Obi's Approval: Tinubu is not your puppet, Onoh says to Obasanjo

The presidential spokesman for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the southeast, Dr Josef Onoh, described former President Olusegun Obasanjo's endorsement of Mr Peter Obi as his search for a vulnerable puppet , similar to Obasanjo's conceited attack on former President Goodluck Jonathan as he contested for a second term as President.

Onoh also observed that Obasanjo's endorsement of Obi was a clear break from the statesman role the former president had claimed he was when he publicly tore up his ID card. political party member and declared for a non-partisan saying 'I am no longer a politician but a statesman, both inside and out.'

“These are his words when he officially left the party, he had ordered and supervised the tearing up of his PDP membership card in the presence of his parish members, to antagonize the party and of course, the president of the time Goodluck Jonathan for his anti-party activities. He had also said that through the activities of the party he was determined to destroy Nigeria. But he soon forgot the actions of the party under his leadership for which the Nobel laureate , Professor Wole Soyinka had described the party as a nest of killers.

“Former President Obasanjo could have supported the Labor Party presidential candidate without writing an official letter or making noise about it or referring to Asiwaju in any form or manner in his letter. the attitude of the former president who claims to be a former statesman is questioned. If we believe the contents of his letter of support for the presidential candidate of the Labor Party, he is anything but a man of State.

"When you juxtapose the bitter attitude of the former president with that of former leaders of the advanced world and even some in Africa, it becomes axiomatic that he is far from being a statesman. He is only a statesman by virtue of his destiny to oversee the Nigerian nation, first as a military head of state and then later as a two-term Democratic president. sought to get the then National Assembly to grant him a third term.

"In the United States, it is not possible to find former Presidents George Bush Sr. (late) George Bush Sr, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barrack Obama, Donald Trump, to name a few -one who brazenly comes out to denigrate a sitting US president or openly write an endorsement letter for any favorite candidate while attacking another in the same letter. Not even in very serious international ideological and diplomatic gaffes. Not even under President Joe Biden, whose immigration policy seems weak, especially in the face of heavy violation of US borders by migrants.

"Here in Africa, the late South African President Nelson Mandela did not breathe on President Thabo Mbeki throughout his tenure. In Ghana, the late Jerry Rawlings and then President John Kuffour behaved with dignity. In Nigeria the behaviors of former leaders, Yakubu Gowon, the late Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, the late Alex Ekwueme and the late Bola ige were so dignified and awe-inspiring You will not bring them out in public to slander such an aggrieved sitting president Or write open letters endorsing a particular presidential candidate, let alone leak them to the press against a sitting president.

"Even the behavior of the late Kofi Anan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, and that of the late Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, were so impressive because they never used their international connections to discredit the presidents of their countries during their lifetime. Let us not forget Obasanjo's attempt a few years ago to be the Secretary General of the United Nations. If he had succeeded, perhaps during his tenure, he might have to be charged former President Jonathan with crimes against humanity.

"Now, what kind of statesman is Obasanjo? He is the only statesman who would write a voluminous and disparaging letter to a then-sitting president. He is the only statesman who would write a voluminous book and would devote a significant portion of it to bashing a sitting president.He is the only former president who will open his mouth wholeheartedly against a then-sitting president who is a member of a party he led for many years.

"He is the only statesman who will interpret the policies of a sitting president as economic and political sabotage of the nation. The president's efforts to settle security and economic issues mean the destruction of unity of the country for this statesman. The changing of the dates of the elections by the government, for certain reasons, means that the then president wants to stay in power forever. How long had he forgotten the attempt of his government to continue in power through the National Assembly, ostensibly for a third term.

"He is the only statesman to have written a voluminous book in which parts were targeted at the regime of a former president because of his connections...