In the run-up to the elections in February 2023, Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, has received the backing of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, his most high-profile endorsement to date.
Obasanjo’s endorsement came in his New Year message issued on January 1, 2023.
The former Nigerian President particularly addressed the Nigerian youth in his message entitled: “My appeal to all Nigerians particularly young Nigerians.”
“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.
“Others like all of us have what they can contribute to the new dispensation to liberation, restoration and salvaging of Nigeria collectively.
“One other important point to make about Peter is that he is a needle with thread attached to it from North and South and he may not get lost. In other words, he has people who can pull his ears, if ahd when necessary.
“Needless to say that he has a young and able running mate with clean track record of achievement both in public and private life,” the retired general wrote.
Obasanjo admonished Nigerian youth to be more involved in determining the country’s political future.
“My dear young men and women , you must come together and bring about a truly meaningful change in your lives,” he wrote.
The former president warned against the complacency of the youth, saying it was now their turn.
“If you fail, you have no one else to blame. Your present and future are in your hands to make or to mar. The future of Nigeria is in the same manner in your hands and literally so.
“If for any reason you fail to redeem yourself and your country, you will have lost the opportunity for good and you will have no one to blame but yourselves and posterity will not forgive you.
“Get up, get together, get going and get us to where we should be. And you, the youth, it is your time and your turn. Eyin Lokan (Your turn), “Obasanjo charged, in direct allusion to the slogan of one of the presidential candidates, ‘awa lokan’ (it is my turn).
General Obasanjo questioned the constant prejudice against the south-eastern part of the country, which was once embroiled in a civil war against Nigeria between 1967 and 1970.
Incidentally, it was Olusegun Obasanjo who received the instrument of surrender by the Biafran military, from one of the leaders, Colonel Philip Effiong in 1970. The Nigerian government then, declared that there was “no victor; no vanquished.”
“Let’s stop criminalising and demonising one another on the basis of the civil war on which we are all wrong. And let’s praise and thank God for preserving the oneness of Nigeria.
“No region can claim to be innocent or to be saintly. And no justification will suffice. In our respective individual or regional positions, we have done right and we have done wrong.
“Just let us agree to move forward together in mutual forgiveness, one accord, inclusive society, equality and equity. Together and without bias and discrimination, fear or favour, we can have Nigeria of one nation in diversity, in truth and in practice,” Obasanjo admonished.
While former President Obasanjo had received all of the key presidential candidates at his presidential library in Abeokuta, he had yet to endorse any one of them until now.
His direct endorsement of Peter Obi is being described in most political circles as ‘daring’, while the camp of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has dismissed it as “inconsequential”.
