Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said security challenges have overwhelmed the regime of the President Muhammadu Buhari. Incidentally, Buhari and the All Progressive Congress (APC) party on which he leveraged to become president in 2015 said they would fix the insecurity problems in Nigeria within a very short time after assuming power.
Millions of Nigerians were however deceived to believe that Buhari had the magic wand to solve Nigeria’s security problems. His supporters believed that as a former military general, he would know what to do. It was based on that that the APC convinced the followers to vote out former President Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. But nearly eight years after coming to power, Buhari and the APC have failed Nigerians to the extent that Nigeria has become like a failed nation where insecurity of lives and property are no longer guaranteed.
Worried by all that, Obasanjo while reacting to the recent attacks on the Kaduna-Abuja train with no fewer than eight persons killed, and other passengers missing said the development has shown that Nigerians are not safe anywhere – in vehicles, on the train or on aircraft.
The former president said the country is in a very serious situation. He was speaking at his residence, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun State while receiving a Peoples Democratic Party presidential aspirant, Dr Ugochukwu Williams, and his team. Obasanjo expressed concern that Nigerians “are no longer safe on the road, on the train and at the airport,” calling for a concerted effort of stakeholders to stem the tide of insecurity in the country.
The former President said the present regime has been overwhelmed by the situation, but Nigerians must not allow the situation to overwhelm the country. He however cautioned Nigerians to not allow themselves to be overwhelmed by the insecurity challenges.
He said, “So, if anybody comes to say I want to see you, I want to talk to you, I will say ‘you’re welcome’. This is because I believe very strongly, and I have said it publicly and I will say it again that the situation we are in this country is not a situation where one man will say yes, he has a solution unless we are deceiving ourselves. I believe we need to sit down collectively and look at the situation.
“A situation where you are not safe on the road, you are not safe on the train, you are not safe at the airport, shows a very serious situation. I believe that all right-thinking Nigerians must know that we have a situation that has overwhelmed the present administration, but we should not allow that situation to overwhelm Nigeria.” He, however, wished Williams well in the pursuit of his presidential ambition. In his remarks, Williams flanked by House of Representatives aspirants from Plateau and Imo States, said he had visited Obasanjo for consultation on his presidential ambition. He described Obasanjo as a leader who is passionate about the peace and unity of Nigeria. The young presidential aspirant said he was on a mission to “rescue Nigeria”.
