Jonathan Has No Intention of Probing Obasanjo

Olusegun Obasanjo

  

The Presidency  Saturday dismissed speculations that President Goodluck Jonathan was planning to  probe former president Olusegun Obasanjo's regime. In a statement issued by Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati, the Presidency denied recent media reports to the effect that Jonathan planned to probe the Obasanjo administration because of the former president’s constant criticisms of the Jonathan administration.

Abati also condemned a video footage of the Qatar-based global television, Al-Jazeera, which showed the Nigerian soldiers killing innocent civilians in the embattled Borno State under the guise of enforcing the state of emergency imposed on three states of the north-east, saying it was contrived.

He said the emergency rule was meant to protect the lives and property of the citizenry and not to terrorise or brow-beat them.

Dismissing the allegations that the president plans to probe Obasanjo, he  said the president was focused on the urgent tasks of ensuring peace, security and stability across the country with a view to creating the right conditions for rapid socio-economic development. 

Abati said the president would not be distracted from this objective by futile attempts to drive a wedge between him and other respected elders and leaders of his party.

The president has nothing but the greatest respect for Obasanjo’s very notable contributions to national growth and development over many years, he said.

“What is more, President Jonathan regards his administration as a continuation of the unbroken chain of PDP-led governments started by Chief Obasanjo in 1999, which have worked tirelessly to entrench democratic governance and achieve rapid socio-economic growth in the country.

Rather than order a pointless probe of his predecessors, he will continue to do his utmost best to build on the solid foundations for national progress laid under previous PDP administrations.

“Speculations and suggestions of an impending probe of the Obasanjo Administration by President Jonathan are therefore nonsensical and should be dismissed by all right-thinking Nigerians as the product of the fertile imagination of mischievous political jobbers,” the statement said.

On the Al-Jazeera video footage, Abati stated that the president was exercising the powers conferred on him by the constitution with regard to the emergency rule and had directed the security operatives to adhere strictly to the rules, thereby ensuring that no civilian is harmed or killed while carrying out their operations.