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Former President
Olusegun Obasanjo
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Former
President Olusegun Obasanjo has spoken of his fears for Nigeria and President
Goodluck Jonathan, following the postponement of the general elections.
Obasanjo,
who was in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, to present his 1,500-page autobiography
My Watch, which has
been banned in Nigeria pending libel hearings, was quoted by Financial Times as saying that
“the signs are not auspicious” in the wake of the six-week postponement of the
polls.
He
added: “I don’t know whether a script is being played.”
The
presidential election was slated for next Saturday, but the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) shifted it following the memoranda from
security chiefs that they could not guarantee security for the elections
because of their engagement against insurgency in the northeast.
The
delay should also enable Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to be distributed to the
millions of voters yet to receive them and who were at risk of being
disenfranchised, according to INEC chair Prof. Attahiru Jega.
Obasanjo
said: “I sincerely hope that the president is not going for broke and saying
‘look dammit, it’s either I have it or nobody has it’. I hope that we will not
have a…I hope we can avoid it.”
Speaking
on whether he would like to return to politics Obasanjo was quoted in the
interview as saying: “I am an old man and I’m enjoying what I’m doing now… And
then you forget I am a farmer; I have to manage my farm.”
For
the first time, Obasanjo openly supported All Progressives Congress (APC)
candidate Gen Muhammadu Buhari.
“The circumstances (Buhari)
will be working under if he wins the election are different from the one he
worked under before (as a military Head of State) where he was both the
executive and the legislature — he knows that. He’s smart enough. He’s
educated enough. He’s experienced enough. Why shouldn’t I support him?”
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