Obasanjo Has Diminished his Status as a Statesman – ACF
The ACF had said it was studying the open letter Obasanjo wrote to Buhari. The group, he said, also deliberated on the worsening security situation in the country and asked Buhari to re-jig the security apparatus of the country to tackle the security challenges.
“The ACF notes the efforts of military, police and other security agencies in curtailing the menace of insecurity. However, it urges the government to be more decisive in dealing with these security challenges, more so that unpatriotic forces are taking advantage of the situation to forge ahead their evil agenda of destabilizing the country.
“The President, more than ever before, should re-jig the nation’s security apparatus for effective performance. Furthermore, the Forum appeals to the Federal Government to employ both security and political solutions to the various challenges facing the nation,” Ibrahim-Biu said.
According to the spokesman, the ACF is not in anyway holding briefs for Buhari, the former President should have a better way to communicate with Buhari.
He said as far as the ACF and indeed the North was concerned, Obasanjo lacked the moral standing to make any damning statements against any government considering his antecedents while at the helm of affairs as President.
Ibarhim-Biu stated, “Arewa Consultative Forum is constrained to comment on the letter dated 15th July 2019 by the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari on issues he claimed are ‘very weighty and must be greatly worrisome to all concerned Nigerians’ hence the reason he made it open.
“The ACF appreciates the freedom of expression and the right to hold opinion on all issues as guaranteed by our constitution by individuals or groups, as long as it’s within the confines of the law.
“The forum therefore believes that Chief Obasanjo used this privilege to raise the issues which mostly border on insecurity in his latest letter, it must however be noted that the issues are not new to Nigerians as he had raised them in his previous open letters to the President, so also other Nigerians in different fora.
“All the same, in exercising our right to comment on the letter, it is our candid opinion that Chief Obasanjo being a former President and an elder statesman who has unfettered access to the President should use a better and most civilized way of communicating his views to a sitting president rather than going public to create unnecessary scene and try to bring down the roof.
“It is true that Chief Obasanjo has become relentless in his self-appointed task of a Cassandra-in- chief for Nigeria, always proclaiming doomsday, predicting upheaval and bloodbath, which to say the least, has diminished his acclaimed status as a patriot and nationalist.
“His statements and comments on national issues are neither driven by altruism nor by patriotism, but sheer self-aggrandizement,” he added.
He expressed grave concern over statement credited to the former President over his recent outburst on “Islamization”, “ Fulanization” and “Northernization”, noting that it was calculated at causing division and acrimony in the land.
“What, we must ask, motivates Chief Obasanjo’s current divisive activities? His recent outbursts on ‘Islamization’, Fulanization’, and ‘Northernization’ are clearly calculated at causing division and acrimony along religious, ethnic and regional lines which is most unfortunate.
“The former President knows more than any other Nigerian that there is no such thing as Islamization or Fulanization in the North’s agenda. Enemies of the North chose to propagate such negative narratives only with a view to causing disharmony among undiscerning Nigerians.
“Unfortunately many, including the highly educated and politically sophisticated elite have unwittingly fallen into the trap of believing in Obasanjo and his ilk.”
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