Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s government takes the “admonition” by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in “good faith”, Information Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said.
The government thanks him “most sincerely for taking time off his busy schedule to pen such a long statement”, Mr Mohammed added.
Earlier, Mr Obasanjo called on Mr Buhari, 74, to retire at the end of his term next year because of his age and poor health.
Mr Obasanjo added that he was disappointed with Mr Buhari, particularly because of what he called his poor handling of Nigeria’s economy, the largest in Africa.
In his response, Mr Mohammed said:
“It is true that many Nigerians have been calling on the President to run again, while others are opposed to his return. However, we believe this issue is a distraction for the President at this time.
This is because Mr President spends every waking hour tackling the enormous challenges facing the nation, most of which were bequeathed to his administration by successive past administrations.
He is committed to fulfilling the mandate given to him by Nigerians in 2015. And that’s where we are right now!”
Mr Mohammed added that the government was making “steady progress” in its efforts to improve the economy, and the former president may not have been fully aware of this because of his “very busy schedule”.
Foreign Reserves have peaked at $40bn (£28bn), the highest level in about four years, and headline inflation has fallen for 11 consecutive months, standing at 15.37% in December, the minister said, adding:
Today, most of the indices by which an economy is measured are looking up.”
