One of Yoruba elders has condemned the action of former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the weekend, saying the old general cannot stand on any moral ground to call anybody corupt.
Afenifere chieftain Ayo Adebanjo said in a decent society, Obasanjo would not feature in any public office.
He described Obasanjo as a “whited sepulchre,” who has problen explaining the sources of his wealth, saying the former president has not disputed that he had only N20,000 in his bank account when he returned from the prison in 1999.
According to the 90-year-old Afenifere leader, it was former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Oyewole Fasawe,a businessman, that bailed Obasanjo out of poverty.
Adebanjo said he is worried how people continue to give the former president “undue prominence in spite of his known character.”
“When a real government of the people comes into power, they would take Obasanjo’s Presidential Library Complex in Abeokuta from him,” he said in his 233-page book, Telling it as its, launched Tuesday.
He particularly dedicated chapters to discussing ‘Awolowo, Obasanjo and the Yoruba Nation.’
In his book, Adebanjo described Obasanjo’s eight years in civilian government as a tragedy and calamity.
“The man who carried on as if he was all-in-all failed woefully on all counts as President,” he wrote in the book.
“Before he came, we were buying fuel for N20 per litre, and crude oil was $23 per barrel. In 2007, under his regime, we were buying fuel at N75 per litre, and crude oil was between $65 and $75 per barrel. In the worst days of Abacha, one dollar was over N120.”
Obasanjo has been consistently picking on te President Muhammadu Buhari administration, describing it as a failurem and urging Nigerians to note vote for the APC leader in 2019.
Present at Adebanjo’s book launch were Commonwealth’s former Secretary-General Emeka Anyaoku, former military Vice-President, Cmdr. Ebitu Ukiwe (retd.), APC leader Bola Tinubu, and former governors of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba and Otunba Gbenga Daniel.
Speaking, Anyaoku described Adebanjo as one of those responsible for creating the history of Nigeria
Anyaoku said he also witnessed regionalism in Nigeria, part of what Adebanjo, a follower of the late Obademi Awolowo, wrote about.
“When we think about the progress we were making in those days, we think, first and foremost of the Western Region under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo…,: he said.
“Those were days when there was healthy competition in the Eastern Region of Nigeria, Chief Awolowo’s counterpart, Dr. Michael Okpara, was also focusing on the development of his region; the agricultural development in eastern Nigeria was very significant; and in the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello was also learning from the experience of his colleagues in the Western Region, the Eastern Region and the Mid-West Region.”
Anyaoku blamed the military intervention for the woes of the country, arguing that the military should not have altered the constitution.
On his own, Tinubu described Adebanjo as a principled and upright man, saying he owed his election as governor of Lagos State in 1999 to Adebanjo’s insistence on fair play.
“If you don’t understand him, you might say he is divisive but what is the meaning of restructuring, if not true federalism?”