The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay, has described former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent comment on President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance in office as ‘inappropriate’ and ‘insulting’.
Mr. Obasanjo had in a statement released Tuesday urged the president not to seek re-election, saying he has performed below par since assuming office.
The former president lambasted Mr. Buhari, saying he should willingly decline calls for him to seek re-election from ‘sycophants’.
In his reaction, Mr. Sagay accused Mr. Obasanjo of hypocrisy, saying the former president pursued a third term when he was in power.
Speaking to The Nation newspaper, Mr. Sagay expressed surprise at the content of Mr. Obasanjo’s letter, adding that then former president should learn to ‘respect other people’.
“I saw Obasanjo’s comments and I could not believe my eyes, that a man who tried to get a third term is discouraging someone else from getting a second term. It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
“I think Obasanjo should try and respect other people. He has achieved a lot. He is a great man and I respect him. But he should learn to respect other people and think of them as being, at least, as good as himself.
“I think it is insulting for a man who wanted third term to tell somebody else not to want second term. It is most inappropriate, and for a former head of state to say so is most improper.”
Mr. Obasanjo had in 2013 written a similar letter to former President Goodluck Jonathan, and later dramatically supervised the destruction of his membership card of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
