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BMO asks Obasanjo to emulate Abdulsalami, says southern leaders hate Buhari

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The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has called on former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, to emulate General Abdulsalami Abubakar, also a former Head of State.

The group, said Obasanjo should drop his alleged divisive efforts in recent times and emulate what they said is Abdulsalami’s unifying peace initiative and peaceful disposition on Nigeria problems.

The Buhari group also accused southern and Middle Belt leaders of having hatred for President Muhammadu Buhari.

BMO stated this in reaction to the two-day roundtable on national security organised by Abdulsalami Abubakar Institute for Peace and Sustainable Development Studies (AAIPSDS) in Minna, Niger State.

It said that Abdulsalami quietly spearheaded the summit, which is targeted, at peaceful co-existence in the country without heating up the polity.

“This is the path former heads of state are expected to toe, based on their national profile, rather than triggering bellicosity that could further widen the nation’s fault lines,” BMO said in a statement on Wednesday by its chairman Niyi Akinsiju, and Secretary Cassidy Madueke.

“Not many Nigerians were aware that the former Head of State, through the Abdulsalami Abubakar Institute for Peace and Sustainable Development Studies (AAIPSDS), was working on a peace summit until some of the invited groups brought it into the public domain.

“And this was at a time another former leader Olusegun Obasanjo was also in the public eye for an open letter in which he tacitly upbraided an entire ethnic group over some grievances which he suggested could be resolved at a National conference.

“But rather than take a similar route, Abdulsalami ensured that participants representing various interests as well as those with different perspectives on the emerging security challenges showed up in Minna, Niger State to proffer solutions for a united and peaceful Nigeria.

“We believe that a former President who built a reputation for mediating in conflict situations in many parts of Africa at the behest of international organisations like the UN and AU should have done what a younger former leader, with a lesser international pedigree, is doing in his own country.

“So we are urging Chief Obasanjo to consider emulating General Abdulsalami’s unifying peace initiative and peaceful disposition rather than the divisive efforts he had in recent times been engaged in, which are bound to dent his credentials as a respected and unbiased national figure,” BMO said.

The leadership of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has boycotted the roundtable, on the argument that Abdulsalami insulted them by extending same invitation to Miyetti Allah leaders.

But attacking them for not attending the meeting, BMO said, “Our message for eminent Nigerians from all walks of life who turned up in Minna is that their contributions to peaceful co-existence would be etched in gold because there is no alternative to dialogue in resolving conflicts.

“Nigerians would also not forget in a hurry the socio-cultural groups which did not honour the invitation as their decision could be interpreted to mean that they rejected peace, but we know that the driving force for the attitude of these groups is hatred for President Muhammadu Buhari.”

In another statement also on Wednesday, BMO attacked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) for alleging that several nominees on President Buhari’s ministerial list have cases of serious allegations of corruption against them as a new low for the PDP.

READ ALSO: Abdulsalami decries growing insecurity, says there’s anger in the land

The PDP had earlier suggested that the list of the ministerial nominees should first be sent to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for clearance before being considered by the Senate.

But the BMO said, “Firstly, due to lack of knowledge, the PDP does not know that before a nominee is presented for Senate screening, he/she usually undergoes a rigorous security screening involving security agencies such as the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Department of State Services (DSS), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). These agencies use the opportunity of the security screening to subject them to ‘needle’s eye’ scrutiny.

“Furthermore, the PDP has no moral justification to ‘convict’ an innocent nominee when a court of competent jurisdiction has not done so, or has it forgotten the legal maxim that every accused is innocent until proven guilty? In the case of the nominees, none of them has even been accused of any crime as the PDP wanted Nigerians to believe.”

By Ebere Ndukwu …

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