As Obasanjo’s Endorsement of Obi Stirs Fresh Controversy

A recent endorsement of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, by former President Olusegun Obasanjo has stirred fresh controversy. Ejiofor Alike reports that while the other candidates who failed to secure Obasanjo’s endorsement have dismissed it as inconsequential, many stakeholders feel it is high time the former president stopped his obsession for writing letters to attack the incumbent government

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently stirred the hornet’s nest with his open endorsement of the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi. All the four leading presidential candidates – Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and Obi had separately visited the former president to seek his blessing for their presidential ambitions.

However, none of the candidates received his open endorsement during such visits.

Even when Tinubu’s supporters claimed in August 2022 that Obasanjo had endorsed the former Lagos State governor, the former president had promptly denied the claim.

Tinubu visited the former president last August to seek his blessing.

In a statement by Obasanjo’s Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Kehinde Akinyemi, the former president had stated that the statements coming from those claiming to be supporters of Tinubu were unhelpful.

He said the discussion during Tinubu’s visit to the former president was “more brotherly than political.”

Obasanjo’s aide further said the former president had neither agreed nor disapproved of Tinubu’s ‘request’.

“Those claiming to be insiders at the meeting issuing statements on the discussion and those crediting to me statements I had not made are enemies of the visitor and are not doing the visit any good,” the statement added.

It therefore came as a rude shock to many candidates and their supporters when Obasanjo, in an the open letter of commendation, declared on New Year day that after a thorough assessment of all the candidates vying to become Nigeria’s president from May 29 this year, Obi had the best qualities to effectively tackle the current challenges facing the country.

In a clear endorsement of the LP presidential candidate, Obasanjo said: “None of the contestants is a saint, but when one compares their character, antecedents, 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.”

Ordinarily, Obasanjo’s endorsement of any candidate should not have robbed anyone of sleep given the fact that he doesn’t control the voting power of the people of his home state, Ogun, let alone other Nigerians. With the new technological innovations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), power has since returned to the people. So, nobody should lose sleep over the endorsement of candidates by any individual who has only one vote to cast unless such individual has verifiably a large number of followers across the country he can influence their choice of candidates.

Of course, Obasanjo is an influential and respected elder statesman but is not known to have such large followership in the political circles.

It would be recalled that he endorsed Atiku in the 2019 presidential election and openly referred to him as “the next president” but the former vice president still lost the election to President Muhammadu Buhari.

But instead of ignoring Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi, the other candidates and their parties who failed in their bid to secure the same endorsement, reacted angrily as if the former president announced the result of the 2023 presidential election.

Curiously, political parties that sought and lost the endorsement described it as inconsequential.

In fact, the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) described the endorsement of Obi by Obasanjo as worthless.

Director of Media and Publicity of APC PCC, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement, said: “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.”

Also reacting, the PDP presidential campaign organisation stated that whether Obasanjo liked it or not, Atiku would be president in his lifetime.

In a statement, PDP Presidential Campaign Management Committee’s Director of Public Affairs, Dino Malaye, stated: “Baba should cure himself from the inherent hatred for Atiku.

“Obasanjo will be alive, and Atiku will be president. Peter Obi can only be President of the Rotary Club. Nigeria is too big for him. Burger is not food for monkeys. Shoe has sizes.”

On its part, the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Organisation said the support for Obi by Obasanjo was his personal wish, which did not reflect the opinion or position of the overwhelming majority of Nigerians across the country.

Kwankwaso has also knocked Obasanjo, saying that it was wrong for any person, who is considered a statesman, to go about endorsing candidates ahead of the February 25 presidential election.

Speaking in Benin City, the Edo State capital when he was hosted by Governor Godwin Obaseki on Wednesday, the former Kano State governor said, “I want to advise our leaders – they should stop disgracing themselves. We have so much respect for them. If you say you don’t like me, no problem.” 

On his part, a former Minister of External Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, angrily asked Obasanjo to go home and rest.

Speaking on national television, Akinyemi described Obasanjo as part of the country’s problems, adding that he should not present himself as a provider of the solutions to the country’s problems.

