Obasanjo makes shocking U-turn, says Atiku would perform better than Buhari
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has backtracked on his stance that he would never support his former deputy, Atiku Abubakar’s presidential bid.
Obasanjo says today that Atiku has the capacity to perform better than the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari.
Atiku, some party members, and some religious leaders had visited Obasanjo at his residence on Thursday (today).
Obasanjo said at the meeting that he had forgiven Atiku wholeheartedly.
“From what transpired in the last couple of hours or so, you have shown remorse; you have asked for forgiveness and you have indicated that you have learnt some good lessons and you will mend fences and make amends as necessary and as desirable,” he said.
“Whenever or wherever you might have offended me, as a Christian who asks for God’s forgiveness of my sins and inadequacies on a daily basis, I forgive and I sincerely advise you to learn from the past and do what is right and it will be well with you.”
Hailing Atiku’s “exposure”, Obasanjo said he is a better candidate than other 2019 presidential aspirants.
“For me, relatively and of all the aspirants in the PDP, you have the widest and greatest exposure, experience, outreach and possibly the best machinery and preparation for seeing the tough and likely dirty campaign ahead through,” Obasanjo added.
“From what I personally know of you, you have capacity to perform better than the incumbent. You surely understand the economy better; you have business experience, which can make your administration business-friendly and boost the economy and provide jobs.
“You have better outreach nationally and internationally and that can translate to better management of foreign affairs. You are more accessible and less inflexible and more open to all parts of the country in many ways. As Pastor Bakare, one-time running mate of the incumbent President said, ‘You are a wazobia man’. And that should help you in confronting the confrontable and shunning nepotism.”
Atiku was said to have described today “happiest day of [his] life”.
