Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has once more embraced Peter.
Only a “unpatriotic and bad Nigerian,” he claimed, would support a person with a negative character.
On Thursday, Obasanjo delivered a speech in the Ogun State capital of Abeokuta during an interactive session of the Experiential Leadership in Africa with the theme “Executive Decisions, Indecisions, and Leadership Development in Africa.”
The former president asserted that Peter Obi was his favorite candidate for the position of president while defending his selection of the Labour Party’s candidate.
According to Bifodtad.com, the former president endorsed Obi in his New Year’s address to Nigerians, “My appeal to all Nigerians, particularly young Nigerians.”
In response to a claim that he had endorsed Obi, Obasanjo emphasized that he had just expressed his view on the candidates and had not used the word “endorse.”
Obasanjo said, “Whether the letter is open or not, what I believe is that I will be punished by God if I know what is right and I do not put it where it should be.
“The word I used is that one particular candidate has an edge. Taking everything together, I take the character, track record, vision, and what you see in this man as a child of God.
“I said they all claimed to be my mentees, and of course, I won’t deny that, but if you are my mentee, they must also admit that I know them a little bit, and if I then know them a little bit, I must be right to say…
“I have done this before. I said President Buhari does not understand the economy, and that is true, and you have seen it. I wasn’t running him down; that is what he is, and he will admit that.
“I said his (Buhari’s) understanding of foreign affairs is also very limited because, when he was military head of state, he said his frontline does not go beyond the borders of Nigeria; that is a pity.
“But what then do you have? I wrote a letter that was almost six and a half pages long and then only had one sentence – ‘why should you, as a Nigerian, vote for someone whose character, reputation, and life you would not want for your children?’”
He continued, “You are either wicked, unpatriotic, or a truly awful citizen of this country, and if this is who you are, what do you want God to do with you?
“For the last three days, I have had about 35 youths who I have been talking to, and they have all told me that education, security, and corruption are what they are concerned about; the question is, who then can do it?”
In response to the question of whether multiparty systems have hampered progress in Nigeria, Obasanjo blamed leadership rather than the multiparty system for the nation’s underdevelopment.