By Ade Martins-
Former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo (pictured) has endorsed presidential candidate Peter Obi as the best candidate to lead the country He discredited all presidents who have ruled the country since he(Obasanjo) left power in 1999, as failing in their efforts to improve Nigeria.
Obasanjo said he has in the past worked with all the presidential candidates for Nigeria’s 2023 elections, but highlighted Peter Obi – a man of Igbo extraction- as the most credible candidate to lead Nigeria, and help the country eventually overcome a lamentable state of insecurity and unemployment which has plunged the country to its worst emergency state of crisis for decades.
”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.
Obasanjo, a man of yoruba extraction, said he has interacted with all the major contestants, adding that each of them claim to want to do what he did during his Presidency and take Nigeria back to where it was at the height of his Presidency and immediately after.
“I was pained that most of them do not realise that the Nigeria of today had been dragged down well below Nigeria of the beginning of my Presidency in June 1999, he said.
‘And although Nigeria was in very bad shape and tottering on the verge of collapse and break-up when he left power in 1999, it was not faced with the level of pervasive corruption, unemployment and galloping inflation as it is today”.
He denounced the misplaced notion of competence used to justify unjustifiable appointments and selections , statng that ”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”, he said.
Addressing the youths of Nigeria, the former president said:
“My dear young men and women, you must come together and bring about a truly meaningful change in your lives. If you fail, you have no one else to blame. Your present and future are in your hands to make or to mar. The future of Nigeria is in the same manner in your hands and literally so. If for any reason you fail to redeem yourself and your country, you will have lost the opportunity for good and you will have no one to blame but yourselves and posterity will not forgive you. Get up, get together, get going and get us to where we should be. And you, the youth, it is your time and your turn. ‘Eyin Lokan’ (Your turn).
“The power to change is in your hands. Your future, my future, the future of grandchildren and great grandchildren is
in your hands. Politics and elections are numbers game. You have the numbers, get up, stand up and make your numbers count.
“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.
“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 march forward chanting ‘Awa Lokan’ (Our turn) not with a sense of entitlement, but with a demonstrable ideological commitment to unity and transformation of Nigeria.
Calling for selfless, honest and outstanding leadership, the 77 year old who once described Obi as ”a bundle of integrity” said Nigerians will have themselves to blame and posterity will not forgive them if they fail to redeem themselves by using as a benchmark the track record of ability and performance of the respective candidates in selecting their next leader.
The presidential candidates of the APC, Bola Tinubu; PDP, Atiku Abubakar; LP, Obi and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso are the frontrunners in the race to succeed the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) in the poll.
Onanuga, in a statement on Sunday, described the endorsement as worthless, describing Obasanjo as a paperweight with no political goodwill or leverage anywhere in Nigeria to make anyone win a councillorship election let alone a presidential election.
“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 Peter 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 Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Enugu.
“We make bold to say that our party and candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed 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 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 a presidential election. He is a political paperweight. He is also not a democrat anyone should be proud to be associated with.’’
Peter Obi is one if the very few governors in Nigeria’s political history to complete his tenure with a blameless record, improving the state without enriching himself at all. He is considered by many observers to have the authentic vision of true leadership talked about by Obasanjo.
The former president urged Nigerians to unite and forgive the past, as he appealed to the West African nation to stop inheriting the prejudices and enemies of other people by ”criminalizing and demonizing” one another on the basis of the Nigerian civil war on which , he said ”we are all wrong”, quoting biblical scripture stataing that if God take account of all our wrongdoings, nobody should be able to stand”
Urging Nigerians to move forward together” in mutual forgiveness, one accord, inclusive society, he called on Nigerians to honour, cherish, respect and even celebrate our diversity which is the basis of our potential greatness and strength.
The former president said that If Nigerians continue to dwell individually or collectively on its wrongs, they will never be able to stand together.
”If we will continue with wide brush to paint a national or sub-national group as bad and never to be trusted with leadership because of past error or mistakes that some of them were responsible for and treat their offspring as inheritors, it will amount to great injustice that will surely lead to no peace, no security and no stability for development and progress.
“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.