Odilim Enwegbara, a Development Economist and public analyst based in Abuja has given his own opinion why former President Olusegun Obasanjo is opposed to the second term bid of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking in a recent interview with Vanguard, Enwegbara said Obasanjo hates rivalry and he is afraid that Jonathan’s legacies will overshadow his if he returns for a second tenure.
He said: “Obasanjo hates rivalry.
Particularly, he hates to be alive and see any of his close successors
also become two-term presidents of Nigeria like him. OBJ’s fears are
fully understandable especially given his determination to be seen and
called “Father of Modern Nigeria.” That’s why the fear that should
Jonathan too become a two-term president of Nigeria, Jonathan’s legacies
could overshadow his and most important rubish his political godfather
status in PDP. That is why OBJ never wanted GEJ to become a two-term
president of Nigeria.
“If you look at all the attacks both
locally and internationally, you would discover that those asking for
Jonathan’s head have one affiliation with Washington or another,
including some of those who have accused the president of not doing
enough to rescue the Chibok girls. They are not doing what they are
doing because they love the Chibok girls but because this is part of
strategy to humiliate Jonathan out of office.”
On Nigeria’s economy, Enwegbara said Jonathan’s administration has by far outperformed his predecessors.
According to him, those saying Jonathan’s government has the worst record on economy should be members of the opposing parties like the All Progressives Congress (APC), who have to turn facts upside down so that they can win the presidential election.
“In fact, Jonathan’s achievements in
the last four years remain far higher than Obasanjo’s eight years in
power which saw the worst infrastructure decadence in Nigeria’s history,
including leaving us with less than 2000MW of electricity, road
networks only better than those in the war-torn Somalia, and rotten
state of our airports and railways,” he said.
Speaking on the visit of the US secretary of state, Mr. Kerry to Nigeria he said: “The
US Secretary of state came here to insult us and our president when he
said, “Let me make myself clear…” as if talking to president of a US
colony. He has little or no respect for the Nigerian people and their
president, not even as a sovereign nation.
“He shouldn’t come here to give us a
marching order. I am sure there is no way Mr. Kerry could have thought
of talking to South African President Jacob Zuma and the people of South
Africa the way he talked to our president; not even Ghana’s. He talked
down on us and got away with it because Obasanjo and his foot soldiers
have cleared the way for Mr. Kerry. America should apologize to
Nigerians for the insult we received from their chief diplomat.”
Obasanjo and Jonathan had been like father and son and suddenly their relationship went sour.
Obasanjo has used every opportunity he has to criticise the administration of Jonathan. The sour relationship between the duo finally came to stand still on Monday, when Obasanjo tore his PDP membership card and ditched the party.
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