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Obasanjo is a Bigger Fool -IBB
…..full
text of his reply to the Ota farmer
Newsdiaryonline Friday Aug 19,2011
Related:
Obasanjo: IBB a fool at 70-The
Nation
We have been inundated with calls from the media and our
esteemed friends over comments reportedly made by Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo, the Aremu of Ota, to the effect that General Ibrahim
Babangida “is a fool at 70”. According to the report, Chief
Obasanjo was said to have rolled out series of issues which he
considered, in his infertile mind, to be the sins of General
Babangida. He was reacting to earlier comments made by General
Ibrahim Babangida that the Obasanjo eight years administration
lacked creativity and innovation, and that given the huge
resources that accrued to the Obasanjo government, Nigeria
should have improved better. General IBB had stated inter alia;
“in my eight years in office, I was able to
manage poverty and achieved success while somebody for eight
years managed affluence and achieved failure”. It is in response
to this that the Ota farmer has decided to throw decency in the
air to describe General IBB in such uncouth
verbiage as a birthday
message. We do not want to believe that he truly said that, but
if it is true that he did say that, Nigerians know who the
greatest fool is.
It is certainly not in the tradition of General IBB, such a
refined gentleman officer; to join issues with his subordinates’
and superiors, but for the price we owe history, this riposte
becomes appropriate and necessary. We expected Chief Obasanjo to
react to the substance of General Babangida’s submissions and
not deploy this distractive strategy to shy away from the real
issues at stake. The statistics of the government they both ran
at different times, speak for them. The history of Chief
Obasanjo is an open sore that is irredeemably contrived in
several incongruities and contradictions. When he pleaded with
IBB to be given another
chance to extend his tenure, IBB was not a fool then. When he
was released from prison and granted state pardon, bathed in
cerebral ornaments and clothed in royal beads and later crowned
as President of Nigeria, IBB was not a fool then. Now that he is
at the extreme of his thoughts and engagements, he can decide to
dress IBB in borrowed
robes. But the histories of both of them, when put to public
scrutiny comparatively, IBB is far glowing and instructively
stands poles apart from Obasanjo. In terms of decency, finesse,
class, distinction and general conduct, IBB could be described
in the superlatives but for Obasanjo; God bless Nigeria.
For a man who cannot possibly tell his true age, one may excuse
his present outburst as the effusions of a witless comedian
trying effortlessly to impress his select audience. On the issue
of performance, Obasanjo cannot contemplate a comparism of his
conquistadorial and largely acquisitive regime that plundered
our hard-earned state resources, with that of IBB government
with verifiable record of achievements.
Despite the fact that he carried out a clinical investigation of
IBB’s regime, what did he establish against him? Nothing! We
wish to refer Obasanjo to the National Assembly to give his own
side of the story to the several revelations that have become
themes of his orchestra when he held sway as President of
Nigeria. Perhaps, he would be able to tell the world how he
managed Nigeria’s resources during his regime.
Chief Obasanjo should ponder on these incontrovertible facts:
The revenues that accrued to former President Obasanjo during
his eight years are more than those that accrued to the nation
from independence till 1999 before he took over. Despite such
stupendous wealth of the nation, what was his performance
profile? The number of high profile deaths by assassinations and
politically motivated killings during Obasanjo’s eight years is
more than any other in the history of this country. Besides, is
it not curious that after Obasanjo’s exit, there has not been
any
reported case of plane crashes? What was his human rights
record? The people of Odi in Bayelsa State and Zaki-Ibiam in
Benue State are yet to recover from the massacre visited on them
by Chief Obasanjo. Again Crude Oil sold for as much as $180
dollars per barrel for the better part of his eight years, what
benefit did Nigerians derive from such excess crude? With the
revelations coming from the hallowed
chambers of the National Assembly, Nigerians are now coming to
terms with the profligacy of the Obasanjo era.
Against the backdrop of the above, it is ludicrous for him to
raise any intellectual debate on the achievements of the
governments they ran at different times in the life of the
nation. Calling IBB “a fool at 70” especially by a man
reportedly and allegedly accused by his own son of incest, is at
best a compliment. Nigerians surely know who is truly a fool or
the greatest fool of this century.
Signed: Prince Kassim Afegbua, Spokesperson to Gen.(rtd) Ibrahim
Badamasi Babangida.
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