Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a former Osun governor and close ally of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has disclosed why the ex-president turned against incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.
Oyinlola disclosed that Obasanjo withdrew his support early in the life of the administration after it dawned on him that Buhari was trying to “northernise” his government, Sunday Sun reported.
Oyinlola, who is the Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), said that Obasanjo was pushed to write his popular 13-page letter to Buhari after many attempts to make him change his approach to governance failed.
Asked at what point Obasanjo decided to withdraw support from Buhari, Oyinlola said:
At the point where at the initial stage, it was found out that he was trying to northernise the government. And if you see the appointments, you will agree with me that there is not a bit; a clear demonstration of nepotism in his appointment. But he could not say anything because he was at the forefront in the campaign to install Buhari. And when it became difficult for somebody to reach out to the president to chip in one or two words of advice to assist him in governing well, then, what is one waiting for there? It is just a shame that in this country, we seem to gloss over serious issue. The wife said the man is not in charge, that there are only two or three people running the government. She said it that millions of people voted for this man, but only two or three; what else does anybody want to say? This is the wife, that is, his better half.
Oyinlola added that Obasanjo and others supported Buhari prior to the 2015 presidential election after misjudging his personality.
Speaking on some individuals’ insinuations that he made a mistake by dumping the APC, Oyinlola said:
I am the one that have the step to take and there is nobody to assess my movement whether it was wrong or right. If you pick the allegations made against the president and his government by Obasanjo in his letter, nobody could fault it. Obasanjo stuck out his neck for him to my knowledge. I was part of every movement, every support, within and without in the belief that we are having somebody better than Jonathan. But what we have found out now is just that the man has been under exposed and we have been able to carry out a wrong assessment of who he truly is. But he has been in government now and we have been able to see the level of his capacity.
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