How Obasanjo used police to rig us out of power – Osoba
The tide, which began on Sunday with the Presidency revealing why Chief Olusegun Obasanjo should not be allowed to claim saint in his self-style “rescue Nigeria” mission, continued on Wednesday with former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba, coming with his own account of the former President’s misdeeds.
It will be recalled the Presidency told the story of how Obasanjo that has been moving round accusing President Buhari of nepotism and failure used the police and DSS under his power as as People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President of Nigeria, to sack governors at will. Among his victims the Presidency said was Ekiti State governor Ayodele Fayose among others.
Credence was laid to that on Monday when a former Minister of Information, Prince Tony Momoh, also gave his own account of the Obasanjo’s ugly past saying he used Nuhu Ribadu, pioneer head of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to damage Nigeria’s democracy as, according to him, the guilty was decided not by court but by Obasanjo as President, for which reason he said he blocked many politicians from contesting the 2007 elections in the country.
The DEFENDER only on Tuesday reported the first elected Governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, saying that PDP’s 16 years of administration under Obasanjo and Jonathan nearly liquidated Nigeria before President Buhari came.
According to Akande, PDP came, institutionalized corruption, impunity and handed a much damaged Nigeria over to the All Progressives Congress (APC) President Muhammadu Buhari.
The colloquium held in honour of the Executive Editor, The News/PM News, Mr. Kunle Ajibade, who turned 60 two days ago, provided the opportunity for another leg of the story to be told.
Telling the Obasanjo’s story at the event held at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, was former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba.
At the colloquium themed, “A Brighter Future for Nigeria and how to get there,” Chief Osoba decried that former President Olusegun Obasanjo used the police to rig him and others including the late Lam Adesina (Oyo), late Adebayo Adefarati (Ondo), Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti) and Bisi Akande (Osun) out of power in 2003.
The former governor said, “We were going to court to tackle issues of physical responsibilities on police. In my own case, I had Israel Ajao as Police Commissioner. Weeks before the poll, he was working effectively and furnished me with security report.
“But the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, transferred him to Abuja by road. I had to fight before he was redeployed to Ogun State and that tells you how the President could disrupt things in the states,” he said.
While recalling how former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Alhaji Musiliu Smith, was removed from office, Osoba lamented that these were some of the issues that had affected the country’s democracy, adding that there were cases “which some of us tried to correct the notion, but because we were rigged out from office, we couldn’t pursue the cases anymore.”
The DEFENDER reports that the same Obasanjo, whose administration has been blamed for many threats and damages that the nascent democracy had suffered until the time of emergence of the current President, is today moving round Yoruba Land telling Afenifere and others to support him to send President Buhari packing from the Villa come 2019.
A source had told The DEFENDER how Obasanjo’s coalition has nothing better to offer Nigeria than to further deepen the problems he claims he wants to solve. According to the source, “his plan is to install a South South and Christian person as President and you know that the North is just three years into its eight years. That is what Obasanjo can be made of and it is unfortunate,” he said.
Dignitaries at the event were: Publisher, Vanguard newspapers, Sam Amuka; former Civil Liberties Organisation President, Ayo Obe; Femi Falana; Odia Ofeimum, Lai Babatunde, Amb. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmi; Mike Awoyinfa, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, Prof. Tunde Babawale, Tunde Rahman, Gbenga Adefaye, Alh. Sanni Kabir, Owei Lakemfa, Omoba Yemisi Shyllon, Babafemi Ojudu, among others.
