Obasanjo no longer relevant, says ex-Senate President, Ebute

By Samuel Ogidan
As the season of letter writing continues, former Senate President, Ameh Ebute has joined the fray as he insists that former President Olusegun Obasanjo has outlived his usefulness on the national scene.
In a letter he addressed to Obasanjo titled: a�?Re: The Way Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition For Nigeria Movement,a�? he lampooned Obasanjo for resorting to letter writing to his successors rather than seeking audience with them. Ebute said that the practice was mischievous.
Ebute who spoke to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday on the content of his letter said he had cautioned Obasanjo when he wrote former President Goodluck Jonathan a similar letter that it was not in the interest of the unity and peace of the nation as it is an affront on decency and decorous behaviour by publicly attempting to ridicule, malign and assault the seat of power with a repeat letter to President Buhari.
a�?In the current instance too, you have reeled out a torrent of subsisting problems and perceived deficiencies of the Buhari Presidency very hypocritically and in utmost contempt for the office and personality of President Buhari. It is all in veiled pursuit of your secret agenda for the absolute ruination and destruction of Nigeria, a foundation faultily laid by you between 1999 and 2007, when you served as President of the countrya�?.
Senator Ebute maintained that the new found love of the former President was rather exacerbating a series of national problems which he (Obasanjo) failed to tackle in his eight-year reign.
a�?The issues of poverty, insecurity, poor economic management as trumpeted in your letter have existed with Nigeria and aggravated under your reign as President. Precisely, poverty, hunger and disease are cardinal components of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which you claim to be spearheading efforts in the guise of a�?Zero Hungera�? initiative; but gave no attention to it when you wielded power at Aso Rock. This is the pretence and deception that have become your trademark and uprooted or alienated you from Nigerians,a�? he said.