continue to do good because tomorrow will judge you. Abiola sacrificed his life for democracy we are enjoying today. I am sure another Abiola will emerge. It may not be in our life time.

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    As a close associate of MKO, did he ever had the premonition of what befell him?

    He knew that problem was ahead before entering into presidential race. Abiola told me that before he declared his ambition to contest, he consulted Gen. Ibrahim Babangida to know whether he would relinquish power or not. He said Babangida had sworn on the Holy Quran that if he (Abiola) won he would not deny him his victory. One day, the civil right activist, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti, came to my house and said he had a hint that Babangida would not hand-over, if Abiola won. We went to MKO’s house to inform him. We met him watching a football match between Nigeria and Senegal that day. Beko repeated the same information to him. Abiola said Babangida had assured him and swore with Quran. Beko told Abiola not to believe IBB, because he was known to have reneged on many promises. The next statement uttered by Abiola was that if Babangida reneged, it would involve life; meaning that he was ready to sacrifice his life. That was exactly what happened. Babangida annulled the election. Abacha put him in solitary confinement for five years where he died.  The United States Ambassador in Nigeria at that time sent me to Abiola to tell him that he should allow another presidential election to hold, so that he could regain his freedom and participate in the new election. When I conveyed the message to Abiola, he rejected the proposal. Abiola said Nigerian people gave him a four-year mandate and he had not been allowed to rule, why should he go back to them to seek another mandate? That he made promises to the electorates, they voted for him; people didn’t say he should not rule, why should he go and tell them to vote for him again? He sent me back to the US envoy with the message that on June 12 mandate he stood.

    What message do you have for those who worked against Abiola’s mandate?

    Tomorrow has caught up with them. All the lies and scheming to deceive people have turned against them. Buhari has sent two messages: First, that what Olusegun Obasanjo told us in making May 29 Democracy Day was not true. Obasanjo said May 29, 1999 was the first time the military would hand over power to civilians. It was a lie. The first time the military handed-over to civilian was in 1979. It was he (Obasanjo) as military Head of State that handed over power to former President Shehu Shagari that year. Second, that the June 12 election is the watershed of Nigerian democracy. It was the day all Nigerians, irrespective of tribe or religion, voted for a president of their choice. Abiola won in his opponent’s state. Bashir Tofa accepted defeat. It was an historic event. That June 12 is the real Democracy Day in Nigeria.

    Abiola read Bible and Quran four times in detention. He knew the end was coming. I was with him one day when he said ‘had it not been destined, who are these people to put me in chain?’ Some of those who had hands in Abiola’s travails had passed away with ignominy and those still alive, be they judges, prosecutors and schemers are dying gradually in pain. If Obasanjo becomes President of Nigeria 10 times, he will never be a Yoruba candidate. Nigerians have now known their messiah. Buhari has exposed Babangida’s deceit; he can’t come to the Southwest to seek support for anything. The five years of struggle for the restoration of Abiola’s mandate was traumatic for me. Whenever I want to leave my house, I would be thinking that I may not return alive, because of my support for Abiola. All my friends deserted me for safety of their lives, all because of June 12. It was a hilarious day for the Southwest. The Yoruba will never compromise; we have triumphed.

    Some are saying that Buhari should formally declared Abiola President and accord him all the paraphernalia of office posthumously. What do you think?

    He has bestowed the highest honour of the land, the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), which is meant for presidents, on him. With that, he has become an ex-president of Nigeria. Buhari also honoured Abiola’s running mate, Babagana Kingibe, with Grand Commander of Nigeria (GCON). Buhari consulted locally and internationally before he took decision on June 12 presidential election. It amazed me that some people are saying that Buhari’s decision on June 12 was for political reasons; that he wanted to use it to catch votes in the Southwest in 2019. When Buhari came to campaign in Southwest in 2015, he never promised that he would assuage the Yoruba feelings on June 12 and the injustice against Abiola. Yet, he won in the Southwest. Now Obasanjo is telling Buhari not to contest in 2019. Who is he to tell Buhari not to contest? Every Nigerians deemed qualified has the right to contest. Presidency is not the birth right of anybody.  The sovereign power lies with the Nigerian people; they are to decide through their votes in 2019. I admire Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I wish to acknowledge that fate has put him in a prime position to determine to a large extent the direction that the Yoruba people will go. He has been the game changer since the advent of democracy in 1999. He saw in Buhari the qualities of an incorruptible leader and supported him after he had failed three times to win presidential election. Buhari acknowledged him and realised that Tinubu was instrumental to his victory in 2015. I pray Tinubu will triumph over his opponents.

