Femi Falana, human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, has described former Nigeria president, Olusegun Obasanjo and incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari as “birds of same feather”.
Falana spoke in Benin on Friday, while reacting to Obasanjo’s special statement last week, which asked President Muhammadu Buhari not to seek re-election next year.
The lawyer stated that apart from the allegations of nepotism and clannishness Obasanjo levelled against President Buhari, “other allegations were nothing to write home about.”
“Many of us have forgotten the abduction of Governor Chris Ngige, many of us have forgotten the fact that the National Assembly and the House of Representatives displayed bales of naira with which it was alleged that the presidency wanted to bribe the legislators.
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“Many of us have forgotten about the third term agenda or the fact that many people who were also closed to the seats of power were treated like sacred cows even in the fight against corruption.
“But I do not want to join issues with Obasanjo for now on his letter so that one is not seeing as endorsing impunity in our country but other than the allegations of nepotism and clannishness which the presidency is notoriously noted for, I think, they are birds of same feathers.”
“In other words, all the other allegations took place under President Obasanjo and in fact, he institutionalised the culture of impunity under the democratic dispensation in Nigeria.
“If President Obasanjo who ruled this country for 11 and half years has institutionalised democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights, we will not be in this mess and the control of Nigeria by the Nigerian people, we will be having an Eldorado by now.
“So, please, let Obasanjo and others be honest to admit that they brought us to this shameful episode. So, nobody should grandstand when it comes to the misgovernance of Nigerians.
