Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has asked the National Assembly to ‘raise the alarm or call for correction’ of President Muhammadu Buhari’s actions which he said have violated the principle of federal character Commission, especially in the appointment of key officers in the security agencies.
Obasanjo who asked NASS to stop Buhari’s actions however accused President Buhari of making lopsided appointments, especially of heads of security agencies. He made the call during the launch of his movement, Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, on Thursday. The former President also said the National Assembly and the Federal Character Commission must both put a stop to the Buhari administration’s lopsided appointments which, according to him, have violated “the spirit of our constitution.”
Obasanjo also said that his score-card letter to the president last week was not borne out of bitterness but was for the interest of Nigeria and the respect he has for the office of the president.
According to him, “Let me emphasise important areas, programmes, priorities or processes for improved attention. To start with, we seem to have taken nation building for granted. Nation building must be given continued attention to give every citizen a feeling of belonging and a stake in his or her country.”
“For instance, the federal character principle, as espoused in our constitution, was to guide the leadership to search for competent holders of major offices to be distributed within the entire nation, and avoid concentration in a few ethnic hands or geographical places, as we currently have in the leadership of our security apparatus. “To avoid such non-integrative situation, we have the national assembly and the Federal Character Commission, both institutions which must raise the alarm or call for correction of actions by the executive that violates the spirit of our constitution.”
“Last week, I issued a statement which I did not do lightly or frivolously but out of deep concern for the situation of our country,” he said.
“I wonder why some Nigerians were worried why I had to pay respect to the Nigerian President at Addis Ababa. That’s my own upbringing as a well-born and bred Yoruba boy.
“That doesn’t mean that what I have said about the President, was said out of bitterness and hatred. It is evident that the president has performed, in some areas, good enough.
“In other areas not good and a proper advice was given which he may take and he may not take. “I didn’t do that out of malice or out of ‘bad belle.’ I did it out of my respect for that office and my interest, and I hope, in your interest and the interest of Buhari in Nigeria.”