The duo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, have taken strong exceptions to the ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo’s support to Peter Obi, describing it as worthless and of no effect.
Announcing his choice among all the 18 candidates, the former president had said the “‘Emi Lokan’ (My turn) and ‘I have paid my dues’ are one and the same thing and are wrong attitude and mentality for the leadership of Nigeria now.”
While Tinubu is famous for his ‘emi lokan’ slogan, Atiku, Obasanjo’s deputy for eight years, is renowned for priding himself as having paid his dues to qualify for the nation’s top job.
Reacting to the letter through his campaign organization, Sunday, the former vice president described the former president backing for Obi as inconsequential.
He also lambasted Obasanjo for being inconsistent, also describing him as a meddlesome interloper.
Speaking through the spokesperson of the campaign organisation, Daniel Bwala, the PDP standard bearer said the endorsement is another ploy by the former president to rule Nigeria by proxy.
In an telephone interview with Blueprint, Bwala said: “President Obasanjo over the years has not proved to be the statesman that he is, in the sense of promoting democratic ideals and governance in the country.
“Obasanjo is not the only living president in Nigeria. All these former presidents, if you look at the roles they are playing in nation building, are in a manner that is consistent with fatherhood where you watch a child grow, or you offer advice, but not operating as a meddlesome interloper where you consistently dabble into other areas of government, you don’t give administration’s peace of mind, you want to impose your will. And if your will is not accorded or listened to, you then turn against the administration.
“To begin with, his endorsement Peter Obi is not today. We knew it from the beginning. It is just that he made it public today. We knew each of his moves.
“But the question is why this inconsistency? It is only Obasanjo who wants to impose his will. In 2011, he picked Jonathan because he had his cross with others. He put Jonathan in government but not as soon as 2012/2013, he began to have issues with Jonathan. And then, he began to release scathing allegations against Jonathan through this letter. One is that Jonathan was training 1000 snipers, which was proved to be false. He did all he could under the heavens and contributed to Jonathan’s downfall and the emergence of President Buhari.
“Then, he wanted to push his way and get certain people into the cabinet. Again, he failed in that regard. Then he now turned against Buhari and went and sought the same Atiku that he criticised because he wanted to remove Buhari. That didn’t work. Then the journey goes on.
“Obasanjo has been searching for his third term since 2007. The third term is a time where you either rule directly which is now no longer possible or you rule by proxy. But democracy is not built like that. He is one of the many 200 million Nigerians who have the equal right of one vote. One vote one man and the role he can play as a former president is that of advisory. The procedure and process organized by Democracy are for him to identify with Obi openly and go to the rallies to campaign for him that is democratic process- campaigning, soliciting for the vote from people, not by threatening the unity and everything.
“This is the most despicable of all the letters we have seen. And this is not just one letter; it has always been like that. Isn’t it intriguing? That is an elder statesman whose access to the villa can never be stopped by anybody. You always write a letter when you could go to the President and speak with them. So we consider these as embarrassing. We consider the letter as a subliminal threat to the unity of the country, we consider the letter as, an expression of intimidation, and we felt very, very sorry, that an elder statesman, like Obasanjo, will continue to travel on this part when he has done so in the past, and he did not succeed,” Bwala said.
Speaking further, the campaign team said: “What has changed, for example, since the last time he supported Atiku? Why did Obasanjo move based on mood swings? Why can’t he identify with principles? Without his support, Atiku/Okowa will win because nobody wants to bring back APC having seen what APC has done in the last seven years.
“The past seven years has been the lowest in our history. Secondly, people do not believe that Peter Obi has the requisite skills to manage a heterogeneous country with so much diversity and problems that were confronted, not talk about whether he can assemble a team or the infrastructure. When you rule these two out, the only person who has the most experience is because he was once a vice president. He has served as the acting president on many occasions, is Atiku Abubakar.”
It’s worthless – APC
In a similar position, the APC presidential candidate described the ex-president’s support for Obi as worthless.
Tinubu said he respects the democratic right of former President Obasanjo to support and endorse any candidate of his choice in any election.
In a statement signed Sunday by Director, Media & Publicity APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu said: “The endorsement is actually worthless because the former President does not possess any political goodwill or leverage anywhere in Nigeria to make anyone win a Councillorship election let alone win a Presidential election. He is a political paperweight. He is also not a democrat anyone should be proud to be associated with.
“We recall that in 2003 and 2007 general elections when he was a sitting President, Obasanjo used all the coercive instruments of State at his disposal to railroad people into elective offices against the will of Nigerians as expressed at the polls. In 2007, he declared the polls a do or die affair after he failed in his bid to amend our constitution to have a third term.
“From our records, President Obasanjo has not successfully made anyone win election in Nigeria since then. Not even in Ogun State can anyone rely on his support or endorsement to become a governor or councillor.
“We pity Peter Gregory Obi as we are confident that Chief Obasanjo cannot win his polling unit and ward in Abeokuta for Obi in the coming Presidential election on 25 February, 2023.
“Chief Obasanjo’s endorsement is not a political currency Mr. Peter Obi can spend anywhere in Nigeria because he is not a political force, even in his part of the country.
“Chief Obasanjo similarly endorsed Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Peoples Democratic Party candidate in 2019 against President Muhammadu Buhari. Atiku was walloped by Buhari with a wide margin in the election.
“History will repeat itself in February as our candidate Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu will equally beat Obi by a large margin. We take a particular notice of the part of the endorsement statement where Chief Obasanjo said none of the presidential candidates is a Saint.
“We want to state here that Chief Obasanjo is not a good judge of character. He is a man who considers only himself as the all-knowing Saint in Nigeria. Over the years, Chief Obasanjo has also convinced himself that integrity, honesty and all good virtues begin and end with him.”
