The Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Anthony Sani, has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari does not need the support of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to win reelection in 2019.
He made this known in an interview with The Sun published on Saturday.
The ACF scribe noted that Obasanjo had started to see himself as the “conscience of the nation” because of the efficacy of his open letters, hence his decision to pen the viral January 13 letter urging Buhari not to seek a second term in office.
Sani added that Buhari was most likely seeking a second term to prove that he does not need Obasanjo’s support.
He said, “Because past letters by Obasanjo yielded the desired results by helping to change government, it has gotten into the head of the former president that he is the conscience of the nation and the country’s rain maker. Hence, his penchant for letter writing to sitting presidents.
While I know that the former president is relevant politically, I do believe President Buhari can win election without the support of Obasanjo. And I guess that is why President Buhari wants to prove Obasanjo wrong by vying for president in 2019.That is to say, President Buhari wants to break the jinx by being the Achilles heels of letter writing by the former president to sitting president to seek their downfall. And there are signs to that effect. For example, past letters to former Heads of state and presidents by Obasanjo reflected national consensus and were devoid of controversies. But today, the story is different. Instead of reflecting national consensus, the current letter by OBJ has generated more controversies that he, OBJ, expected. Anyway, it is still democracy in action and the former president has expressed his views. But whether such views are vatic as was in the past is what many Nigerians doubt.”