“You have had your term and let others get on, but for you to create problems for us and then you come back and you present yourself as a problem solver, I find that difficult to swallow,” Akinyemi reportedly said.

On his part, an elder statesman, Tanko Yakasai described Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi as insignificant.

He argued that Obi is not among the two major contenders in the race.

“Obasanjo might have his reasons, but it will certainly not count on the February election. The contest is zeroed to two contenders, so Obj endorsement is clearly insignificant,” Yakasai explained.

The presidency did not spare Obasanjo as the former president also took a swipe at the Buhari’s administration in his letter, stating that the last seven and a half years of the present administration have been traumatic for many Nigerians.

Obasanjo declared: “We have moved from frying pan to fire and from mountain top to the valley. Our leaders have done their best, but their best had turned out to be not the best for Nigeria and Nigerians at home and abroad.  For most Nigerians, it was hell on earth.”

Responding to the attacks on Buhari in a statement, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said the former president “won’t stop being jealous of anyone who beats him to a new record in the nation’s development process,’’ stressing that Buhari is ahead of Obasanjo in all fields of national development.

This, Shehu said, is a cardinal sin to Obasanjo.

However, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has backed the endorsement of Obi by Obasanjo.

Commenting on the development last Tuesday, Ortom said if he were not a member of the PDP, he would have personally led Obi’s campaign across the country.

Ortom said he is convinced that Obi “possesses the qualities of a leader who will be a true president of this country by guaranteeing justice, equity and fairness for all Nigerians.”

The Benue governor noted that Obi would provide the leadership that Nigerians desire.

“Governor Ortom strongly recommends Peter Obi to Nigerians as the man who has the capacity to effectively tackle the economic, security and other challenges facing the country,”  Ortom reportedly said in a statement signed by his spokesman, Terver Akase.

Similarly, the National Chairman of LP, Mr. Julius Abure, in his reaction, called on other former presidents and heads of government to take a cue from Obasanjo and endorse Obi for president.

The LP national chairman, who reportedly spoke to THISDAY, described Obasanjo as “a patriot who wants the best for the country”, saying he should be supported by well-meaning Nigerians who share the same sentiments.

The South-west coordinator for the Presidential Campaign Council of the Labour Party, Chief Sola Ebiseni, has also mocked those abusing Obasanjo for endorsing Obi.

In a statement issued in Akure, the Ondo State capital, Ebiseni said: “Those who said his endorsement was worthless went to him with fanfare in Abeokuta last August seeking his endorsement and Nigerians still remember that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila defiled all protocols to announce an Obasanjo endorsement which never happened and invariably denied by the former president.”

The LP has also described Sunday’s endorsement of Obi by Obasanjo as an affirmation by the former President of having a better Nigeria after the 2023 elections.

The party in a statement released in Abeokuta by its erstwhile acting National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Abayomi Oluwafemi Arabambi, welcomed the endorsement, saying it affirmed the fatherly role the former President has been playing in ensuring that Nigeria overcomes her present socio-economic and political challenges.

The party said Obasanjo who had to steer the ship of the country at the highest level, knows Nigeria inside out, including the current office seekers, adding that when Obasanjo speaks, he knows what he is saying.

While Obasanjo is being celebrated by the beneficiaries of his endorsement, others who failed to secure his blessing have launched a tirade of abuse against him.

Coming two days after Obasanjo’s endorsement, the elder statesman and Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark,  also endorsed Obi for next month’s election. saying the LP presidential standard bearer was the right choice for Nigeria.

He added that with the former Anambra State governor as president, the country would be more united. According to him, an Obi Presidency would also give sense of equity that would pull the South-east as an equal partner in the polity.

The National Leader of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), while addressing newsmen at his Asokoro, Abuja residence, said the time had come for someone from the South-east geo-political zone to lead the country because the zone has resourceful and educated people to govern Nigeria.

Clark, who doubles as the leader of Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), also urged the youths not to allow anyone bribe them saying Nigerians needed a transparent president, who is strong, healthy and had every leadership quality Nigerians want.