The Presidency has issued a strong response to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s criticism of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, accusing the ex-leader of mischief and failing to uphold democratic principles during his tenure.
The exchange began after Obasanjo, while delivering a speech in the United States, labeled Nigeria a “failed state” under Tinubu’s leadership and mockingly referred to him as baba-go-slow. The comments drew sharp reactions from the Tinubu administration.
Sunday Dare, the Special Adviser on Public Communication and Orientation to the President, described Obasanjo’s remarks as baseless and hypocritical.
In a statement shared on social media platform X, Dare said, “His journey along the path of hallucinations has never been in doubt. So is his descent into muddling facts, forgetting that he ran a Presidency on record as the most corrupt. His recent diatribe at Yale University lacks sincerity.
“It is actually laughable that the former President’s pretentiousness about fighting corruption is not cutting any ice in the eyes of the general public.
“We all know what happened under his watch and how, up till the present moment, there has been no explanation as to how he wasted a whopping $16bn in generating megawatts of darkness across the nation.
“But that is not even the issue. Democracy suffered mortal wounds under his watch only capped by his murderous rage for an ill-fated 3rd term.
“Successive administrations struggled to clean up the mess Obasanjo left behind, which President Tinubu is now making progress with.
“The former President has lost any moral right to condemn any government. He should apologise to Nigerians for not laying the foundational infrastructure Nigeria needed to advance.
He advised Obasanjo to “take time off this habit of pulling down leaders, especially his successors and try to interrogate himself on how he has contributed to the parlous state of the Nigerian nation which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is now spiritedly battling to put back on the track of development.”
