The presidency has responded to scathing remarks made by former President Olusegun Obasanjo against the administration of President Bola Tinubu during a recorded keynote speech he delivered last Friday at Yale University in an event organised by Cajetan Iheka, Chair of the University’s Council on African Studies.
The Former President in his speech said that Nigeria has become a “failed state” due to the policies of former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu.
While responding to Obasanjo’s remarks on behalf of the presidency, the Special Adviser to the President on Public Communications and Orientation, Sunday Dare described former President Obasanjo as “a man with a tremendous capacity for mischief”, saying that his journey along the path of hallucinations has never been in doubt.
Mr. Sunday Dare also noted that Obasanjo is notorious for his descent into muddling facts, forgetting that he ran a Presidency on record as the most corrupt. The presidential adviser added that Obasanjo’s recent diatribe at Yale University lacks sincerity.
“It is actually laughable that Obasanjo’s pretentiousness about fighting corruption is not cutting any ice in the eyes of the general public. We all know what happened under his watch and how, up till the present moment, there has been no explanation as to how he wasted a whopping $16bn in generating megawatts of darkness across the nation. But that is not even the issue”, Dare stated.
“Democracy suffered mortal wounds under his watch only capped by his murderous rage for an ill-fated 3rd term. Successive administrations struggled to clean up the mess Obasanjo left behind, which President Tinubu is now making progress with. Obasanjo has lost any moral right to condemn any government. He should apologise to Nigerians for not laying the foundational infrastructure Nigeria needed to advance.
“There is a Yoruba proverb which says, “A o ki n wo ariwo oja, eniti a anba na oja ni a n wo”. This means that you shouldn’t pay heed to the market’s noise. Rather, keep an eye on the person you are negotiating with. This is instructive. In this market called Nigeria, the man with the renewed hope agenda is the one that matters and indeed Nigerians”, he noted.
Mr. Dare promised that the administration of President Bola Tinubu will stay focused in bringing relief to Nigerians and that Obasanjo’s remarks reflect the infantilist nature of market noise.
“President Tinubu will stay the course in seeing through the reforms he has instituted for a better Nigeria. The point here is that Obasanjo should take time off this habit of pulling down leaders, especially his successors and try to interrogate himself on how he has contributed to the parlous state of the Nigerian nation which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is now spiritedly battling to put back on the track of development.
“We thank former President Obasanjo for agreeing that “Yes, there is hope”. That’s the Renewed Hope Agenda President Tinubu is about and it’s on track. We are happy to have that conversation with the former President”, Sunday Dare concluded.