Wilson Adekumola
Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo has advised Nigerians to vote for candidates that have good characters and reputation saying it is unpatriotic Nigerians will vote for candidates with bad characters.
He made this call at an Interactive session of the Experiential Leadership in Africa in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.
The former president said on Thursday, just 18 days after endorsing the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, for the 25 February election.
The octogenarian had on January 1, drummed support for Mr. Obi, saying he is the best candidate for certain reason that he backed up his claims.
The session was organized by TEL-AFRICA global with the theme,:”Executive Decision, Indecision, and Leadership Development in Africa.
Reacting to the criticisms over his endorsement of Mr. Peter Obi of Labour Party, the former president said he did not use the “endorse”, but only gave my opinion on the candidates.
He said, “Whether the letter is open or not open, what I believe is that I will be punished by God if know what is right and I did not put it where it should be.
“The word I used is that one particular candidate has an edge, taking everything together and I take character, I take track record, I take vision and I take what you see in this man as a child of God.
“I said they all claimed to be my mentees and of course I won’t deny that. But if you are my mentee, they must also admit that I know them a little bit and if I then know them a little bit, I must be right to say…
I don’t know why people are…I have done this in the past before for President Buhari, I said President Buhari does not really understand economy and that is true and you have seen it. I was not running him down, that is what he is and he himself will admit that.
“I said his (Buhari) understanding of foreign affairs is also very little because when he was military head of State, he said his frontline does not go beyond the borders of Nigeria, that is a pity.
While defending his use of language in the said new message, Obasanjo asked: “why should you as a Nigerian vote for somebody that the character, the reputation, the life of which you do not want your own children to be?
“It is either you are wicked, you are unpatriotic or you are really, really a bad citizen of this country. And then if this is who you are, what do you want God to do with you and that is the way I see it.
“For the last three days, I have about 35 youths who I have been talking to and they all told me that education, security and corruption are what they are concerned about, the question is who then can do it?”
Source: Premium Times
