Reactions trail Obasanjo’s advice to Buhari on re-election

 

• Obasanjo’s advice to Buhari courageous, patriotic – PDP
• Obasanjo’s letter: We won’t comment now, says presidency
• APC reacts to Obasanjo’s statement on Buhari
• Fayose says Obasanjo contributed to Buhari’s failure

The Peoples Democratic Party has described the counsel by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that President Muhammadu Buhari should not run for second term in 2019 as courageous, timeous and patriotic.

It added that the advice had vindicated its position on President Buhari and the All  Progressives Congress.

The party however rejected the call by Obasanjo for the emergence of a third force, saying that such would amount to repeating the same alleged blunder that it claimed brought in what it described as the “ideologically vacuous APC and the Buhari Presidency” which it said had wrecked havoc on the nation in its almost three years of governance.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement in Abuja on  Tuesday, said the fact that President Buhari and the APC have irredeemably failed the nation was obvious to all, adding that Nigerians have already taken an irrevocable position against them ahead of the 2019 elections.

According to Ologbondiyan, Obasanjo’s counsel had rekindled the fate of the people in the democratic process, stressing however that the solution “does not lie in creating another political quicksand in a third force but consolidating on a rescue mission with the repositioned PDP which Nigerians have already embraced.”

He said Nigerians would recall that in the heat of 2015 elections, many citizens, who claimed to have become tired of the PDP and its government, opted for a coalition of strange bedfellows who he said had little or no experience in governance as a vehicle for electoral victory.

He said, “Expectedly, in their confusion, they have plunged us into this regrettable situation that has brought our nation to its knees.

“PDP maintained that repeating the old mistake of congregating political strangers cannot help our nation at this time, more so, when the few concerns raised by the former President about the PDP no longer obtain under the refocused and rebranded PDP.

“The PDP is now standing on a truly democratic ground that perfectly represents and reflects the hopes and aspirations of all Nigerians irrespective of their class, creed or tribe.

“That is why our great party has now, more than ever before, become a centre of the new patriotic and broad-based engagements by well-meaning Nigerians and coalitions across the board, including past leaders, in rekindling our democratic process that places priority on returning power to the people.

“The fact is that Nigerians overrated President Buhari in 2015 but they have now seen that he never possessed the capacity and the required aptitude to effectively govern our great nation and pilot a healthy economy.

“This accounts for the reason former President Obasanjo, just like most Nigerians today, are concerned about the quality of presidential candidates to be presented by various parties for the 2019 election.

“The fact is that while the APC is already caught up with President Buhari, the PDP is open for a new engagement that will throw up the President, which our nation truly deserves at this crucial moment.”

Also, the presidency on Tuesday said it will not comment on the letter released by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The letter, among other issues, had criticised the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Apart from advising Buhari to proceed on retirement after his first tenure expires next year, he said that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was not better than the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu, simply told journalists, “we won’t comment now.”

In a related development,  ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) says it has no response yet to the statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo asking President Muhammadu Buhari not to seek re-election.

Obasanjo in a statement on Tuesday entitled “The Way Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria Movement”, said Buhari and his party, APC, had become a disappointment, faltering even in the major boast of his administration – anti-corruption campaign.

Obasanjo also slammed Buhari for his “poor understanding” of Nigeria’s social-political dynamics, saying his leadership has widened division and inequality in the country.

Reacting, Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesperson for the APC, said the ruling party would respond at the right time.

“The situation is that APC does not have a response at this time,” he said.

“Maybe if we are given the opportunity to study the letter more closely, we will have a response.”

Abdullahi added that the party had only “relied on what is being circulated in the media.”

“I will not be able to react to any content of the statement until we have the opportunity to study it.”

  Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose has reacted to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s statement advising President Muhammadu Buhari not to contest the 2019 election.

Fayose said the former president contributed to failure of Buhari’s government.

He stressed that Obasanjo has outlived his usefulness in Nigeria and should leave the scene.

“I agree with Obasanjo’s letter even though he didn’t say anything that I have not said about Buhari and his government.

“However, Obasanjo and Buhari are like the accuser & the accused; two of them are analogue and they do not represent the Nigeria of today.

“Obasanjo (the accuser) and Buhari (the accused) are both expired people that Nigerians are desirous of getting rid of.

“They both don’t know when they were born and have outlived their usefulness in the political life of Nigeria.

“Content of OBJ’s letter is a welcome development but the messenger is also culpable in the enthronement and colossal failure of Buhari.

“Though we warned them ahead of this tragedy. It is therefore the decision of Nigerians that Buhari has failed and he must go, not that of OBJ,” Fayose tweeted.