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By Ehichioya Ezomon
In his self-appointed role as the conscience and guardian of Nigeria, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has always inserted himself into the electoral process, in order to influence its outcome.
But in doing so in the lead-up to the 2023 General Election, Obasanjo may’ve got more than he bargained for, especially as he’d side-punched the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Rather than garlands for the January 1 (New Year Day) gesture to Obi, Obasanjo received criticism and condemnation for penning a letter, highlighting the ills of the society and the way out of the woods.
The Obasanjo choice mimics a similar Christmas Day “gift” to Obi by Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom, who also supported Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi and urged Nigerians to vote the Obi-Datti ticket on February 25.
The Obi adoption was long speculated, gleaned from Obasanjo’s several interactions with him lately, his utterances and undisguised body language.
But the actual announcement of his total backing for Obi was a bombshell that’s unreceptive in the Presidential Campaign Councils of three other major political parties: the APC, Peoples Democratic Party and the Nigeria Peoples Party.
Needless to recount most of what Obasanjo said in his viral adoption and recommendation of the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, to vote for next month.
Obasanjo’s specifics on electing a doer president is contained in the letter, “My appeal to all Nigerians particularly young Nigerians,” released in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
In the letter, Obasanjo declares: “We (Nigerians) need selfless, courageous, honest, patriotic, in short, outstanding leadership with character and fear of God beyond what we have had in recent past.
“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.”
To rub in the takedown of the other leading candidates – and perhaps portray Obi as a would-be puppet – Obasanjo said Obi’s sponsors have a leash on him running from North to South of Nigeria.
“One other important point to make about Peter Obi 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,” Obasanjo said.
Remarkably, Obasanjo’s objective appears not limited to just brushing aside Obi’s three main competitors: Tinubu of the APC, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the NNPP.
His other consideration was to take aim at Tinubu, by guiding the youths to his June 2022 controversial declaration of “Emi lo kan” (“It’s my turn” in Yoruba).
It’s on this score that Obasanjo charged young Nigerians to “come together and bring about a truly meaningful change in your lives.”
He warns: “If you fail, you have no one 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.
“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).”
Obasanjo’s deliberate attempt to suppress the aspiration of other candidates, and advance Obi’s has elicited scorn such that he’s now the message, not the messenger.
In tackling Obasanjo, the APC’s unsparing, partly in a veiled response to Obasanjo’s jibe at Tinubu, for deploying “Emi lo kan” (It’s my turn) during a primary campaign in Abeokuta, indicating it’s his (Tinubu’s) turn to be the APC candidate, which he eventually secured.
But alleged detractors have misconstrued this as Tinubu claiming he’s entitled to the presidency of Nigeria on account of his reported contributions to the sustenance of the nation’s democracy, and birthing of the APC in 2013 and the Muhammadu Buhari administration therefrom.
So, responding to Obi’s adoption, Tinubu recalled Obasanjo’s public image that robs him of democratic credentials, or electoral value in the past and in the 2023 poll cycle.
Tinubu, via Bayo Onanuga, director, media and publicity of APC’s PCC, described Obasanjo’s approval of the Obi-Datti ticket as “worthless.”
“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… always opposing progressive political forces, as he did against MKO Abiola in 1993,” Mr Onanuga said in a statement.
“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 presidential election. He is a political paperweight.”
Onanuga noted that from their records, Obasanjo hasn’t successfully made anyone win election in Nigeria since then, stressing that, “not even in Ogun State can anyone rely on his support or endorsement to become a governor or councillor.
“Chief Obasanjo similarly endorsed Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Peoples Democratic Party candidate in 2019 against President Muhammadu Buhari. Atiku was walloped by Buhari with a wide margin in the election.
“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.
“We pity Peter Gregory Obi as we are confident that Chief Obasanjo can not win his polling unit and ward in Abeokuta for Obi in the coming presidential election on 25 February, 2023.”
Onanuga dismissed Obasanjo as a democrat, referencing the heavily flawed 2003 and 2007 polls held on Obasanjo’s watch.
“We recall that in 2003 and 2007 general election when he was a sitting president, Obasanjo used all the coercive instruments of state at his disposal to railroad people into elective offices against the will of Nigerians as expressed at the polls,” Onanuga said.
“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,” he added.
Tinubu’s taken the Obasanjo gauntlet a notch higher by making his decades-long political fights with him as part of the rhetoric to fire up rallies on the homestretch.
* Mr Ezomon, journalist and media consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria
