Posted by By MARIAM ALESHINLOYE-AGBOOLA, Jos on
Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Lieutenant General Jeremiah Useni (retd), has lashed out at for mer president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, saying Nigerians are not missing him since he quit office.
Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Lieutenant General Jeremiah Useni (retd), has lashed out at for mer president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, saying Nigerians are not missing him since he quit office.
Useni, who spoke with journalists in Jos at the weekend, also said Obasanjo's absence at the ceremony held in honour of the late chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Chief Sunday Awoniyi, in Abuja last Thursday was not felt just as his non-appearance at the 70th birthday celebration of former defence minister, Theophilus Danjuma, recently did not make any difference.
The former minister, who described Obasanjo as a disappointment to the military, stated that it was better the former president stayed away from the event in honour of the late Awoniyi because if he had come, he would have said that the late elder statesman was his friend, which is not true.
According to Useni, Awoniyi believed in truthfulness and had to abandon the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which he and others founded, when he fell out with Obasanjo, owing to his discovery that the party was not being run the way its founders had planned it.
Useni, who is the Deputy Chairman, Board of Trustee of the ACF, said the late Awoniyi would have turned in his grave if Obasanjo had attended the event and paid tribute.
He noted that at the ceremony, organized by the ACF, former President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari and General Ibrahim Babangida, ex-head of state, could not come but sent representatives. He said that former Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Muhammadu Buhari, was present 'but Obasanjo could not come and did not send a representative. We did not miss him."
Useni said retired generals were all disappointed with the Obasanjo administration because they had thought he would perform well, coming from a background that believes in strict adherence to rules and regulations.
On the directive by the election petitions tribunal for a by-election in two senatorial zones and seven constituencies in Plateau State, owing to the fact that the DPP's name and logo were omitted from the ballot papers, Useni stressed the need for the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Maurice Iwu and top hierarchy of the commission to be removed before the election is conducted.
He said that because of the blunders committed during the last election, Nigerians no longer have confidence in the INEC team as currently constituted.