The Presidency yesterday stepped up its attacks against former President Olusegun Obasanjo, accusing him of masterminding illegal removal of at least five governors in the 2000s.
President Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said Obasanjo’s tenure from 1999 to 2007, represented the dark days of the country’s democracy due to a slew of assaults on the constitution.
He argued that President Buhari had painstakingly followed the 1999 Constitution since he assumed office in 2015.
Shehu accused the former president of deploying federal machinery to remove ex-governors Joshua Dariye, Rashidi Ladoja, Peter Obi, Chris Ngige and Ayo Fayose from office.
The politicians were governors of Plateau, Oyo, Anambra, Anambra and Ekiti, respectively.
“When they ran the government at the centre, the opposition PDP showed aptitude in only one thing: the toppling of elected state governments using the police and secret service under their control,” he said.
He gave account of how Obasanjo allegedly perpetrated the alleged constitutional infractions, saying: “A five-man legislature met at 6:00 am and “impeached” Governor Dariye in Plateau; 18 members out of 32 removed Governor Ladoja of Oyo from office; in Anambra, APGA’s Governor Obi was equally impeached at 5a.m. by members who did notmeet the two-thirds required by the Constitution.
“His offence was that he refused to inflate the state’s budget. The lawmakers had reportedly met with representatives of the President in Asaba , Delta state, and then accompanied to Awka by heavy security
provided by the police Mobile Unit. The PDP President at that time had reportedly told Obi to forget re-election in 2007 if he did not jointhe PDP because he (the President) would not support a non-PDP member.”
Shehu’s statement marks the latest attack in the escalating political feud between his principal and Obasanjo.
Last week, Buhari accused Obasanjo of squandering $16 billion earmarked for power projects without noticeable impact. (Premium Times)
