Former President Olusegun
The
cold war between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Goodluck
Jonathan Administration came again to the fore on Sunday at a
thanksgiving service held in honour of a former Minister of Education,
Oby Ezekwesili, in Abuja.
At the service that had many eminent
Nigerians, including a former Head of the Service of the Federation,
Steve Oronsaye, and ex-Attorney General of Federation and Minister of
Justice, Kanu Agabi, in attendance, Obasanjo said if the Goodluck
Jonathan administration was keen on probing his government, it should
come after him instead of people that served under him.
He also flayed the plan by the Federal
Government to set up a pipeline protection agency, saying it was another
avenue for corruption.
But Obasanjo’s comments drew the ire of
the Presidency which said no past administration, either past or
present, should be afraid of probe. It also advised the former
President to allow Jonathan to do his work.
The former leader had at the 50th
birthday thanksgiving service for Ezekwesili, said, “I have always said
this, whatever you want to blame in my government, blame me; don’t blame
any of those people who assisted me. If there is any credit to
dispense, we share it. But for anything you want to say is wrong, I was
the one in charge and I was in charge.”
Obasanjo, whose comments were
necessitated by the war of words between Ezekwesili, and the Presidency
over the $67bn the Jonathan administraion inherited from his government,
said he had absolute trust in those that worked under him, especially
as ministers.
Ezekwesili’s claim that the Federal Government squandered the sum was described by the Presidency as reckless.
Turning to the former Education
minister, Obasanjo said he was sure nothing would be found against her
because of her integrity and commitment to public service.
He said, “Actually those who wanted to
probe you (Ezekwesili), you should have asked them to go ahead because
if they are honest, they would find out that the government should give
you money for what you have done for this country without stealing
money.”
Obasanjo, who is the immediate past
Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees, then faced
Oronsaye, Agabi, a former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Charles
Soludo; and ex- Minister of Information, Frank Nweke Jnr., and said,
“When I look at you, I thank God for making you available to serve in my
administration, to serve Nigeria and serve God at the time you did.”
But he faulted Agabi’s earlier call
at the service for the establishment of a National Commission for
Integration, saying it was not necessary. According to him, the
entire 1999 Constitution is for integration.
“What else do you need. You have a
constitution that is intended to integrate the country. You have the
Federal Character Commissiom for instance. What is that one meant to
do? It is for integration. The entire constitution is all about
integrating this country. If at all we failed to use it, it can even be
said that we have breached the constitution. You don’t need a commission
for integration,” Obasanjo added.
On the planned agency for pipeline protection, the former President said it would be another avenue for corruption.
“This (Sunday) morning, I was travelling
from Abeokuta and I was listening to a radio station when I heard
that they (government) are going to set up an agency for pipeline
protection. Now, what are the police for? What are all the security
agencies that we have doing? This is another chop chop.
For those advocating change in Nigeria, Obasanjo said they must be prepared to take insults.
“I just hope that we will get it right.
We have no choice, we have to get it right. Let us decide individually
that ‘I would do what I have to do to bring about change in Nigeria.’ If
you do that, let me assure you, you will be called names; you will be
abused; some people are hired to do that. But like Oby (Ezekwesili) say
what you believe is right and stand by it.
But the Special Adviser to the President
on Political Matters, Dr. Ahmed Gulak, responded to Obasanjo’s
comments, saying that any administration could be probed.
Gulak, in an interview with one of our
correspondents, argued that even the current administration was being
probed regularly by the legislative arm of government.
He added, “ This administration and past administrations can be probed. Nobody should be afraid of probe.”
On Obasanjo’s description of the planned pipeline protection agency as another chop chop,
Gulak said as an elderstatesman, Obasanjo should not just criticise
government for its sake, but should proffer solutions if indeed he
loves the country.
He said since Obasanjo was not the present President, he should allow the incumbent to concentrate on his job.
Gulak said, “The former President is
entitled to his opinion; but he is not the President. He should allow
the President to do his work. People should stop making derogatory
statements about the President. There is only one President in the
country today and we should all support him.
“People should not just be criticising
government. As an elderstatesman, if he indeed loves this country, he
should proffer solutions rather than criticising.”
Some aides of the former President-
Hassan Lawal, Nasir el-Rufa, Femi Fani-Kayode, and Adeyanju Bodunde -
are currently being tried for various offences.
While Lawal, a former Minister of
Works, is being prosecuted for N75bn fraud, el-Rufai, an ex-
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, is facing trial for
irregular land allocation and abuse of office.
Fani-Kayode, who is former Minister of
Aviation, is facing trial for money laundering while and Bodunde,
an special assistant to Obasanjo, was in 2011 arraigned for his
alleged involvement in the $180m Harlibutton bribery scandal.
Ezekwesili had in her remarks, recalled
how her parents moulded her by teaching her moral values. She said
she could not understand why people would wanted to enjoy a life that
they never worked for.
“I was born to parents who are from a
humble family. My daddy was a man of uncompromising integrity. My daddy
worked in Nigeria Ports Authority. He used to say to us that the NPA
had become a centre of corruption. That was so many years ago. My mother
talked my father out of public service because she was afraid for him.
“My mother used to go to what we call
bend down boutiques in Tejuosho Market in Lagos to buy clothes for us.
She knew what they called grade one okrika (used clothes). We did not
have money. We were poor but rich in values. Those values shaped
everything about me. From young age, good governance and accountability
mattered to me,” she told the congregation.
Ezekwesil, who said she felt “a sense
of completion of a certain phase in my life,” added that corruption in
governance today might not allow a child of similar background to
survive.
“In a relatively decent society, I got
the kind of education that has taken me thus far. I was Minister of
Education. A similarly poor child, who comes from the kind of family I
came from when I was young would not have the kind of opportunities that
I had in this same nation.
“We must therefore build a decent
society that does not sow this terrible seed of inequality that I see
around me today. When I see the children of drivers, the gardeners and I
see that they will not have the kind of education and opportunities
that I had, it pains me.”
On why she criticised the government
recently, she replied that “democracy is incomplete without the
engagement of citizens in the process. The demand for accountability and
results is the right of citizens.”
In his homily, Rev. Dr. William Okoye, appealed to Nigerians to shun corruption and be contented.
According to him, any nation that places values on materialism is doomed.
“Life is not about material things that
some of us are concerned about today. Life consists of far more than
that. When people value money more than life and God, they can do
anything. The life you live pursuing mundane things at the expense of
God has no blessing and can’t save you.”
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