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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
A notable Northern group, Arewa Think Tank (ATT), has descended heavily on former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his recent comments that many Nigerian leaders ought to be in jail for alleged corruption and failure in leading the nation to the Promised Land.
Former Obasanjo made the comments when he received six members of the House of Representatives, and co-sponsors of the bill on a single six-year term power rotation between the North and South in Abeokuta in the penultimate week.
They were led by a former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Downstream Petroleum, Ugo Chinyere, during the visit to the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.
Ex-President Obasanjo who presided over the affairs of the country for eight years from 1999 to 2007 had questioned the character of Nigeria’s leaders, saying that those who occupy public offices should be put behind bars.
According to Obasanjo, succeeding governments had also not built on the foundation he laid while he was in power.
However, in a statement made available to newsmen yesterday, the Convener, Arewa Think Tank, Muhammad Alhaji Yakubu, agreed with former President Obasanjo, but urged the Otta farmer to begin the probe with himself and send his cabinet members to jail as an example for others to follow.
The Arewa Think Tank said: “If not for our primary aims and objectives to defend peaceful coexistence of Nigerians as a bona fide registered independent group in the country, we wouldn’t have joined issues with our internationally respected elder statesman and former President, Olusegun Obasanjo over his recent comments that many Nigerian leaders should be in jail or gallows.
“Yes, we are agreed with him, but let him lead the way by probing himself and members of his cabinet during the eight years in office, from 1999 to 2007, and let us see how many of them will be sent to jail before subsequent government will follow.
“The former President Obasanjo has been in the news through his various speeches at many gatherings, fora and platforms, locally and abroad, which never bothered us as much as this recent one which is capable of causing bad blood among past and present leaders of our dear country.
“We expected Obasanjo who spent eight straight years in office backed with an added advantage of a military background to continue to make utterances that will unite Nigeria rather than to disunite the country.
“We are, however, forced to go on memory lane to remind the two-term former President that not even the revival of airline, the revival of refineries, the revival of vehicle assembly plants, and not even the construction of the road under his nose, that is, Sango-Abeokuta expressway few meters to Otta Farm was done.
“Till today, we can say without fear or favour that residents along that axis are still crying up till tomorrow for the pains they go through on daily basis using that bad road. It is on record that the people had cried unto him then while he was in office as president, but he did not listen to them.
“Former President Obasanjo failed to modify the bicameral legislature to unicameral legislature to reduce cost of governance while in executive power.
“These and lots more are what we could remember for him. We may choose to ignore the untidy and very distractive wranglings between him and his vice (Atiku Abubakar) who alleged that he breached a gentleman’s agreement from 1999 to 2007.
“So for us at Arewa Think Tank, we are asking, what has the present government really done wrong to deserve bashing from prominent Nigerians who should be supporting it for the general betterment of the citizenry. Except, of course, there is immediate need to alleviate the hardship in the country in some other ways, which as a matter of fact, the government is working assiduously on it. By the time the results start manifesting, everybody will marvel and appreciate the present government under the able leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“We all know that the singular reason this economic hardship becomes so pronounced is the sudden total withdrawal of subsidy on petroleum products. But surprisingly, every other presidential candidate had said they would do the same if they were in Tinubu’s shoes. Peter Obi even puts it more succinctly, ‘subsidy is an organised crime, it would go immediately.’’’
