Obasanjo still wants to be president – Oshiomhole

The All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of indirectly making efforts to become Nigerian president for the third time.

Oshiomhole, who made this veiled statement on Friday, said that the former president had suddenly become an “organising secretary” and is busy hiring “tired players” to continue with his third term agenda.

Oshiomhole is believed to be interpreting Obasanjo’s open and avowed rejection of President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid and efforts to encourage Nigerians to avoid voting for Buhari’s second term bid in 2019.

Obasanjo recently had a meeting with the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), during which he expressed his support for its recent coalition with other political parties to eject Buhari, advising the party leadership on how to go about the alliance in order to be successful.

But the APC national chairman, who alleged that the coalition was formed to achieve Obasanjo’s third term agenda, argued that Nigerians had already rejected the former president because they were not ready to return to the era of the PDP, a period according to him, government’s funds were shared to party faithful.

Oshiomhole stated this during an interview with State House correspondents soon after he had a meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday.

He said, “Just few months back, you know that after their convention, a good number of people like Professor Tunde Adeniran and Professor Jerry Gana, who are said to be founding fathers of the party, left to form what is called the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

“So, they broke out and when it dawned on them that even together we defeated them just four years ago. Now that they are further factionalised, what can they do? They just want to capture power for the sake of power. And they said ‘Okay, even though we have already broken the house into pieces, for the purpose of capturing power, let us come together.’ Does it make sense?

“In the morning, you broke away from the PDP to SDP and to the ADC (African Democratic Congress). Then in the evening, you say you are coming together… There is no better proof than that old man who is going round as an organising secretary, recruiting people, looking for tired players to continue with his third term agenda which Nigerians have rejected.

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“By whatever form they come in, Nigerians have spoken and they are not about to return to the era when the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Central Bank and security money was shared to people based on the philosophy of PDP, which is, ‘Share the money.’

“They won’t do that. It is very easy for robbers to forget the robbery they have carried out, but the victims of robbery hardly forget.”

Meanwhile, the national chairman of the ADC, Chief Okey Nwosu, in a monitored report described Oshiomhole as a factional chairman of the APC, saying that it was not important replying a statement of a mere factional chairman.

Nwosu, who added that ADC is focused and organised, said the party had no such time to go debating with a factional chairman of a party notable for propaganda and lies.

 

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