….Says Former President a paper weight
By Wasiu Owolewa
The All Progressives Congress(APC) Presidential Campaign Council has reacted to the endorsement of Labour Party(LP) Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
In a press release on Sunday by its Director on Media and Publicity, Mr Bayo Onanuga, the Campaign Council expressed surprise over the purported endorsement of Peter Obi by the former president.
It described the endorsement by the former president as worthless and no threat to the chance of its Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in winning the February 18, Presidential election.
The statement stated further that the former president does not possess any political goodwill or leverage anywhere in Nigeria to make anyone win election.
The statement reads, “We read with amusement the endorsement of Mr Peter Obi, the Labour Party Presidential Candidate by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his New Year message on Sunday.
“Following calls by journalists from various media houses who asked for our reaction we decided to make this preliminary statement, though we didn’t consider the so-called endorsement to be of any value”
The statement further stated that, “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”
The campaign council berated Obasanjo for all the undemocratic tendencies that took place under his watch as Nigerian President. It however advised the LP Presidential candidate not to bank on the endorsement of the former president because it can’t give him any victory in the poll.
“We recall that in 2003 and 2007 general elections when he was a sitting President, Obasanjo used all the coercive instruments of State at his disposal to railroad people into elective offices against the will of Nigerians as expressed at the polls. In 2007, he declared the polls as a do or die affair after he failed in his bid to amend our constitution to have a third term.
“From our records, President Obasanjo has not successfully made anyone win election in Nigeria since then. Not even in Ogun State can anyone rely on his support or endorsement to become a governor or Councillor.
“We pity Peter Gregory Obi as we are confident that Chief Obasanjo can not win his polling unit and ward in Abeokuta for Obi in the coming Presidential election on 25th February, 2023.
“Chief Obasanjo’s endorsement is not a political currency Mr. Peter Obi can spend anywhere in Nigeria because he is not a political force, even in his part of the country”
The campaign council expressed optimism of landslide victory for Asiwaju Tinubu and called on Nigerians not to take the purported endorsement of Peter Obi by the Former President as something serious.