Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, on New Year’s Day, released a six-page letter, titled “My appeal to all Nigerians particularly Young Nigerians”, where he endorsed Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi,Dailytrust report.
In the letter, the ex-president noted that he has had interactions with major presidential contestants in the forthcoming elections who claimed to be his mentees, noting that Peter Obi has an edge over his competitors in terms of knowledge, discipline and what they can offer.
Reacting to the development, APC candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in a statement by Bayo Onanuga, the party’s Presidential Campaign Council Director, Media and Publicity, described the endorsement as worthless.
The statement read in part, “The endorsement is actually worthless because the former President does not possess any political goodwill or leverage anywhere in Nigeria to make anyone win a Councillorship election let alone win a Presidential election. He is a political paperweight.”
However, while other presidential candidates in the forthcoming election are yet to react, users of the microblogging site, Twitter, have taken to their various accounts to air their opinion.
A Twitter user with the handle @JosephOnuorah, who posted the ex-president’s letter on his timeline, referred to Obasanjo as a statesman who loves his country. He tweeted, “What a Statesman!!! Obasanjo loves this country and knows Nigeria needs a new turn at this time. May God bless Chief Olusegun Aremu Okikiolu Mathew Obasanjo – Posterity will remember this bold step and public endorsement.”
Airing his opinion via his verified Twitter account, Adamu Garba said that ‘Obasanjo wants to remain the only living Yoruba man to use the GCFR title.’
In a Twitter thread, Garba wrote, “It is a well-known fact that Obasanjo never wanted any Yoruba man to grow above him while he’s still alive. Yet Bola Tinubu, his arch-political rival, who dethroned him from South West politics is about to become the President of Nigeria. His actions should not surprise you.
“Obasanjo wants to remain the only living Yoruba man to use the GCFR title. He never wanted anyone to get that. But we’ll promise him one thing, by God’s Grace, we’ll be inviting him to the swearing-in ceremony of Tinubu on May 29, 2023, as commander in chief and GCFR, Insha Allah.
“Envy is an immense disease. I respect & continue to respect General Olusegun Obasanjo. However, I advise him to outgrow his envy of Tinubu at this stage of his life. Obasanjo is desperately envious of the rise and shine of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his lost in this one is sure to come.
Highlighting a part of Obasanjo’s six-page open letter to Nigerian youths, the user, @Nkemchor_ wrote, “This is the highlight of Obasanjo’s endorsement of HE Peter Obi. Nigeria desperately needs a president that listens. Buhari’s presidency was so detached from the masses but we can be sure that won’t be case with President Peter Obi.”
Also adding his two cents to the endorsement of Peter Obi by the former president, popular Nigerian singer, Paul Okoye, fondly known as Mr P of the P-Square group, tweeted, “I humbly advise all Nigerian Youth & well-meaning Nigerians to take time to read Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Appeal thread on the coming election. He requests for the youths to wake up and take charge. It’s mind-blowing. Really, there are leaders and there are LEADERS.” (sic)
Opposing the singer’s perspective, @Iam_Adekunley tweeted, “He deserves #Obasanjo’s endorsement because they both failed their people as president and governor, respectively. Apart from Mobile phone, what else did OBJ do with his Anini VP? OBJ that could not fix the road to his home town and PO that could not turn Anambra around. 2 failures.”(sic)
