by Kolapo Olapoju

The war of words between former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, and President Goodluck Jonathan may not abate anytime soon.

Last weekend, the former stated that the latter’s performance was so far, “below average”, and the Presidency replied saying that “Jonathan is the best Nigerian President” since independence was attained in 1960.

Obasanjo, famously known to be vocal in his beliefs and opinions has issued a rebuttal, where he chastised Jonathan on different levels.

While speaking at a book Launch in honour of the pioneer chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, Mustapha Akanbi‎, in Abuja, Obasanjo, who was the Chairman of the occasion, implored the President to desist from encouraging “verbal violence which may not physically hurt but has ways of degenerating into physical violence.”

He said the greatest indictment against any administration is to be viewed as actively destroying opposition, while adding that Jonathan was a threat to democracy.

He stated: “Management of democracy without resorting to brute force and dictatorial tendencies must be cultivated. As a leader, you must not deliberately do evil or condone evil. You should know that you will one day give account to God, you may cover up here, but before God, there is no cover up.”

Obasanjo would criticise the President on his management of the Boko Haram insurgency, ‎widespread corruption, the economy and youth unemployment.

Speaking on Boko Haram, he stated that the sect’s activities is not geared to “frustrate anyone’s political efforts”, while lamenting that it took Jonathan a long time to ‎fully grasp the situation.

The former president also harped on Nigeria’s economy, saying that the country would continue to sink deeper and that the information being disseminated to Nigerians about the economic outlook “is not truly what the economy is”, adding that “The economy is in doldrums, if not in reverse.”

While speaking on the level of corruption in the country, Obasanjo commented: “when the head is rotten, the whole body is useless”.