Politics
Obasanjo, Atiku, Obi not threat to Buhari
… As Obasanjo lobby U.S for Atiku
The pick of Mr Peter Obi, former Anambra Governor as running mate to Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate for 2019 election, is inconsequential.
Also the gang up with his long-time foe, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, will take Abubakar nowhere.
The United Kingdom chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) made it clear on Friday that the choice of Obi would not in any way guarantee votes for the PDP in the South-east.
Mr Ade Omole, leader of the chapter accused Obi as a failed governor and could not deliver democracy dividends to the people of the state.
“The paddy paddy anointing of Mr Peter Obi to the gasping ticket of Atiku Abubakar as running mate, confirms our earlier assertion that the PDP presidential campaign is dead on arrival.
“As you are aware, Peter Obi failed woefully in the last Anambra gubernatorial election by failing to deliver the state to his ailing party, a state he mismanaged for eight years.
“Peter Obi was rejected by his people, his ward, his state and come 2019, both the PDP presidential candidate and his running mate will be rejected nationally by Nigerians,” Omole said.
The new romance between Abubakar and former President Olusegun Obasanjo has also been seen as a dark cloud.
Mr Daniel Onjeh, APC Benue South Senatorial candidate, said Abubakar is not a threat to President Muhammadu Buhari’s chances of re-election in 2019.
Onjeh, who is the Board Chairman Project Development Institute (PRODA) and a former President National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), stated this on Friday in Abuja.
He said Buhari was an epitome of integrity, transparency, and accountability, and that Atiku was the contrary.
He noted that Buhari`s exemplary qualities and leadership disposition informed his recent adoption by the African Union as the continent’s Anti-corruption Champion.
Atiku is a man whose source of wealth is a mystery hidden in “a pandora’s box of riddles“, Onjeh said.
He advised Nigerians to avoid sentiments and to disregard propaganda by those desperate to return to power because they knew that another term for Buhari meant jail for them.
“To their eternal shame, their assets would be confiscated and shared out to the poor. This realisation has driven them to a state of extreme desperation; they will do anything to fight back.
“Nigerians should not be deceived. They are ganging up against President Buhari because they will all be made to account for their ill-gotten wealth if he is re-elected, “ he said.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has recanted his disdain for his former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, is reported to be lobbying American to withdraw the ban reportedly placed his former foe from entering the U.S.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) also accused Obasanjo of making moves to secure United States entry visa for the 72-year-old 2019 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
81-year-old Obasanjo fell out with Atiku Abubakar before his exit from office as President in 2007 because of quarrel over his third term bid which his then Vice President Abubakar opposed.
The former Nigerian Army general who was President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 on the platform of current opposition PDP also publicly denounced the party, just as Atiku Abubakar also did.
Obasanjo also lampooned Atiku Abubakar in his latest book, but they have all swallowed their vows and found solace in the same party they had renounced and castigated because of the gang up to prevent President Muhammadu Buhari from a re-election.
The new romance of the duo which has sparked interest among some political pundits is getting deeper a gang-up against Africa’s anti-corruption czar.
Mr Yekini Nabena, the APC ‘s Acting National Publicity Secretary, said in Abuja o Friday that Obasanjo has gone further to lobby the United States to lift the sanctions placed on the candidate for 2019 presidential election of PDP.
“We have come across credible reports that former President Olusegun Obasanjo has made moves to secure United States entry visa for the presidential candidate of the PDP, Alh. Atiku Abubakar.“
He recalled that the entry ban was placed on Atiku following a $500,000 bribery scandal in 2005 that involved Atiku, his fourth wife, Jennifer, and former United States Congressman, William Jefferson.
Obasanjo, had on Thursday, endorsed the candidacy of Atiku who was the Vice President when he was in office.
Nabena, however, stressed that former Obasanjo’s intervention in Atiku’s ban from the United States of America was evidence of “his legendary hypocrisy and self-serving interest in national affairs“.
He noted that Obasanjo during and after leaving office, had always insisted on Atiku’s unsuitability to govern Nigeria based on his knowledge of his extensive corrupt practices while he served as Vice President.
“Recall that the former president while in office had deployed enormous resources of the country on a global dragnet coordinated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in getting Atiku prosecuted for corrupt enrichment and money laundering.
“A report by the U.S Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Senator Carl Levin reported that Atiku used offshore companies to siphon millions of dollars to his fourth wife in the United States, Jennifer,“ Nabena said.
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This, he said, happened while Atiku was still the Vice President of Nigeria between 2000 and 2008.
He added that it was on the strength of the report, that President George Bush barred Atiku and other corrupt politically exposed persons from being issued visa to the United States.
This, the APC spokesman said was the reason Atiku had not been able to travel to the United States till date.
