Olusegun Obasanjo ,Soldier, Politician, Farmer, and a Writer
is one of the African great ,mentioning his name anywhere one or two people
will make a comment either good or bad about him. Baba Iyabo (Iyabo’s father’ )
is a man of few words....and whenever he
speaks those few words , cold will catch a lot of people!!! Not only cold it
will lead to head-ache, it will result into fever and running stomach that can
lead to dysentery .
Sometime ago , i was a bit young then but still remember
vividly when a book written by OBJ ‘’MY COMMAND’’ hit the shelf ,there are a
lot of grumbling, talking, some top Army Generals were said then that all what
OBJ attributed to himself was not true etc.etc. OBJ then just made a
statement...’If it was not true, write your own.’ That is the antidote, everybody
silenced since then.
Chief Obasanjo ,in his
interview granted to ‘Zero Tolerance’ an EFCC magazine about his former
Vice-President and that of ex-boss of EFCC
Farida Waziri are now generating viral responses. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, said
that his former Vice risked jail if he travels to the United States of America,
USA.
However in a statement on Wednesday issued
by Atiku Abubakar media adviser, Garba
Shehu, noted that Obasanjo’s
statements in an EFCC magazine, “Zero Tolerance, “were not true. He said “The former President is wrong. It is widely
known that Atiku didn’t enter government broke. He declared his assets at the
commencement of his Vice Presidency and did so at the end of his term as
required by the constitution, which is a sacred document to Atiku’’
“Atiku, who is currently returning
from China after leading a private economic trade mission at the invitation of
the Chinese government, travels often and has a well-documented record of
building industries and putting thousands of Nigerians to work. And this
record, quite frankly, has been thoroughly investigated.”
“President Obasanjo’s repeated
‘jokes’ about Turaki not being able to go to America have become cliché,
tiresome and not true.”
“So, we are used to those taunts,” he
said.“Another fact is Atiku is one of the most investigated politicians in
Nigerian history. And every investigation, whether politically motivated here
at home or by the FBI abroad, has yielded the same result every time: not
guilty.
“If Atiku is guilty of anything, it
is crushing persistent attempts at re-writing our constitution.
“Atiku has chosen the path of
optimism and hope. Moving forward, he will continue working to fuel Nigeria’s
economy through investment and job creation, while also passionately and
persistently defending our young democracy.”
Garba claimed that Atiku travelled
to USA in 2006 and just returned from a business trip to China !!! To me , China is not USA;2006 is a very long time, as at that time there might
not be an evidence to try him; hence he is free to go there and returned. If
Atiku will like to prove Obasanjo wrong, he should just travel to USA next week
just on a jolly visit.
As of Farida Waziri, Obasanjo said
she was not qualified for the of EFCC , as a citizen of Nigeria anybody can aspire
to become or occupy any position as long as that person merit the position. But
as that of EFCC, i don’t know the criteria or qualification that required for
the post as the employer is the any sitting President. Hence Obasanjo should
know better.
However, Farida Waziri as a woman ,has thrown caution to the wind .These
are some of her comment: “My attention has been drawn to a
number of allegations made against me by Mr Obasanjo. One of such was the
alleged involvement of former Delta state governor, James Ibori in my
appointment. While I hold the office of a Head of state, either serving or
retired in the highest esteem, I will like to put on record for the umpteenth
time that this is totally unfounded, blantant lie and arrant falsehood. It is
therefore worrisome when a man who has been twice a Nigerian head of state can
descend so low to peddle falsehood. The truth is that I never met Ibori in my
life until after months in office as chairman of the EFCC when I used to see
him in the presidential villa’’,
‘’ it is illogical and nonsensical for anyone to continue to insinuate
that Ibori has a hand in my appointment. I remember this was one of the lies
Obasanjo’s sit-tight pawns cooked to stop my appointment as EFCC chairman in
2008.’’
“I will also like to remind Obasanjo that no chairman of the EFCC has
till date beaten my records in terms of investigation of high profile cases,
prosecution, conviction and recovery.
“I will like to warn that those who live in glass house don’t throw
stones and as such Obasanjo should not allow me open up on him. Respectable
elder statesmen act and speak with decorum”
Farida have every reason to reacted the way she did as she claimed that ,’’
the qualification for appointment as chairman of the Commission as stipulated
in its Establishment Act says that the chairman shall ‘be a serving or retired
member of any government security or law enforcement agency not below the rank
of Assistant Commissioner of Police or equivalent; and possess not less than 15
years cognate experience’ ’While she also claimed that she’’ served in the
Nigeria Police force for 35 years and got to the pinnacle of my career before
my appointment as EFCC chairman’’
To me this drama of words are very interesting, i will know why OBJ said this woman is not qualified for
that job. May be there are something we don’t know. Likewise that of Atiku ,
why he cannot travel to USA.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment