The Forum of Non-Governmental Organisations in Nigeria, which claims to be a coalition of 200 groups, has lambasted former President Olusegun Obasanjo for asking President Muhammadu Buhari not to re-contest in 2019.
Addressing supporters during a meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, the National Coordinator of FONGON, Mr. Wole Badmus, asked the President to ignore Obasanjo, whom he described as an attention seeker.
Badmus said Obasanjo could have met Buhari to advise him in private but because he had a hidden agenda, he decided to make the issue public.
He said, “Obasanjo, with due respect, whether he has good intentions for the country or not, we cannot really say but we know if you want to identify the problems of Nigeria, 50 per cent can be attributed to Obasanjo.
“Letter writing is not new to the man either. In his book titled, ‘My Command’, you will see that Obasanjo blamed all the actors in the Civil War from Murtala Muhammed to Benjamin Adekunle. The only person he exonerated was himself.
“In ‘My Watch’, he claimed the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was not the leader of the Yoruba and even attacked him. He castigated his Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar.”
Badmus said Obasanjo should stop trying to impose his will on Nigerians, adding that the former President lacked the right to act as the conscience of the nation.
He said the former President, who attempted to perpetuate himself in power, lacked the moral right to tell another person not to contest for a second term.
Badmus said, “You spent eight years and attempted to get four more years. You don’t have the moral right to tell someone who has not spent up to four years not to spend an additional four years. It is not done, we will not allow that.”
The FONGON coordinator said Buhari must be re-elected to continue his good works which includes fighting corruption, increasing power generation, reducing imports, creating jobs, building quality infrastructure and getting the nation out of economic recession.
