•Ojukwu Photo: Sun News Publishing

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Sharp reactions have trailed comments by former Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, that immediate past president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, should be shot for alleged corruption and economic crimes against the country.

He stated this against the backdrop of the sleazy revelations emanating from the on-going public hearings conducted by legislators in the National Assembly.

The former warlord had stoked the controversy in an interview published in the current edition of The Spectator newspaper, saying the disclosures showed how corrupt Obasanjo was, and that more sordid deals would be unravelled in the coming days.

“Without mincing words, the man (Obasanjo) should be shot! In fact, if it is possible to shoot him twice, I will say the man should be shot twice. I don’t think much of him,” Ojukwu, who is the Eze Igbo Gburugburu (overall Igbo king), stated.

But reacting in a telephone interview with Sunday Sun, former Minister of Information and Culture, Chief Alex Akinyele, lashed out at the Ikemba Nnewi, saying he was still exhibiting traits of a soldier and had not shed the military mind-set even in a democratic era.
“Ojukwu still thinks like a person in military era. You cannot do that now. After all, the former president has not been found guilty of any economic crime by a competent law court.

“Ojukwu should know that we are now in a democratic dispensation,” Akinyele said.
The former minister and public relations guru stressed that such capital punishment was not in tandem with democratic ethos, especially at this stage of the country’s development, where due process and the rule of law are beginning to take root.

For him, the best that could be done if Obasanjo committed any economic crime, as alleged by Ojukwu, was for him to be tried in the law courts.
“Instead, what Ojukwu should have said was that he (Obasanjo) should be tried for economic sabotage or economic crime and not to recommend that he be shot.”
Former Ogun State governor, Olusegun Osoba, equally frowned at Ojukwu’s postulation.
“I don’t agree with him. We are in a country where there is respect for the rule of law.
“Why shoot him when the law books can take care of that? To start with, was Ojukwu shot when he led secessionist Biafra against Nigeria?” he asked.

Media consultant to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Garba Shehu, in his reaction, said Ojukwu’s remarks is in bad taste, despite the fact that Obasanjo “offended a lot of people.”
Shehu, who explained that his reaction was personal, berated Ojukwu for trying to offend the sensibilities of Nigerians with such comments.
“What would our children say if they read such comments in the newspapers in future? That would have negative effect on them.

“Such comments can only come from those whose background is military. No real democrat would suggest such bestiality. It is a manifestation and a carry-over of the involvement of the military in our political development, and it is not good for us.
“It is true that Obasanjo offended a lot of people but to say that he should be shot is indeed in bad taste,” he said.

However, Ojukwu’s in-law and former governor of old Anambra State, Chief Christian Onoh, would rather not be drawn into the smouldering controversy.
He told Sunday Sun when asked to comment on the issue that Ojukwu and Obasanjo “talk like soldiers, and I would not want to be part of their soldierly comments.”
Pressed further, he retorted: “They are soldiers and they talk like soldiers.”