2023: Saraki Meets Obasanjo, Warns Nigerians against Electing President without Energy

•Former Senate president strong, healthy to run for president, says Sambo

James Sowole

One of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential aspirants, Dr. Bukola Saraki has met with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo as he continues to campaign to delegates of the party ahead of its presidential primary elections, just as he warned Nigerian voters against choosing a candidate that has no stamina to endure the rigours of being the president of Africa’s most populous nation.

Also, a former Vice President, Namadi Sambo, has stated that Saraki has the capacity and experience needed to lead Nigeria.

 However, speaking to delegates in Ogun State, Saraki said what Nigeria needed was a president that would stand bold and courageous.

“We all know my four years as the Senate president, I stood for this country. I stood for what I believed was in the interest of this country. Let us find that person who has the energy because the work of a president is not part-time, especially now the country is very bad.

“Nigeria needs a president that is up and running, not a president that will be giving instructions because when you give instructions and you don’t check, nothing will happen,” he added.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s ill health had stuck out like a sore thumb during the past seven years, with his critics advocating for a healthy and younger president in the 2023 presidential election.

Frontline presidential aspirants Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar are also considered too old to rule Nigeria by their critics.

Saraki insisted that, “you need somebody that has the energy to do it. I believe that I have the energy and capacity to do it.”

He added, “Many aspirants have been coming and will still come to you and promise many things. Listen to them and rate them according to what they have done in the past. They promised restructuring. You cannot restructure without the experience and political sagacity in the legislature. My experience cuts across the legislative and executive arms. We need a Nigerian for all Nigerians.”

Saraki who was accompanied by PDP former National Chairman Abubakar Kawu Baraje, held a closed-door meeting with Obasanjo at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.

Saraki, while addressing journalists earlier after his meeting with Obasanjo, said Nigeria was in a delicate situation, and a wrong choice of president would spell doom for the country.

“We are in a very, very delicate state as a nation, and we need somebody who has the experience, somebody who can unite us because, without unity, we cannot go anywhere,” the ex-Kwara governor stressed.

On why he visited Obasanjo, the former Senate president said, “I’m in Ogun state to see PDP delegates, but I can’t come to Ogun state and not pay a visit to the former president, our father and leader of modern Nigeria, somebody I’m very closed to since I started my political career, so I came to see him to let him know that I’m in Ogun state and to see how good and how well he is doing. “And we thank God for his health, his energy and his passion for this great country. It inspires us to see that definitely, we need to turn this country around into a country that he wishes for and that all of us wish.”

In a related development, Sambo, has stated that Saraki has the capacity and experience needed to lead Nigeria.

 “He is a young man, strong and healthy. Being President is not an easy job. That office needs people like Bukola Saraki. We will pray that Almighty God, who gives power to whoever he wishes, will guide you and support your aspiration,” Sambo told Saraki at the weekend, during the PDP aspirant’s visit to meet with Kaduna leaders and delegates in Kaduna State.

The former VP emphasised that he and Saraki served as governors at the same time, saying since then, he had always known that Saraki cared about Kaduna and the North-western part of Nigeria.

A statement by the ex-Kwara governor’s media aide Olu Onemola further quoted the former vice president to have said: “I remember, when I was governor, he gave special attention to Kaduna state. As the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, sometimes, I felt like his ‘self-appointed deputy’ — even though the forum has no deputy.

“This is because we had a close working relationship and a great personal relationship. I want you all to know that Saraki is a team player. He is a man who plays with and for the team. I have always known him to be a very honest person who has capacity.

“As the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, he formed the Peer Review Mechanism that allowed consultants to go state-by-state to report the development plans and progress of each state to the Governors Forum. This helped all the governors to meet the plans and objectives of the PDP government at the time.”

Speaking about Saraki being a bona fide presidential aspirant, Sambo described him as an organiser and economically vibrant politician.

“As the governor of Kwara State, he set up the foundation for commercial agriculture. Today, in Agriculture, the arrangement that he set up in Shonga Farms has become a model that each state in Nigeria is emulating,” explained the former vice president.

“As the Senate President, we all know the success that he brought to this nation. This is why I trust that if our party and our delegates give Saraki the opportunity, he will further prove what I am saying.”