By Nimot Olawale
Both presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar have kicked against the New Year day endorsement of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi by Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
Obasanjo, a former member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had been passing cryptic messages to Nigerians about whom they should vote for as their next President in 2023.
First, he placed Peter Obi on his seat at a recent public function, and also attended an event with the former Anambra State Governor in attendance, after which he said nobody could threaten him over his choice of candidate for the 2023 election.
In his recent message, the former Military President brazenly asked Nigerians (especially the youths) to vote for Peter Obi because he has an edge over other politicians vying for the exalted office of the President.
“None of the contestants is a saint but when one compares their character, antecedent, their understanding, knowledge, discipline and vitality that they can bring to bear and the great efforts required to stay focused on the job particularly looking at where the country is today and with the experience on the job that I personally had, Peter Obi as a mentee has an edge,” Obasanjo, in a New Year message to Nigerians.
The letter partly read “The last seven and a half years have no doubt been eventful and stressful years for many Nigerians. We have moved from frying pan to fire and from mountain top to the valley. Our leaders have done their best, but their best had turned out to be not the best for Nigeria and Nigerians at home and abroad. For most Nigerians, it was hell on earth.Those of us who are alive should thank God for His mercies, brace ourselves for the remaining few months of this administration and pray and work very hard for an immediate better future – future of liberation, restoration and great hope and expectation”.
“I have interacted with the major contestants and I find it interesting that, in one form or the other, each of them claims to want to do what I did during my Presidency and to take Nigeria back to where it was at the height of my Presidency and immediately after. I was pained that most of them do not realisethat the Nigeria of today had been dragged down well below Nigeria of the beginning of my Presidency in June 1999. Although at that time, Nigeria was in very bad shape and was tottering on the verge of collapse and break-up. Even then, Nigeria was not faced with the level of pervasive and mind-numbing insecurity, rudderless leadership, buoyed by mismanagement of diversity and pervasive corruption, bad economic policies resulting in extremes of poverty and massive unemployment and galloping inflation.
For these reasons, I kept pointing out to them that the instruments used in 1999 to 2007 and methodology used will grossly be inadequate for the perilous situation we now find ourselves. Without prejudice but with greatest respect to each individual with utmost regard for the best for Nigeria and all Nigerians and from my personal experience, all the major contestants claim to be my mentees. I will not deny such positions since I have worked with all of them directly and indirectly in government”.
While apparently referring to Tinubu, the former President wrote, “ Let me say straight away that ‘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. They cannot form the new pedestal to reinvent and to invest in a new Nigeria based on an All-Nigeria Government for the liberation and restoration of Nigeria. Such a government must have representation from all sectors of our national life – public, private, civil society, professional, labour, employers, and the diaspora. The solution should be in ‘we’ and ‘us’ and not in ‘me’ and ‘I’.”
“Mind you, I reiterate that no human being is an angel let alone a Messiah, but there are elements of these attributes and on comparative basis and by measure of what we know of, and what some of us have experienced from the front-runners, we must assess judiciously and choose wisely. If anybody claims he or she has anything to the contrary, it will be up to him or her to prove to us.
One ridiculous point that has been touted to justify unjustifiable appointments and selections is ‘competence’. In truth and in reality, genuine competence can be found in any region or section of Nigeria through track record and performance if only people will honestly and sincerely look hard for people with such attainment and attribute. Most of us in good conscience can testify to competence when we see any anywhere. What is masqueraded as ‘competence’ is self-interest and nepotism.
We have a unique opportunity to correct ourselves by ourselves for the good of ourselves. Those who are preaching division, segregation, separation, and want to use diversity for their own self and selfish interest are enemies of the nation, no matter what else they may disguisedly profess or proclaim.
I pray not to be proved right again in the bad sense but rather to be proved right in the positive and glorious sense of Nigeria becoming what God had created it to be – a land of plenty and prosperity united for common purpose of inclusive society, common security, shared prosperity, equity, egalitarianism, justice, and equal stake in the Project Nigeria with leadership role of Nigeria for the black race and fair share of global division of labour.”
Let me say it again, loud and clear, Nigeria has no business with insecurity, poverty, insurgency, banditry, unemployment, hunger, debt, division and disunity. We are in these situations because advertently or inadvertently, our leaders have made the choices. They have done the best they could do. Let them take their rest deservedly or not and let them enjoy their retirement as Septuagenarians or older.
I became Head of State at 39 and at 42, I had retired into the farm. When it was considered necessary, I was drafted back into active political life after twenty years of interregnum. I came back at 62 and by 70, I was on my way out. Others like General Gowon and Enahoro became national leaders at 33 and 27 respectively and General Gowon at the helms of leadership of Nigeria at the highest level. The vigour, energy, agility, dynamism and outreach that the job of leadership of Nigeria requires at the very top may not be provided as a septuagenarian or older. I know that from personal experience. And it is glaring out of our current experiences. Otherwise, we will be fed with, “The President says” and we will neither see nor hear him directly as we should.
