Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has reacted to the claims by
ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo on why he, Obasanjo, will not support
his 2019 Presidential ambition.
Obasanjo had yesterday declared that God will not forgive him if he
supports the Presidential ambition of Abubakar, who was his former
deputy between 1999 to 2007.
However, Abubakar, while speaking through his campaign organisation challenged his former boss to go and settle with his God.
Spokesperson of the Atiku 2019 Presidential Campaign, Segun Sowunmi
said Obasanjo should settle with God instead of hanging his judgement
with God on things that concern him and Atiku.
In a statement, Sowunmi said, “The first is to say it upfront that HE
former Vice President Atiku Abubakar holds former President Olusegun
Obasanjo in very high esteem, just as he holds every other leader in
Nigeria high esteem.
“The esteem that President Obasanjo enjoys is premised on two things;
one, being the former president, Atiku also understands that he cannot
and should not desecrate anybody that has sat in the office that he
aspires to.
“The second is the fact that they had worked together on a joint
ticket as president and vice-president towards the 1999 and 2003
elections, for those two reasons, HE the former vice-president does not
want to join any issues with him and respects him and understands that
as an individual Obasanjo is within his right to have his point of view.
“It is a little bit suspect what Obasanjo means, that God will not
forgive him if he supports Atiku. I think that is really a personal
relationship between him and his God, and it will be better for him to
use his later years to tidy up relationship between himself and his God,
instead of hanging his judgement with God on things that concern him
and Atiku.
“Having said that, we are completely convinced that the (Atiku’s)
decision to run for the presidency is premised on the condition that
this country can benefit from the God-given talents and the experience
he has garnered.
“There is nothing that has not been thrown in the way of Atiku to cow
him, to break him, to harass him, to intimidate him or to just make him
uncomfortable. He has demonstrated that he has the tenacity to
withstand it and he has the robustness of mind to remain calm.
“We still believe that in the course of this journey, Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo may have to reconsider his stand in line with the wish of the
majority of Nigerians, which, in my opinion now, is that of all the
aspirants for the office of President, that H.E. Atiku Abubakar has the
experience, has the democratic credentials, has the vision, has the
workable programme and is in sync with what the Nigeria nation needs now
and can leapfrog it to higher levels of development.
“All the same, we will continue to wish Chief Olusegun Obasanjo well
and we would want to say that nothing can be further from the truth
(that) if Obasanjo follows his Christian dictate he would understand
that God that he expects to judge him would not expect him to be a
permanent traducer of every other person apart from himself. He has
enjoyed the benefits of other people, other people must also enjoy his
benefits. Obasanjo cannot be an enemy to every person except himself.”