Following the statements of President Buhari yesterday over the perceived mismanagement of the power sector by former President Obasanjo, the Ogun state native has made his rejoinder on the matter, calling out Buhari and expressing his disappointment that the President would sink to such depths.
Recall that Buhari while speaking to members of the Buhari Support Organisation, led by the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali, said that Obasanjo had wasted $16bn on the Power sector with no significant improvement.
“One of the former Heads of State between that time was bragging that he spent more than 15 billion American dollars, on power,”Buhari claimed
“Where is the power? Where is the power? And now we have to pay the debts.”
While not calling Obasanjo by name, it was obvious that he was the target of these statements.
Obasanjo responded in a statement signed by Mr Akin Osuntokun, Director of Strategic Communications of the Coalition for Nigeria Movement.
Obasanjo said; “Is it not beneath the dignity of the exalted office he holds to join the chorus of beer parlour gossips?”
“How can a president who has all the information at his beck and call degenerate to this level?”
Obasanjo also denied spending such an amount.
He added: “A presidential panel headed by the then VP Goodluck Jonathan set up by the Umaru Yar’Adua government put a lie to this after the same administration had sacked one Engr F. Somolu the then Secretary of NIPP who first drew attention to the lie: that $16 had been spent on power project.
“The Panel made up of so many actors including CBN officials then found out that only $3.7 billion was disbursed out of the $10 billion budgeted and the balance was kept in an escrow account at the CBN.
“The CBN confirmed this to the panel and it was published…It was then found out that Tanimu Yakubu then Economic Adviser to President Yar’Adua began the propaganda against former President Obasanjo and Engr. Somolu then with Yar’Adua wrote a secret memo inside the statehouse to correct the wrong notion about $10 billion.”