Oshiomhole urged Buhari to not be distracted by Obasanjo's public accusations that he's trying to frame him.
The new national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to hold former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to account on the $16 billion he spent on power projects during his tenure.
Buhari and Obasanjo recently engaged in a public war of words when the incumbent raised questions over the $16 billion allegedly spent on power projects during Obasanjo's administration.
While speaking at the Presidential Villa on May 22, 2018, Buhari remarked, "One of the former Heads of State was bragging that he spent more than 15 billion USD on power in Nigeria. Where is the power?"
In response to the accusation, Obasanjo fired back hours later saying that Buhari was ignorant on the subject especially by re-echoing an unsubstantiated allegation that has been proven false.
While speaking after the official handover from former party chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, on Tuesday, June 26, Oshiomhole urged President Buhari to go one step further and demand for the $16 billion which was spent with no notable improvement to the nation's power sector.
He said, "I watched our president recently asking questions - you have spent $16 billion - PDP under the former president - on power, our president said, 'Where is power?' For emphasis he repeated, 'Wwhere is the power?'
"Nigerians in their various homes that day with generator said 'Mr President, we don't have'. $16 billion spent on power? The more dollars spent, the more darkness. Maybe because the president has not yet proceeded to now ask the follow-up question, since we can't find the power, you must produce the $16 billion spent.
"If he doesn't do that, then the accusation of limited anti-corruption (fight) will begin to have some relevance. Our president needs to do the needful. He can proceed to recover the $16 billion back into the treasury from the man who superintended over the spending of that money. All we have to do as a party is to provide the support that Mr President needs."
Oshiomhole further urged the president to not be distracted by Obasanjo's recent public claim that Buhari's administration has an active plan to indefinitely detain him by using false witnesses and documents to frame him.
Obasanjo vs Buhari
Obasanjo's war of words with Buhari started when he publicly condemned the president's administration in January and asked him to not seek re-election in next year's election.
In that 13-page statement titled, "The Way Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria Movement", Obasanjo also expressed his lost hope in the ability of the ruling All Progressives' Congress (APC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) to provide Nigeria with the initiative it needs to progress.
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He subsequently launched the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) which he said would be a movement of all well-meaning Nigerians that will engage in democratic practices that will drive Nigeria forward and be a source of hope for all Nigerians. That movement has now adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as its political platform to install a new political class in the 2019 general elections.