I Decided public sphere to speak to Jonathan, by Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said he decided to speak to President Goodluck Jonathan through the media or public sphere as a result of the president’s inability to respond to his innocent pieces of advice and observations.

Obasanjo gave the explanation in Lagos on Tuesday at the public presentation of his latest literary work and memoir, ‘My Watch’.

It would be recalled that an Abuja court had last Friday, December 6, ordered the former president to refrain from publishing the book until the determination of a libel suit which was brought against him by Buruji Kashamu, an Ogun State People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain.

It was gathered that Obasanjo’s lawyers advised him to go ahead with the launch.

The former president said that after trying so hard to get President Jonathan respond to his observations, he had no option than to go public. Illustrating his point, he said during his days in government that his predecessors were always having audience and interface with him where they also made some useful suggestions.

“If you have audience but have no receptive ears, you must have another way or getting things across or reacting; that’s what has happened,” he said.

Obasanjo, who absolved himself of allegation of foisting the late Umaru Yar’Adua and Jonathan on Nigerians, explained that he meant well for the country, adding that if they are not doing what they are expected to do, those after them should not follow same path.

“I have no regret bringing Yar’Adua and Jonathan; if they are not doing well, they should be a reference point so that those who come after may do well,” he said.

The former president, who expressed reservation with the style of administration of President Jonathan, however, said that though Nigeria was passing through a tough time at the moment, there was hope.

“We must not lose hope. If you lose hope, you lose everything. There is hope; things are changing for the better,” he said.

Making case for the revival of the reading culture in the country, the former president said: “I have always maintained that you can’t be a leader if you can’t read. I hope Nigerians should cultivate the habit of reading. We cannot make any progress as leaders if we do not have the culture of reading. Seriously, we must encourage reading. But honestly, people no longer read as they used to in my time. We must encourage reading culture.”

Obasanjo also noted that the social media had endangered the reading culture in the country as many people now pay attention more to Google, facebook, etc than they do to reading.

The organisers of the book launch had explained that the event was held because Obasanjo’s lawyers had advised him to go ahead with the launch since a court order obtained by Kashamu was to stop the publication of the book and did not bar the former president from launching the book.