Popular human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has lambasted former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his “special press statement” last week in which he said incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari had disappointed Nigerians in his first term and should therefore not seek reelection in 2019.
Falana said instead of criticising Buhari, the former president should think about how he wasted the chance to revolutionise Nigeria but chose to institute “the culture of impunity in Nigeria”.
The respected lawyer said what Obasanjo did with the letter was tantamount to insulting the sensibilities and collective memory of Nigerians.
Falana spoke in reaction to Obasanjo’s 13-page statement in Benin on Friday.
He said only allegations of clannishness and nepotism that Obasanjo levelled against Buhari were admissible, noting that “other allegations were nothing to write home about”.
“In other words, all the other allegations took place under President Obasanjo and in fact, he institutionalised the culture of impunity under the democratic dispensation in Nigeria,” he said.
He added, “If President Obasanjo who ruled this country for 11 and half years has institutionalised democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights, we will not be in this mess and the control of Nigeria by the Nigerian people, we will be having an Eldorado by now.
“So, please, let Obasanjo and others be honest to admit that they brought us to this shameful episode. So, nobody should grandstand when it comes to the misgovernance of Nigerians.
“Nobody has apologised. The fact that from 1999 to 2007, this country, made close to hundred billion dollars from the sale of one commodity, oil. What is there to show for it rather than permanent darkness?
“The more you spend on energy, the more darkness you get. So what is there to celebrate? What we have were mass unemployment and sale of national assets to few boys who were close to the presidency and rigging of elections.
“You have all forgotten that the results from Delta, Ondo and others were announced in Abuja and not in those states in order to rig those elections. What is there to celebrate?
“President Obasanjo is entitled to form his own political party or his own movement but he should please desist from insulting the collective intelligence and the collective memories of Nigerians.
“When Sharia started, the federal government did not challenge the constitutionality. Under that era, we had ethnic and religious violence that claimed lives of over 20,000 Nigerians.
“With great respect to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, apart from the allegations of nepotism and clannishness, which cannot be disputed, every other allegation made, there is nothing to write home about. In other words, all the other allegations took place under Obasanjo and in fact, he institutionalised the culture of impunity under the democratic dispensation in Nigeria.
“Many of us have forgotten the abduction of Governor Chris Ngige, many of us have forgotten the fact that the national assembly and the house of representatives displayed bales of naira with which it was alleged that the presidency wanted to bribe the legislators.
“Many of us have forgotten about the third term agenda or the fact that many people who were also closed to the seats of power were treated like sacred cows even in the fight against corruption. But I do not want to join issues with Obasanjo for now on his letter so that one is not seeing as endorsing impunity in our country but other than the allegations of nepotism and clannishness which the presidency is notoriously noted for, I think, they are birds of same feathers.”