Obasanjo left Nigeria in the dark – Presidency‏

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The
presidency
yesterday
took a swipe
on former
President,
Olusegun
Obasanjo,
when it said
the ex leader
left Nigeria in
darkness
after his
tenure.
The Special
Adviser to
the President
on Media
and
Publicity, Dr.
Reuben
Abati, said
this during
an interview
on Sahara
TV.
Speaking on the proposed national conference,
which was scheduled to hold this year, Abati
hailed Jonathan, saying it would be better than
the political reform conference that was
organised by Obasanjo.
He said, “The last political reform conference,
organised by Obasanjo failed. It ended up the
discussion of tenure elongation and third term
ambition.”
The presidential spokesman equally faulted those
who have questioned why Jonathan’s
government scheduled the national conference
for the same year the country is marking its
100th year of amalgamation.
He said the celebration of Nigeria at 100 is not
about the Jonathan administration, but a
celebration by the private sector, the state and
local government and all Nigerians.
He also criticised those who have questioned
Presidency’s budgetary allocation, saying,
“everyone is involved in the budget- making
process. Both the intelligent and the
unintelligent. Even okada drivers have become
budget analysts.
“Nigerians are concerned about corruption.
[President Jonathan] too is concerned about
corruption.”
Abati also accused
the media of showing
support for the
opposition, thereby,
discarding objective
journalism.
“The media as we
have it in Nigeria
today is heavily in the
hands of the
opposition. Whatever
the President says,
they twist it,” he said.
He also praised
Jonathan as the only
president that has
given Nigerians a road
map.
“What he (President
Jonathan) has been
able to do is historic.
We have never had a
president in Nigeria
that presented
Nigeria with a road
map,” he said.
Reacting, Obasanjo,
said he would not join
issues with the
President and his
aides. He said
Jonathan was building
on the foundations he
laid while he was the
President.
The ex-president, who
spoke through his
Chief of Staff, Mr.
Victor Durodola, said
he had said his mind in his letter to Jonathan and
the President should accept his challenge in
good faith.
Durodola said, “He (Obasanjo) doesn’t want to
join issues with anybody anymore after that reply
(President Goodluck Jonathan’s reply to the ex-
president’s controversial letter); he really doesn’t
want to.
“I would have told you that everybody knows
that whatever it is that they are commissioning
today, the foundation was laid when Obasanjo
was President; everybody knows that. Most of the
equipment came even before he left.
“But, as I said, he really does not want to (join
issues with the presidency) at all. In one
paragraph in his (Obasanjo’s) letter, he said he
had done his duties to him (Jonathan) as a
former president, as a former Board of Trustees
Chairman (of the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party) and as a citizen of Nigeria.
“It is left for him (Jonathan) to accept the
challenge and do what is right.”