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| former President Olusegun Obasanjo |
By: Yinka Kolawole in
Osogboâ
Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, yesterday decried the recent comment
of former President Olusegun Obasanjo on
the state of the nation, describing it as an embarrassment to Nigeria’s
corporate existence.
Oyedokun expressed the view while speaking with journalists
in Osogbo, saying as a leader in the PDP, Obasanjo ought not “to make
statements capable of causing disintegration within the party and among the
leadership of the country.”
He explained that Obasanjo recently made an utterance where
he condemned the efforts of the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in the
last two years. Even the recent statement he made outside the country was most
regrettable because when he made statement, the whole world recognises it.”
Oyedokun gave instances of how Obasanjo compared Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido with
President Jonathan in terms of performance
insinuating that the governor would make a better president, saying it
was certainly a cause for worry to Nigeria and destructive to the president as
well as the PDP family.
He further contended that as one of the founding fathers of
the party in the South-west, activities of the former president was not helpful
to the country, noting that his stand on Boko Haram issue was not too palatable
because of his refusal to consult prominent northerners like Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari (rtd), Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) and
others before he embarked on the visitation.
Oyedokun said the most devastating aspect of Obasanjo’s
attitude was his absence at the Democracy Day celebration in Abuja, saying his
regime set aside May 29 of every year as democracy day and it was strange for
him to turn down the invitation only to attend an economic summit in Jigawa
State where he compared the governor with the country’s president.
He frowned on how the former president sowed the seed of
discord within the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), noting that if there was
problem, it is imperative on him to call the stakeholders’ meeting to resolve
the issue rather than putting the country into a very precarious situation.
Oyedokun warned Obasanjo on what he termed “his damaging
utterances to the nation”, party and the masses, saying other leaders of the
PDP in the South West would not allow
anybody to destroy the party”.
“I have spoken with the majority of leaders in the South
West that whatever Obasanjo says does not represent the opinion of the South
West. The situation today in Nigeria now put PDP in a better chance for the
next general election”.
Speaking on the second term of President Jonathan, Oyedokun
canvassed that Jonathan should be given second term for continuity, having
performed creditably in office in the last two year.
He said the governors had constituted themselves into a
cult, with enormous powers, just as he noted that OBJ had equally developed
attitude that made everybody to fear him because the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) he set up focused more on PDP governors and the people
he perceived are his enemies.
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