2023: Obasanjo Obi's Endorsement Worthless - Onanuga

Bayo Onanuga, Director, Media and Publicity, All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council says former President Olusegun Obasanjo's endorsement of Peter Obi is worthless. Onanuga said so in a statement in Abuja.

"We read with amusement the endorsement of Mr. Peter Obi, the Labor Party presidential candidate by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his New Year's message on Sunday.

"Following calls from reporters from various media outlets asking for our reaction, we have decided to make this preliminary statement, although we do not consider the so-called endorsement to have any value.

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"We respect former President Obasanjo's democratic right to support and endorse any candidate of his choosing in any election, except that he has made this known officially in his New Year's message.

"Any astute political observer in Nigeria knows that Chief Obasanjo's preference for Peter Obi is predictable," he said. This, he said, was particularly due to the fact that Obasanjo had previously stated his position at various public events, the latest being on the 70th birthday of Chief John Nwodo, former president of Ohaneze Ndigbo in Enugu.

Onanuga said Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the 2023 APC presidential candidate, would not lose sleep over Obasanjo's endorsement as he was known to always oppose political forces progressive. He said the former president did the same against MKO Abiola in the 1993 presidential election.

"The endorsement is actually worthless because the former president has no political goodwill or influence in Nigeria to win anyone a city council election.

“Not to mention winning a presidential election is a political paperweight, nor is he a Democrat anyone should be proud to be associated with,” Onanuga said. He said that in the general elections of 2003 and 2007, when Obasanjo was the incumbent president, he used all coercive instruments of the state at his disposal to coerce people into elective positions against the wishes of Nigerians.

This, Onanuga said, was as expressed in the ballot, adding that in 2007 Obasanjo declared the ballot a do-or-die affair after he failed in his attempt to amend the Constitution to have a third term.

“According to our records, former President Obasanjo has failed to win anyone in elections in Nigeria since then.

"Even in Ogun, no one can rely on his support or approval to become governor or councillor.

"We pity Peter Obi as we are confident that Obasanjo will not be able to win his voting unit and ward in Abeokuta for Obi in the upcoming presidential election on February 25, 2023.

"Chief Obasanjo's endorsement is not a political currency that Mr. Peter Obi can spend anywhere in Nigeria because he is not a political force even in his part of the country", Onanuga said. He said Obasanjo also backed Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in 2019 against President Muhammadu Buhari.

"Atiku was beaten by Buhari by a wide margin in the election, history will repeat itself in February as our candidate Asíwájú Bola Tinubu will also beat Obi by a wide margin.

"We pay special attention to the part of the endorsement statement where Chief Obasanjo said that none of the presidential candidates are saints.

“We want to state here that Chief Obasanjo is not a good judge of character, he is a man who only considers himself the all-knowing Saint of Nigeria.

"Over the years, Chief Obasanjo has also convinced himself that integrity, honesty and all good virtues begin and end with him," Onanuga said.