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.
PUNCH NG
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