Senator Adams Oshiomhole, representing Edo North Senatorial District, has alleged that former President Olusegun Obasanjo once boasted to former Senate President Bukola Saraki about his power to determine who became governor in Nigeria.
In an interview with Channels TV from 1:32, Oshiomhole referenced a public exchange at Obasanjo’s 80th birthday celebration: “Nigerians failed to acknowledge this thing about President Obasanjo’s alleged third term and how he was sharing money to legislators. I was at Obasanjo’s 80th birthday; Bukola Saraki said that he thanked God that Obasanjo removed him the way he did. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gotten to contest and become Kwara governor, and now subsequently Senate president.”
Oshiomhole continued, describing Obasanjo’s startling response: “And on the occasion of his 80th birthday in Lagos, Obasanjo said to Saraki that nobody can become governor in Nigeria unless I agree. He said, ‘I only allow you; you are not the only one that I allowed.'”
According to Oshiomhole, Obasanjo further admitted: “He said he allowed Oyinlola Olagunsoye, having retired him prematurely, because he was already politically exposed, and that he just compensated him as if to go be governor there.”
The senator concluded with a scathing assessment of the former president’s democratic credentials: “A man who allocated governorship, he doesn’t have any moral basis to sermonize about democracy. And when they behave like that in office, they forget that one day they won’t be there again.”
These allegations emerge as Obasanjo faces criticism for claiming democracy is failing in Nigeria following President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers state.