The Presidency has lashed out at former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his criticisms of President Bola Tinubu-led administration.

Obasanjo recently condemned Tinubu’s economic reforms, saying Nigeria is currently under a state capture and that the country’s situation is bad.

The former president had, according to a statement issued by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, said this while speaking at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, Yale University New Haven Connecticut in the United States.

Reacting via a statement on Monday, November 18, 2024, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said Obasanjo abused office to advance personal interest.

Obasanjo served as president between 1999 and 2007.

Onanuga stated that the only positive of Obasanjo’s regime was “fiscal and monetary policy management buoyed by a consistent rise in crude oil prices throughout his eight-year tenure.”

He said the current economic crisis the All Progressives Congress (APC) administrations have been battling since 2015 was the “product of the poor choices in economic management made by Obasanjo and the two successors from his party”.

The presidential spokesman noted: “His administration also should have paid more serious attention to universities and polytechnics. In a joint vote of no confidence in our tertiary institutions, Obasanjo and his deputy, Atiku Abubakar, sought to profit from their weaknesses by establishing their private universities.

“As a sitting President, Chief Obasanjo abused his office to advance personal interest against the spirit and letters of our constitution when he corralled leading businessmen, women and government contractors to donate billions of naira for his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library and Resorts in Abeokuta and his Bell University in Otta.

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“After wasting billions of naira on a failed third-term project in 2007, Chief Obasanjo hurriedly organised a sham electoral process that would go down in history as the most fraudulent election held in Nigeria since 1960.

“The beneficiary of the sham election, Umaru Yar’adua, admitted that the election was seriously flawed and, as Justice Muhammed Uwais’s panel recommended, worked towards electoral reforms. It is hypocrisy writ large when a man who presided over the worst election in Nigeria demands the sack of the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

“For eight years, the Obasanjo administration made no significant investment in security by modernising the Armed Forces. He did not redesign the national security architecture or change the military doctrine.

“The most critical investment in our armed forces, especially the military, since the administration of President Shehu Shagari in 1980 was made by the APC-led administration of President Buhari from 2015-2023.

“When President Buhari assumed office in 2015, the Air Force had fewer than three serviceable fighter jets, and the Navy barely had one serviceable vessel. Within eight years, President Buhari acquired over 40 new fighter jets of different capabilities, including 12 Tucano jets.

“He also acquired naval ships to strengthen the Navy. The APC administration of Buhari developed the air wings of the Army and Navy and changed the entire Armed Forces into one of the most potent fighting forces in the world.”

Onanuga added that President Tinubu has continued to sustain the same support and funding to the military and other security agencies, saying: “It is the reason the country is winning in the multi-pronged fight against Boko Haram terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, and other perpetrators of violent crimes.”

Onanuga said Tinubu’s administration has been working to overcome the country’s economic challenges, stressing that it would “be better and more advisable for former President Obasanjo to temper his self-righteousness in his public discussions regarding our nation’s temporary difficulties.”

The Star