ACF chief slams Obj for berating Buhari, endorsing Obi

Group urges Tinubu, Atiku to step down for LP candidate

Chieftain of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Anthony Sani, has said that President Olusegun Obasanjo did not speak for all Nigerians when he criticised President Muhammadu Buhari and endorsed Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, since he is not the conscience of the people.

Sani said the former Nigerian leader has the right to express his opinion, which he must not foist on the citizens.

According to the former Secretary General of ACF, Obasanjo has been using letter writing to sitting Presidents and Nigerians to arrogate to himself the status of conscience of the nation.

Said he: “It may be Obasanjo’s right to assess the performance of the sitting President and conclude that Buhari has not performed creditably. But saying that without supporting it with facts does not make it so.

“It is also the right of the former President to endorse a candidate of his choice. But he should not lose sight of the fact that he is only entitled to his opinion.”

BUT South East Revival Group (SERG) has described the endorsement of Obi by Obasanjo as a welcome development.

It, however, called on the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, to step down for Obi in the coming general election.

The appeal by the pan-Igbo pressure group was contained in a statement, yesterday, signed by its President and National Coordinator, Chief Willy Ezugwu.

“In the first place, long before the presidential primaries, all lovers of equity had advised Nigerian political parties to zone their 2023 presidential tickets to the South East.

“The late second Republic Governor of Kaduna State, Abulkadir Balarabe Musa, in an interview with Channels Television on September 19, 2019, unambiguously proposed that the South East region should produce the President come 2023, arguing that zoning the next presidency to the region could not only give the Igbo a sense of belonging in Nigeria but will also promote national unity and cohesion.”

In an interview, Ezugwu recalled that the late statesman insisted that for the sake of peace, justice and national unity, the presidency should go to the South East region this year

His words: “According to the former governor, since the North, South West and South South have all had a shot at the presidency, it will be morally wrong if any of the zones contest the presidency in 2023 against the South East that has not tasted power since the return to democracy in 1999.

“On its part, the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, also called for a Nigerian of South East extraction to lead the country come 2023. Afenifere leader and elder statesman, Ayo Adebanjo, observed that based on morality, the South East region should produce the next President in the spirit of fairness and unity.”

The group added that the South East has presented the best candidate among the contenders; a candidate who is unarguably the most prepared to tackle security and economic challenges bedevilling the country.

“To crown it all, Obi has picked one of the most qualified young men from the North, Sen. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, as his running mate. It was surprising that in the build up to the primary elections, the South East was tactically excluded from the race by selfish politicians in both the PDP and the APC, as their presidential tickets went to the highest bidders, rather than to the most competent to lead Nigeria.

“But by divine providence and in the wisdom of the Nigerian people, a third force was birthed throwing up Obi and Baba-Ahmed.”