    What would have Nigerians benefit from Abiola’s presidency if he had been allowed to rule?

    The corruption that Buhari is fighting today would not have been there. Abiola was totally against corruption in the military. You can see the revelations from Buhari’s anti-corruption war; how military chiefs diverted public funds meant to buy arms and ammunition into private use. Many of them had agreed to return billions of naira to the Federal Government under plea bargaining. Abiola was so rich that he could never be poor in his life. He would not have embezzled public funds and would not have allowed politicians to share money meant for execution of projects as we experienced in the previous administrations. The mantra of his administration was to liberate Nigerians from the shackles of poverty. He promised life more abundant for Nigerians and he would have achieved that if he had been allowed to govern.

    What is your advice for the Abiola family?

    I don’t know if any of his children would go into politics now or in future. All I can advise them now is that they should sustain the good image and name of their father. They may not be endowed with enough resources to do as much as their father did; they should always help the downtrodden. That was what their father was known for.

    Abiola touched many lives; he lifted so many people; he restored hope in many Nigerians. Remember that when Abiola was alive, a lot of people used to line up in front of his residence seeking assistance every day and he would attend to them.

    What about the controversy over his will?

    It would be resolved by those of us who are guiding Abiola’s legacy. We will not give up. He had many things that are enough to share. The children should keep the good name of their patriarch. As a close confidant of Abiola, we will continue to prevail on his siblings to always protect the family name. I had been his in-law, friend and doctor. I had the privilege of assembling a team for his autopsy. It was a big challenge and a big honour. I thank God I was able to do it. At the appropriate time, we will ask Buhari to set up inquiry on what led to Abiola’s death. We will give him all the support; we have documents. We want Buhari to demystify all factors surrounding the death of Abiola and Abacha, so that Nigeria can move forward.

    What about the debt the Federal Government owed Abiola?

    We will take it up with President Buhari later. When the former military Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, paid condolence visit to Abiola’s family, he promised to pay the debt. He didn’t fulfil the promise. Do you know that Abacha paid part of the debts? As a patriot, Abiola financed Nigerian troops to Liberia and Sierra Leone on peace keeping mission, through provision of food and uniform.

  • Bode George to Buhari, Obasanjo: Let’s sheath the sword

    A former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),Chief Olabode George, yesterday asked President Muhammadu Buhari and former President Olusegun Obasanjo to  ceasefire in the ongoing standoff between  them.

    Obasanjo, in a statement on Friday, alleged plot by agents of the federal government to terminate his life on account of what he called his campaign for Buhari not to seek re-election.

    Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, in a swift response to the allegation, said government was not interested in killing Obasanjo or any Nigerian for that matter.

    However, George, in a reaction to the spat, said having read the statements from the two sides, he saw “nothing sinister in their motives.”

    He said: “As a military man, I know these senior officers very well. I have worked at close quarters with the two of them. I have no doubt about their selfless commitments to our nation.

    “I am appealing to the two personages as a junior officer to sheath their swords and resolve their differences behind the curtain. That is the military style. We don’t wash our dirty linens in the open.

    “Naturally, we can disagree, raise our voices, stamp our feet in disapproval, but never in the open. The essence of the esprit de corps is about mutual felicity and respect for each other. Pray, let’s keep it that way. Nigeria is greater than all of us.

    “For the purpose of clarity and historic objectivity, I write in non-partisan arbitration. The differences of my party with this administration are clear and obvious. We insist on the restructuring of the Nigerian Union to ensure democratic balance, equity, and the ingredients of fairness. On these solid points I remain committed.”

     

  • ‘Buhari more democratic than three previous presidents’

    The Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum on Saturday in Abuja, said that President Muhammadu Buhari has been more democratic than the three previous presidents before him.

    Mr Akin Malaolu, the Secretary-General of the forum said this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.

    The Forum was reacting to recent alarm by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that plans were being plotted to frame him by the President Buhari-led Federal Government for crimes he did not commit.

    Malaolu, who described Obasanjo`s alarm as quite strange, said; “if anything at all was tormenting him, it must be karma that knows his face and has his addresses.’’

    “If Civil Society Organisations call for Nigeria’s anti corruption agencies to urgently revisit the 16 billion dollars Obasanjo Electricity and Power Development Contracts, will that now be deemed that Buhari is plotting to kill Obasanjo.

