Former President has unleashed another attacks on
President Goodluck Jonathan, acussing him of playing
politics of do-or-die like President of Côte d’Ivoire, Laurent
Gbagbo and that Jonathan is afraid of being jailed by Buhari
if he loses.
Obasanjo said this on Saturday at his Hilltop presidential
residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State, in an interview with
newsmen.
The ex-President said he broke his promise not to talk till
after the elections because the elections were postponed.
Obasanjo, who just returned from a trip to New Delhi, Rabat,
Nairobi, Munich and London, said the incumbent president
might become another Laurent Gbagbo, the former
president of Cote d’lvoire, who kept on shifting election
dates until he believed the odds were in his favour.
Gbagbo lost the presidential election in 2010, refused to
handover to the winner and was finally disgraced out of
office in April 2011, after he had plunged the country into
chaos.
Obasanjo noted that Jega must have been boxed to a
corner by the powers that be before making the
announcement postponing the polls, stating that insecurity
in the North-East of the country could not be enough reason
for such postponement.
He said Jonathan, as Commander -in-Chief of the Armed
Forces, must provide adequate security for the citizens.
He said, “I was away because I had a number of
assignments abroad which took me to Morocco, Munich,
Nairobi, London and New Delhi. Exactly a week today, when
we were in Munich for what they called Munich security
conferences annual event; and all the people, who are in
security community normally, you found them there.
“For this year, the Vice- President of America was there, the
Secretary of State, John Kerry, was there, the Chancellor of
Federal Republic of Germany was there, President of
Ukraine was there and many others.
“I was there with Koffie Annan; our side was to talk about
peace and security in Africa. I was to handle the African
perspective while Koffie Annan was to look at it from the
global perspective.
“And suddenly, people started asking me questions about
what was happening in my country; Americans, British,
Germans and every other person. Koffie Annan was
particularly agitated.
“While I was out, I refused to make any categorical
statement on this issue because I wanted to come back
home and learn at first hand what actually transpired and
what was going on, and it turned out to be a forced decision
on the INEC. It was alleged that the security chiefs were
unable to provide security, and as a result, the Chairman of
INEC had to postpone the elections, in accordance with the
dictates of the so-called security chiefs.”
Obasanjo added, “I thought for me, that was bad
precedence for democracy in Nigeria. It meant it doesn’t
matter what preparation or lack of preparation any electoral
body could make in Nigeria, the final decision, whether
election will take place on the day scheduled for it lies in the
domains of the security chiefs; it is a sad day for
democracy in Nigeria.
“And I will say this, we must all feel concerned before
democracy is killed. The observable and what would appear
to be happening is that the president has a grand plan, a
grand plan to ensure that by hook or by crook, he wins the
election or if it all fails, they scuttle it and create chaos,
confusion and unpleasantness in the whole country.
“Because it is the duty and function and responsibility of the
security officers to provide security. The President is the
chief security officer of the country and he is the
Commander in Chief and if security is required anywhere,
anytime, it is his duty to provide it. Failure to provide it is
dereliction of duty, pure and simple.
“Either the President is following his own grand plan or his
aides and associates are working out a script, they are
playing a script which must have got his endorsement if not
initiated by him.”
The ex-President likened the poll shift to the schemes of
Laurent Gbagbo, when he was the President of Cote
d;Ivoire.
He explained, “What again looks to me is that the President
is trying to play (Laurent) Gbagbo. Gbagbo is the former
President of Cote d’Ivoire and Gbagbo made sure he
postponed the election in his country until he was sure he
would win and then allowed the election to take place.
“He got an inconclusive election in the first ballot and I
believe this is the sort of thing Nigeria may fall into if I am
right in what I observed as the grand plan.
“Then in the run-off, Gbagbo lost with eight per cent behind
(Alassane) Quattara and then refused to hand over. All
reasonable persuasion and pleading were rebuffed by him
and he unleashed horror in that country until nemesis
caught up with him.
“I believe that we may be seeing the repeat of Gbagbo or
what I called Gbagbo saga here in Nigeria, I hope not.” CLICK HERE TO READ FULL AND TOUCHING NIGERIAN CELEBRITIES BIOGRAPHY AND SCANDALS
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