Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to heed the call made by former Nigerian leaders, namely Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida not to contest the 2019 Presidential Election.
Former Head of State, Babangida, only on Sunday told Buhari to forget his presidential ambition in 2019, while a few days back, Obasanjo had told him the same thing, citing the poor performance of his administration.
Spokesman of Afenifere, Mr Yinka Odumakin, said this in reaction to call made by Babangida, which also tallied with the one earlier made by Obasanjo, saying the call by the two leaders was a clear statement they were concerned about the goings-on the country under the All Progressives Congress (APC) led administration of President Buhari.
According to Afenifere chieftain, who spoke on phone with the Nigerian Tribune, what Obasanjo and Babangida said to Buhari in respect of his touted ambition for 2019 poll, is an encouragement to Nigerians that the two leaders were speaking their minds out the stage of the country’s history, saying Buhari and those who had ears should listen to the admonition.
“Well, in the mouth of two witnesses, the holy book says, such account or statement is true. What General Babangida and General Obasanjo are saying is a clear statement that they are concerned about what is going on in the country and, therefore, it is an encouragement that the two elder statesmen are speaking out and we think those who have ears should listen.
“So those who have ears should listen to the clear statements from the two elder statesmen, let President Buhari listen to them. And well, it doesn’t listen, I think the Nigerian people are going to note it against him that he was told, but he refused,” he said.
The Afenifere spokesperson said the two former Nigerian leaders must be speaking from information in their possession, even as he asserted that they were not frivolous by whatever means.
“What is clear at this stage is that those who are talking that is the former Heads of State I think they have their information. I don’t think they are frivolous,” Odumakin said.
Speaking further, the Afenifere chieftain decried the way the Buhari allies had embarked on the campaign to have him as Nigeria’s president come 2019 while threatening to ensure the mission was accomplished at all cost.
He warned should President Buhari have his way in 2019, given the way the country had been managed in his first tenure, Nigeria would seize to exist.
“By the way, they have started the campaign for Buhari. I think the Miyetti Allah is saying they would fight it, they would do anything. So the message they are sending is clear, I think some of the allies have agenda. And see what has happened in his first term in office, to say that the nation should go through the same agony in another four years, it means that nation would die,” Odumakin warned.
