A South-West Political Group, the Conscience Bureau (CB), yesterday, , declared that only the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, can be trusted with the onerous task of salvaging Nigeria at this period.
It called on Nigerians to discountenance a recent endorsement of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, stating that Nigerians must be wary of such an endorsement.
The group recalled that when the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and its other leaders went to seek Obasanjo’s endorsement for then General Mohammadu Buhari’s presidential ambition on December 13, 2013, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, acting on his premonition, said that such an endorsement could lead the nation to a shipwreck.
A statement by Conscience Bureau’s General Secretary, Said Ologuneru, said going by what Nigeria and Nigerians have gone through between 2015 and now, under the APC presidency, it we apparent that the Nigeria had experienced a shipwreck, as Soyinka predicted, warning Nigerians not to allow a repeat of that horrible experience.
“We are under no illusion therefore that Obi’s endorsement by Obasanjo this time is tottering on the same lane as when the APC designated Obasanjo as its navigator in 2013, a development which Prof. Soyinka described as heading for a shipwreck.”
The group said that only a shipwreck could take the Naira from N190 to $1 in 2015 to N780 to $1 in 2022, or a litre of petrol from N85 in 2015 to N350 in December 2022.
It warned Nigerians to avoid an another shipwreck, which the endorsement of the LP candidate portends, noting that Nigerians must reject any attempt to perpetuate the APC’s evil reign beyond 2023.
The group further noted that Soyinka’s warning, which Nigerians refused to heed in the 2015 presidential election, eventually led the country into troubled waters as evident in the country’s ailing economy, growing insecurity and hardship being faced by Nigerians today.
It warned that it is important for the electorate to save the country from another shipwreck ahead of the 2023 general election, saying that Nigerians must look beyond the APC, which Obasanjo endorsed in the past and Peter Obi, as both cannot help the country in its present state,
Conscience Bureau said the huge challenges now facing the country after eight years of Obasanjo-recommended administration should be an admonition to Nigerians not to follow another sentimental endorsement from the former president, just as they should not allow individuals such as Tinubu, who brought Buhari’s misguided administration upon Nigeria, to take the saddle of leadership.
The group charged the electorate to save Nigeria by electing the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, whom it described as possessing the wealth of experience and know-how that can transform the country and halt its fast-paced traffic towards the edge of the precipice.
The group said: “It is curious that the same Tinubu, who led Buhari and other leaders of the newly-formed All Progressives Congress (APC) to Abeokuta in 2013, to consult former President Obasanjo, describing him as the ‘Navigator’ and the ‘political compass’ of APC’s false attempt to rescue Nigeria, could turn around to describe Obasanjo’s take on the Nigerian polity as ‘worthless and meaningless.’Nigerians have to be wary of Tinubu, APC and Obasanjo, who colluded in 2015 to bring the clueless APC administration and the resultant hardship upon the country. This time round, Obasanjo has endorsed Obi, but he appears to be working secretly to foist the APC on Nigerians, in an avowed commitment to lead Nigeria to destruction. Atiku represents Nigeria’s best opportunity to get out of the economic doldrums. He remains the best and most prepared candidate on offer.”