Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday
described the performance of President Goodluck
Jonathan as below average.
Obasanjo spoke during an encounter with book
writers in Abeokuta, Ogun State, as part of
activities marking the popular Ake Festival.
When asked of his view on Jonathan’s
administration, he said, “His performance is
below average. I will not accept responsibility for
his performance. There is nobody that gets such
a position without being helped.”
The former President also debunked the
insinuations that he had selected Jonathan as
the running mate to the late President Musa
Yar’Adua because he knew the latter was sick.
“Yar’Adua told me he was well. He showed me
his medical report and I even consulted experts,”
he said.
He said he had only supported the idea of a
South-Southerner succeeding Yar’Adua to extend
the sense of belonging that the emergence of a
Southern President in 1999 represented.
When the former President was also asked on
why he preferred Jonathan to the former
governor of Rivers State, Donald Duke, he said,
“In my own life, I don’t put all my eggs in one
basket. Duke was young enough to be in the
reserve.
“He did not agree with me. Donald Duke is my
friend but he needs a little of toning down. He
needs to get his feet on the ground.”
The former President had, in a December 2, 2013
18-page letter to Jonathan titled: “Before it is
too late” raised many issues concerning
Jonathan’s administration.
The Presidency on Friday said a statement
credited to Obasanjo that President Goodluck
Jonathan’s performance is below average was
“not true and in error.”
Senior Special Assistant to the President on
Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said this in a
telephone interview with SATURDAY PUNCH.
Okupe said if the statement indeed emanated
from the former leader, it was the most
uncharitable thing to say about the present
administration which he said had achieved so
much in various areas.
“If indeed former President Obasanjo said that,
that statement was in error because no
government since independence has done close
to 50 per cent of what this administration has
done in less than four years,” Okupe said.
He recalled that when Obasanjo was leaving
office, the total power generation capacity in the
country was about 2,600MW, claiming that the
present administration had been able to raise the
figure to about 4,000MW.
Okupe also said the Jonathan administration
inherited 24 airports that were in states of
disrepair across the country at inception.
He said all the airports had so far been
refurbished by the present administration,
therefore increasing the country’s reputation
among comity of nations.
The presidential aide also said the present
administration inherited 10 moribund National
Integrated Power Projects and went ahead to
restore and commission them.
He added that the Jonathan administration had
succeeded in completely eradicating the rot and
corruption met in the distribution of fertilisers in
the agriculture sector.
He also said the present administration made
progress in road construction by making 70 per
cent of road network motorable.
Okupe also said many of the manufacturing
industries that were moribund in 2011 have
started work again.
“These are just a few among the achievements
of the present administration. So if that
statement was indeed made, it is most
uncharitable and it is not true,” he added.
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