Former President Olusegun Obasanjo supported Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 despite being aware that he “knows next to nothing,” Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the former governor of Osun State, has said.
Oyinlola explained that Obasanjo took the decision to support Mr Buhari because he was disappointed in the administration of Goodluck Jonathan.
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Even when he (Obasanjo) was convinced that the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) would not deliver, he still threw his weight behind him, following pressure from some chieftains, the former governor said.
Mr Oyinlola, who was once the National Secretary of PDP, disclosed this in an interview with Punch Newspaper.
“The last person to accept Buhari’s candidature was Obasanjo and I say that one with every emphasis because I was involved. Yes, Baba (Obasanjo) had fallen out with Jonathan. His projection then was ‘any option but Jonathan’. That was his stand.
“Taking a look at those candidates from other parties, there was no other person we felt could handle the delicate governance of Nigeria better than Buhari, among the contenders that time. That was why the choice of Buhari became the order.
“That, coupled with the fact that he had been at the helm of affairs in the country before under the military, so he has that edge over all others. But Baba (Obasanjo) was the last to subscribe to the idea.
“I can tell you that it took a team of Saraki, Amosun, Bola Tinubu, Kashim, Imam and myself, that went and bombarded Baba (Obasanjo) at Ota, around 7 a.m., before he succumbed to our pressure.”
Mr Oyinlola said the former president later agreed to support Mr Buhari even when he knew that the former military ruler would not perform.
“That day, he said Buhari that he knew would try in the area of military matters, but outside that, Buhari knows next to nothing; not economy, not foreign affairs and he has been proven right,” Mr Oyinlola was quoted.
Obasanjo on February 16, 2015, endorsed Mr Buhari for president and the later won the election.
Obasanjo has since been a critic of Mr Buhari’s administration, following security challenges and other irregularities that have marred this administration.
