Femi Fani-Kayode, has reacted to the recent attack by former President
Olusegun Obasanjo on President Jonathan. At a press conference held
yesterday February 15th in Abuja, Mr Fani-Kayode accused the former
President of being angry at President Jonathan because he, Jonathan,
refused to be teleguided by Obasanjo since he resumed as President in
2011. He described the allegations made by Chief Obasanjo as serious
and grave. Full text of what he said at the press conference after the
cut...
President Olusegun Obasanjo's allegations are serious and grave. They
are also reckless. He has raised issues and made assertions that are
capable of derailing our democracy and creating chaos in the land. It
is vital that we consider his motives for this latest outburst and his
credentials as a leader and an elder statesman.
The truth is that he knows that President Goodluck Jonathan will win
next month's presidential election and that is why he wants to destroy
the credibility of the whole process right from the outset. What he is
trying to say in his latest contribution is that if President Jonathan
wins, then the election must have been rigged right from the outset.
This is not only wrong but it is also unfair and uncharitable. If
President Obasanjo has any evidence to prove his weighty allegations
he ought to present it before the Council of State and take it up
there.
He should also report to INEC itself and present the data of whatever
sinister plan he believes that President Jonathan has to stay in power
''by hook or by crook'' to them. He should tell INEC whatever it is
that Jonathan is doing in order for him to stay in power by all means
and he should give them all the details. That should be the starting
point.
The record shows that this is not the first time that INEC have
postponed elections. In 2011 during the National Assembly elections
INEC not only cancelled the elections just after they started but they
also postponed them by two weeks. The heavens did not fall then and
neither did President Obasanjo accuse INEC or the President of having
any grand plan to stay in power by hook or by crook at that time. One
wonders what has suddenly changed.
What INEC has done by postponing the elections is firmly within the
confines of the law and they have probably saved thousands of lives by
doing so. They have also given the 34 per cent of Nigerians that had
not collected their PVC's as at the relevant time the opportunity to
do so. Without this postponement all those people would have been
disenfranchised and it would have placed a dark cloud over the whole
process. Why should President Obasanjo have a problem with that?
President Jonathan has re-affirmed his commitment to the democratic
process over and over again and he has also said that the handover
date of May 29th is sacrosanct. In view of these assurances, one
wonders why President Obasanjo is creating such a hue and cry over
nothing. What is he seeing that no one else can see? One wonders what
his motives are? Does he have to rule every government by proxy? Must
every leader take instructions from him? Is it a case of ''if I cannot
control you and tell you what to do then you must go?''
President Obasanjo spoke about President Laurent Gbagbo and he claimed
that President Jonathan was attempting to do a Gbagbo in Nigeria. The
question that must be put to him is this: ''who got Gbagbo out?'' Was
it not Jonathan's government that played a key role in ensuring that
democracy was fully established in the Ivory Coast and did he not play
a key role in ensuring that the Gbagbo plan ''stay in power forever
plan'' did not work? If anyone doubts this they should ask President
Alhassan Outtara of La Cote D'Ivoire the role that Jonathan and
Nigeria played in helping to restore democracy and stability back to
his country.
They should also find out the role that President Obasanjo played in
attempting to keep President L
