NCAN replies Obasanjo, challenges him to forward right candidate 2019

The Nigerian Consolidation Ambassadors Network, NCAN, on Friday, reacted to the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s ‘letter’ to President Muhammadu Buhari, saying such statement only represents Mr Obasanjo’s personal opinion.

The group said the letter holds no water as it goes contrary to the Constitutional and democratic right of the President.

A statement signed by NCAN’s National Coordinator, Sunusi Musa, said, “if Chief Obasanjo feels the President has not done enough to deserve second term, he should bring forward his candidate to face President Buhari at the poll.

“But we at NCAN like many other Nigerians, have decided to throw our heart in support of the President in urging him to contest the 2019 Presidential election.

“We will not only support him, we will do our best to ensure that he emerges victorious with a far wider margin than was recorded in 2015,” the statement said in part.

“While we do not begrudge the ex-President for exercising his right to air his opinion whether or not it is against the President and his government, we must put on record that such opinion does not represent fact neither does the constitutional right confer on Chief Obasanjo the right to spread falsehood.

“We want to state unequivocally and with all sense of responsibility that Chief Obasanjo is the least of all personalities expected to complain about not so good condition of things in the country.

“It is self-indicting for the former President to speak about poverty, insecurity, poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeed among others still very rife in the country when for the 8 years he spend in office, he failed to set the right machinery and institutions to tackle the very problem he spoke against.

“If he had applied the half of the sincerity of President Buhari in running the affairs of this country during his tenure, the nation won’t be battling with multiple problems of infrastructure, over blotted civil service, corruption to mention but a few.

“Although we salute him for allowing the statesmanship in him to admit that President Buhari has recorded success in the fight against insurgency and corruption in the country, we make bold to say that the two achievements alone, has surpassed that of Chief Obasanjo’s first two years in office.

“It is as a result of his none performance at that time and in order to divert the attention of Nigerians, that his minister of information spent over N1 billion, in organizing a jamboree called National Media Tour where only projects undertaken by States were showcased,’ the group noted.

On the issue of fighting corruption, which Mr Obasanjo accused Mr Buhari of handling with a pinch of salt, the group said, “Chief Obasanjo could have channeled the resources in fighting corruption which reigned supreme during his tenure.

“We have not forgotten how he shamelessly protected his cousin – the then Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Finance – from prosecution when he was accused of over N400 million fraud as well as how Ghana must go was exchanging hands in the national assembly during the tenure of Obasanjo,” he said.

Mr Musa said Mr Obasnajo’s attempt to use the unfortunate killing of 73 people in Benue State to gain political point is to say the least, most unfortunate.

“We wonder at what point Chief Obasanjo became the lover of lives of the ordinary citizen of this country when the hundreds of innocent lives massacred in Odi, Bayelsa State and Zaki Biam in Benue still is still fresh in our memories.

“Even the herdsmen-farmers clash which the ex-President latched onto was very rife in his tenure as President, but he never did anything to find a lasting solution to the problem,” he said.T

Thegroup described as amazing how Mr Obasanko accused Mr Buhari of nepotism, reminding the Ex-President of how he made his daughter Commissioner in Ogun state and subsequently ensured she was elected a Senator.

“Buhari has not brought any member of his immediate family close to government. Obasanjo attempted to rewrite history in order to paint his administration in good light while trying to tarnish the image of the President.

“His claim that oil price was $9 per barrel when he came into power in 1999 is far from the truth. Oil price during his coming was between $16 to $24 per barrel and this price kept rising till the time he left office.

“Despite the huge revenue made from oil, we can boldly say that at the time President Buhari took over in 2015, the country was far worse than when Obasanjo took over in 1999, yet the incumbent President has been able to do more in less than 3 years in office compare to what Chief Obasanjo achieved in his first term,” Mr Musa stated..