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President Goodluck Jonathan has again taken a swipe at former President Olusegun Obasanjo, saying the ex-President left Nigeria in darkness after his tenure.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said this during an interview on Sahara TV on Saturday.
During the interview, Abati responded to questions on the several issues involving the Presidency, and tongue-lashed the opposition for attacking the President on almost all issues.
On the proposed national conference, which was scheduled to hold this year, Abati praised the President, saying it would be better than the political reform conference that was organised by Obasanjo.
He said, “The last political reform conference, organised by Obasanjo failed. It ended up the discussion of tenure elongation and third term ambition.”
Abati faulted those who have questioned why Jonathan’s government scheduled the national conference to be held the same year the country is marking 100 years of amalgamation.
He said the celebration of Nigeria at 100 is not about the Jonathan administration, but a celebration by the private sector, the state and local government and all Nigerians.
On the power sector, Abati said power supply has become better in the country than it was in 2007 and 2010.
He also criticised those who have questioned Presidency’s budgetary allocation saying, “Everyone is involved in the budget- making process. Both the intelligent and the unintelligent. Even okada drivers have become budget analysts.
“Nigerians are concerned about corruption. [President Jonathan] too is concerned about corruption.”
Abati also accused the media of bias for the opposition.
“The media as we have it in Nigeria today is heavily in the hands of the opposition. Whatever the President says, they twist it,” he said.
He also praised Jonathan as the only president that has given Nigerians a road map.
“What he (Pres. Jonathan) has been able to do is historic. We have never had a president in Nigeria that presented Nigeria with a road map,” he said.
Obasanjo, however, said he would not join issues with the President and his aides. He said Jonathan is building on the foundations he laid while he was the President.
The ex-president, who spoke through his Chief of Staff, Mr. Victor Durodola, said he had said his mind in his letter to Jonathan and the President should accept his challenge in good faith.
Durodola said, “He (Obasanjo) doesn’t want to join issues with anybody anymore after that reply (President Goodluck Jonathan’s reply to the ex-president’s controversial letter); he really doesn’t want to.
“I would have told you that everybody knows that whatever it is that they are commissioning today, the foundation was laid when Obasanjo was President; everybody knows that. Most of the equipment came even before he left.
“But, as I said, he really does not want to (join issues with the presidency) at all. In one paragraph in his (Obasanjo’s) letter, he said he had done his duties to him (Jonathan) as a former president, as a former Board of Trustees Chairman (of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party) and as a citizen of Nigeria.
“It is left for him (Jonathan) to accept the challenge and do what is right.”
Source: Punch
