A university lecturer, Dr. Muhammad Bugaje, has slammed former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his recent remarks condemning former state governors for collecting pensions after leaving office.
Obasanjo had yesterday commended Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, for repealing the law that allowed former governors and their deputies to collect pensions.
He admonished other state governors to emulate Otti to reduce the cost of governance.
The former President spoke during a courtesy visit to Otti at the Governor’s country home in Nvosi, Isialangwa South Local Government Area.
He congratulated the governor for ending the pension for former governors and former deputy governors, which he described as daylight robbery.
“The pension scheme for the former governor here is atrocious; it’s like daylight robbery because it allows them to have a house in Abuja and elsewhere and cart away with whatever they feel like carting away, yet the pension for ordinary people is unpaid. What sort of leadership is that?
“And you came, and you said there would be an end to that rascality. I congratulate you, and I say to you that I hope that some of your colleagues will follow in your footsteps. You have started, but you should never be tired.
“You will be discouraged, you will be abused, and you will be called names, but if we have one-third of our states doing what should be done, this country will be a different country, and you are doing what should be done,” Obasanjo said.
Bugaje, while reacting to Obasanjo’s statement in a chat with journalists, accused the former president of hypocrisy, saying, “It is obvious former president Olusegun Obasanjo is playing to the gallery. He is economical with the truth. He should know that he is a statesman, because how can he condemn former governors who are collecting pensions without condemning himself, who is receiving every benefit as a former president?
“This is the problem with Nigerian leaders, especially people like former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Nigerians should ask questions when necessary. Is Obasanjo not a hypocrite? Someone attempted to change our constitution to secure an illegal third term. Some governors worked very hard for their states, better than he did for Nigeria. It’s wrong for him to condemn former governors for receiving pensions while he is receiving the same as a former president.”
Bugaje blamed the former president for the current state of Nigeria’s democracy.
He noted that the democracy the country currently practices dates back to direct inputs by Obasanjo, who led the country’s first military head of state from 1976–1979 and as civilian president from 1999–2007.
“Obasanjo ought to know that he brought this thing into Nigeria and many other things we are seeing today. He was the one who made us adopt democracy in 1979, yet he came back to condemn it. He is receiving a pension as a former president, and today he is condemning former governors for receiving pensions. He must have seen it as expensive and unsuitable when he governed us for eight years and even wanted an extension for another four years.”
