Delayed poll further tears Obasanjo and Jonathan apart

Obasanjo Ex-President: You are plotting to win ‘by hook or by crook’ President: You’re scheming to head interim govt By Jaiyeola Andrews in Abuja and Sheriff Balogun in Abeokuta Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Saturday renewed his diatribe against President Goodluck Jonathan over the rescheduled general election, accusing him of plotting to emerge victorious “by hook or by crook”. The former President accused Jonathan of having a grand plan to create confusion and plunge the nation into chaos if his plan fails. But in a swift reaction, President Jonathan debunked Obasanjo’s allegation, describing it as “odious, repugnant and self-serving” , and accused the former President of scheming to cause crisis so that he could head an interim government. Jonathan’s campaign organization also said it rejected Obasanjo's “very serious and grave allegations and we are not in the least bit disturbed by them because we know that they have no basis in truth, rationality or reason”, adding, "We have an election to fight and to win and that remains our primary focus." Addressing reporters at his residence in Abeokuta on a day initially slated for the Presidential election before it was rescheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to March 28, the former President warned that Jonathan was treading the path trod by former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, who orchestrated a shift in election date in that country, lost the poll to Alassane Ouattara when the elections eventually held but refused to hand over power, and consequently plunged his nation into turmoil. He said the poll shift was forced on the electoral commission as part of a script. "Either the President is following his own grand plan or he and his associates are working the script. They are playing a script which of course must have got his endorsement if not initiated by him," he said. Obasanjo said, “what is observable and what would appear to be happening is that the President has a grand plan, a grand plan to ensure that by hook or by crook he wins the election or if it all fails, he scuttles it and creates chaos, confusion and unpleasantness in the whole country because it is the duty and function and (the) responsibility of the security officers to provide security”, he said while faulting the premises upon which the poll shift was based. INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, had hinged the poll shift on a letter he received from the Defence Chief notifying the commission of the renewed onslaught by Nigerian security forces against Boko Haram insurgents, and as such would not be available for election and post election duties, though many were of the view that the postponement was also a saving grace for INEC which was believed to be ill-prepared were the election to hold as earlier scheduled. "It turned out that it was a forced decision on the INEC because it was alleged that the security chiefs were unable to provide security and as a result the Chairman of the INEC have to postpone the elections in accordance with the dictate of the so called security chiefs. I thought, for me that was a bad decision and for democracy and for Nigeria," Obasanjo said, adding, "It means that it does not matter what preparation or lack of preparation any electoral body makes in Nigeria, the final decision whether election will take place on the day scheduled lies in the domain of security chiefs. It is a sad day for democracy in Nigeria and I will say this that we all must feel concerned before democracy is killed." He said, "the President is the Chief Security Officer of the country and the commander-in-chief and if security is required anywhere, anytime, it is his duty and responsibility to provide it. Failure to provide it is dereliction of duty, pure and simple." Wondering why the government suddenly woke up to fight Boko Haram insurgency days to a scheduled presidential election, Obasanjo said, "For me, you can give any excuse or you can give any rationalisation or you can rationalise anything. Look Boko Haram problem has been with us since 2009 and now you say what we have not been able to achieve since 2009 we will achieve in six weeks. "Well, all I will say is that God is a God of miracle, God can do anything, but look, countries like Syria had election, they had full scale war all over the country. Countries like Iraq had election, they had full scale war and they are still having. Countries like Afghanistan had election, they even had election where the incumbent had his term and moved out. "Even countries like Colombia where they have FARC, their own insurgent group (that had been) active for more than 50years have been regularly having elections and FARC is still very much active. So to say that what you have not been able to achieve in five years you will now achieve in six weeks, let us wait and see. That will be my view." He said the denial of Jonathan that he was not aware of the position of the security chiefs only confirms that Jonathan is 'reigning and not ruling.' Obasanjo then challenged the President to expose the 'shadowy group ruling the country.' "The President in his media chat on the 11th of this month when he claimed not to have knowledge or not to have authorized it, so I get very worried that if the President of Nigeria is not in charge of security, maintenance of law and order and such a decision can be taken behind him, assuming that is true, then the President must be reigning and not ruling. And then who are the shadowy figure that are ruling us?" "Who are they? It means that one day we will wake up and discover that this country has been plunged into chaos, into commotion, into confusion and the President would say I do not know about it, of course. The President can run but he cannot run pass God." Obasanjo warned Jonathan not to listen to charlatans that sing his praises today saying it is the same people that will say, "we tell am, na im no listen tomorrow." He said Jonathan's greatest phobia was life after presidency and the possibility of All Progressive Congress, APC, candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, instituting a probe panel against him should he emerge winner. "I believe the President’s fear is particularly motivated by whom he see as his likely successor, that is Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. I believe people would have been telling him that, ‘look, Buhari is a hard man, he will fight corruption and (you) may end up in jail if not in the grave. I think people would have told him that sort of thing and he has not been the only one afraid of Buhari." Though the President had assured during his media chat that he had no plans to remove Jega as INEC boss, Obasanjo still warned that, "Now if anything is done to remove Jega it will actually heighten