Keyamo: Obasanjo gave excuses while in power

Festus Keyamo, Lagos lawyer, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of committing same act he is tackling President Muhammadu Buhari for.

He said Obasanjo “kept blaming” the military for his “abysmal” performance while in office.

Obasanjo was president of the country from 1999 to 2007 after serving as military head of state from 1976 to 1979.

On Monday, the elder statesman accused Buhari of running an “ineffective and incompetent government”.

He also asked the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop giving excuses for its “failure”.

“Stop giving excuses; we met challenges. If there were no challenges, then we wouldn’t need you to come. You came in because you know there were challenges… stop giving us excuse that you have many challenges, that is why you haven’t achieved results,” he had said.

Writing via his Twitter handle on Tuesday, Keyamo said — just like Buhari — the former president had asked Nigerians to be patient with his government.

He wrote: “Let’s remember that during the first four years of Obasanjo (1999-2003), he kept blaming the ‘rot’ the military left behind as the reason for his abysmal performance and begged Nigerians to be patient with him, to the extent that he reportedly knelt down for Atiku Abubakar (his then vice-president) then to get his second-term ticket.”

Let’s remember that during d first 4 years of Obasanjo (1999-2003) he kept blaming d ‘rot’ the military left behind as d reason for his abysmal performance & begged Nigerians to be patient with him. To d extent that he reportedly knelt down 4 Atiku then to get his 2nd-term ticket

— Festus Keyamo, SAN, CON, FCIArb (UK) (@fkeyamo) April 3, 2018

Monday’s statement was not the first from Obasanjo.

In the letter he wrote to him last year, he had similar words for the president: “This is no time for trading blames or embarking on futile argument and neither should we accept untenable excuses for non-performance. Let us accept that the present administration has done what it can do to the limit of its ability, aptitude and understanding.”