Obasanjo failed to fix federal roads with oil receipts, says Onanuga

Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, said on Monday that former President Olusegun Obasanjo failed to fix deplorable roads with oil receipts during his tenure.

Onanuga said this in a statement in response to Obasanjo’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

At Yale University over the weekend, Obasanjo had described Nigeria under Tinubu as a ‘failing state,’ describing his style of leadership as ‘uninspiring.’

Read also: Onanuga hits back at Obasanjo, says former president not an ideal leader

But Onanuga hit back at the former president, saying that the rise in crude oil prices started during his tenure when it reached over $100 per barrel before a decline in 2014, which set the oil-dependent economy downward.

He said the current economic crisis which the All Progressives Congress (APC) administrations have been battling since 2015 is the product of the poor choices in economic management made by Obasanjo and the two successors from his party.

“Obasanjo prides his government on paying the $15 billion debt owed to the Paris Club. Still, it was not a wise decision as it was done when the country’s critical economic infrastructure across sectors was in shambles.

“While oil receipts brought money into the country, Obasanjo failed to fix the deplorable federal roads or expand the national road network. He did not repair the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, the Lagos-Abeokuta road leading to his hometown in Abeokuta, the Otta-Idiroko road, and many others.

“His administration also should have paid more serious attention to universities and polytechnics. In a joint vote of no confidence in our tertiary institutions, Obasanjo and his deputy, Atiku Abubakar, sought to profit from their weaknesses by establishing their private universities.”

Onanuga noted that former President Obasanjo has continued to blame those who served after his tenure for the nation’s myriad challenges even when he had his many flaws during his time.

“Unfortunately, the former leader’s habit of casting aspersions on every subsequent administration has devolved into a recurring pastime, overshadowing the expectation of an elder statesman to join a constructive dialogue on attaining national progress.

“In his latest critique of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, whom he pejoratively called ‘Baba Go Slow’ and President Bola Tinubu, who he tagged ‘Emilokan’, Chief Obasanjo used the platform provided by Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University to unfurl his latest treatise on leadership and public morality. He also used the forum to write off Nigeria as a failing country.

Read also: Obasanjo calls for change of INEC leadership

“The irony of Chief Obasanjo using the platform that celebrates Achebe to sermonise on the ideals of good governance, statecraft, economic management, and corruption should be apparent to discerning minds. When he was alive, Chinua Achebe was a universally acclaimed moral, cultural and literary icon with scant regard for Obasanjo.”

Onanuga recalled how late Prof Chinua Achebe rejected the third highest national honour bestowed on him by the Obasanjo-led administration in 2004 on the grounds of the prevalence of abuse of power, corruption, poor leadership, and, in particular, state-sponsored brigandage endorsed by Obasanjo in Achebe’s home state of Anambra.

“Brazen illegality and assault on the Constitution of Nigeria reached a disturbing height under the leadership of Chief Obasanjo. During Obasanjo’s era, the unconstitutional impeachment of four governors who belonged to his party occurred.”

He also recalled how Governors Joshua Dariye of Plateau, Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo, Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa were impeached by minority members of their state houses of assembly.

“A man under whose watch all of these egregious infractions occurred should certainly not be the one to give any lecture on leadership and corruption. He should not be taken seriously as he reeks of profound hypocrisy of the worst form.”

He noted that Obasanjo has continuously pumped himself up as the economic wizard of Nigeria, but a reality check showed he is nothing of such.

Onanuga said Obasanjo left unresolved many, if not all, of the problems of Nigeria, which he itemised in his lecture.

He noted that Obasanjo recently admitted that his government made a mistake by not focussing on gas development like the Tinubu administration.

“As a sitting President, Chief Obasanjo abused his office to advance personal interest against the spirit and letters of our constitution when he corralled leading businessmen, women and government contractors to donate billions of naira for his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library and Resorts in Abeokuta and his Bell University in Otta.

Read also: Obasanjo calls Nigeria failing state, rebukes Tinubu for uninspiring leadership

“After wasting billions of naira on a failed third-term project in 2007, Chief Obasanjo hurriedly organised a sham electoral process that would go down in history as the most fraudulent election held in Nigeria since 1960.

“The beneficiary of the sham election, Umaru Yar’adua, admitted that the election was seriously flawed and, as Justice Muhammed Uwais’s panel recommended, worked towards electoral reforms. It is hypocrisy writ large when a man who presided over the worst election in Nigeria demands the sack of the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission.”