Fayose blasts Obasanjo over comments on Jonathan’s performance

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The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has called on former President Olusegun Obasanjo to stop his repeated verbal attacks on the immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan.

Mr. Fayose’s reservations were contained in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Lere Olayinka, in Ado-Ekiti on Monday.

He said, “Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is no longer the president of Nigeria, he should be allowed to live a private life devoid of mudslinging from elder statesmen like Chief Obasanjo”.

The governor expressed concerns over Mr. Obasanjo’s comments on the administration of Mr. Jonathan while delivering the 11th Convocation Lecture at the Benson Idahosa University, Benin City.

Mr. Obasanjo was quoted as saying that the “performance of Jonathan while in office will haunt the people of the South-South region for a long time to come”.

But Fayose noted that the people of the South-South had already demonstrated their approval of Mr. Jonathan’s performance while in office by voting overwhelmingly for him on March 28 despite the gang-up orchestrated by Mr. Obasanjo and his allies.

“Most importantly, Jonathan’s performance as a democrat has been widely acknowledged locally and internationally, particularly by President Mohammadu Buhari, who on many occasions acknowledged the role he (Jonathan) played in midwifing a peaceful and successful transition programme, thereby averting the feared crisis in the country,” he said.

“This is in contrast to Baba Obasanjo, who tried third term when he was about concluding his constitutional two terms. And who knows whether he would have tried fourth term if he had succeeded with his third term agenda?”

Mr. Fayose further said, “The reality is, assuming but not conceding that Jonathan performed below expectation, democratic governance that he established in Nigeria is more important than any other performance that Obasanjo alluded to.”

He also told Mr. Obasanjo to stop running other Nigerians down, saying, “We are all stakeholders in the country Nigeria. It is wrong for any Nigerian no matter how highly placed to go about carrying himself around as the only honest and lover of the country.”

Mr. Fayose said since the former President openly destroyed his Peoples Democratic Party membership card, he was free to go about seeking relevance in the All Progressives Congress (APC) without running anyone down.

“People living in glass houses should avoid throwing stones,” he said.

“Nigerians know those involved in the Halliburton scandal and people who are yet to be cleared of their alleged complicity in a scam like Halliburton lacked moral rights to brand other people as corrupt.”