    “When Obasanjo was calling on Nigerians not to re-elect Buhari come 2019, there was nothing seen as wrong with his inciting and national destabilisation acts and declarations,’’ Malaolu said.

    He recalled that when Obasanjo was in power, nobody could have tried to do to him what he had been doing to bring down successive governments.

    According to him, it is now obvious that the posthumous national recognition and honour given Chief  M.K.O. Abiola by Buhari and the declaration of June 12, as Democracy Day have become the rudest shock for Obasanjo to bear.

    He added that Obasanjo had forgotten that he and many officers were unwilling guests at the country`s diverse detention facilities because of their unbecoming and national destabilisation acts during late Gen. Sani Abacha`s military regime.

    The forum`s secretary-general, however, said that it was time to let the likes of  Obasanjo to understand that without them, Nigeria would be a better country to live in.

    “We must caution Nigerians not to allow themselves get hoodwinked by liars in the country, who know how to turn things around and make it seem like they loved the truth for the sake of the truth.

    Nigerians must not be quick to believe what Obasanjo said, because lies spread quicker than the truth,’’ he said.

    Former President Obasanjo had accused the President Buhari-led administration of plotting to slam false charges on him to pave the way for his indefinite detention.

    Obasanjo had in a statement by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi on Friday, said the government was planning to use fake documents and witnesses against him to achieve its motive.

    The claim is the latest twist after weeks of bitter exchanges between the two leaders, who fell apart after Obasanjo accused President Buhari`s government of under-performing and advised him not to seek re-election in 2019. (NAN)

  • Fayose to Obasanjo: Clear your name

    Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, said on Saturday that former President Olusegun Obasanjo should be ready to clear his name of any allegation levelled against him.

    The governor also asked the ex-President to stop raising alarm on plot to arrest him by the Federal Government.

    He said: “Nigerians are being humiliated every day by President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime which he (Obasanjo) helped to enthrone.”

    “Some of us have gone through trials before and we are not afraid of trials even today.”

    The governor, who insisted that Obasanjo deserves whatever humiliation he was getting from President Buhari, said “the President can go ahead and arrest the ex-President if he desires but should remember that what goes around comes around.”

    “He won’t be President forever too. After all, they have been intimidating and humiliating former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife,” Fayose said.

    The governor referred to Page 96 of Obasanjo’s book, “My Watch,” where he wrote “I prefer him (Buhari) to jail me than Jonathan to return to destroy this nation,” noting that “since the ex-President  himself said he preferred to be jailed by Buhari and worked for his enthronement, the President can hasten his arrest and imprisonment.

    In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said: “When other Nigerians were at the receiving end of President Buhari’s dictatorship, Obasanjo was going in and out of the Presidential Villa.

    “Where was he when Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) was arrested and detained since 2015 despite court orders for his release? When over 1,000 members of the Nigeria’s Islamic Movement were killed in Zaria and their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, arrested and dumped in detention since 2016 despite of court orders, what did Obasanjo do?

    “Where was Obasanjo when armed men of the DSS invaded the Ekiti State House Assembly and abducted one of its members? Did Obasanjo travel out of Nigeria when judges were being arrested in the night in a Gestapo manner?”

     

  • Why I stopped Adesina from replying Obasanjo’s letter – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday night he stopped his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, from replying former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter against his administration because of Adesina’s age.

    The President stated this when members of Buhari Support Organisation visited him at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Buhari said the second reason why he considered it unnecessary to reply the letter was that he and Obasanjo were from the same (military) constituency.

    He, however, noted that Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who eventually replied the letter, did a good job.

    He observed that the minister’s reply showed Nigerians the realities on ground when the present administration assumed office in 2015 and its ongoing efforts to revive the inherited damaged economy.

    The President said: “I really appreciate how you choose this time during Ramadan to come from across the country to congratulate me for what we were able to do.

    “We were constraint to explain our position when the former head of state wrote a letter; Adesina was agitated and wanted to immediately reply; I stopped him for two reasons; first, he was much younger than me and Gen. Obasanjo.

    “Secondly, I am from the same constituent with Gen. Obasanjo. So, I wouldn’t know how it will affect him if I allow him to go wild or to go public. But when Lai Mohammed came, I said he shouldn’t and he insisted. He disobeyed me.

    “He said I must allow him to talk; then, of course, being a professionally information person, I listened to him and asked him what are you going to say.

