After meeting Tinubu, Peter Obi, Obasanjo says "I don't have a special candidate"

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Sunday that he had no preferred candidate for the 2023 presidential election.

Speaking in Minna, the Niger state capital, during a visit to former head of state General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Obasanjo said he had only one national program for Nigeria.

"I don't have a special candidate," said Obasanjo, who led Nigeria from 1999 to 2007. "I have a national agenda."

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"I came to see my brother who was a little indisposed and when he was abroad I had wanted to visit him, and the day I arrived in London to visit him was the day he is gone."

Obasanjo and Abubakar had a closed meeting for about 30 minutes.

The former president had separately met Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party and that of the Labor party Peter Obi in less than two weeks.

After meeting with Tinubu in Abeokuta, Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila, who was present, said the APC candidate was sure of victory after the engagement.

However, a spokesman for Obasanjo, Kehinde Akinyemi, said the reports from the Tinubu camp were far from the truth.

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He noted that Obasanjo “is not satisfied with the reports on the meeting. The discussion during the visit was more brotherly than political.”

A week after the refusal, Obasanjo hinted on Sunday that he had no political interest in the election to produce a successor to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

While Tinubu's supporters claim to have his backing, there are also insinuations that Obasanjo was a consultant to Obi who he was seen with in photos during a meeting in London with the state governor de Rivers, Nyesom Wike.

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The Rivers State Governor's fallout with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar is yet to be resolved after a series of reconciliation meetings ahead of the 2023 elections.