Jonathan Accuses Obasanjo: ‘Your Utterances Ridiculing Nigeria, Scaring Investors’

President Goodluck Jonathan has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of ridiculing Nigeria before the international community and of scaring investors away from the country by his consistent criticism of his administration.

In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, Mr. Jonathan said Mr. Obasanjo, by his utterances, was creating the impression that Nigeria is a country on the verge of collapse.

Mr. Jonathan therefore advised the former president to be civil in his criticism so as not to create the impression that the country is in crisis.

“For one reason or the other, Obasanjo may disagree with me as his first political son. You can even disagree with your own biological children, as a human being, not to talk of disagreeing with your political children. So, he can agree or disagree with me, but the utterances have to be managed in a way that it does not affect the economy and security of this country.

“The stability of this country is critical in terms of the economy of this country. Rating agencies downgrade countries that are going into elections because the feeling is that there would be crisis. When you paint the colour of instability for your own nation, you are doing so much injustice to the country because it affects the economy of the country, not just affecting the country in terms of security and social issues alone. It affects the economy directly. So, I plead with very senior citizens that Nigeria is dear to us; we don’t have any other country than Nigeria.

“So, actions and inactions, or utterances, should be guarded so that we don’t expose our country to the international community as if it is a country in danger, a country that is about to collapse. You are frightening investors, especially those who invest hot cash, to pull out their money from the country and that would affect the stock market and it would affect the economy.”

Mr. Jonathan however insisted that he remained a political child of Mr. Obasanjo, saying he owes his rise to political prominence to the influence of the former President