THE Presidency has said former president Olusegun Obasanjo is “jealous” of President Muhammadu Buhari’s achievements in office.

This is coming a day after Obasanjo in an open letter endorsed Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and described the administration of Buhari as “stressful years for many Nigerians”.

Obasanjo also said Nigerians “moved from frying pan to fire and from mountain top to the valley”, during the Buhari’s tenure.

Read Obasanjo’s letter here.

But in a statement on Monday, January 2, presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, claimed Obasanjo is jealous because Buhari is ahead of him in terms of national development.

According to Garba, “Mr Obasanjo’s tenure, 1999-2007, represented the dark days of Nigeria’s democracy due to a slew of assaults on the constitution.”

Parts of the statement read; “He (Obasanjo) will not stop attacking President Muhammadu Buhari because the former President won’t stop being jealous of anyone who beats him to a new record in the nation’s development process.

“President Buhari is ahead of Chief Obasanjo in all fields of national development and to do that is a cardinal sin to Obasanjo whose hallucinations tell him that he is the best ever to lead Nigeria and there will never be another one better than him.

“Having tried tenure elongation and failed, Obasanjo’s fictitious mind must be telling him that he is the one under attack. But he is not on President Buhari’s radar because experience has shown, especially lately in West Africa where there have been at least three successful coups and many other failed attempts, that third term or tenure elongation is a recipe for political instability.

“As President, Obasanjo destabilised internal democracy by orchestrating impeachment after impeachment of governors who were not compliant with his highly imperial administration”.

Shehu also said unlike Obasanjo, Buhari has received praise from the international community for his achievements.

“On the other hand, in Washington a few weeks ago, the US President Joe Biden at a meeting with African Heads of States and Government described President Buhari as a champion of democracy and role model for the leaders of African states.

“Clearly, Obasanjo has become even more jealous by adopting a vengeful attitude.

“To say that “frying pan to fire” is the situation in Nigeria at this time should be read to mean a personal experience to him and we know what that means.

“‘Hell’ for Obasanjo is when a President, any President that comes after him refuses to be his own puppet, to do as he wishes on all matters and at all times. He then keeps attacking out of frustration”, Garba said.