Politics

2023: How Previous Presidential Candidates Endorsed By Obasanjo Fared

Published

2 years ago

January 5, 2023

The decision of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to endorse the presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi has been heavily criticised by the camps of other leading presidential candidates.

Obasanjo in his New Year message recommended Obi to Nigerians, saying that the former Anambra State Governor has indisputable credibility in all facets of leadership.

Most of the politicians criticising the former President had on one occasion or another visited Obasanjo’s Otta Farm in search of endorsements but are now dismissing his recommendation of Obi as meaningless.

Obasanjo has a history of endorsing candidates who ended up becoming President of the nation.

Shehu Sani, a former federal lawmaker pointed out that when Obasanjo endorsed Musa Yar’adua as his successor in 2007, he made it unambiguously public, adding that it came to pass.

Obasanjo also endorsed the choice of Goodluck Jonathan as Yar’Adua’s running-mate and later backed the Bayelsa-born politician’s first term after he completed the tenure of the late Yar’Adua.

In 2014, Obasanjo declared his support for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari.

Obasanjo, then member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, made his perspective known during an interview with Financial Times at the launch of his autobiography, My Watch, which took place in Nairobi, Kenya.

For Obasanjo then, Buhari was fully capable of ruling the country. He took the decision against Goodluck Jonathan’s second term ambition and it came to pass. Buhari became the first man to dethrone an incumbent President when he was declared winner of the 2015 presidential election.

Obasanjo had expressed confidence that Buhari, if elected, would effectively tackle insecurity and corruption.

In addition, he noted that Buhari had the ability to restore the morale of the military to fight the insurgency in the North-East and other parts of the country.

But the South West Agenda (SWAGA), a support group rooting for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu, has dismissed Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi.

The National Chairman of SWAGA, Senator Dayo Adeyeye said the victory of the former governor of Lagos State won’t be affected by the decision of the former president, which he described as empty and lacking substance.

The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of APC also described the endorsement of Obi by Obasanjo as useless, alleging that the former president hardly has strong electoral value.

Also the PDP PCC insisted that whether Obasanjo liked it or not, Atiku would be president in his lifetime.

A group known as the Patriotic Youth Front of Nigeria, PYFN, has also rejected the former President’s endorsement of Obi.

The PYFN President, Maxwell Ogar alleged that Obasanjo can’t advise Nigerian youths because his hands are stained with blood.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Femi Fani-Kayode also played down the endorsement.

Among other angry reactions, Fani-Kayode, a spokesperson for the Tinubu/Shettima campaign council said Obi’s endorsement by Obasanjo is an exercise in futility.

Asked the significance of Obasanjo’s endorsement of Peter Obi for President, popular activist, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, told DAILY POST that it was a move in the right direction.

“Endorsement of Obi by Obasanjo is well within his fundamental human rights. As an influential statesman, his opinion carries lots of weight which is why it has elicited varying reactions from a cross spectrum of politicians and parties,” he said.

He added, “Edwin Clarke’s endorsement of Peter Obi is a significant boost for the Labour Party because the man enjoys a fatherly position in the crude oil bearing communities. Both statesmen have the right to exercise their free speech.”

Nigerians look forward to seeing what becomes of the endorsement in the next few weeks when the citizens go to the polls.

Politics

Amaechi: I Will Resign As FCT Minister If… Wike

Published

2 hours ago

July 4, 2025

Editor

Federal Capital Territory FCT minister, Nyesom Wike has begged President Bola Tinubu to release the report of the forensic audit on the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC, which he said indicted the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

Wike vowed to resign if the report is released and its contents do not indict Amaechi.

Speaking on ‘Politics Today’ on Channels Television monitored on Friday in Abuja, Wike who was responding to allegations by Amaechi that he was corrupt, said Amaechi’s wife received N4 billion monthly from the NDDC to train Niger Delta women.

He said, unlike Amaechi, he does not come from a poor background, hence his sophisticated taste.

Wike said, “First of all, Amaechi’s wife was not an industrialist. She has never been, and that is why I call on Mr President to release the forensic audit of NDDC.

“Amaechi’s wife company, every month, got N4 billion to train Niger Delta women. That is N48 billion in one year alone, and the forensic audit report is there. Who killed it? It was Malami, then the Attorney General.

