Oshiomhole: Jonathan was not competent enough to continue as president

Adams Oshiomhole

Adams Oshiomhole, immediate past governor of Edo state, says former president Goodluck Jonathan was not competent enough to continue with the leadership of the country in 2015.

He said the competence expected from the Jonathan administration never materialised, and that even the most basic things were not adequately done.

In a conversation with The Interview, Oshiomhole quoted Jonathan as admitting that he did not do much for the south-south region.

“If you follow my commentary two, three years into his government, it was clear that even the most basic things were not properly done. Competence that was expected was not there,” Oshiomhole said.

“The level of fairness was not there. And even if you were to talk about the sentiment of servicing the geo-political zones, the south-south had nothing to boast of.

“Even the road to Yenagoa didn’t show that a president came from that area. I have travelled across Nigeria, so we in the south cannot say this is our dividend.

“He himself agreed that he didn’t do much for the south-south. Actually, that was not the real question. The real question was: where did he do?

“Also, I remember asking the chief of army staff the day the president wanted to postpone the election (from February 14), I said, ‘Two weeks ago, you said the Armed Forces was ready for the election. Now, you are saying Boko Haram is controlling how many local governments. You PDP took over 774 local governments, now you have ceded territories to Boko Haram.’

“So I was convinced and I arrived at a conclusion that Nigeria was in great danger if we didn’t effect a change in the political leadership. That was how we parted ways.

“I remember he, Jonathan, called me about four days to the election over an advert I did. In the advert, I showed the pictures of the immigration recruitment they purported to have done in a stadium.

“That was the height of incompetence – that the federal government would defraud the unemployed people, ask them to pay some fees to attract a federal job.”

Regarding the performance of the incumbent Muhammadu Buhari administration, Oshiomhole said that despite the obvious challenges, “the country has regained some level of self-confidence”.