Former President Olusegun Obasanjo dislike for Goodluck Jonathan is not a topic for debate. It will be difficult for us all to quickly forget the famous open letters written by the former to the latter when he was still in office as the number one citizen (the common man should hold the title) of the country. At many occasions, Obasanjo spoke of Jonathan as incapable of leading a country as big as Nigeria and fearful. The role he played with other opposition members in ensuring that the Ijaw man left office after his first term is well documented.
Since the arrival of President M. Buhari (the most prepared president to rule Nigeria), he has made it known that he will look into the activities of former leaders. The only surprise is that the probe will start with the government of Goodluck Jonathan and the probe will end with the same government. I am yet to understand will the probe will have such a short lifespan but I guess this government want to be focused.
It might also be the continuation of the APC versus PDP fight that marked the almost six years of Jonathan presidency. The six years was marked with bitter rivalry between the two major political parties. Political watchers believed that instruments of state were used by the ruling party against the main opposition party. The APC as an opposition party is also accused of constantly over heating the polity.
The official position of the current government is that the last regime was the most corrupt in the history of the country. There was massive looting of the commonwealth by political aides and friends of the president. This can’t be totally denied as untrue because even when Jonathan was still in power, eminent Nigerians like former Central Bank of Nigeria governors HRH Lamido Sanusi and Charles Soludo openly accused the government of mismanagement and stealing.
The public was constantly complaining on the amount of money voted and spent by the president on feeding, fueling of machineries and other mundane things. The billions of naira spent on importing cooking stoves (for jobless wives) from South Africa is another waste of national wealth. A source told me that for every missing one billion naira that the public get to know about another one billion naira must have been stolen in secret.
Former President Jonathan gave contracts worth billions of naira to militant groups. Most of these contracts are in the area of security of the nation pipelines. Some of the groups earn as much as four billion naira (some state allocation for four months) without any meaningful structure. There are reports that millions was given to some kings to seek their support for the failed second term ambition. Billions were allocated for defense in the budget and millions voted to fight Boko Haram, yet soldiers continue to complain of old and dysfunctional equipments. International communities were seizing billions from government officials.
Former President Jonathan was too comforted with the likes of Buruji Kashamu, Omisore, Uba brothers and even there are rumors he worked with one politician from the late Abacha family. Making statement like “stealing is not corruption” and the famous analogy of the goat and the yam only reinforce believes that he is either corrupt or comfortable with corruption.
If probing his administration will clear his name or help recover some of our looted funds, Nigerians will be better for it.
