Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), said on Thursday that President Goodluck Jonathan should address the allegations levelled against him by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Obasanjo, in a letter to Jonathan dated December 2 but leaked to the media on Wednesday, had among others, accused Jonathan of incompetence, abuse of office, corruption and gross mismanagement of the resources of the nation.
Falana said in a statement on Thursday that while Obasanjo’s allegations against the President must not be swept under the carpet, the ex-President lacked the moral authority to tutor Jonathan on any of the subjects raised.
“No doubt, the allegations which lacerated the controversial letter are weighty. Instead of dismissing the contents of the letter the Presidency should respond to the allegations raised therein seriatim. In particular, the allegation that the Federal Government is setting up a Presidential Strike Force to carry out terrorist attacks on political opponents should not be swept under the carpet,” Falana said.
The rights lawyer, who picked hole in Obasanjo’s 18-page letter, urged Nigerians to take advantage “of the intra-class war going on in the ruling party to get organised and take their political destiny in their own hands.”
He said, “However, it is pertinent to point out that President Jonathan is a faithful student of the Olusegun Obasanjo School of Politics. While President Jonathan has been accused by Gen. Obasanjo of diverting $7bn from the Federation Account he (President Obasanjo) has yet to account for the over $20bn which he diverted from the same account.
“The 36 state governments sued the Federal Government over the illegal diversion of such huge public fund by President Obasanjo and the case is currently pending at the Supreme Court.”
Among other wrongs which Falana said Obasanjo had equally committed as President like Jonathan were mismanagement of federation account, disloyalty to his (Obasanjo’s) ruling party, aiding corrupt persons and opposition to national conference.
However, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Raheem Adedoyin, has urged President Jonathan to address the issues raised by Obasanjo.
Adedoyin during a media briefing in Ilorin on Thursday on his defection to the All Progressives Congress said many people including the G-7 governors had raised the alarm over the alleged rising corruption under Jonathan’s administration.
“President Jonathan has to look at the issues that Chief Obasanjo noted and address them. It is okay that President Jonathan has directed that there should not be media war with Obasanjo over his letter.
“He has leveled specific allegations, Jonathan should take those allegations one by one and dismiss them. That is what Nigerians are waiting for now. I am not saying that Chief Obasanjo is wrong or right but he has enough weight for whatever he says to command attention.
“It is not just what you can waive aside and say that Obasanjo is against us. That is not the issue. The issue is that he has raised specific concerns and President Jonathan must address those concerns,” Adedoyin said.
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