Obasanjo’s Reconciliation with Atiku was to Save Nigeria

Director of strategic communications, Coalition of Nigeria and former political adviser to President , Akin Osuntokun has said that the reconciliation between Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the 2019 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and former President Olusegun Obasanjo was occasioned by the desire to check the dangers President Muhammadu Buhari posed to the country.

Osuntokun in a statement said that Obasanjo had to subordinate his personal grievances to ensure that the country was saved from downward spiral and descent into the abyss.

He insisted that that there was nothing wrong in a man forgiving those who wronged him which he said was the hallmark of Christian faith given the challenge of rescuing the country.

“The Buhari surrogates who have been frothing over the reunion of President Olusegun Obasanjo and President to be, Atiku Abubakar are correct in the observation that this is an unusual development. And they only have their principal, President Muhammadu Buhari to thank for this positive turn of events. To put it mildly these are desperate times in Nigeria and desperate problems readily provoke desperate measures.

“Confronted with the present danger and calamity that the presidency of Buhari poses to Nigeria, the choice and course of action open to any responsible Nigerian statesman is clear-and that is the subordination of all personal differences to the task of rescuing Nigeria from the fast pace downward spiral towards the political abyss.

“And God, in his inimitable ways, has seen fit to choose Atiku Abubakar as the instrument of rescuing Nigeria from the dark and dangerous turn that the incumbent driver has swerved the country. It is perhaps for the task of the unprecedented challenge of this moment that God has been preparing Atiku-who like all mortals is not without his share of human imperfections. To err is human and to forgive is divine. This cannon alone recommends and sanctions the reconciliation between Obasanjo and Atiku.

 “Indeed, the question of the instrumentality of Atiku is one which many Nigerians like Obasanjo have had to ponder and they all couldn’t have had any difficulty arriving at the same call Obasanjo has made. The political differences between Afenifere and Obasanjo is an open secret but in deference to the same logic, it has not been difficult for the two parties to subsume their differences, close ranks and find equal purpose in halting and reversing the Buhari trend that endangers all. 

“The Buhari crowd just doesn’t get the sense of the common national consensus that the choice between Buhari and Atiku is like comparing sleep to death or lifelessness-apologies to Donald trump. Surely the choice is clear.

“Let me leave with this character witness on the Buhari administration by the United States government ‘Although the law provides criminal penalties for conviction of official corruption, the Buhari government did not implement the law effectively, and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. Massive, widespread, and pervasive corruption affected all levels of government and the security services,” the statement concluded.