Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari accusing him of allowing the country to become a failed state under him.

 He also lamented that the country has become more divided under Buhari. Obasanjo claimed Nigeria needs to be rescued from the brink of collapse.

 He said this while delivering a speech titled, ‘Moving Nigeria Away from Tipping Over’ at a consultative dialogue attended by representatives of Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum, Northern Elders Forum, Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo and Pan Niger Delta Forum. The event was held in Abuja on Thursday.

 Obasanjo also said the country is becoming a ‘basket case’ economically “Today, Nigeria is fast drifting to a failed and badly divided state; economically our country is becoming a basket case and poverty capital of the world, and socially, we are firming up as an unwholesome and insecure country.“And these manifestations are the products of recent mismanagement of diversity and socio-economic development of our country.“Old fault lines that were disappearing have opened up in greater fissures and with drums of hatred, disintegration and separation and accompanying choruses being heard loud and clear almost everywhere,” 

he warned. Obasanjo further warned people beating drums of war and calling for secession, to remember that if Nigeria breaks into several nations, the citizens would still be neighbours and would need to interact with one another. However, the statement from the former President has gotten a reply from APC’s Deputy spokesman, Yekini Nabena, who said Obasanjo lacked the qualities to criticize Buhari’s administration. 

In a statement he signed, Nabena said Obasanjo and his former deputy, Atiku Abubakar, midwifed most of the rots in Nigeria today, hence can’t chart a course for Nigeria. Nabena challenged the former president to explain how his administration spent $16 billion on power without providing electricity. 

He also asked that Atiku Abubakar give an account of privatisations under him while he was Vice President. According to Nabena: “It is baffling that the same political actors that midwifed and institutionalised the national rot, corruption, impunity and erosion of our value systems are the same characters posing as voices on the way forward in our national life. How ironic!“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo could start with telling us where the electricity is despite $16 billion he spent on the power sector.

“Obasanjo’s deputy, Alh. Atiku Abubakar should account for the privatisation exercise under his watch which saw national assets sold off to friends and cronies with no benefit to the country.”He also said the succeeding Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administrations should account for the billions allegedly stolen under the “guise of a fraudulent fuel subsidy regime.” Nabena added:

 “These political actors probably only listen to their own voices because Nigerians have long stopped taking them seriously, as they simply lack the antecedents and moral credentials to guide Nigeria and Nigerians to the path of prosperity and progress.“Instead of the “do or die” lingo they introduced to our electioneering, votes are beginning to count as our elections improve steadily.”