The public knowledge of most Nigerians has been that former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, was backing Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party. But, that he worked out the Obi/Datti ticket from inception is revealing.
Newsonline reports that the endorsement of Peter Obi by Obasanjo precedes the New Year letter, in which the former president wrote that the former Anambra state governor, has the capacity and quality needed to pilot the affairs of the country in 2023.
Chief Obasanjo in his letter wrote that although the presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of Labour Party, describe themselves as his mentee, he believes only the latter can solve the crisis Nigeria has found itself in under President Buhari.
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“None of the contestants is a saint, but when one compares their character, antecedent, understanding, knowledge, discipline and vitality that they can bring to bear and the great efforts required to stay focused on the job, particularly looking at where the country is today and with the experience on the job that I personally had, Peter Obi as a mentee has an edge,” Obasanjo said in his letter.
The spokesman of the Atiku/Okowa presidential campaign council, Daniel Bwala, has, however, thrown more light while speaking on Arise TV programme, how the former president contacted him, when he was a member of the APC, to join the camp of Peter Obi when he left the PDP in May to the Labour Party.
Speaking on Thursday (today), on Arise Tv ‘Morning Show’ programme, Bwala said, “Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president and elder statesman, is someone that I respect very dearly. And I felt that was wrong because if you look at the content of the letter, he did not disclose the fact that he is the one behind the coupling together of the Obi/Datti movement. I know as a person because five months ago, he contacted me and wanted to draft me into the movement but respectfully I did not go, because I did not think that if I left APC because of the same free thinking that I want to ensure APC does not win, I should join a party that I don’t think to have a realistic chance of defeating APC.”