    “He said he was going to remind Nigerians where we found ourselves when we came in as a government, where we are now, what we have done in between with the resources available to us.

    “And I understand he did a good job because a number of people rang me and said Lai Mohammed has done a good job because I went public in several times.

    “I said it is on record and I challenged anybody to check from Europe, United States and Asia that between 1999 and 2014, the 16 years of previous administration there was an average of 2.1 million per day of crude oil at the average cost of $100 per barrel.”

    The President said he deliberately refused to replace the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, when he took over the mantle of leadership of the country because he wanted to give him the opportunity to salvage the economy from its terrible condition.

    NAN

  • FG hits back at Obasanjo, says no plan to frame up anyone

    THE federal government last night dismissed as frivolous allegation by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo that government had placed him on a watch list preparatory to terminating his life.

    Government said it has no intention of framing up the ex-president or any Nigerian for that matter.

    Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, in a response to the allegation, said government will not be distracted by the “frivolous allegation”, which, according to him, was choreographed to achieve a purpose.

    He wondered why the alarm came soon after President Muhammadu Buhari decided to honour the late winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief M.K.O. Abiola.

    “The Buhari Administration will not be distracted by frivolous allegations from any quarter, especially those cleverly choreographed to divert attention from a widely-acclaimed presidential proclamation and to shore up support for a waning and egotistical cause,” Mohammed said.

    “This administration is too busy trying to clear the mess of 16 years and build on its unprecedented achievements over the past three years to waste its energy and time on framing up anyone or dwelling on issues that are not grounded in fact.”

    He added: “While those who have skeletons in their wardrobes should be afraid, even of their own shadows, innocent persons need not worry about any investigation, whether real or imagined.

    ‘’This administration will never engage in a frame-up of innocent citizens. That is neither in the character of President Muhammadu Buhari nor in that of his administration.

    “Only the guilty should be worried. To paraphrase an African proverb, a man who has no wife cannot lose an in-law to the cold hands of death.

    ‘’The administration is also strongly committed to the tenets of democracy, including freedom of speech and the right to dissent. But we understand that those who, in their time, were untethered to those principles would find it hard to believe.”

    The Minister said it was “curious that the frame-up and witch-hunt allegations came a day after a major presidential proclamation reversing some past acts of injustice was made, to the relief and acclamation of a long-expectant nation.

    ‘’Apparently, the impact of this proclamation was too much to bear by those who, through acts of omission or commission, helped to deepen the wounds inflicted by the blow of injustice that followed an election that was widely acclaimed to be free, fair and credible, hence they felt the need for a red herring that will distract the nation.

    ‘’Added to that is the frustration brought about by the fact that the contraption they have so much hyped as a freeway to power has failed to gain traction.

    “Faced with this double tragedy, even the strongest of men may begin to succumb to a figment of their imagination. They may start crying wolf where there is none.’’

    Mohammed said the unprecedented achievements of the Buhari Administration are also enough to cause sleepless nights, with the attendant symptoms that include phantasm, for those who had better opportunities to make the country great but floundered on the altar of narcissism.”

  • Questions begging Obasanjo for answers

    The euphoria over the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to accord recognition to the June 12, 1993 election and confer the acclaimed winner of the election, Chief MKO Abiola, with the highest honour in the land was punctuated yesterday by the alarm raised by former President Olusegun Obasanjo alleging that his life was in danger.

    In a statement issued by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, the former President said the Buhari-led government was determined to use Gestapo tactics to cow and silence him in order that he might jettison what he called his “divine mandate to protect the rights of the people to better life and living.”

    The statement quoted “impeccable security sources” as indicating that Obasanjo’s name is on their watch list and adding that the security of the former president’s life could not be guaranteed.

    “According to these informants, many of who are in the top echelon of the nation’s security management and close to the corridors of power, the operatives are daily perfecting how to curtail the personal liberties of the former President and hang a crime on him,” the statement added.

    Obasanjo, who said he was being hounded because of an open letter he wrote recently to condemn the Buhari administration, also said there was a plan by the government to seize his International Passport and clamp him into detention indefinitely.

    Coming at a time that the Buhari government is being hailed for its decision to recognise the June 12, 1993 presidential election and its acclaimed winner, is it not possible that the former President’s latest statement was intended to divert attention from a presidential order that his being hailed across the land as a master stroke?

