ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES
Buhari’s Presidency attack on President Olusegun Obasanjo is irresponsible and shameful. What did Obasanjo say about the Buhari administration that it’s not true and even worse than he painted it?
In what ways can the disaster called Buhari compare to Olusegun Obasanjo? It is because we are a country of forgetful citizens that a Buhari could have the face to join issues with an Obasanjo.
In his over six decades of active service to Nigeria, Obasanjo has had his signature on virtually every meaningful achievement that Nigeria has recorded (I will be doing a video on some of his achievements later this week). Obasanjo is respected all over the world for his intelligence and intentional works in advancement of Nigeria nay African interests.
Buhari is known to have been a hater of democracy. The Daura cattle breeder has never hidden his revulsion for democracy, but he is an insecure power monger, who wants power for the sake of it and not because of what he intends to do with it. On all the occasions that Obasanjo had been given power, he was reluctant about taking it, but eventually, he left legacies that are impossible to be erased. Buhari had always sought power and even cried over his several failures to get that power. It took Obasanjo’s support for him to get power in 2015.
If there is anything to be counted as legacies for Buhari, they are legacies of suffering, pains, corruption, incompetence, lies and everything that a nation should never pray to experience. Obasanjo stabilised Nigeria, brought prosperity and took far reaching decisions that strengthened our democracy. It is on record that unlike Buhari who was thrown out of power during his time as military despot, Obasanjo remains the first Nigerian military ruler to voluntarily organise an election and hand over power to a democratically elected President. It was the same Buhari who toppled that civilian administration.
Obasanjo has always been intentional about his decisions to preserve Nigeria’s unity and strengthen our bonds as a united country by respecting the diverse sensitivities of tribe and religion. Obasanjo worked to ensure he was succeeded by a Muslim Northern after his tenure in 2007, because that’s what is right for a nation such as ours. Balance of power on the basis of tribe and religion is fundamental to the guardrails of our nationhood. Buhari who cares little whether Nigeria survives or not, is working assiduously to foist not just a Muslim like himself on us as his successor, but a Muslim-Muslim presidency in a precariously constituted and almost equally populated nation of Muslims and Christians.
Obasanjo built infrastructures that are lasting the test of time, strengthened our economy, established institutions that are standing strong today and whose impact in our march to greatness as a nation cannot be denied. What has Buhari built and for what will he be remembered?
Obasanjo is neither mentally lazy nor physically indolent. Obasanjo has continued to improve himself academically since after leaving power. Today he holds an earned PhD, having started his university education from the scratch. But Buhari doesn’t even know where his First School Leaving Certificate is and has not taken any steps to improve his education or leadership capabilities.
Soon after leaving power as a military Head of State, Obasanjo was seriously involved in international politics and was given critical assignments by the United Nations. He was a major contender for the UN top job before he was imprisoned by Abacha for speaking out against that dictator’s excesses. What was or is, Buhari’s profile in international politics, for the more than two decades he was out of power following his ousting by his fellow coupists?
Obasanjo was in charge as President and Commander-in-Chief. We didn’t have to be treated with such embarrassing questions as; “which of the presidencies?” We didn’t have different cabals outdoing one another in a bid to assert their authority. Nigerians knew who their president was and he fully took charge. Obasanjo wasn’t the kind of President who would look the other way or even be completely unaware as his CBN governor is being harassed by the secret police and other agencies under his control.
What really is there to be envious of in a leader like Buhari?