You Can’t Make Asiwaju Your Puppet Like Obi – Tinubu’s Ally Slams Obasanjo

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Josef Onoh, has berated former Olusegun Obasanjo over his endorsement of the presidential candidate of Labour Party( LP), Peter Obi.

In a statement on Monday, Onoh said Obasanjo is looking for a puppet and has gotten one in Obi, stressing that the APC standard bearer, Bola Tinubu, cannot be an errand boy.

Onoh, presidential spokesman of the APC Presidential Campaign Council in the South East, said Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi was a clear departure from the role of his statesmanship.

According to the APC chieftain, the former president could have endorsed the LP presidential candidate without making noise about it or referring to Tinubu in any form or manner in his letter.

He said: “Former president Obasanjo could have endorsed the Labour Party presidential candidate without writing a formal letter nor making noise about it or referring to Asiwaju in any form or manner in his letter. Hence, the attitude of the former president who claims to be an elder statesman comes to question. If going by the contents of his letter of endorsement of the Labour Party presidential candidate, he is anything but a statesman.

“When you juxtapose the bitter attitude of the former president with that of former leaders in the advanced world and even some in Africa, it becomes axiomatic that he is not anywhere near a statesman. He is only a statesman by virtue of his destiny to supervise the Nigerian nation, first as a military Head of State and then later as a democratic president for two terms. It’s alleged he sought to get the then National Assembly to give him a third term.

“Let’s not forget Obasanjo’s attempt some years back to be the Secretary General of the United Nations. If he had been successful, perhaps during his tenure in office, he might have accused former president Jonathan of crimes against humanity.

“Now, what manner 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 dedicate a significant portion to disparage a sitting president. He is the only former president who will open his mouth unguardedly 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 a sitting president’s policies as economic and political sabotage to the nation. The efforts of the president to deal with security and economic issues mean destruction of the unity of the country to this statesman. The shift in election dates for some reasons by the government means the then president wants to remain in power forever. How soon he had forgotten the bid by his government to perpetuate itself in power through the National Assembly, apparently for a third term.

“He is the only statesman who has written a voluminous book in which portions were targeted at a former President’s regime on account of his relationship with his perceived enemy in Ogun State. Late Sen. Kashamu, who was a chieftain of his then party, PDP. He has been having a running legal and media battle with late Sen. Buruji Kashamu. He even went abroad to launch the book, a deliberate effort to discredit the then sitting government.

Onoh said Obasanjo’s letter shows that he has a pathological hatred and disrespect for Tinubu, adding that his children have also come out openly to tell him off on account of his penchant for gangster statesmanship.

He opined that the endorsement of Obi was a continuation of the former president’s intolerance and attack on Tinubu which did not come as a surprise given the background of his sequence of animosity against the APC flagbearer.

He added: “Is this to say that Obasanjo loves Nigeria more than the other statesmen? Or is it a paranoid and pathological hatred for Tinubu and disrespect for Asiwaju, who he doesn’t want to be in the same history page in the club of former presidents of Nigeria  It is instructive that Obasanjo’s children have also come out openly to tell him off on account of his penchant for gangster statesmanship. The daughter, who was a senator under his tenure, has told Nigerians how much of a pathological power monger and mischief-maker he is. Every Nigerian knows him for his mischievous attitude. There is nothing wrong with being a nationalist and patriot. But the manner it is exercised is the issue.

“Not in the manner in which he pursues his convictions as though without him, Nigeria would cease to exist. When you exhibit such wisdom, it becomes grandstanding, flamboyance, and aggrandisement. We should remind him of the Libyan elders’ saying that ‘the camel does not see the bend in its neck.’ It means that it is so easy for the former president to see the supposedly shortcomings of Asiwaju’s comments the way he saw his own shortcomings while in office. The third term machinations, which he never discouraged, were even more destabilizing than Asiwaju’s comments he mentioned in his letter.

“So, his endorsement of Peter Obi was a continuation of intolerance and attack on Tinubu which did not come as a surprise given the background of Obasanjo’s sequence of animosity against the Jagaban and so it would have been a miracle and an antithesis if Obasanjo had declared support or endorsement for Asiwaju. We’re unfazed because Tinubu is a good statesman with respect for elders and had paid several visits to Obasanjo after the end of their respective tenures in 2007.

“Obasanjo’s endorsement of Peter Obi was inevitable because he never liked Tinubu for succeeding against his suppressing obstacles and frustrations with presidential machinery. On the other side he also hates Atiku, hence to remain politically relevant in the scheme of things he chose Obi.

“Obasanjo knows his history between him and Atiku, and also how he stifled democratic dividends in Lagos state while Tinubu was Governor and so he has no better option than his endorsement of Peter obi  as a way of seeking for a vulnerable and weaker personality that will become his puppet because he knows that Tinubu will not, same as Atiku, because he already has a history with them.“