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‘Obasanjo is the saboteur’
kolawole ojelabi
Assistant Editor, News
Lawyers have thrown back President Olusegun
Obasanjo’s accusation of sabotaging his government at his face saying he
is the one who has been sabotaging his government through the flagrant
disrespect of the country’s constitution.
President Obasanjo, at the opening of this
year’s Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) annual conference, accused the bar
and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) of sabotaging his government.
President Obasanjo accused the NBA of aligning with
the NLC to oppose incessant increase in the prices of petroleum products,
saying the NBA had chosen to ‘deliberately set itself up as a political
opposition, rather than a partner in the survival project.’
But in a quick riposte to the accusation, the legal
practitioners accused President Obasanjo of dictatorial tendencies which they
said the NBA and the NLC had challenged.
That, they said, was what had earned them the tag of
saboteurs.
Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) and Mr. Festus Keyamo who
spoke in separate interviews with our correspondent said if there was anyone or
organisation sabotaging the Obasanjo government, it was Obasanjo himself.
According to Fawehinmi, ”it is Obasanjo who is sabotaging the
constitution. The NBA and NLC are
the ones protecting the constitution.
What the NBA does is to ensure that Obasanjo does not deviate from the
constitution and when he does the NBA is always critical of him. The NLC also does the same. Because he loves to violate the
constitution and these two bodies become critical of him, they are bound to be
at loggerhead,” Fawehinmi said.
He said the government of the day had the penchant
for violating the constitution and “where there are infractions, it is
the duty of the NBA to call the people’s attention to such infractions.”
The legal giant said the NBA had a responsibility to
advance the cause of the country as laid down by the first Nigerian to enrol as
a lawyer in 1888, Christopher Alexander Sapara-Williams.
According to him, Sapara-Williams had in his immortal
words said, “a legal practitioner lives for the direction of his people
and the advancement of the cause of his country.”
Therefore, he said, “we have a serious duty to
direct our people and advance the cause of the country. The NBA plays the role of a watchdog. Obasanjo has been critical of the NBA
and NLC because they are on the side of the masses and Obasanjo on the side of
the rich and the elite.”
Fawehinmi said “Obasanjo likes to behave like a
dictator and the constitution does not recognise this tendency. In the constitution order reigns
supreme and observance of its provisions is important” adding that
“Obasanjo is wrong in the way he has perceived the NBA and the NLC. He should respect and admire the NBA
for advancing democracy.”
In his own reaction, Lagos lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo,
condemned the speech of President Obasanjo saying “the president hates
opposition, the president hates correction, the president hates criticism.
“There is nobody sabotaging Obasanjo. The only person sabotaging Obasanjo is
Obasanjo himself.”
He said by President Obasanjo’s outburst, it
was obvious he did not mean well for the country. “He is arrogating to
himself the entire wisdom to rule this country.”
Dr. Tunji Abayomi, once President Obasanjo’s
lawyer, said the view of the president was that of his administration but
stated emphatically that “nobody can sabotage the right of the people to
express him or herself.”
“I am of the view that criticism should be
based on rational foundation and not reactionary foundation. People have the right to make their
point of view. Not even the
president can take this right from them,” Abayomi said.
Deputy President of the NLC, Mr. Joseph Akinlaja
denied the charge of opposition by the president, insisting that “it is
the government that is sabotaging itself by not respecting the law.”
Mr. Denja Yacub, Assistant General Secretary, NLC
told Saturday Independent in his reaction that President Obasanjo’s accusation
demonstrated his lack of adequate knowledge of democracy.
He said the two bodies accused had been the leading
light in ensuring that our nascent democracy did not derail, pointing out that
if President Obasanjo had been allowed to ride the nation rough shod, it would
have resulted in disastrous consequences.
Yacub said the NLC would not be cowed by President
Obasanjo’s “unfounded accusation”, promising that the labour
movement would continue to remain the watchdog of the government for the people
and ensure that “the right and freedom of the people were not abridged by
this government.”
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