Kashamu: Obasanjo is APC godfather

A chieftain of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP), Buruji Kashamu, has taken a swipe at former Presi­dent Olusegun Obasanjo, describing him as a god­father to the All Progres­sives Congress (APC).

In a statement he person­ally signed, Kashamu, who had been at loggerheads with Obasanjo over allegations of crime by the latter, said Obasanjo had no moral right to accuse President Goodluck Jonathan of corruption be­cause he was also guilty.

Obasanjo had at a recent lecture, accused President Jonathan and the National Assembly of corruption, de­scribing the performance of the president’s administration as below average.

Kashamu said Obasanjo’s outbursts were the resultant effect of his perceived loss of political relevance, say­ing it was unfortunate that he catches at the slightest oppor­tunity to cast aspersions on President Jonathan’s admin­istration.

His statement read in part: “It is utterly unfortunate how former President Obasanjo catches at the slightest oppor­tunity to publicly cast asper­sions on President Jonathan’s administration, while hiding behind some public engage­ments to launch his misdi­rected missiles.

“What does he take Nige­rians for? Does he think we are fools? Does he think we can easily forget that he ruled us for eleven and a half years of our 50 years of existence as a nation? What memories do we have of his reign? His tenure is better remembered for arbitrariness, corruption, witch-hunting and the ill fat­ed third term bid. He is quick to point a finger at people, forgetting that the remaining four are pointing at him.

“The Conference of Nation­al Political Parties (CNPP) petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commis­sion (EFCC) to investigate Obasanjo for an estimated unaccounted sum of $13 bil­lion in oil revenue between 2000 and 2006, when he was the Minister of Petroleum resources. I remember the Mofas account scandal, the Siemens scam, the Hallibur­ton mess, the power scandal and the shame that was the privatization exercise, among others.

“Is it not questionable that a man, who was stone broke and suddenly came into wealth while superintend­ing over our commonwealth could refer to some people as corrupt? The truth is that he, more than any other Ni­gerian, had the opportunity to turn the fortunes of Nigeria around, but he bungled it. The foundation for the ravaging corruption, the failure of state institutions and the economy that the Jonathan administra­tion is battling to fix are easily traceable to his tenure.”