APC Presidential Campaign Council says Tinubu, will not lose sleep over Obasanjo’s move, as Obasanjo is notorious for always opposing progressive political forces
The Media and Publicity, All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, has attacked Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s endorsement of the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, for President.
The Director of the party’s campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, said the endorsement was meaningless as Peter Obi does not have the structure to turn the political tide to his favour in 2023 election.
Onanuga said the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, won’t lose sleep over, what he termed ‘Obasanjo’s worthless endorsement’ of the Labour Party Presidential candidate.
Reacting to Obasanjo’s endorsement letter of Obi, Onanuga characterized the former president as a feather with no political weight anywhere in Nigeria to make anyone win a Councillorship election let alone a presidential contest.
His response reads:
“We read with amusement the endorsement of Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate by former president Olusegun Obasanjo in his New Year message on Sunday.
“Following calls by journalists from various media houses who asked for our reaction, we decided to make this preliminary statement, though we didn’t consider the so-called endorsement to be of any value.
“We respect the democratic right of former President Obasanjo to support and endorse any candidate of his choice in any election.
“Except that he made it known formally in his new year message, any discerning political watcher in Nigeria knows that Chief Obasanjo’s preference for Obi is expected.
“He had earlier stated his position at various public events, the last being at the 70th birthday anniversary of Chief John Nwodo, former President of Ohaneze Ndigbo in Enugu.
“We make bold to say that our party and candidate, Tinubu, will not lose sleep over Obasanjo’s move, as Obasanjo is notorious for always opposing progressive political forces, as he did against MKO Abiola in 1993.
“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 the 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, former 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.”
Whilst ridiculing Obasanjo’s endorsement , the statement went further:
“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 the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in 2019 against the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). Atiku was defeated by Buhari with a wide margin in the election.
“History will repeat itself in February as Tinubu will equally beat Obi by a large margin.
“We take particular notice of the part of the endorsement statement where Chief Obasanjo said none of the presidential candidates was 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.”
The former President Obasanjo, in his New Year message on Sunday, January 1, 2023, had endorsed the Labour Party Presidential candidate Peter Obi and had also appealed to Nigerians to vote for him. He also referred to Obi as his mentee and a better candidate to the APC and PDP presidential candidates, the move that angered the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council.
