Obasanjo Openly Endorses Buhari; Gives Reasons

Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has finally expressed his support for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

Obasanjo, who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, declared his support for Buhari during an interview with the Financial Times at the launch of his controversial autobiography titled, ‘My Watch’, in Nairobi, Kenya.

The circumstances he (Buhari) will be working under if he wins the elections are different from the one he worked under before, where he was both the executive and the legislature – he knows that. He is smart enough. He is educated enough. He’s experienced enough. Why shouldn’t I support him?”

Obasanjo said he believes in Buhari’s capability to effectively tackle corruption and insecurity, adding that he would restore the morale of the military which, he said, was needed in the fight against terrorism.

He also accused President Goodluck Jonathan of betraying the armed forces by allowing corruption to scuttle their operations. 

“It is a question of leadership – political and military. I think you need to ask Jonathan how he let the army go to this extent. Many things went wrong: recruitment went wrong; training went wrong; morale went down; motivation was not there; corruption was deeply ingrained; andwelfare was bad.”

Obasanjo also reacted to the postponement of the general elections by INEC.

“Well, I don’t want to comment on that postponement yet because I was not in Nigeria. I was actually in Munich over the last weekend. But when I get home I will be fully educated about what transpired and how it transpired. In fact it was because I had a previous appointment, that is why I could not attend the meeting of national council of state, which took place I think on Thursday. So it will not be right of me to be talking about a thing I could get on the ground, for instance the statement made by chairman of INEC.”

“I sincerely hope that the President is not going for broke and saying ‘look dammit, it’s either I have it or nobody has it’. I hope that we will not have a coup. I hope we can avoid it,” he said.