the disbelief of people about the President wanting to have a free, fair and transparent and credible election, and even if the President wins the election genuinely, many people will not believe. He would have undermined the credibility of the result of the election. But like he said that it is a rumour and let it remain in the realm of rumour and let us hope for the best." "I have offered some warnings but let me also offer some appeals and the appeals for me will be for President Goodluck Jonathan, appeal to him not to do anything to destroy the fledging democracy that we are enjoying. Democracy is not a destination it is a process and the more we strengthen the process of democracy, the institutions and the…, the better it is for us." "Again, I will appeal to Jonathan not to listen to those that are creating phobia, phobia of Buhari, phobia of enquiry and all that. President Jonathan has done well to the best of his ability and he has made history as the first elected President of Nigeria from a minority tribe, nobody can take that away from him. He can even make a second history if it turns out that way, if he contest a free, fair and transparent election and if… and a dignified exit, he will be on the mountain top and he will even be acclaimed as a true patriot and democrat. I will want to appeal to the PDP and the APC as the major two parties they have responsibility to seeing the continuation of our present democratic process.” "I also will like appeal to Gen Buhari, if he wins, one of the things he should do is to allay the fears of those who see him as boogey or as a threat, particularly in the area of human right observance, the area of rule of law and in the area of obedience to our constitution." He however opined that Buhari should have learnt his lessons by now that you don't need to jail people for 200 years to fight corruption. " Buhari should have learnt his lessons. If he has not learnt his lessons, he would be probably the most unlearning human being. Now if he had learnt his lessons he will know that you do not fight corruption by putting (people) in jail for 200 years. And this had been done by my own predecessor in office, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. He recovered over 750 million dollars from Abacha's estate without putting anybody in jail, without harming or hurting anybody. When I took over, we recovered over 1.25 billion dollars from the same Abacha estate without hurting anybody, without harming anybody, and in fact what would be rather unfortunate is the fact that our lawyer who is still alive and who is still able, who was chasing this money all over the world said to us that there is still about, well over one billion dollars to be recovered from Abacha estate." "The unfortunate aspect of that is that my successor cannot do anything about it even though it was in my handover note. So I do not think the President is afraid of being out, but as I said when we talk about this and I said there is life after Aso Villa, it will depend of course to a large extent on how he descends or how his descent takes place and how is exit takes place." In a statement issued last night, the media adviser to the President, Reuben Abati, said “it is most regrettable indeed that a man like Chief Obasanjo, who should know better, chooses to repeatedly, wantonly, and maliciously impugn the integrity of a sitting President of his country for the primary purpose of self-promotion. “It is obvious from Chief Obasanjo’s serial vituperations against President Jonathan who is doing his best to positively transform Nigeria for the benefit of all of its people that he has willfully chosen to close his eyes to the present administration’s good works and intentions. For reasons best known to him, Chief Obasanjo has set his mind on regime change by fair or foul means. “Otherwise, it would be completely senseless, irrational and out of place for Chief Obasanjo, who still claims to belong to the same party as the President, to accuse President Jonathan of plotting to win the rescheduled presidential elections by “hook or crook” and planning to plunge the nation into crisis if he loses the election.” The statement issued by the presidential Villa said: “For the record, President Jonathan has no such intention and will continue to give the greatest possible support to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other relevant federal agencies to ensure that the rescheduled elections are successfully conducted. “Indeed, it is not President Jonathan who remains faithful to his oath of office who is trying to plunge Nigeria into crisis, but Chief Obasanjo who is scheming to plunge the country into chaos in pursuit of a selfish and highly egocentric agenda. “Chief Obasanjo’s plot with others within and outside the country to thwart the general elections and foist an unconstitutional Interim National Government, which he hopes to head on the nation is well known to us, but by the Grace of God Almighty, his odious plan to return to power through the back door will fail woefully.” “We know very well that it is in pursuit of this nefarious plot that the former President continues to sow the seeds of discord and crises in the polity by purporting to remain in the ruling party while openly consorting with the opposition, endorsing its candidates and predicting victory for opposition candidates in a manner most unbecoming of a supposed elder statesman. “Thankfully, the vast majority of Nigerians who are patriotic and right- thinking cannot be fooled by Chief Obasanjo’s antics. “We urge them to be assured that President Jonathan's commitment to democracy in all its ramifications remains constant and that he will never be party to the use of any unlawful means to remain in office or gain political advantage over his opponents. “The President stands by his commitment, which he reaffirmed on national television last Wednesday that on his watch, all elections in Nigeria, will be free, fair and credible, and that all certified election results will be respected.” The statement added that as Jonathan had also assured the nation, the rescheduling of the general elections was in the best interest of the nation and was never driven by any ulterior motive on the part of government as alleged Obasanjo and others have. Noting that Jonathan will continue to put his best efforts into giving Nigeria quality leadership and will not be distracted from his purpose by unwarranted and needless criticism by persons who ought to know better, the statement said the, “President also continues to trust in the good judgment of Nigerians and to believe that in appreciation of his sincere efforts to move the country forward over the past four years, they will re-elect him for a second term on March 28, 2015 with a mandate to pursue his agenda for national transformation to a successful conclusion.” Source:thisdays