The mission of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a leader of the All Progressives Congress at the Abeokuta residence of former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been revealed.
Tinubu, who spoke with newsmen after a two-hour closed door meeting with the former president said he was there to pay homage to Obasanjo.
He explained however that the visit was not just to pay homage, but that the APC was consulting Obasanjo on the choice of Presidential candidate for the party.
According to him, Obasanjo’s opinion on some aspirants is important to the party. More so, the former president’s political influence in the country transcends party lines.
“As a good merger, we need to talk, because, this merger will serve various branches. It is a very big tree, so, we need to talk, find out his thinking about Nigeria and the future.
“We need to seek his observation as some of his former boys who are running for presidency, what he can say of them,” Tinubu said.
You would recall that Obasanjo was once to Tinubu, a man that lacks integrity.
In a reaction to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s comments that the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was crying over spilled milk on the outcome of the governorship election which gave victory to the PDP in Kogi State, Tinubu had said: “What integrity has Obasanjo in terms of his legacies for Nigeria to speak on elections? The only election that was clear in this country was the one that was organised before the Fourth Republic. The worst legacy in electoral practice was left by Obasanjo. He has no reason whatsoever and he has no audacity to talk about free and fair elections in this country.
“Apart from his aborted third term ambition, he brought about and left a legacy of electoral corruption in the country.
“What is Obasanjo talking about? He should go away and retire in shame politically. He should leave the political landscape of this country alone. He brought a whole salad of corruption, manipulation and failures,” Tinubu had said in 2011.
Two of the top aspirants in the APC, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Head of State Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), may not be the closest to Obasanjo, but the party is thought to be seeking the former leader’s opinion on which of the candidates will make the party stand the best chance of winning the 2015 presidential election.
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