TheCable

Allies of President Goodluck Jonathan have continued to criticise Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former president, over his allegation that the president was scheming to win the election by hook or crook.

On Sunday, Ayo Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, branded Obasanjo an “incurable cancer and a confusionist who has lost his status as a statesman”.

Femi Fani-Kayode, director, media and publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign organisation, who served Obasanjo in different capacities between 1999 and 2007, has now accused his former boss of falling out with Jonathan because the president refused to subject himself to control.

Fani-Kayode said Obasanjo was so obsessed with power that he was “prepared to put even the devil in power provided he can control him”.

“Obasanjo does not want genuine democracy. He only pretends to want it. What he wants is control and a stooge in power. It does not matter what type of government it is as long as he controls it and it is headed by his puppet,” he said at a press briefing in Abuja.

“It can be a military government, a civilian one, a democratic one, an interim government or a government of National Unity. To Obasanjo, it does not matter as long as he can control it. That is his objective. That is why he hates Jonathan so much and that is why he wishes to stop him at all cost.

“After Jonathan came to power, Obasanjo not only tried to control and teleguide him, but he also asked him to do a number of things that were simply wrong and unacceptable. It is for President Goodluck Jonathan himself to divulge those things and I am sure that he will do so at the appropriate time.

“President Jonathan refused to be teleguided and told what to do though at all times; he showed Obasanjo maximum respect and accorded him all the privileges, access and courtesies that are due to a former head of state and a father and mentor.”

He further accused Obasanjo of betraying Laurent Gbagbo, former president of Ivory Coast, saying Gbabo and Obasanjo were allies and that it was Jonathan who helped to restore democracy to Cote D’Ivoire after the former Ivorian leader attempted to plunge the country into crisis.

“It is a matter of fact and public record that when he was president of Nigeria, Obasanjo, perhaps more than any other African head of state with the exception of President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, propped up and supported President Gbagbo and it is an irony of fate and history that he is now condemning the actions of his old friend and accusing others of trying to emulate him,” he said.

“Again it is ironic that President Obasanjo has accused President Jonathan of having a grand plan to stay in power at all cost and by all means yet it is the same Obasanjo who tried to stay in power for a third term even though the Nigerian constitution specifically forbade it.

“The question that must be put to him is this: “Who got Gbagbo out? Was it not Jonathan’s government that played a key role in ensuring that democracy was fully established in the Ivory Coast and did he not play a key role in ensuring that the Gbagbo ‘stay in power forever plan’ did not work?”