A former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has rated the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan as below
average.
Obasanjo made this assertion during an encounter with book writers in Abeokuta, Ogun State, as part of activities to commemorate the popular Ake Festival.
When asked of his view on Jonathan’s administration, he said, “His performance is below average. I will not accept responsibility for his performance. There is nobody that gets such a position without being helped.”
The former President also debunked the insinuations that he had selected Jonathan as the running mate to the late President Musa Yar’Adua because he knew the latter was sick.
“Yar’Adua told me he was well. He showed me his medical report and I even consulted experts”, he said.
When the former President was also asked on why he preferred Jonathan to the former governor of Rivers State, Donald Duke, he said, “In my own life, I don’t put all my eggs in one basket. Duke was young enough to be in the reserve.
“He did not agree with me. Donald Duke is my friend but he needs a little of toning down. He needs to get his feet on the ground.”
The former President had, in a December 2, 2013 18-page letter to Jonathan titled: “Before it is too late” raised many issues concerning Jonathan’s administration.
Meanwhile, the Presidency on Friday said a statement credited to Obasanjo that President Goodluck Jonathan’s performance is below average was “not true and in error.”
A Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, described Obasanjo’s statement as untrue and baseless.
“If indeed former President Obasanjo said that, that statement was in error because no government since independence has done close to 50 per cent of what this administration has done in less than four years,” Okupe said.
He recalled that when Obasanjo was leaving office, the total power generation capacity in the country was about 2,600MW, claiming that the present administration had been able to raise the figure to about 4,000MW.
Okupe also said the Jonathan administration inherited 24 airports that were in states of disrepair across the country at inception.
“These are just a few among the achievements of the present administration. So if that statement was indeed made, it is most uncharitable and it is not true,” he added.
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