Senator Rowland Owie, former Chief Whip of the Senate, has advised President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), to avoid former President Olusegun Obasanjo, if he desires to succeed as Nigeria’s leader.
Owie, who gave the advice in a statement yesterday in Benin City, Edo State, said:
“To Buhari, I thank God for you, but you must deliver on your promises and also build on what President Goodluck Jonathan did. Above all, you must run far from Obasanjo. If he can’t control your government, he will fight you.
He has done it to all former Presidents of Nigeria and even against MKO Abiola who
was not sworn in. Never discuss with Obasanjo unless you have at least two of your aides present.
Half way into the tenure of President Jonathan, Obasanjo started trouble making by naming presidential and vice-presidential candidates. First, it was Governor Sule Lamido as president and Governor Rotimi Amaechi as his deputy. A respectable Lamido, a founding father of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP while Obasanjo was in prison, was being urged to fight PDP.
OBJ lured most PDP governors in the North into rebellion against PDP to destroy the platform that gave all of them relevance, including OBJ. The hate mood in the North for this election against Jonathan was such that, any candidate from the North would have won the election.
The anger was that power must return to the North. Nigerians can see that rebellion against one’s own and betrayer of one’s party doesn’t pay.
Gov. Aliyu Babangìda of Niger State, who led the rebellion against Jonathan and the PDP, lost his election to the Senate and also lost his state”, he added.
Continuing his statement, Owie took the opportunity to call on PDP members across the country to wake up so they can all rebuild the party.
“When Our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and buried on the Good Friday, nobody, apart from the mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, knew that Christ would rise from the grave on the third day. PDP shall rise again,” he said.
