SAN FRANCISCO, April 03, (THEWILL) – Three months after criticising President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance in office, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has advised Nigerians not to vote for a ‘failed government’ in 2019.
Obasanjo, speaking on Monday, during a visit to his Ogun State home by a ‘New Nigeria 2019 Group, called on Nigerians to be cautious not to re-elect a ‘failed government’ which may end up with excuses for its failure to meet Nigerians’ expectations.
He said it will be foolhardy for Nigerians to reinforce failure by re-electing the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Buhari in 2019.
He criticised the APC-led federal government for allegedly bringing hardship on Nigerians and running an ineffective economic policy which, he said, cripples businesses, causing economic woes in the country.
While castigating the APC, Obasanjo also condemned his former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and asked Nigerians not to accept the opposition party’s recent apology; saying both APC and PDP could not salvage Nigeria.
“But this time, for us to make it, we need all hands on deck. You see, I have publicly said and I mean it, that as a party, neither PDP nor APC can get us there as they have been. Never mind about reforms and apology and all that.
“And yet we have to get there. I asked one of the foundation members of PDP, the PDP when we started, was it a grassroots party? He said it was an elitist party. Really, we have never had the so-called grassroots party.
“Even NEPU which we could say is the nearest was not grassroots enough. And I believe strongly that we must have a strong popular grassroots movement to bring about the change, sustainability and stability that we need in our democracy and development.
“I am happy to meet with you, but don’t take anything for granted. There will be a lot of work that we have to do. What those I call power addicts would want to do is to divide you based on gender, age, tribe, religion and region.
“You have one commonality – interest of Nigeria. And it doesn’t matter where you come from. We had that interest.
The truth is this: when you have an ineffective and incompetent government, we are all victims. And don’t let anybody deceive you.
“The first lesson I learnt in my military training is never reinforce failure. What we have now is failure. Never you reinforce failure. Let failure be failure. And if you do not see what you should see, you will then be a victim of what you don’t like because it’s only when you see what you should see and you do what you should do that you put away what you do not like. And if you don’t see what you should see and you don’t do what you should do, you will be a victim of what you don’t like.”
However, the Presidency responded saying the administration of would not join issues with the former President over his comments on Buhari administration.
The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, who responded to Obasanjo’s comments in a telephone interview on Channels Television, said the assessment was not new.
“Already, the statement issued few months ago by the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, in response to the earlier criticism made against the government by Obasanjo had adequately addressed the issues raised’’.
He maintained that the APC-led Federal Government would keep making reference to the failures of the past administration with a view to guiding against such mistakes in future.
According to Adesina, the Buhari administration has successfully tackled mismanagement of the nation’s economy, as Nigeria now has more savings in its foreign reserve than ever before.
