Obasanjo Is Envious Of President Tinubu – Afenifere

By Ayodele Oni

Afenifere, the Pan Yoruba Socio-political group, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of envying President Bola Tinubu’s administration, which has culminated in his latest onslaught on the federal government.

The former president had last week declared that the unpreparedness of Tinubu for governance has led to the present economic hardship in the country.

The group, in a statement signed by the Convener, Kole Omololu, said the statement credited to Obasanjo was out of envy and that it had nothing to do with planning.

Omololu said the former President was still bitter that his third term agenda failed because of the contribution of Tinubu and other democrats in the country.

Omololu, the organizing secretary of Afenifere, said President Tinubu had a plan and shared that plan with Nigerians before they convincingly elected him as their president and rejected the candidate sponsored by Chief Obasanjo.

“Unlike any other President in this republic, including General Olusegun Obasanjo, President Tinubu hit the ground running with his plan of which he implemented subsidy removal on day one, and floated the Naira within weeks while achieving Local Government autonomy via a judicial victory at the Supreme Court on Thursday, July 11, 2024, even as he introduced student loans five days later on Wednesday, July 17, 2024.

“It is not that the President had the gumption and courage to implement his plans where others, most notably the third term-seeking Obasanjo, failed, the more noteworthy thing is that his reforms are working.

“Due to the floating of the Naira, we are now exporting more than we are importing. Specifically, Nigeria set a record of $4.58 billion in non-oil exports in 2023, which was not just a record but a 28.04% increase on the previous year.

“We are set to break that record in 2024, as the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics revealed that by the half-year 2024, Nigeria had made $2.7 Billion in non-oil exports. This is already an H1 record.

“Nigeria is now at the point where Vietnam was, where devaluation has made exports more attractive and cost-effective, leading to the record ₦14.07 trillion trade surplus we achieved by half of 2024.

“Nigerians need to understand where General Olusegun Obasanjo is coming from. This is a man with the mother of all egos. He wants to be the only successful President from Southern Nigeria. That is what he wants as his legacy. And to achieve that, he must undermine every other Southerner who emerges, despite his best efforts to stop them, as President of Nigeria.

“It is for that reason that he undermined former President Goodluck Jonathan by lying that the good man was maintaining a killer squad of former Abacha hitmen to target political enemies.

“Today, his poisonous darts have been aimed at President Tinubu, who he feels has already outshined and out-achieved him in just one year. Nigerians should see it for what it is. Sour grapes and envy!”