OBASANJO DEFENDS AUTOBIOGRAPHY PRESENTATION AS BURUJI KASHAMU MOVES TO SUE HIM

Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,has said he chose to make his letters to President Goodluck Jonathan public because he had refused to address issues often stated in them. Obasanjo who was responding to questions at the public presentation of his autobiography, “My Watch”, at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja yesterday, said despite the exigencies of office, he often found time to respond to his predecessors’ observations and remarks on the state of the nation while in office as president.

“But, this has not been so. And since there is no other way to put across my position, I think public communication is appropriate to do so. During my tenure, my predecessors always wrote to me too. And as much as possible I did respond either in action or replied to their letters,” Obasanjo said.
Obasanjo argued that he had not flouted any law or court order with the public presentation of the book. He said he was prompted to write the book not to castigate anyone but to point out the wrongs in the polity so that Nigerians may find solutions to them. He noted that the book had been in circulation before the public presentation yesterday.

In a related development, the Chairman, Organisation and Mobilisation Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South-West, Mr. Buruji Kashamu, has threatened to sue Obasanjo, for going ahead to present the autobiography. Buruji made said this in a statement where he said, “I have asked my lawyers to press criminal contempt charges against him(Obasanjo) and all those who assisted him in flouting the orders of the court. I will ensure that they are all dragged before the court, and particularly, Obasanjo, without his cap, to show why he should not be punished for criminal contempt.

“Everybody knows that good governance is based on the rule of law, due process and respect for constituted authorities. It beats my imagination that this man can be sermonising about good governance when he shamelessly advertises all the elements of bad governance. In short, he is bad governance personified. He is the worst advertisement for the product he is trying to advertise – good governance. He has shown that he does not have respect for the judiciary, and that he is above the law. Certainly, President Goodluck Jonathan and his predecessor, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, and others he criticised in the controversial book, which I am reliably informed he did not write, are made of a sterner stuff than him. They are true democrats and gentlemen to the core.”

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About Unknown

Deji Sadiq, a.k.a DEJI OF LAGOS is a LASU trained Economist turned freelance journalist, a Blogger, an information strategist, a public affairs analyst and a committed activist with a passion for equal opportunities.