From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Northern Youth Assembly (NYA) has blamed the 8-year administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the 16 years the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) held the Presidency, and other past leaders, for the ‘national problems plaguing Nigeria’.
The statement signed by the National Assistant Publicity Secretary of the group, Mohammed Bauchi, said that Obasanjo created and nurtured some of these national problems plaguing Nigeria to an overwhelming limit with successive administrations feeling the heat of the synthetic problems.
The statement reads in part:
“Historically, looking at previous and recent happenings in Nigeria, one can confidently state that Nigerian leaders have made a mess of our dear country since independence. While most of the previous administrations both democratic and military have played a role in creating the problems bedevilling us today.
“This country has never been subjected to ugly damage than the 16 years PDP held power, out of which former President Olusegun Obasanjo led for 8 years. Obasanjo blatantly created and nurtured some of these national problems plaguing Nigeria to an overwhelming limit with successive administrations feeling the heat of the synthetic problems
“The intention and plan by former President Obasanjo to organize some civil society and other critics of Buhari administration to form a coalition that will mount additional pressure on the already fragile state of politics and insecurity in Nigeria is not new, as he has done same with many previous administrations. Such apparent wickedness and evil intentions to this country are known to many. Obasanjo known to most Nigerians is a thoroughly self-centred leader that only sees a fault in previous and every subsequent leader except for those serving his personal interest. His performance record and corrupt precedents have for long denied him any inviolability to speak from moral prism on the present happenings in the country.
“A glance at some of his personal characters to administration while he was in office would forever remind some of us, the personality of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo and what he represents
the Undemocratic “Third Term Agenda”.“It was widely acknowledged that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, sought to change the Nigerian constitution to prolong his stay in power by running for an unconstitutional third term for the presidency in 2007. To achieve this intention, numerous states resources were squandered by Obasanjo and his boys illicitly, amounting to about $500 million, diverted from the Excess Crude Account and invested same in the failed third-term bid.
“In addition to this, President Obasanjo introduced the use of Ghana-Must-Go bags of money and bribed NASS members to actualize the third term agenda. In an interactive session with Punch in 2011, Abike Dabiri, a two-term member of the House of Reps and a former Senator; Lawal Shuaibu, confessed that the administration of Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo offered the sum of N50m bribe each to members of NASS to secure a third term in office for the former president.
“The eight years of former President Obasanjo left Nigeria’s infrastructure in total disrepair. His administration claimed to have spent over $4 billion in construction and repair of federal roads. This spending claim is completely contrary to the conditions of the roads they claimed to have sunk the money into.
“It was under Obasanjo’s watch that Nigerians were defrauded of $16 Billion Dollars meant to fix the country’s power problem.
“Unfortunately most of this money was stolen and Nigeria was deprived of an opportunity to get over its energy problem. As a result of this corruption and mismanagement of funds, the shortage of energy supply has continued to undermine Nigeria’s potential of assuming its rightful position as a regional economic super power.
“Sadly, when Obasanjo left power, most of the country’s power stations were operating at less than 30 per cent of their capacity.
“Under Obasanjo two terms in office, the worst massacres were recorded in Nigeria through government forces which took place at Odi and Zaki-Biam Massacres. The Odi massacre was an attack carried out on November 20, 1999, by the Nigerian military on the predominantly Ijaw town of Odi in Bayelsa State.
“The attack came in the context of an ongoing conflict in the Niger Delta over indigenous rights to oil resources and environmental protection.
“Environmental Rights Action, claims that nearly 2500 civilians were killed. People generally say that the massacre was ordered by the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
“The Zaki-Biam Massacre was a mass execution of hundreds of unarmed Tiv civilians by the Nigerian Army between 20 – 24 of October 2001. The massacre was a surreptitious operation of the Nigerian army to avenge the killing of 19 soldiers, whose mutilated bodies were found on 12 October 2001, near some Tiv villages in Benue State.
“While the total number of victims were not yet established till today, survivors and eyewitnesses have reported that at least 100 and possibly more than 200 people died at the hands of the soldiers.
“Former President Obasanjo has been entangled in a number of immoral precedents, and such revelations emanated from his immediate family members. His first wife Oluremi Obasanjo broke it in spectacular style with a tell-all autobiography, Bitter-Sweet: My Life with Obasanjo published in 2008, where she portrayed Obasanjo as a sly, violent, vindictive womaniser.
“In 2008 an allegation was made by his son Gbenga in a sworn affidavit, submitted to a divorce court in Lagos, that he is having an affair with the son’s wife. In 2013 his daughter Iyabo has ruled out further communication with her father till death, describing him as a liar, manipulator, two-faced hypocrite. Senator Iyabo Obasanjo in a letter to her father accused him of having an egoistic craving for power and living a life where only men of low esteem and intellect thrive. Iyabo accused her father of orchestrating a third term for himself as president, cruelty to family members, abandonment of children and grandchildren, and also, a legendary reputation of maltreatment of women.
“On August 22, 2005, the then governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu, submitted a petition alleging corrupt practices against Mr Obasanjo to the EFCC. A second petition was delivered two years later – in November 2007 – by the Coalition against Corrupt Leaders, a non-governmental organisation headed by Debo Adeniran, a civil society activist.
“Few of these corruption allegations against Obasanjo included: the hostels and sports complex at Mr Obasanjo’s Bells Secondary School and University were constructed by STRABAG Construction Company with taxpayers’ money, at about ₦40 billion. Obasanjo used his presidential powers to approve a licence to Obasanjo Farms, which was in “shambles” while he was in prison, to be the sole importer of the grant parent stock of chicken. He used state funds to pursue his ‘Third term agenda; and spent about ₦300 billion on the construction and maintenance of mysterious Nigeria’s roads.
“With these record of underperformance, corrupt practices, immorality among many others attributed to Obasanjo, only enemies of this country will join hands with such a person whose actions is to further obliterate the unity of this country.
“Obasanjo had his chance to solve Nigeria’s problem and he blew it for meagre selfish gains. Till today he never apologized nor take responsibility for the ills his administration has caused to Nigeria, but instead, he opted to create more problems to the system.
“It is time for all Nigerians to wake up and stop falling into the traps of destruction set up by people like Obasanjo and his cohorts. Nigeria belongs to us all, and we should not allow them to dictate our thinking or how we should respond to some of our unfortunate situations which they deliberately created for us.”