News recap: Obasanjo’s nostalgia on failure and Buhari’s foibles

This is a tale of presidents – past and present – of their actions and the nostalgia induced by afterthoughts. Obasanjo ruled the Nigeria as a military man and as an elected president. But this week, he made the news for publicly acknowledging the failure of his generation to make the country a better place.

In another part of the world, former president Iran’s president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, was also in the news for his open letter to another president – Donald Trump.

More on these in our news recap today, a collection of our top stories published during the week. Read on!

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and President Muhammadu Buhari PHOTO: STATE HOUSE

Nigerians, in recent weeks, have been debating who is a better performer between President Muhammadu Buhari [who is still in London] and acting president Yemi Osinbajo [who in reality is Buhari’s deputy]. But the presidency is having none of the debate. Reacting to the trending discussions, Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Babafemi Ojodu said the development was the handiwork of those who do not wish the country well.

Charles Chukwuma Soludo

Ojudu might have scored the presidency a brownie point on that note, but a former governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank on Thursday panned Buhari’s  handling of the economy. Though Charles Soludo acknowledged that the Buhari regime inherited an economy already in shambles, he said President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s style of governance has worsened the situation.

President Muhammadu Buhari welcoming former President Olusegun Obasanjo to his office at the State House Abuja on Thursday, 7th April, 2016. PHOTO: Philip Ojisua

While he has praised and criticised Buhari in equal measure, former president Olusegun Obasanjo, on Monday, said the failure of the country shouldn’t be blamed on the current president alone. He admitted that his generation has failed Nigeria in its efforts to take it to the Promised Land.
It was the Nigerian police who was at the receiving end of OBJ’s scathing remarks later in the week. Baba chided the Force for keeping him waiting at an event organised by the security agency in Lagos. Clearly, the African in Baba hated African time!

Iran’s ex-president Mahmud Ahmadinejad

Still on the presidents! Though he is out of the reckoning, at least for now, in his native Iran, but Mahmud Ahmadinejad keeps a tab on world politics. In his recent open letter to US president Donald Trump, the former Iranian leader welcomed Trump’s criticism of the US political system but took issue with his visa ban and attitude to women. He also wanted Trump to end interventions in the Middle East and ditch the “arrogance” of past US administrations.

Also during the week, Niger Delta militants told South African firms operating the in the South-South to vacate the region or risk attacks. Reason? They cannot continue to stomach the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and their businesses in South Africa.

To some cheering business news.

Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele. / AFP PHOTO / PHILIP OJISUA

The naira appreciated during the week against major foreign currencies after the CBN released additional $180 million to the forex market to further ease business transactions in the country.But the naira lost a bit of its gain on Friday.

Another cheerful news, but this time in health. A team of Spanish scientists said five patients living with the disease are virus-free seven months after taking a new vaccine. According to a study published in New Scientist the treatment, developed by researchers in Spain, allowed the patients to stop taking regular antiretroviral (ARV) drugs – the current method of suppressing HIV.

Arsenal’s  manager Arsene Wenger / AFP PHOTO / Justin TALLIS /

But for Arsenal Football Club’s coach, this is not the most cheerful of times. While it is apparent that his time at the club is coming to an end, Arsene Wenger’s more immediate headache is getting the club to finish the season on a high note. While admitting, on Thursday, that his future as Arsenal manager remains up in the air, he distanced from succeeding Luis Enrique as Barcelona coach.

Finally, to tech! Uber and Google aren’t best of friends right now. And it all has to do with a brilliant engineer who dumped the Google for Uber. For now, Anthony Lewandowski is Google’s enemy number one.