Former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo has been given options should his endorsement of his former Vice, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as Presidential Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) be acceptable.
Literary figure and journalism chief, Dr. Emman Shehu, appeared to have given this condition in a single line he dropped on his Facebook social media wall on Wednesday.
He asked: “When is OBJ going to recall his books on Atiku in the true spirit of forgiveness?”
Itwill be recalled that the former President gave a reason for his sudden changeof stand against Atiku, when he was confronted with realities and undisputablefacts revealed in one particular book of his, that is his post-governmentproject wherein he opened the truth Atiku’s hands in corruption as sitting vicepresident.
In one of the video clips of interviews granted by Obasanjo in his post-government era, he spoke about how as sitting president he was shown a document from American authorities informing him about involvement of Atiku in corruption cases.
He particularly stated that former American President Jimmy Carter came on a visit and told him, “There is corruption around close to you and your government” and that when he inquired “how?”, he said Carter replied that his vice president is was the corruption close to him.
Retired General, Obasanjo said his personal conscience would not allow him to let his vice be investigated for corruption at that time but, in truth, he opened the bulk of economic atrocities of his former deputy, who is now celebrated presidential candidate of PDP, in his book “My Watch”.
He said the PDP presidential candidate had shown remorse, sought forgiveness and that he had therefore forgiven him.
ButDr. Shehu reacting to this statement, which continues to recur in the news,asked to know when Obasanjo will withdraw his books on Atiku because, accordingto him, it is only by doing that he can truly be seen as having forgiven him.
Obasanjo confused over Atiku – Presidency
The DEFENDER reports that the Presidency has dismissed the recent utterances by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, as a sign of confusion not worthy of attention.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, presidential spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu, said that whoever Obasanjo chooses to support at the 2019 elections is irrelevant, as the former president had publicly changed his mind on the matter so many times over the past few months alone.
“Former president Obasanjo denounces one person today and supports that same person the next day.
“When it pleases him, he brings God into the matter and uses that as his excuse for whatever position he has chosen,” he said.
Shehu added that he was not surprised that newspapers reported Obasanjo expressing neutrality at a weekend forum, only for the former president to express a completely different stance after a day or two.
“We have learnt not to take his utterances seriously anymore.
“We know that the slightest wind can make him change his mind again. After all, this is the same man who publicly tore his party registration card barely four years ago, and he now claims to be backing the same party,” Shehu said.
