Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the head of the pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group Afenifere, declared that he and former president Olusegun Obasanjo back Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
He claimed that the reason they backed Obi was to make Nigeria great.
Adebanjo, who on behalf of Afenifere had endorsed Obi as their preferred candidate, said in an interview with our correspondent on Friday that his previous disagreements with Obasanjo were not personal and that they were all in favor of Obi becoming the next president.
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In a video that surfaced this week, Obasanjo, Adebanjo, Obi, and others can be seen paying their respects to the late minister of aviation’s family, Mbazulike Amechi, who died at 93 on November 1, 2022.
Obasanjo, who did not mention any name while speaking at the gathering, said, “What I believe and what I believe that Chief Ayo Adebanjo believes is not ethnic, sectional or religious, it is Nigeria and Nigerians. When I go out and people thank me, I say, ‘What are you thanking me for?’ and I tell them, ‘Please, stop thanking me. Why should you be thanking me?’
“I believe in equity, justice and one Nigeria. I have shed my blood for this country. I have gone to prison for this country, so what are you going to frighten or threaten me with? The only thing that my senior brother (pointing to Adebanjo) hasn’t done is that he hasn’t shed his blood, but he has gone to prison. Let us leave it at that.”
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Adebanjo, however, interjected, saying, “You have not shed your blood, you only attempted to, because you are still alive,” a remark that drew laughter from him and the audience. Obasanjo swiftly responded in pidgin English, saying, “What of the blood I shed at the war front? I can show you where it hit me and nearly touched the wrong place,” as he pointed at and made a veiled reference to his private parts. His response was also greeted by laughter from the audience.
Obasanjo continued, “The problem we have right now is not ethnic, it’s national. For me, the first thing that is important in a leader is character. The problem we have had over the years is that we don’t have leaders who have the right type of character for which they should be entrusted with a leadership role. So, if I put my finger on anything or anybody, it is because comparing one with another, I see that there is merit that would be of benefit.”
However, in a recent interview with Newsmen, Adebanjo, who had previously criticized Obasanjo for some of his presidential administration’s decisions, stated, “What unites us is Nigeria. I never had a personal beef with him when I disagreed with him. We both think that it need to be improved. It was about this Nigerian issue. Obi is the man, we were all in agreement. We are buddies because of this. And to the people of the East, we made that obvious. We were able to illustrate the significance of Obi’s election triumph since it was a Nigerian issue. Even those who disagree on other issues concur on this one.
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“That is to show you that we elderly people are united in one thing: bring Nigeria together. We are not looking at the past; that will not help us now. What will help us is to amend all the evil things that the (President, Major General Muhammadu) Buhari (retd.) government has done. The man (Buhari) is telling us he has done his best when his best is the worst administration we have had in the past 20 years.
In addition, he said that only Obi had been running an issues-based campaign, in contrast to the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, and the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
He stated, “Not all of them have been having issues-based (campaigns) and that is the truth, but Obi has been running issues-based campaigns. He has been very consistent about what he plans to do. Tinubu’s people have been abusing people, while Atiku’s people are also attacking them.
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