It is no longer news that former head of state, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo has pitched his tent with Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate. This he did via his open letter to the Youths of Nigeria a few days ago. In his letter, he called on the Youths to vote for Peter Obi and not Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, the PDP presidential candidate or Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC.
According to insiders, Obasanjo had planned to use the opportunity of the letter to galvanise support for Peter Obi, as the best candidate for the job. But City People has gathered authoritatively that this plot has boomeranged, for so many reasons. Contrary to what OBJ had planned, public opinion seems not to have swung in favour of Peter Obi as OBJ thought.
City People has found out that OBJ’s open support for Peter Obi has demarketed Obi’s brand. The reasons are pretty obvious. It has a lot to do with the negative image, OBJ has out there as someone who can’t be trusted and depended on when it comes to Politics. According to an insider, what has also not helped is the image of OBJ as a Spoiler in Politics. This is beginning to rub off negatively on Peter Obi.
Why OBJ’s support for Peter Obi has not helped is because of the general feeling that OBJ has little or no electoral value, going by how, the many politicians he has backed in the recent past, failed woefully at the polls. There are those who feel that as far as OBJ is concerned, what he is just doing is a game to enable him use Peter Obi to tackle and possibly stop Atiku & Tinubu from winning at the polls.
What City People has discovered is that OBJ’s support for Peter Obi has pushed many people in the South-West who never supported Tinubu in the recent past, to change their mind and have a rethink to rally round Tinubu. Many people in the South West can’t just seem to rationalise why they would leave a Tinubu, who is their own kith and kin and vote Peter Obi who is from another geo-graphical zone. They see OBJ’s move as personal vendetta to settle scores with Atiku & Tinubu, using the Youth as a shield, to hide his true intentions.
According to an insider, many people have suddenly forgotten that Obasanjo is not well liked in the South-West by other Yoruba leaders because of his refusal to associate with them and be seen as one of the leaders of the South West. So his open declaration for Peter Obi will definitely alienate Baba and win more converts for Tinubu”.
The APC Presidential Campaign Council attested to this much in its official reaction to OBJ’s open declaration last week Monday. According to the Council, they are not worried by OBJ’s support for Peter Obi, who he has been canvassing for in the past few months. They called into question how Obasanjo who has no electoral value can endorse Peter Obi and think his endorsement will sway votes in his favour.
But it is not only Obasanjo that is against Tinubu. Former President Ibrahim Babangida is also behind Peter Obi. He, Obasanjo and a few other retired generals seem to prefer Peter Obi, because they see him as the weakest of the 4 candidates.
They see Obi as an easier candidate to manage than Tinubu and Atiku who individually hold very strong views about the way to run Nigeria.
Over the years, Obasanjo has not hidden his dislike for Tinubu who he feels is too smart for him to handle. It is the same thing with IBB. He does not like Tinubu. Since the annulment of the June 12 Presidential election results, in 1993, IBB and Tinubu have not enjoyed a cordial relationship, because Tinubu had been at the vanguard of the battle to get the annulment of the June 12 results deannulled.
In the battle that ensued after IBB annulled the election, Tinubu was one of those who led the battle against IBB, in favour of late MKO Abiola, the winner of that presidential election. He has not forgiven Tinubu since.
There was a particular meeting that was held then where Asiwaju Bola Tinubu refused to stand up to greet IBB, out of contempt for the former President.
Both Obasanjo and IBB believe that Tinubu can’t be trusted to do their bidding if supported to become President in the forthcoming elections.
They both believe that of all the candidates, Peter Obi looks like the man they can trust, who will listen to them.
City People has gathered that Tinubu does not seen bothered by the endorsement of Peter Obi by OBJ and IBB because of his belief that the 2 elderstatesmen don’t have any electoral value.
He also feels that both of them lack the strength to swing votes in favour of any candidate, because they lack the political structure to deliver votes.
Some of his aides have explained that Tinubu’s decision to visit OBJ and IBB months back in Abeokuta and Minna was to simply satisfy all righteousness and as a peaceful gesture, of reaching out to them. They explained that Asiwaju knows in his heart of hearts that the 2 men are not to be trusted.
Will the endorsement of Peter Obi by OBJ and IBB work? That is the big question, because the groundswell of opinion across the country is that OBJ and IBB lack the moral grounds to determine who Nigerians should vote for, because like Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, the former Foreign Minister said, OBJ is seen by many as part of those who caused the problems bedevelling Nigeria today.
The popular outcry and criticisms of OBJ’s open letter shows that rather than help garner support for Peter Obi, it is working in favour of Tinubu because many wonder why OBJ has been on his case since his days as Lagos governor.
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