The resolution of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to endorse the presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi has been closely criticised by the camps of different main presidential candidates.
Obasanjo in his New Year message really useful Obi to Nigerians, saying that the former Anambra State Governor has indeniable credibility in all aspects of management.
Most of the politicians criticising the former President had on one event or one other visited Obasanjo’s Otta Farm in search of endorsements but are now dismissing his advice of Obi as meaningless.
Obasanjo has a historical past of endorsing candidates who ended up turning into President of the nation.
Shehu Sani, a former federal lawmaker pointed out that when Obasanjo endorsed Musa Yar’adua as his successor in 2007, he made it unambiguously public, including that it got here to cross.
Obasanjo additionally endorsed the selection of Goodluck Jonathan as Yar’Adua’s operating-mate and later backed the Bayelsa-born politician’s first time period after he accomplished the tenure of the late Yar’Adua.
In 2014, Obasanjo declared his assist for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari.
Obasanjo, then member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, made his perspective identified throughout an interview with Financial Times at the launch of his autobiography, My Watch, which occurred in Nairobi, Kenya.
For Obasanjo then, Buhari was absolutely succesful of ruling the nation. He took the resolution towards Goodluck Jonathan’s second time period ambition and it got here to cross. Buhari turned the first man to dethrone an incumbent President when he was declared winner of the 2015 presidential election.
Obasanjo had expressed confidence that Buhari, if elected, would successfully sort out insecurity and corruption.
In addition, he famous that Buhari had the skill to restore the morale of the army to combat the insurgency in the North-East and different elements of the nation.
But the South West Agenda (SWAGA), a assist group rooting for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu, has dismissed Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi.
The National Chairman of SWAGA, Senator Dayo Adeyeye mentioned the victory of the former governor of Lagos State received’t be affected by the resolution of the former president, which he described as empty and missing substance.
The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of APC additionally described the endorsement of Obi by Obasanjo as ineffective, alleging that the former president hardly has sturdy electoral worth.
Also the PDP PCC insisted that whether or not Obasanjo preferred it or not, Atiku would be president in his lifetime.
A gaggle identified as the Patriotic Youth Front of Nigeria, PYFN, has additionally rejected the former President’s endorsement of Obi.
The PYFN President, Maxwell Ogar alleged that Obasanjo can’t advise Nigerian youths as a result of his palms are stained with blood.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Femi Fani-Kayode additionally performed down the endorsement.
Among different offended reactions, Fani-Kayode, a spokesperson for the Tinubu/Shettima marketing campaign council mentioned Obi’s endorsement by Obasanjo is an train in futility.
Asked the significance of Obasanjo’s endorsement of Peter Obi for President, well-liked activist, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, instructed Pegars that it was a transfer in the proper path.
“Endorsement of Obi by Obasanjo is well within his fundamental human rights. As an influential statesman, his opinion carries lots of weight which is why it has elicited varying reactions from a cross spectrum of politicians and parties,” he mentioned.
He added, “Edwin Clarke’s endorsement of Peter Obi is a significant boost for the Labour Party because the man enjoys a fatherly position in the crude oil bearing communities. Both statesmen have the right to exercise their free speech.”
Nigerians look ahead to seeing what turns into of the endorsement in the subsequent few weeks when the residents go to the polls.