FG mocks Obasanjo, says Atiku will suffer comprehensive defeat

The Federal Government says though it is the constitutional right of
the former President Olusegun Obasanjo to support a candidate for an
election, his endorsement does not guarantee victory.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who
spoke on behalf of the government on Monday in Abuja, said Obasanjo’s
candidate for the presidential election, Atiku Abubakar “will be
defeated roundly and comprehensively’’.

Atiku and Obasanjo

“With due respect to former President Obasanjo, it is his
constitutional right to support any candidate of his choice and we urge
him to go out and campaign vigorously for any candidate he wants to
support.

“He has not hidden his preference for the PDP candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and we wish him very best of luck.

“However, I want to assure you that his candidate will be defeated
roundly and comprehensively. It is not about endorsement, endorsement
does not win election,’’ he said.

The minister also responded to a statement credited to the former
President that, “only a fool will sit on the fence when his or her
country is being destroyed with incompetence, corruption, lack of focus,
insecurity, nepotism and brazen impunity’’.

Mohammed said he held Obasanjo in high esteem and probably he was not
properly briefed on the development in the country to have made such
conclusions.

“The facts are all there that this government has done more than any other governments in three and half years.

On corruption, the minister said that the government had put in place
institutional reforms which had confirmed its sincerity and commitment
to fighting the menace.

“It is not about putting people in Jail but what are the things put in place to address this endemic problem.

“Take the example of Treasury Single Account TSA, which was not
initiated by this government. It is only the Buhari administration that
has the political will to implement it.

“Before we came in, there were over 22,000 government accounts in various banks.

“Since we came, we reduced it to one account and from 2015 to date
N8.9 trillion has passed through the TSA which is as a result of
transparency and accountability,’’ he said.

The minister said that even with lean resources, the Buhari
administration had spent more on infrastructure than the 16 years of the
PDP administration.

He said there was no state in the country without one or two
infrastructure development being embarked upon by the federal
government.

The minister said the Administration had commissioned the Abuja to
Kaduna standard rail gauge while the 156 km Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge
would be ready for commissioning in March next year.

He said the government had made fund available for five critical
infrastructure projects including the Mambilla power project, the
East-West Road, the second Niger Bridge, the Abuja – Kano and
Abuja-Lokoja-Okene highways.

Mohammed said the efforts of the administration in diversifying the
economy away from oil had yielded fruits with achievement recorded in
agriculture, particularly in rice production and solid mineral sectors.

On power supply, the minister said the administration had improved on
generation, transmission and distribution than it met them in 2015,
while Nigerians are benefiting from its numerous social investment
programmes.