Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to stop giving Nigerians excuses, adding that the attitude was why he had
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to stop giving Nigerians excuses, adding that the attitude was why he had not achieved results. The former President advised Buhari to buckle down, saying he was presently a failure. He spoke at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Ogun State, while playing host to the New Nigeria 2019 Group, led by the convener, Chima Anyaso, in company with Moses Siasia.
As he did in the open letter he wrote about three months ago to the President, Obasanjo accused Buhari and the All Progressives Congress of bringing hardship on Nigerians and running ineffective economic policies which had crippled businesses. He noted that it was uncharitable for the President and his party to continue to whine about challenges almost three years in office, while they had failed to solve the challenges.
“As I said, stop giving excuses; we met challenges. If there are no challenges, then we wouldn’t need you to come. You came in because you know there are challenges and then giving us an excuse that you have many challenges; that is why you haven’t achieved results.”
Obasanjo warned Nigerians not to re-elect a failed government who always gave one excuse or another for its failure to meet up with Nigerians’ expectations. He said it would be foolhardy for Nigerians to reinforce failure by re-electing an ineffective and incompetent government in 2019.
“And then you still want to go. 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,” he added.
The former President also criticized the Peoples Democratic Party, urging Nigerians not to be deceived by its apology, arguing that neither the PDP nor the APC could get Nigeria out of its economic mess. He said all hands must be on deck to mobilise the grassroots and enthrone the kind of government that would take the country to its promised land. He said, “The truth is this: When you have an ineffective and incompetent government, we are all victims. And don’t let anybody deceive you. Those of you who are in business, your business could have been better today if we have a competent and effective and performing government.
Obasanjo advised the group not to take anything for granted, as there was work to be done. He urged his visitors to be wary of power mongers who might want to divide them using religion, and tribe among others. He told the New Nigeria 2019 Group, backed by Nigerian Young Professionals Forum, to look closely at the existing political parties, especially APC and PDP as some members still had integrity and could still assist the movement to succeed.
