The presidency has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of dividing Nigeria following a statement he recently made bordering around the unity of the country.
This was made known in an article signed by the Presidents’ Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu and made available to the media on Sunday.
The former president was alleged of an attempt to divide the country a recent statement he made – Nigeria under Buhari becoming divided, a failed state
Obasanjo had in recent statement said Nigeria under President Buhari is becoming divided and a failed state adding that the country urgently needs to be rescued from the brink of collapse.
He expressed this in Abuja on Thursday at a consultative dialogue attended by representatives of Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum, Northern Elders Forum, Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo and Pan Niger Delta Forum while delivering a speech titled, ‘Moving Nigeria Away from Tipping Over’.
But in his reaction on Sunday, Garba Shehu claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to promote nation-building and the unity of Nigeria and maintained that the difference between the two leaders is clear.
“The difference is clear. From the lofty heights of Commander-in-Chief, General Obasanjo has descended to the lowly level of Divider-in-Chief (to adapt the coinage of Time).
“Before responding further to the unfair attacks on President Buhari and his administration by the former President, it is important that we categorically state that contrary to the assertions by a few analysts, the recent speech in which President Buhari advised West African Presidents against tenure elongation beyond constitutional limits has been consistent with his long-held views on the need to adhere to the rule of law.
“Even though he tried it and failed, the recent uptick in the number of such leaders proposing to do, or actually carrying on in office beyond term limits is sufficient to cause concern among democrats in the sub-region given its prospects of destabilizing the states and the region.
“President Buhari’s advocacy is consistent with his principles and in line with the current policies of his administration and indeed that of the ECOWAS Charter which is that term limits must be respected and that the change of government is only permissible through the ballot box.
“Having cleared this misperception, we hope that Chief Obasanjo would once again sheath the sword and rest the pretentiousness about the Messiah that has (mis)led him to pronounce often wrongly, as he disastrously did in the 2019 elections, about the life and death of Nigerian governments.
“As some commentators are already suggesting, Chief Obasanjo should, in accordance with his mantra as a statesman, get involved with problem solving, when and where they exist instead of helping the mushrooming of a poisonous atmosphere of ethnic and religious nationalism.
“Surely, he must have disappointed many of his local and foreign admirers by showering commendations on a few extremist groups who have vowed to shun the invitation to the National Assembly to participate in the process of a constitutional amendment.
“No doubt, he must have left those admirers confused in announcing the support for the boycott of a democratic process of changing the constitution, at the same time calling for dialogue and engagement.
“The fact that the process he ushered in under his administration with the dubious intention of amendments that sought tenure elongation failed-as did two other attempts by the successor administrations of the same political party- does not in any way justify his dismissal of the exercise by the 9th Assembly as another waste of time and resources.
