The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has rated President Bola Tinubu highly over former President Olusegun Obasanjo on governance and described, as hollow and mischievous, the former president’s recent characterisation of the Tinubu administration as second only to that of former President Muhammadu Buhari in inefficiency.
The group also wondered how a former president with a dismal record in office could accuse any other president, former or current, of performing worse than his own administration.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, TMSG argued that the former President misused several opportunities to turn around Nigeria’s fortunes at a time of multiple oil booms.
The group said: “It is not unusual for former President Olusegun Obasanjo to use every opportunity to cast aspersions on other Nigerian Presidents in a bid to portray his administration as the best the country ever had and himself as the most competent.
“Which is why we were not surprised that in his new book, “Nigeria: Past and Future”, he tagged President Bola Tinubu as second only to former President Muhammadu Buhari in inefficiency. This is clearly in his character.
“And in casting aspersions at all Presidents who assumed office after him, former President Obasanjo was, as usual, being himself, an individual who sees everything good about himself, a messiah of sorts even when many Nigerians know that he squandered the goodwill that followed him into office after years of military rule.
“Yes, the former President secured debt forgiveness for Nigeria by paying $18 billion, but he also left billions of naira in unpaid pension debt and entitlements of several Nigerians who were left jobless after his poorly managed privatisation of hundreds of Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs).
“So how many of those companies that were later found to have been sold at a pittance are still operating? Also, former President Obasanjo takes delight in saying that he left an Excess Crude Account (ECA) of $25 billion for his predecessor, which is a tacit acknowledgement of the oil boom while he was President, but it was also a period that Nigeria could not boast of a modern rail network”, the statement said.
TMSG wondered why a former president who credits himself as the best among the country’s leaders left a legacy of poor infrastructure and waste despite the multiple oil booms of the period.
“If the Obasanjo era was a period of remarkable efficiency, former President Buhari and his successor, both of whom he claimed were inefficient, would not have been executing rail projects as well as highways and other critical infrastructure at a time of lower crude prices.
“That was also the time the nation’s four refineries were crippled and millions of dollars spent on questionable Turn Around Maintenance (TAMs), aside from the over 16 billion dollars believed to have been spent on power projects that achieved nothing but left Nigerians in worse darkness.
“Yet former President Obasanjo always accuses the country’s successive leadership as inefficient and poor managers of the economy.
“No Nigerian can easily forget the legacy of corruption he introduced into the National Assembly as the first civilian President in the Fourth Republic, as well as carrying the burden of the worst national election in Nigeria’s history in 2027 which he presided over and for which there is still no final result, eighteen years after.
“We think he needs to drop his messianic complex and accept, for once, that he cannot always absolve himself of blame whenever he talks of Nigeria’s political leadership especially now that he wants everyone to know that he is close to his ‘departure lounge”
“It is interesting that in his latest book, he admitted that he was not perfect during his time in office, but he is also known to have never accepted his flaws, from the 2007 election to his administration’s handling of the privatisation exercise.
“The only area he is known to have expressed regret was his choice of Atiku Abubakar as Vice President,” the statement noted. The group urged the former president to assume the role of an elder statesman that he is and desist from casting aspersions on the country’s leaders after falling out with them.