    Many believe that by declaring June 12 the nation’s Democracy Day and according Abiola the honour Obasanjo his kinsman denied him in his eight years as President, Buhari may have pulled the rug off the feet of the ex-President. The best he could do in the circumstance, therefore, was to redirect public attention by alleging threat to his life.

    Obasanjo’s moral ground for accusing the Buhari government of persecution is also being called to question by people who are familiar with his antecedents as the Nigerian President. The former President is reputed for orchestrating the removal of governors, Senate presidents, party chairmen and other highly placed public office holders at the slightest provocation.

    Considering the queer and callous manner he prompted the removal of former governors like Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, Diepriye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa, Rasheed Ladoja of Oyo and Joshua Dariye of Plateau, one cannot but wonder if there is any man that better qualifies as master of Gestapol than the former President himself.

    In the case of Dariye, for instance, only five members of the House of Assembly backed by the Obasanjo-led federal government impeached him in a nocturnal session in Jos after the city was flooded with policemen from Abuja. There was also his failed bid to remove former Anambra State governor Chris Ngige from office, using thugs who abducted the governor at gun point.

    The foregoing are besides the case of former chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Audu Ogbe, whose was removed from office in very dramatic circumstances after a letter he wrote to Obasanjo complaining about too much violence in the land got leaked to the media. Ogbeh was removed from office a day after Obasanjo visited him at home.

    The orchestrated removal of the late Senator Chuba Okadigbo as Senate President during Obasanjo’s reign was also not devoid of high drama as Obasanjo was said to have visited the then Senate President at his official residence, enjoyed a meal of pounded yam and even danced with Okadigbo’s wife only to return home to mastermind his impeachment!

    Is Obasanjo’s allegation then a case of the hangman trembling at the sight of a noose or he is simply being haunted by his past deeds?

    Would Obasanjo as President stomach a statesman who attributes alleged threat to his life to a security source without asking the statesman to disclose the source?

    There, certainly, are questions begging Obasanjo for answers.

  • Alleged plot to arrest Obasanjo worries PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday expressed worry over allegation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, accusing the Federal Government of plotting to arrest him on trumped up charges.

    Obasanjo, who raised the alarm in a statement issued by his spokesman, Kehinde Akinyemi, cited his persistent criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as reason for his travail.

    The PDP, in a statement issued by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, few hours after Obasanjo raised the alarm, said the revelation coming from a man of Obasanjo’s status, was terrifying.

    According to PDP, the development has heightened tension in the polity and confirmed the party’s fears that the nation has descended into a police state where any Nigerian, who holds a divergent view to President Buhari’s 2019 re-election bid, becomes endangered.

    The party said: “The alarm by Chief Obasanjo has further shown that the PDP has not been crying wolf regarding the plots by the Federal Government to frame, arrest, detain and arraign political opponents of the APC, including regular Nigerians, for holding or canvasing opinions that are divergent to the interest of those in power.

    “We invite Nigerians to note the travails faced by perceived opponents of the Buhari Presidency, including Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Senators Shehu Sani and Dino Melaye, who had raised similar alarms in the past.

    “The PDP urges Nigerians to note how APC controlled security forces, on Wednesday, arrested and detained opposition members in Ogun State, including a member of the House of Assembly, Hon Adebiyi Adeleye, who were going about their legitimate activities, only to tag them as cultists.”

    The party condemned what it described as APC’s resort to persecution, intimidation, harassment and framing of its members and other dissenting voices.

    It added that the government’s action was aimed at suppressing the opposition ahead of the 2019 elections.

    “PDP wants the APC and the Buhari Presidency to note that no amount of coercion, intimidation and illegal arrests will alter the determination of Nigerians to vote out the dysfunctional APC and rescue our nation from the shackles of the Buhari Presidency and its misrule, come 2019,” the party added.

  • My life in danger, Buhari’s govt planning to silence me – Obasanjo

    There appears to be no letup in the frosty relationship between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the government of President Muhammadu Buhari with Obasanjo on Friday alleging that the Buhari – led government is planning  to use Gestapo tactics to cow and silence him.

    Obasanjo said the reason behind the alleged desperation to frustrate, intimidate and blackmail him into silence was borne out of the government’s belief that the tactics could impel him to jettison what he identified as his  “divine mandate to protect the rights of the people to better life and living.”

     

    The Ebora Owu who made this known in a statement by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, alleged that the antics have not only continued unabated, but also  and taken a bizarre dimension as “impeccable security sources have alleged his (Chief Obasanjo’s) name is on their Watch List and that the security of his life cannot be guaranteed.”

