DETAILS OF OBASANJO MEETING WITH LEADERS OF PAN-YORUBA ORGANISATION, AFENIFERE: Why Buhari Must Go In 2019

More details have emerged on the meeting former President Olusegun Obasanjo held with leaders of the pan-Yoruba organisation, Afenifere, last week in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

Sunday Tribune gathered that Obasanjo, at the meeting, listed two more cogent reasons for spearheading the ongoing push to stop President Muhammadu Buhari from securing another four years in office in 2019.

One of the reasons was that the president had consistently prevaricated on the issue of armed herdsmen who had murdered many Nigerians.

Another reason is what the former leader perceived as the gradual loss of public confidence in the capability of security agencies to curtail the herdsmen because of the body language of the president.

According to the former president, the body language and comments of the president on the activities of the herdsmen are making the job of the security agencies difficult.

Quoting Obasanjo, the impeccable source said: “He (Buhari) often speaks from both sides of the mouth on the issue of armed herdsmen killing of innocent citizens.

“At times, he would say the herdsmen are not Nigerians; that they are from Niger, Mali, Chad and other neighbouring countries.

“In the same breath, the president would say we should learn to live and cope with our neighbours, talking of the Middle Belt groups and that the crisis is an internal matter.

“At another time while in the United States, he said it was the fighters from Libya that were behind the killings. So, if the Nigerian military were to act, it will be against the position of the president. Therefore, the military had to be careful.”

Obasanjo reportedly added that he had restrained himself from openly speaking on the activities of the herdsmen, apparently not to evoke any unnecessary passion; an ugly trend that necessitated an outburst by a former Minister of Defence, Lt-Gen. TY Danjuma (retd).

“He said Nigerians no longer have any regard for the military because of the activities of the killer herdsmen,” another source said.

Sunday Tribune also learnt that Obasanjo also expressed a strong opinion against the claim by herdsmen and others that the anti-grazing law enacted by Benue State caused the carnage in the North-Central zone.

According the sources, both Obasanjo agreed with the position of Afenifere leaders that no matter how crooked any law was, once it was made by the parliament of a state, it was the duty of the security forces to enforce it, while the judiciary would do the interpretation.

On if the Afenifere leaders asked Obasanjo whether he had reached out to other notable individuals and groups in the country, the sources again, quoted the former leader to have said that his “meeting with the Afenifere was part of his efforts to coordinate national opinion against Buhari.”

He added that a number of leaders of the ruling APC, including governors that succeeded in winning the recent congresses of the party ,had agreed to be part of the ongoing coalition against the president.

Obasanjo was said to have recalled the events that led to a mutual suspicion between him and the leaders of Afenifere over the 2003 elections, promising a new dawn.

It was, however, learnt that before both parties agreed on the planned collaboration, Obasanjo admitted his initial error of placing premium on playing national politics at the expense of building a regional base preparatory to evolving a national consensus.