National Leader of the All Progressives Congress
(APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was an election rigger
without peer and is responsible for most of the
flaws in the Nigerian political economy since
1999.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the national leader
of the All Progressives Congress gave this view in
Lagos on Tuesday in a letter entitled: ‘Chief
Obasanjo -At War Against his Own Deeds’.
Tinubu wrote the letter in response to Obasanjo’s
earlier letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, in
which Obasanjo chastised Buhari and his
administration, claiming, without any proof, that
the president was preparing to rig next month’s
poll.
In Tinubu’s view, Obasanjo in levelling the
uncorroborated accusation was merely projecting
on to the APC the electoral misconduct he would
have perpetrated if still in power
Tinubu, also the Co-Chair of the APC Presidential
Campaign, said Obasanjo was handed Nigeria on
a silver platter in 1999. But he chose to squander
the opportunity of leadership.
“This man should have positioned himself to be
the father of the nation. All the goodwill that
could be granted a political figure was bestowed
on him. The global economy was such that it
should have fuelled our growth.
â€Everyone wanted Nigeria to succeed after
emerging from years of noxious military rule.
Despite the flawed exercise that rendered him
president, we all bit our tongues in hope that he
would say and do the right things that would
move Nigeria forward.
“Instead of being a unifying figure as
Commander-in-chief, he lowered himself to being
a divisive, vindictive conniver. There was no table
which he neared that he did not upset and
overturn, †he said.
Tinubu said that Obasanjo had the opportunity of
placing the economy on the path to durable
growth and shared prosperity through
diversification, industrialisation and creation of a
social safety net for the poor.
â€He tried to convert our young democracy into a
one party state. His PDP boasted that they would
rule for 60 uninterrupted years. Never did they
boast that they would govern us well during even
one year of the sixty.
â€Instead, he handed the economy over to a tight
group of cronies, turning what should be a
modern economy into a version of the mammoth
trading companies that dominated the 17th and
18th century.
“We hoped that Obasanjo would personify
statesmanship, thus showing the way to a more
benign political culture. Instead, he bickered and
feuded with his vice president and mostly anyone
who dared remind him that he was human and
thus infallible.
“Given the vast margin between the good he
could have achieved and the nebulous feats that
comprise his true record, Chief Obasanjo is the
person most responsible for the flaws in the
Nigerian political economy since 1999, †he said.
Tinubu also described the former president as an
election rigger without peer.
According to Tinubu, the ways of Obasanjo are
not those of the APC. And this difference has
meant the better for Nigeria.
“There is no election which occurred under
Obasanjo’s watch or in which he participated that
did not involve cheating on his part.
“Even the late President Umaru Musa Yar ‘Adua
admitted he was the beneficiary of a flawed
election engineered by none other than today’s
vociferous complainant.
â€Former President Obasanjo is many things to
many people; but he is all things unto himself.
â€This election will be a free and open exercise of
the people’s right to choose their leaders.
Obasanjo makes fiery allegations against this
right but offers no corroborating evidence; he
presents only reams of words.
â€This is because Obasanjo is projecting onto the
APC the misconduct he would have wrought if
still in power. Yet, the ways of Obasanjo are not
those of the APC. And this difference has meant
the better for Nigeria,’ he said.
Source:
guardian.ng/news/obasanjo-responsible-
for-flaws-in-nigerias-political-economy-
since-1999-tinubu/
