Obasanjo is not a democrat – Attah

From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

As the issue of who owns the oil resources in the Niger Delta rages on, ex- governor of Akwa- Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah has declared that ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo is not a democrat.

Attah speaking in an interview on Arise TV Morning Show, against the backdrop of exchange of letters between Obasanjo and foremost Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark said Obasanjo‘s concept of federalism is suspect.

Making reference to the former President’s dictatorial style inherited from his military background and actions in and out of office, he pointed out that Obasanjo carried out many undemocratic acts.

“Let me refer specifically to the letter written by Olusegun Obasanjo, former President. We all know that General Olusegun Obasanjo is not a democrat. His letter talked about federalism, his letter talked about sovereignty. I would like to deal with those because those are the fundamental things that have taken us back as a country.

“ I say he is not a democrat and I will give you my reasons. If you look at the frequency in which he changed the Chairmen of our party, you would see that no how were his efforts democratic. And the same applies to the Presidency of the Senate. I think almost every Igbo Senator became President of the Senate because if Obasanjo doesn’t want you, you can’t be President of the Senate. And the manner in which he was changing it was far from being democratic.

“But the worst aspect was after he left office, he now decided to come and take over the Chairmanship of the Board of Trustees by muscling out Chief Anthony Anehin. And the way he did was far from being democratic. Now when he doubles away from democracy and you begin to look at federalism, his understanding of federalism is very suspect.

Anybody that subscribes to federalism could have done what former President Obasanjo did with the funds that belonged to Lagos State Local Governments. That is one. Two, there is no way he would have understood and practiced federalism and would be able to assemble a few legislators from a state in Abuja and have them impeach a properly elected Governor of a state. That doesn’t happen in federalism. Those are the things that really worry me when I hear him talk about federalism and Federal Government and all of that. Because those things don’t just happen, there is a system by which they should happen and that system does not include what happened to me in my issue of oil wells. Look at the way he took the oil wells that belonged to Akwa- Ibom State and distributed them to Rivers State and Cross Rivers and decided that we were not oil producing which is far from the truth. His concept of sovereignty is what worries me the most. He seems to think that there is something called sovereignty that owns Nigeria.”

Attah while insisting that Nigeria should revert back to the 1963 constitution and modify it to suit the present circumstances maintained that the oil resources in the Niger Delta region belonged to the Niger Delta people.

“What we are saying to Nigeria is that let us come to an arrangement that this oil which belongs to the Niger Delta people can continue to be enjoyed by the people of Nigeria,” he said.