Nigerians must reject Obasanjo; he caused GEJ’s failure – Ambassador Maisule spits fire

Ibrahim Maisule crtiticised Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for still being invloved in Nigeria's presidency

- He claimed the former president had installed all subsequent presidents after he left office

- The former ambassador urged Nigerians to reject the former president

Ibrahim Maisule who served as an ambassador during the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo has blamed the former president for what he described as the disastrous administration of Goodluck Jonathan.

In an interview with Vanguard, Maisule lashed out at Obasanjo for installing Jonathan as president as said Jonathan’s emergence was a sort of compensation for people from the south south region.

He described Jonathan as politically inexperienced which was why a lot of embezzlement and misappropriation of fund took place during his presidential administration.

He said: “To start with, it is unconstitutional and a travesty of democracy, if, for any reason, one man, in a country of 180 million people, is allowed to install the country’s leaders. However, this has happened a couple of times in our recent history as a democratic country as Obasanjo, as a former military Head of State and former civilian President, has played a more than casual role in the emergence of former Presidents. The result, however, is that the country is worse for it, because Obasanjo, in exercising this influence, has not been guided by the best interest of the country.

“Obasanjo was instrumental to the emergence of former President Goodluck Jonathan as Yar’Adua’s successor. It was Obasanjo that ensured that Jonathan was catapulted to the exalted position of the Vice President. Before then, Jonathan was deputy governor of Bayelsa State. “Obasanjo ensured the elevation of the inexperienced Jonathan as a political favour done to the people of the South-South from where the country derived huge chunk of its national revenue.

“However, you would expect that if selecting Jonathan was for the benefit of the Niger Delta people, it would have been appropriate if the opinion leaders of the area were consulted and allowed to make an input. Rather, in his usual all-knowing manner, Obasanjo acted unilaterally and foisted a reluctant leader on a big and complex country like Nigeria. The rest like we all know is history.

“The impact of Jonathan five years leadership on the economy of Nigeria and the alleged looting of national revenue and corruption under his watch, going by the exposure by the Muhammadu Buhari government, shows that, as Nigeria’s leader, Jonathan was a disaster, for which Obasanjo should be blamed.

“It is important that the Nigerian people endeavour to take their political destiny in their own hands and reject the meddlesomeness of Obasanjo as the nation looks forward to the 2019 general elections.

“What did we get from all those Obasanjo chose for us? His meddlesome in our national politics has brought us to where we’ve found ourselves.

“All Nigerian presidents since Obasanjo’s exit 10 years ago have had his imprimatur. And what have we gotten from all of that except pain, hardship, stagflation, recession, hunger and starvation? Therefore, he should not be allowed or encouraged to select future leaders for the country, if we, as a people, are to escape from the recurring cycle of regret and failure which has been the lot of our political experience.”