A northern group, Arewa New Agenda (ANA) has taken a swipe at former President Olusegun Obasanjo, for calling for the cancellation of Last Saturday’s presidential poll the produced Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the next president of Nigeria.
The pan-Northern forum urged Nigerians to ignore the former president as well as others instigating violence and file behind the president-elect.
Convener of the group, Senator Ahmad Abubakar Moallahydi, stated this during a press conference to douse tension following the declaration of Tinubu as winner of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to Senator Moallahydi, proof that the election was transparently conducted by INEC was the victory of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party in Lagos, Kano, Katsina, Plateau, Nasarawa, Gombe, Ebonyi, Anambra, Delta, Kaduna and Yobe States.
He said, “ANA on behalf of the teeming Northerners who trooped out to vote for HE Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we congratulate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu the President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“This victory is a Nigerian success story. In the spirit of national Cohesion, we look forward to a new beginning and urge all Nigerians to close ranks and support the incoming administration to take the country to greater heights.”
“In the same vein, we hasten to respond to some self-serving individuals whose utterances are at variance with peaceful coexistence especially former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
“We read Chief Obasanjo’s press release calling on the INEC Chairman to bow to some of his (Obasanjo’s caprices) which as expected has gone viral as we believe that is one of the effects, he set out to achieve; in it, he shared his thoughts about how he thinks things should go in the electioneering process for the 2023 national elections.
“We are sure he is aware that his disposition has triggered a lot of debates and engendered mixed reactions nationwide; it has been perceived in different ways by different people depending on their political persuasions and the interests they represent.
“Of utmost importance is the centrality of his person in this discourse; let us explain for clarity: he was president on two terms in our current democratic dispensation (1999-2007); he is a retired general (A national veteran) and an elder Statesman. All these he has earned and we deeply respect and hold him in very high esteem.
“We, however, depart from him in his penchant for fanning the embers of regionalism, ethnicity and sectionalism.
ANA reminded Obasanjo of various attempts he made to truncate democracy, including his failed third term bid which Nigerians truncated, noting that till date it stinks to high heavens.
The group continued: ‘His stance in the press release further deepens the perception of the pathology of duplicity and chameleonic tendencies often associated with his kind of politics; he forgets very easily that he told the nation that he has retired from politics- let the drums of war not sound from his backyard.
“Our word of caution is for him to understand the limits of political mercantilism. It was good when he benefited from an alliance with the North; now that it is someone else’s turn, he is angry and frustrated because it is no longer about him. It does not look, good sir, because it cannot always be you.
“We call on the good people of the great nation Nigeria to disassociate themselves from the inciting press release by former President Obasanjo as he is trying to undermine our democracy that our people have laboured since the commencement of the release of guidelines by INEC for the 2023 national elections as this is unacceptable, we encourage all and sundry who have issues to seek redress through laid processes.”
The northern group asked the president-elect, Tinubu, to reach out to Nigerians and douse tensions as he had earlier promised.
It also encouraged the INEC chairman to remain steadfast and undaunted in his national assignment.