Yes, for some, age and physical and mental disposition are not in tandem. But where and when they are with obvious evidence, they must be taken into account for purpose of reality. And yet it is a job in our present situation where the team leader or captain of the team should be up and doing, outgoing inside and outside and speaking to the nation on almost daily basis visibly and as much as possible interactively and meeting his colleagues all over the world on behalf of Nigeria. Youth of Nigeria, your time has come, and it is now and please grasp it. If not now, it will be never. I appeal to you to turn the tide on its head and marchforward chanting ‘Awa Lokan’ (Our turn) not with a sense of entitlement, but with a demonstrable ideological commitment to unity and transformation of Nigeria.
None of the contestants is a saint but when one compares their character, antecedent, their understanding, knowledge, discipline and vitality that they can bring to bear and the great efforts required to stay focused on the job particularly looking at where the country is today and with the experience on the job that I personally had, Peter Obi as a mentee has an edge.
Others like all of us have what they can contribute to the new dispensation to liberation, restoration and salvaging of Nigeria collectively. One other important point to make about Peter is that he is a needle with thread attached to it from North and South and he may not get lost. In other words, he has people who can pull his ears, if and when necessary. Needless to say that he has a young and able running mate with clean track record of achievement both in public and private life.
However, in his reaction, Tinubu described Obasanjo’sendorsement as worthless and said he pitied Peter Obi for being endorsed by someone who can’t win his polling booth.
Speaking through the Director of Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Mr Bayo Onanuga, Tinubusaid nobody in Ogun State could rely on Obasanjo to become governor or councillor.
The APC presidential candidate noted that the former president has never succeeded in making anybody become president in Nigeria.
A statement by Onanuga reads: “From our records, President Obasanjo has not successfully made anyone win an 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 Obi as we are confident that Chief Obasanjocannot win his polling unit and ward in Abeokuta for Obi in the coming Presidential election on 25 February 2023.”
Tinubu said Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi was not a “political currency” that the LP presidential candidate can spend in the country.
He stressed that the former president was not “a political force” in Nigeria.
The former Lagos State governor recounted how Obasanjoendorsed the Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2019 against President Muhammadu Buhari.
He, however, noted with his support, Buhari defeated Atiku by a wide margin.
Tinubu vowed that history would repeat itself in February when he defeats Obi by a wide margin.
Similarly, the campaign organization of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, described former President OlusegunObasanjo’s endorsement of the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi as his wish.
While reacting to the endorsement, the spokesperson of the Atiku Presidential Campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan on Sunday said Obasanjo’s endorsement does not reflect the wishes of most Nigerians.
Atiku’s campaign said Obi does not have the requisite experience, adding that the PDP candidate is the most experienced among all candidates. It expressed confidence that most Nigerians will support and elect the PDP’s presidential candidate.
According to the former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, former President Obasanjo is entitled to his personal opinion, which remains individualistic and cannot redirect Nigerians from their determination to vote for Atiku to rescue and rebuild Nigeria from the alleged misrule of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
He expressed surprise at the former President’s endorsement of Obi who has not had any experience in governance at the national level in the face of the alarming challenges facing the nation, which requires a tried and tested hand.
The statement reads in part: “In any case, Chief Obasanjo’sopinion cannot sway Nigerians who can easily remember how he endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari, whose administration, he (Obasanjo) now describes as “stressful years for many Nigerians,” during which our nation “moved from frying pan to fire and from mountain top to the valley.”
“It is, therefore, extremely difficult for Nigerians, particularly the youth demography, to accept Chief Obasanjo’s opinion as the solution to the myriad of challenges facing the nation today because the last candidate he introduced, by his estimation, failed Nigerians.
“Our campaign holds that none of the Presidential candidates has the experience, capacity, tenacity of purpose, presence of mind, and readiness to serve like Atiku Abubakar.
“Atiku remains the most widely accepted candidate, whose choice is not predicated by sectional, tribal, ethnic or religious sentiments or the endorsement of any individual, high or low, but by the record of ability and performance, authentic vision, honesty, and character; physical and mental capacity; the very indices set by the former President.
“It is instructive to state that every claim by former President Obasanjo on the success of his administration is a reflection of the performance of Atiku Abubakar as his Vice President and Chairman of the National Economic Council during which our nation achieved unprecedented economic growth to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world”.
Ologbondiyan said it is a disservice for the former President to make subjective suggestions even when it is clear that when Atiku becomes president Nigeria will be rescued from this “current sullen state.”
The Atiku campaign organization urged Nigerians not to be distracted by subjective opinions but to remain focused on the resolve to salvage the nation by electing the former Vice President.
