Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has added his voice to the growing demand for regime change in Nigeria saying that the President was 'voted to fix things that were bad not to engage in blame games'. In an open letter to the President which has dominated the headlines, he focused on the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to consolidate the democratic gains by not building inclusiveness desperately needed to achieve growth despite the huge goodwill he got from Nigerians.
He emphasized on his personality, inability to embrace team work, inability to shop for the best talents in the country, lack of knowledge of the economy, bias in the corruption war, poor human rights records, insecurity, the control by cabal , ''Poor understanding of the dynamics of internal Politics', nepotism,ethnic bigotry, ill-health, lack of hope for the future, etc, as some of the reasons for his poor performance and why he should not continue .
He cautioned that President Buhari's health may impede his ability to perform in the long-term and suggested that the President should retire honourably to take proper care of his health and play Statesmanship role to the nation.
He was very bitter that some APC Governors chose to endorse President Buhari for re-election on a day when the nation was mourning innocent civilians killed by the Fulani Herdsmen in Benue State.
Furthermore, he indicted the leading opposition political party for lacking the capacity to lead the country and the capacity to effect the desired change, thus suggested that a new coalition is needed to take the country to greater heights since the two leading political parties have failed to demonstrate the capacity and commitment to improve the welfare of the citizens. In his words, Nigeria needs :
" change that will mean enhancement of living standard and progress for all. A situation where the elected will accountably govern and every Nigerian will have equal opportunity not based on kinship and friendship but based on free citizenship".
Ex-President Obasanjo who recently obtained a PHD degree in Theology from the National Open University in Nigeria has also favoured the growing demand for the restructuring of the current political structure and advised the leadership to listen in that direction.
Click on this link to read the full text as we seek to provide independent analysis of the letter to the president. https://independent.ng/obasanjos-letter-buhari/.
This letter is of great help to our efforts to put together some of the reasons why democracy is failing in Nigeria and what can be done about it.
Uche Okeke.
"The lice of poor performance in government – poverty, insecurity, poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeed – if not outright encouragement of it, lack of progress and hope for the future, lack of national cohesion and poor management of internal political dynamics and widening inequality – are very much
ReplyDeletewith us today. With such lice of general and specific poor performance and crying poverty with us, our fingers will not be dry of ‘blood’- Obaanjo