“That is one of the people who is now talking. Mr President should help Nigerians. You see, this is what I have always said. Mr President should help Nigerians. Please, release the forensic audit of the NDDC.

“I have said, let Mr President please do us a favour to release that document. Former Attorney General, Malami, killed that document to protect those who were concerned.

“I am not just saying what I am saying, let them release the document. If what I am saying is not in the document, I will resign at the Minister of the FCT. I said I will resign.

“I don’t worship office. What I am saying, let them release the forensic audit of the NDDC. I didn’t say the forensic audit was right, but I said, release the report of the forensic audit.

“That is how the wife became an industrialist – N4 billion every month to train Niger Delta women”, he stated.

Wike challenged the academic qualifications of Amaechi, describing them as less than average, and also faulted Amaechi’s claim that a Senator gave him (Amaechi) a Rolls-Royce but that he does not use it.

According to the FCT minister, the vehicle was given to Amaechi by a contractor who was executing about -0 percent of the projects in Rivers state. In contrast, the former Transport Minister was the governor.

Politics

Coalition: Abure-led LP Gives Obi 48 Hours To Leave Party

Published

1 day ago

July 3, 2025

Editor

The Abure-led faction of the Labour Party has given the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, a 48 hours ultimatum to leave the party haven formally joined the coalition party.

This was contained in a statement signed by the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, in Abuja, on Thursday.

He explained that the Labour Party under Abure’s leadership remains vehemently opposed to joining the coalition while dismissing members of the coalition as “power mongers whose only interest was self and not the people.”

The party warned Nigerians that the often mouthed ‘new Nigeria is Possible’ is a ruse and cannot be achieved with the assemblage of old, recycled, desperate and frustrated politicians in the coalition.

Ifoh said the party is aware that all those who mismanaged Nigeria over the years are the ones that gathered themselves in the coalition while noting that desperate politicians can’t birth new Nigeria.

He said, “We are aware of several nocturnal meetings between Peter Obi and some of our members, lobbying them to join him in his new party. We’re also aware that a number of them has refused to defect with him.

“Labour Party has consistently said it is not part of the coalition and therefore, any of our members who is part of the coalition is given within 48 hours to formally resign his membership of the party.

“Labour Party is not available for people with dual agenda, people with deceptive persona. The party will not avail itself to individuals who have one leg in one Party and another leg elsewhere.

“People who in the morning they will claim to be in the Labour Party and in the evening they are in coalition.

“Nearly 70 per cent of the Nigerian population are youths who are tired of the old order, tired of gerontocrats deciding their fate. The new Nigeria that the youths are dreaming of, is not what can be realized from what we are seeing in the coalition.

“These people are opportunistic politicians who are only interested in relaunching themselves into circle of power, people who are desperate to continue holding on to power.

“The new Nigeria of our dream can only be realised through the Labour Party, and the party is willing to lead Nigerians along that trajectory.

“I therefore urge all members of the party to remain loyal and keep the party structure intact ahead of future elections.”

Politics

Only A Formidable Coalition Can Salvage Nigeria, Says Peter Obi

Published

1 day ago

July 3, 2025

Editor

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has given his full support for the coalition of opposition parties aimed at ending President Bola Tinubu’s rule in 2027.

He explained that it was a fact that no single group can change Nigeria alone, hence the need for people to come together to pursue the goal.

The former Amambra State Governor said this in a post on his verified X handle, on Thursday.

He said this just as the Julia Abure-led faction of the Labour Party has given him 48 hours within which to formally resign from the party or risk expulsion.

Obi in his post wrote, “Yesterday, the coalition members formally adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 Nigeria General Elections with Distinguished Senator David Mark serving as the National Chairman and H.E. Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola serving as the National Secretary.

“Our commitment is to sacrifice and work together towards the 2027 General Elections, ensuring that Nigeria gets a competent, capable, and compassionate leadership that will prioritise the nation’s future by putting the welfare of Nigerians first.

REAS ALSO: Peter Obi Speaks As Port Harcourt Refinery Begins Production

“This decision was not made lightly. It comes from deep reflection on where we are as a country and what must be done to move forward.

“No one group can change Nigeria alone. To dismantle the structures that keep our people in poverty and insecurity, we must build bridges, not walls even when those bridges are uneasy. A New Nigeria is Possible. -PO.”