Elder Stateman and Secretary General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr. Anthony Sani has said former President Olusegun Obasanjo is suffering from a dearth of vision, conviction and consistency required of a statesman.
Sani stated this following Obasanjo’s endorsement of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who he had earlier condemned.
Sani in a statement made available to newsmen noted that Obasanjo may change his mind again and withdraw his support for Atiku before 2019 with the level of his inconsistency.
He queried Obasanjo’s values, stressing that he is supposed to be an embodiment of national ideals and moral values for the nation.
The statement read: “The actions of Obasanjo reek of inconsistency which comes with a dearth of vision and conviction required of a statesman. From tearing his PDP card and saying he would no more play partisan politics.
“Then Obasanjo formed a movement which he said is the third force only for him to convert it into a political party, ADC. Then the final act, the endorsement of former Vice President Atiku.
“It is democracy in action which at once confirms the saying that the only thing that is permanent in politics is interest; no permanent friends or enemies.
“If you consider what the former President has written about his former Vice President Abubakar Atiku to the extent of saying God would not forgive him if he endorsed Atiku for president, then you can hardly avoid the conclusion that common decency is yet to take root in our democracy, especially when regard is paid to the place of the former president in the order of things in Nigeria.
“President Obasanjo is a statesman who is expected to be an embodiment of national ideals and moral values for the nation. But the way he has conducted himself by tearing his PDP card and saying he would no more play partisan politics and forming a movement which he said is third force only for him to convert it to a political party of ADC, culminating in the endorsement of former VP Atiku reeks of inconsistency that comes with dearth of vision and conviction required of statesmen.
“That may explain why most Nigerians may be curt and dismissive of the former president out of fear that he is just like a reed who can change his mind before the day of elections in 2019.”
Speaking on the North supporting Atiku following Obasanjo’s endorsement, Sani added: “It is not possible for the whole North to be with former President Obasanjo in that endorsement precisely because the former Vice President is a major challenger of the incumbent President who is also a Northerner and a Hausa/Fulani Muslim.
“As a result, politics of identity as symbolised by ethnicity, religion and of region would give way for those of real issues of real concern to real ordinary Northerners and by extension Nigerians.”
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