Why Bisi Akande and I met Buhari - Tinubu

- National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu says his visit to
President Buhari was not connected to the letter written by Obasanjo
- The APC leader said the meeting had earlier been planned
- He said he met with the president to discuss substantive issues
pertaining to the governance of the country and matters concerning the
party
All Progressives Congress National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,
on Tuesday, January 23, said that his visit to President
Muhammadu Buhari was not connected with the critical
statement issued by former president Olusegun Obasanjo on
Buhari’s presidency.
Tunde Rahman of Tinubu’s media office said the visit by Tinubu
and Chief Bisi Akande, former governor of Osun state, to the
presidential villa was scheduled since last week.

”President Buhari periodically schedules talks with Asiwaju Tinubu
and Baba Akande, as he does with other Nigerians and APC figures,
to discuss substantive issues pertaining to the governance of the
country and matters concerning the party.
”This visit was one of such meetings. As such, the meeting had
nothing to do with the statement of former President Obasanjo.
”It is totally unconnected. At the time of the meeting, Tinubu and
Baba Akande were even unaware that President Obasanjo had
released his statement,” Rahman said.
Former President Obasanjo, in a statement released today urged
President Buhari to abandon the idea of seeking re-election in
2019.
In the diatribe, which he entitled: “The Way Out: A Clarion Call
for Coalition for Nigeria Movement”, Obasanjo claimed Buhari has
performed far below expectation and should honourably “dismount
from the horse”.
Obasanjo urged the President to join the league of the country’s
former leaders whose “experience, influence, wisdom and
outreach can be deployed on the side line for the good of the
country.”
Obasanjo, a two-term president on the platform of Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), said he felt disappointed by Buhari,
whom he supported during the 2015 election over then incumbent
and candidate of his former party, Goodluck Jonathan.
While thanking Buhari for the effort of his administration in
rolling back the Boko Haram insurgency and his fight against
corruption, Obasanjo said Buhari has ultimately failed in other
areas where he had thought he would be efficient.

The octogenarian, who bagged a PhD over the weekend, admitted
he knew Buhari was weak in handling the economy, he went
ahead and voted for him because at the time “it was a matter of
‘any option but Jonathan’ and because he thought Buhari would
appoint qualified Nigerians to help out in that area.
He slammed President Buhari for turning a blind eye to
corruption within his government saying it amounted to
condonation and cover-up saying whoever is “going to justice
must be with clean hands.”
He also berated President Buhari for allowing the clashes between
herdsmen and farmers to go “sour” and messy saying the
endorsement of the president by some governors to seek re-
election barely 24 hours after 73 people who were killed by
herdsmen in Benue state were given mass burial was “a sad
symptom of insensitivity and callousness.”
Obasanjo, however, reserved his harshest words for what he
described as Buhari’s clannishness, lack of understanding of the
dynamics of politics, and his tendencies to pass the buck of his
government’s inadequacies to the immediate past administration.
Obasanjo had issued similar statements against former leaders
such as President Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, General
Sani Abacha, Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.
There has been no official reaction to the latest Obasanjo
statement by the Buhari presidency.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had earlier reported that President
Muhammadu Buhari met the national leader of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) in Aso Rock in Abuja,on Tuesday,
January 23.
According to Bashir Ahmad, Chief Bisi Akande, a chieftain of the
APC was also at the meeting.

-naij.com