Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has discounted criticisms that he is carpetbagger who bends with the wind because of his support for his erstwhile vice-president and political nemesis, Atiku Abubakar. The former president, who had vowed both in his public and private utterances, that Atiku will never be president of Nigeria, has reversed himself to support Atiku’s presidential bid as the flagbearer of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in next month’s presidential election.
Hear OBJ: “Atiku is not a messiah; he is not a saint. Fortunately, he has not claimed to be one. He has not claimed fake sanctimoniousness. He came here, acknowledged his past misdeeds and showed remorse. I am a believer and a Christian and the teaching of God is to forgive so that we can be forgiven. In fact, it goes further that if you do not forgive, you have no right to expect God’s forgiveness. I’m a sinner and I want God to forgive my sins. So, if anybody who has offended me comes to ask for forgiveness, I must forgive him. Again, our choice for the immediate Nigerian situation is between the candidates of APC and PDP. So, if APC brings Buhari and PDP brings Atiku, and from what I know of Buhari and what you know, what he has done so far shows utter incompetence, nepotism, condoning evil and corruption.”
OBJ lampooned Buhari, saying the President has shown absolute incompetence, just as he condones evil and corruption under his government. He told the BBC Pidgin English program that, if elected, Atiku will perform twice better than Buhari. The former President is aggrieved that under Buhari, anyone could steal the country dry and go scot-free, as long as he belongs to the ruling APC.
However, National Leader of APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has carpeted Obasanjo for criticizing Buhari. In a letter titled: Chief Obasanjo–At war Against His Own Deeds,’ he said Obasanjo lacks the moral compass to criticize the Buhari administration. “The worst of Obasanjo’s record, I have yet to describe. When it comes to elections, he has been a rigger without peer. There is no election, which occurred under Obasanjo’s watch or in which he participated that did not involve cheating on his part. Even the late President Umaru Musa Yar‘Adua admitted that he was beneficiary of a flawed election engineered by Obasanjo. For Obasanjo to lament over electoral malpractice is tantamount to the ocean complaining that a few raindrops are causing it to get wet,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the National Inter-Faith and Religious Organizations for Peace has declared a 30-day prayer and fasting for the former President, saying his problems transcend the ordinary, hence, the call for prayers. The group said the call became necessary following his recent outbursts on the state of the nation. President of the group, Bishop Musa Garuba, said at a media briefing in Abuja yesterday, that a normal human being would not make the kind of comments being credited to Obasanjo.
