Obasanjo Berates President Jonathan's Administration

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has berated President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration.

The elder statesman while speaking on Friday, with book writers in Abeokuta, Ogun State, as part of activities marking the popular Ake Festival, he said the performance of President Jonathan’s administration is below average.

“His performance is below average. I will not accept responsibility for his performance. There is nobody that gets such a position without being helped,” he said.

Obsanjo used the opportunity to debunk the popular rumour that, he chose Jonathan as the running mate to the late President Musa Yar’Adua because he was aware of the latter’s deteriorating health status.

The former President said Yar’Adua told him he was well, and even showed him his medical report, adding that he (Obasanjo) personally consulted experts to ascertain the report.

He, however, agreed that he had only supported the idea of a South-Southerner succeeding Yar’Adua to extend the sense of belonging that the emergence of a Southern President in 1999 represented.

Speaking on why he preferred Jonathan to the former governor of Rivers State, Donald Duke, Obasanjo said: “In my own life, I don’t put all my eggs in one basket. Duke was young enough to be in the reserve. He did not agree with me. Donald Duke is my friend but he needs a little of toning down. He needs to get his feet on the ground.”

It would be recalled that Obasanjo on December 2, 2013, raised a lot of controversial issues in his 18-page open letter addressed to the President titled: “Before it is too late.”

Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, on Friday reacted to the statement credited to the former President that President Goodluck Jonathan’s performance is below average.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs in a telephone interview with Punch said Obasanjo’s statement was “not true and in error.”

Okupe said if the statement indeed came from Obasanjo, it was the most uncharitable thing to say about the present administration which he said had achieved so much in various areas.

“If indeed former President Obasanjo said that, that statement was in error because no government since independence has done close to 50 per cent of what this administration has done in less than four years,” Okupe said.

The Presidential aide recalled that when Obasanjo was leaving office, the total power generation capacity in the country was about 2,600MW, which Jonathan’s administration has increased to about 4,000MW.

He added that the present administration inherited 24 airports that were in poor condition which have now been refurbished by the Jonathan-led government, therefore increasing the country’s reputation among comity of nations.