Former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently knocked the administration of President Bola Tinubu over poor implementation of the removal of subsidy from petroleum products as well as the floating naira, saying Nigeria is now a laughing stock among foreign investors who would rather take their monies to other African countries.

The ruling party, APC however responded immediately, saying that the former President is suffering from old age.

According to a statement made available  by President Obasanjo's Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, Obasanjo, Obasanjo was said to have spoken in Abuja  at a colloquium tagged: “Nigeria’s Development: Navigating the Way Out of the Current Economic Crisis and Insecurity.”

Obasanjo said the president had not managed the economy in a way that would inspire confidence and enhance trust in investors.

He said that many Nigerians are now living in extreme poverty as a result of Tinubu’s “necessary but wrongly implemented” removal of the fuel subsidy and unification of the parallel and official market foreign exchange rates.

“Today, the government has taken three decisions, two of which are necessary but wrongly implemented and have led to impoverisation of the economy and of Nigerians. These are removal of subsidy, closing the gap between black market and official rates of exchange and the third is dealing with a military coup in Niger Republic.”

Citing Total Energy’s recent $6 billion investment in Angola’s economy, Mr Obasanjo said it was unsettling that existing investors were fleeing Nigeria for economic safety in the arms of neighbouring African countries.

“Total Energy has gone to invest $6 billion in Angola instead of Nigeria. If the truth must be stated, the present administration has not found the right way to handle the economy to engender confidence and trust for investors to start trooping in,” Mr Obasanjo was quoted as saying at the Paul Aje Colloquium (PAC) in Abuja.

“They (foreign investors) know us more than we know ourselves. And now they are laughing at us, not taking us seriously. We have to present ourselves in such a way that we will be taken seriously,” the former Nigerian President said. “If the existing investors are disinvesting and going out of our country, how do we persuade new investors to rush in.”

He explained that the situation could be salvaged if only  Tinubu could change his style of leadership from “transactional” to “transformational.”

“We can be serious if we choose to be but we need to change from transactional leadership in government to transformational and genuine servant leadership.”

However, responding to the statament, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)  strongly criticized the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s remark. APC faulted Obasanjo, whom they described as a serial critic.

Ibrahim said that he feared the former President might be manifesting signs of old age.

He said, “As a Nigerian and someone who respects Obasanjo, I think senility is beginning to come in. Obasanjo is beginning to manifest the symptoms.

“Ever since he lost the bid to have a third term in office, he has consistently attacked every regime that comes after him. He sees himself as the only one who meant well for Nigeria from independence to date. He thinks he is the best and every other leader is bad. And this is not good for a statesman. Nobody has monopoly on knowledge or style of leadership.

“Obasanjo has been consistent in his criticisms of people in leadership positions apart from himself. So, this is not an isolated case. President Bola Tinubu is not the first to be attacked by Obasanjo. Buhari and Jonathan were also victims of his criticisms. He himself did not fare better when he was the leader. In fact, Obasanjo superintended the balkanisation of the Nigerian economy.

“How can he say someone who is trying to put the economy on a better pedestal is not doing the right thing? I am not a spokesman for Tinubu. Even though the party has discussed him to my knowledge, I practically feel Obasanjo has erred as he has always been doing.”