Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has fired back at former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his comment of Nigeria becoming a failed state under President Buhari.
Obasanjo had in a statement on Friday September 11, said that Nigeria is “fast drifting to a failed and badly divided state” under Buhari who he described as ‘Divider-In-Chief’.
However reacting to this, Lai Mohammed stated that “those who genuinely love Nigeria will support, rather than subvert” Mr Buhari’s “committed leadership.” He added that those who planted the seed of insecurity in the country are the same ones “pointing an accusing finger at a reformist government”.
The Minister who noted that Nigeria is on the road to greatness, averred that no “government in the history of the country has done so much with so little as the Buhari administration is doing presently.”
The statement released by his spokesperson, Segun Adeyemi said;
“President Muhammadu Buhari’s assumption of office in 2015 prevented Nigeria from becoming a failed state, after a long stretch of rapacious and rudderless leadership, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
“It is therefore a cruel irony that those who frittered away a great opportunity to put Nigeria on a sound socio-economic footing, at a time of financial buoyancy, and those who planted the seed of the insecurity in some parts of the country today, are the same ones pointing an accusing finger at a reformist government.
”Nigeria today faces a lot of challenges. But whatever situation the country has found itself in, things would have been much worse but for the deft management of resources, unprecedented fight against corruption, determined battle against insurgency and banditry as well as the abiding courage of Mr. President in piloting the ship of state.
”Nigeria today is not a failed state, but a nation that is courageously tackling its challenges and building a solid infrastructure that will serve as the basis for socio-economic development, a nation that is unrelenting in battling insecurity and working hard to ensure greatest prosperity for the greatest number of people.
”They tout the downturn in economic fortunes without putting things in context. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing a global shutdown and a drastic fall in global oil demand, Nigeria lost 60% of its earnings, yet the administration has ensured that not a single worker has been retrenched, has paid salaries as and when due and has continued to build infrastructures like roads, rails, bridges and power, among others, that will serve many generations.
”They aggravate the national fault lines with their angry and unguarded actions and rhetoric, forgetting that while national fissures are amplified at a time of dwindling economic fortunes, what is needed to foster peace and unity is not reckless elocution but responsible and responsive leadership, the kind being offered by President Buhari.
”In one of the most difficult moments in the nation’s history, Nigeria is fortunate to have at the helm a leader who is not only dedicated, selfless and patriotic, but one who is globally acknowledged for his discipline, integrity and vision. Those who genuinely love Nigeria will support, rather than subvert, this committed leadership.”