     

    According him, the latest  development is the fall out of his “State-of-the-Nation Special Statement on January 23, 2018,” in which he advised Buhari  not to seek re – election.

     

    He noted that the attempt to place him on Watch list by the administration was to put his life at risk,  was a “joke carried too far,” adding that he remained  “someone who do not act on unofficial information and had cautioned all informants” while electing to adopt a “wait-and-see attitude to the bestial propositions allegedly being contemplated to cow, cage and embarrass him.”

     

    He lamented that Nigerians now contend with a “nation where the Number Three citizen is currently being harangued and the Number Four citizen is facing similar threat within the same Government they serve.”

     

     

    According to him, not a few nationals are palpably worried that they “could be hounded, harassed, maimed or even killed as the battle for 2019 takes a worrisome dimension.”

     

     

    The statement reads: “impeccable security sources have alleged Chief Obasanjo’s name is on their Watch List and that the security of his life cannot be guaranteed.

     

    “According to these informants, many of who are in the top echelon of the Nation’s security management and close to the corridors of power, the operatives are daily perfecting how to curtail the personal liberties of the former President and hang a crime on him.

     

    “Ordinarily, we would not have dignified these reports with a response but for the fact that many of these informants are not known for flippant and frivolous talks. Secondly, this Government has demonstrably exhibited apathy, and in some cases, encouraged by its conduct, daily loss of lives and property in many States of the country, the office cannot be indifferent.

     

    “We are currently in a nation where the Number Three citizen is currently being harangued and the Number Four citizen is facing similar threat within the same Government they serve. There is a groundswell of our nationals that live in fear that they could be hounded, harassed, maimed or even killed as the battle for 2019 takes this worrisome dimension.

     

    “For Chief Obasanjo, this is a joke carried too far and being someone who do not act on unofficial information, he had cautioned all informants and adopted a wait-and-see attitude to the bestial propositions allegedly being contemplated to cow, cage and embarrass him.

     

    “The content of the alleged beastly designs, it was learnt are two-fold for now. One, to seize his International Passport and clamp him into detention indefinitely, in order to prevent him from further expressing angst on the pervasive mediocrity in the quality of governance, economic management and in the protection of lives and property by the Government.

     

    “But, since that could expose the Government to a swath of international condemnation, embarrassment and outrage, it is said that another plot being hatched is to cause the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to re-open investigation into the activities of Chief Obasanjo’s administration using false witnesses and documents. This will be a re-enactment of the Abacha era in which Chief Obasanjo was one of the principal victims.

     

    “The same EFCC that had conducted a clinical investigation on the activities of Obasanjo in and out of Government, it was said, would now be made to stand down the existing report that gave Chief Obasanjo a clean bill of health on the probes are now to get him indicted, fair or foul for possible prosecution and persecution like it is being done to real and perceived opponents, enemies and critics of this Government. Dissent is a fundamental principle on which liberal democracy is predicated. A true democrat must be ready to live with and accommodate dissent and opposition.

     

    “While it is regrettable how the Government has sunk in its shameless desperation to cow opposition, a resort to blackmail, despotism and Gestapo-tactics being employed by the goons of this Government would not hold water.  And no government ever remains in power forever.

     

    “For the record, Chief Obasanjo reiterates his readiness to face probe again after that of the House of Representatives, the Senate, the ICPC, and the EFCC, but before an independent, objective and credible panel of enquiry to account for his stewardship in Government and beyond.

     

    “Chief Obasanjo reiterates that he has taken a principled position to ensure that the ship of the Nigerian State does not capsize and he remains steadfast in his resolve to turn the tide of maladministration, poor economic management and rudderless governance model that has tore Nigerians apart on account of religion and ethnicity which is a great threat to our democracy.

     

    “We would like the Government and its supporters to understand that no amount of campaign of calumny, no matter how well contrived, orchestrated or marketed would deter Chief Obasanjo from calling a spade by its name. Chief Obasanjo is a patriot whose sole agenda is to ensure that the country’s unity, progress and democracy are not negotiated on the altar of incompetence and provincialism and mediocrity.

     

    “It is important to point out that chief Obasanjo is one former President and Head of State who has engaged the current administration privately and in a bilateral manner on several issues of direct interest to the government and other matters of national concern. That channel of private engagement remains open and continues,”