Obasanjo speaks again: Jonathan’s performance below average

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan as far below average. He stated this on Friday while speaking with book writers in Abeokuta, Ogun State, as part of activities marking the popular Ake Festival.

When asked of his view on Jonathan’s administration so far, Obasanjo 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.

He said he had only supported the idea of a South-Southerner succeeding Yar’Adua to extend the sense of belonging that the emergence of a Southern President in 1999 represented.

When the former President was also asked on why he preferred Jonathan to the former governor of Cross River 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.

According to Punch, the Presidency has also reacted to the statement credited to Obasanjo that Jonathan’s performance is below average, claiming it was “not true and in error.”

In a telephone chat with Punch, Doyin Okupe said, “If indeed former President Obasanjo said that, that statement was in error because no government since independence has done close to 50 percent of what this administration has done in less than four years,” Okupe said.