Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has issued a blistering indictment of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, calling it the worst in Nigeria’s democratic history.
Obasanjo, on the other hand, claimed that President Bola Tinubu’s administration appears to be following in Buhari’s footsteps in terms of bad governance and corruption, and that it may even outperform him.
The former president made these claims in the first chapter of his recently published book, “Nigeria: Past and Future.”
The book was one of two new books released last week to commemorate the former president’s 88th birthday.
Obasanjo slammed the N15.6 trillion Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project as wasteful and corrupt in his book, which was published on Thursday by Chronicle NG.
He also criticised Tinubu’s administration for spending N21 billion on a new official mansion for Vice President Kashim Shettima, describing it as a misguided priority and a conduit for embezzling public funds.
He said, “Typical examples of waste, corruption, and misplaced priorities are the mucky Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, on which the President had turned deaf ears to protests, and the new Vice-President’s official residence built at a cost of N21bn in the time of economic hardship to showcase the administration hitting the ground running and to show the importance of the office of the Vice-President. What small minds!”
Obasanjo, however, said corruption was worse under Buhari’s watch, with the strong support of his Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
“The most atrocious waste, enthronement of corruption, and discouragement of officials fighting corruption took place under the watch of President Buhari and the devil’s workshop, his Attorney General, Abubakar Malami,” Obasanjo said.
Obasanjo, however, asserted that the Tinubu government might surpass Buhari’s record.
“Given about two years of President Tinubu in office, it appears that the game of short-changing the over 230 million Nigerians continues because everything is said to be transactional and the slogan is ‘It is my turn to chop,’” Obasanjo added.
Obasanjo particularly criticised Buhari for failing to live up to the ideals he once championed as a military ruler in 1983.
Obasanjo regretted that Buhari led a government that was the worst in Nigeria’s civil administration.
He explained that in 1983, when explaining why the democratically elected government of the late Alhaji Shehu Shagari was deposed by the military, Gen. Buhari (retd.) cited mismanagement of public funds, which harmed and weakened the country’s economy, as well as a lack of credible polls, among other reasons for the military takeover.
In the book, Buhari was quoted to have said, “The last general election was anything but free and fair… There is ample evidence that rigging and thuggery were relative to the resources available to the political parties.
“This conclusively proved to us that the parties have not developed in the presidential system of government in which the nation invested so many materials and human resources.
“The corrupt, inept, and insensitive leadership in the last four years has been the source of immorality and impropriety in our society… We deplore corruption in all its facets.”
Obasanjo, however, stated that as good as Buhari’s 1983 speech was, he failed woefully to match his words with actions; even when he had the opportunity to serve the country for eight years as a democratically elected president, his administration was the worst in the nation’s history of civil governance.
He said, “Good points and good words, which Buhari failed to follow when he became president eleven years later.
“Words are cheap, and what needed to be done was left undone during Buhari’s civil administration regime from 2015 to 2023, the worst civil administration regime so far in Nigerian history.
“Maybe those ideas and thoughts were not his; he just came to read them as written for him. Only Bola Tinubu’s administration seems to be competing with Buhari’s for now.”
