Olusegun Obasanjo, former Nigerian
president, has accused President
Goodluck Jonathan of planning to
plunge the country into crisis if he
loses the forthcoming general election.
Speaking at a press conference in
Abeokuta on Saturday, Obasanjo
compared Jonathan to Laurent Gbago,
former president of Ivory Coast, who
was disgraced out of office for refusing to concede defeat after losing election.
He condemned the postponement of
the poll, describing it as a sad
development for the country's democracy.
"President Jonathan has a grand plan
to ensure that he wins the election by
hook or crook and if he loses, he scuttles it and brings chaos and
confusion in the whole country," he
said.
"He is trying to play Gbagbo, who
postponed election in his country until
he saw that he would win. When election finally held, it was inconclusive and he refused to hand over after losing the run-off."
Obasanjo, who had just returned to
the country after travelling two weeks
ago to launch My Watch, his controversial autobiography, in
different countries, alleged that the
Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) was forced to
extend the election by six weeks.
"People started asking me questions
from different part of the world and I
decided not to issue any statement
until I get back home," he said.
"It was alleged that the security chiefs
were unable to provide security and
as a result, Jega postponed it in accordance with the dictate of the so-
called security chiefs."
On Tuesday, Obasanjo publicly
declared support for Muhammadu
Buhari, Jonathan's main opponent in
the election, but later recanted, saying
he was yet to make up his mind on
whom to support. He, however, directed veiled criticism
at Jonathan .
"There are millions who can run the
affairs of Nigeria who are not even
coming out. So why should you die on
behalf of one who is probably performing as a mediocre? What the
hell are we talking about?" he asked
"If you love Nigeria, you would look
for the best for Nigeria and I don't
believe that at this point in time we
have the best for Nigeria."
However, the manner in which he
spoke on Saturday appeared as if the
former president had already made up
his mind.
"I believe General Buhari will fight
corruption; he will give firm leadership. When he was there before, he was a military and military leader is both the executive and the legislative but in democracy, it is not possible like that," he said.
"More so, military has been rendered
impotent and I believe he will do
everything to resuscitate it because
he knows better.
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