THE GUARDIAN
The public reactions that greeted the call by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for cancellation of the February 25, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections in areas where violence was recorded and where the processes were not transparent were expected.
By virtue of his status and huge profile, Obasanjo cannot be ignored ordinarily, or treated as just another aggrieved Nigerian. He is influential and seen by many as a role model. Therefore, his public speeches, or letters he had written on several occasions to sitting presidents and international agencies have a tendency to attract wide reactions, including criticisms that he had ample opportunities as two-time head of state to correct issues that he complained about; but that he not only wasted such opportunities, he in fact adopted policies that aggravated the issues or set the tone for them.
In this regard, a major criticism against Obasanjo is that having openly supported one of the numerous presidential candidates in the last election, his complaint about the process is nothing more than a show of support for his preferred candidate. Obasanjo will have difficulty in dismissing that notion, more so that he failed to garner majority support for that candidate even in his (Obasanjo’s) ward or polling unit in Abeokuta.
Recall that on January 1, Obasanjo openly endorsed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, as his preferred candidate for the February election. He said, “None of the contestants is a saint but when one compares their character, antecedent, their understanding, knowledge, discipline and vitality that they can bring to bear and the great efforts required to stay focused on the job particularly looking at where the country is today and with the experience on the job that I personally had, Peter Obi as a mentee has an edge.”
