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From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
Former Chief of Army Staff and Defence Staff, Gen Alani Akinrinade (retd), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to ignore former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent call for can the relation of the 2023 general election.
The Osun-born general in a statement entitled: “An interloping former president is a present danger to democracy,” said the statement by Obasanjo must be condemned in the strongest terms by democracy-loving Nigerians and those who care about the country’s unity.
According to him, the former president’s admonition falls short of patriotism and fits perfectly into meddling in the affairs of state.
Responding to Obasanjo’s comment, Akinrinade said Nigerians can recall how the former president oversaw the “worst election in history” in 2007 and attempted to extend his term.
“Being not neutral, Obasanjo’s intervention falls short of patriotism and fits perfectly into meddling in the affairs of state that is already the constitutional responsibility of INEC,” he said.
“Nigerians can easily recall the Obasanjo years and his democratic antics and many bullish attempts at circumventing the political process.
“I call on President Muhammadu Buhari to ignore Obasanjo’s recent interruptions and focus on supporting the lawful institution to do its job by allowing the process to run its full course.
“The President Buhari I know will let the process run its full course and will not intervene in an undemocratic manner to truncate the ongoing political process.
“Luckily, President Buhari is made of finer and more principled democratic stuff.
“He will not allow Obasanjo to lure him into tainting his democratic credentials in this regard.
“I recall that in his last trip to the United States, President Joe Biden praised Buhari’s commitment to democratic values and principles. Obasanjo has no such record to be applauded.
“The world has not forgotten his fraudulent and undemocratic attempt at a third-term agenda in violation of the letter and spirit of the Nigerian constitution.
“In 2007, after his botched third term bid, Obasanjo conducted the worst election in the history of Nigeria.
“The beneficiary of that electoral heist, Late President Umaru Yar’Adua openly admitted that his presidency was a product of a fraudulent election with a commitment to reform the electoral process.”
