Falae visits Obasanjo, says Buhari has failed and Need Not Contest for 2019

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, says the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has not performed well, adding that he was expecting him not to seek re-election in 2019.

He said this on Tuesday while fielding questions from journalists after he paid a private visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun State. He said the current administration had failed in its primary responsibility of protecting lives and property, arguing that Nigerians were being slaughtered daily and government could not stop the ugly trend.

Though he described Buhari as his friend, he faulted him on his reluctance to embrace restructuring having promised to do so during his campaign at the Adamasingba Stadium in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State in 2015.

The former presidential candidate of the Alliance for Democracy in the 1999 election advised Buhari to do a critical analysis of his administration and retraced his step from seeking re-election in 2019.

He said, “You know and I know that the present government has not done well. The primary responsibility of government is to protect the lives of its citizens. This government is not doing so. People continued to be killed and slaughtered every night and any government that cannot stop that has failed.

“President Buhari is my friend. Once upon a time, you will recall that I raised his hand at the Adamasingba Stadium in Ibadan, asking people to vote for him because he said he would restructure Nigeria. So, it is not a personal matter.

“The truth of the matter is that he has not done well and I was hoping that he himself would look at the situation as a very honest and right thinking person and did himself and us a favour by saying that in the light of what had happened and giving the state of affairs, he was not going to contest. That’s what I thought he would do but he didn’t do so.”

Falae, who’s the chairman of the Social Democratic Party, while talking about a possible alliance with the Obasanjo’s Coalition for Nigeria Movement, said every right thinking Nigerians would support such collaboration in order to achieve a progressive change in the country.

He said, “I am sure that most, if not all  right thinking Nigerians, would see the need for all of us to work together to ensure that there is a good, beneficial, peaceful and progressive change in Nigeria.

“We want a change from massive unemployment which we have now; a change from continuous harassment and killings by Fulani herdsmen; and a change from the fear and threat of Boko Haram.

“We want a change from a situation where farmers are afraid to go to their farms; a change from the riots that are all over the place because of frustration and loss of hope and a change from the present situation of depression and failure to revive the economy of Nigeria.”

He said that most Nigerians were united in wanting a change for the better, and “in doing whatever is possible to ease out President Buhari for his own sake and for the sake of Nigeria.”

Falae, who said he was a Permanent Secretary at the state house while Obasanjo was his boss as a military Head of State, explained that he came to discuss Nigeria’s affairs with the ex-President.

He said, “I am here to visit Papa Olusegun Obasanjo…to exchange views with him to see whether we can make any contribution towards the elimination of the threat that we are now facing.

“What I am taking away from here is a confirmation on the fact that most Nigerians are united in wanting a change for the better and in doing whatever is possible to ease out President Buhari for his own sake and for the sake of Nigeria.”

Punch