….Says Former president is acting out of hatred and grudge for Tinubu
…Urges Nigerians to vote massively for the APC candidate
A socio-political organisation known as “Social Reform Group” has lampooned former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for his recent endorsement of the Presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi instead of his All Progressives Congress, APC, counterpart, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu that it feels is more qualified to take over from Buhari.
Addressing journalists in Lagos, the National Coordinator and Convener of the group, Dr. Charles Oludare said the action of Obasanjo was not only immature but also an evidence of his deep hatred and grudge for Tinubu.
“The man now known as general Seye(sic) used to be a national hero when he saw to the actualization of General Murtala Mohammad’s plan to hand over power to a civilian government before his tragic assassination.
“Apparently, general Sege never forgave himself for his deed and sought is way back to power by all means necessary. His first attempt was after the annulled ’93 election. Tinubu in an interview he gave to the daily post published March 26 2012 told a story of how general Sege has multiple meetings with MKO , feigned having a deep understanding and camaraderie with MKO Abiola, then in less than 2 weeks after, traveled to Zimbabwe to announce that Abiola is not the Messiah.
“Apparently he needed an interim way back to power and probably was amongst those who sabotaged the democracy struggle of the 3rd republic. The 4th republic started , and Nigeria was unfortunate enough to have elected a grudge keeping general Sege to power, he had never forgiven Nigeria.
“He attempted to stay in power forever, remind us of his role model in men like Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Umar Bongo of Gabon and similar characters. He thought his name dropping will swindle us into granting his illicit desires but that illicit deception flopped as soon as it dropped. The ever so begrudgingly general Sege took aim at his arch nemesis Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu , he relentlessly tried to rain on his parade, to derail his train and sabotage his administration. But for the immaculate intelligence of the Jagaban of Borgo, general Sege’s deception would have succeeded”, he explained.
Oludare while urging Nigerian electorate not to sell their votes for whatever reason but to support candidates who have a proven history of competence and ability to deliver purposeful governance to the masses ,said the forthcoming presidential election would mark a positive turning point towards achieving true democracy in the country if only the right candidate is elected.
He noted that as the election draws nearer , there was need to properly enlighten the masses on the need to jealously protect their votes in order not to jeopardize their future and those of upcoming generations.
According to him, it is in the character of some politicians to do anything to win elections, but the people should be wise enough not to fall to their antics by standing on supporting the best among them.
The Coordinator of SRG who anounced that the group had endorsed Bola Tinubu of APC noted that the Lagos based politician understood the situation of the country better than his peers and has the solutions to its challenges.
He explained that the group was founded to enlighten the citizens of the country about their rights and responsibilities, especially now they were warming up for a very important general election.
In his words, “The aim and objective of this group is to enlighten the citizens of this great nation about their rights and responsibilities. It is often said that knowledge is power. However, to actualize the power that resides in knowledge, the people need to be able to understand; there is a need for the realism , claiming a right and having their agitations answered need to become a norm.
“They need to know the power that lies in their voices. The most important phrase ever uttered in a democracy is WE THE PEOPLE. The people need to know the value of their voices, a voice which comes in the form of their vote. The people are quick to sell their voices/ vote at first ask because they do not know it’s worth. Perhaps because they do not know the opportunity cost which a political economist will call the values of the rights forgone; whenever we take the pre-ballot cash every election season”.
He expressed dismay that some people have continued to misunderstand the APC’s flagbearer and others intentionally quoting him out of context ,even when he has actually been proffering workable solutions to contemporary national problems in the course of his campaign.
He therefore called on the youths in particular not to fall to cheap propaganda against him, including the Endsars protest.
“Vox populi vox Dei, such cliche is often trite and not often right. A case in point is the issue of the ENDSARS protest in 2020. Police brutality, a pain so pervasive and real was exploited by political actors in an attempt to detail their perceived political ambitions of one man. The detractors within his political party called him the convener of the protest in an attempt to destablilise the current administration.
“When the protesters got killed ,his detractors in the opposition party called him the executioner of peaceful protesters.
“Despite lacking the means and ways to carry out all of these allegations. One might start to ask, did Asiwaju call the bird to roost or the cayote to rout? Did he call the thief steal or the owner to catch? Or is he just the maniacal , diabolical Machiavellian capable of doing everything at once? The answer to this is false”.
He added that Nigerians should make up their minds to offer more to nation building as government alone could not address the multiplicity of problems hindering nation building.
