BEVERLY HILLS, February 02, (THEWILL) – Former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, on Friday, has told former President Olusegun Obasanjo that he is not in the right position to advice President Muhammadu Buhari not to seek re-election in 2019 because the former President was not a known adviser to Buhari.
Oshiomhole spoke with State House correspondents shortly after meeting the President behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, declaring that Obasanjo had no such power to advise the President.
THEWILL recalls that Obasanjo, had in a special press statement titled, ‘The Way Out: A clarion call for a Coalition for Nigeria Movement,” last week, questioned Buhari’s competence to rule Nigeria further, advising him to forget his second term bid.
Responding to the statement, Oshiomhole said, “I’m not sure when I see the list of the (President’s advisers, that President Obasanjo is one of the advisers.
“I also recall with respect that the day President Obasanjo was inaugurating in some of his advisers, he did say that anybody who is his adviser can advise him, he will make his own decisions. I think that principle still stands.”
The former Governor declared that it was important for the President to know that at this trying times, he has men and women who have huge confidence in his leadership ability insisting that Nigerians could not but to appreciate the President and all that has been done under his leadership in the past two years and some months, especially in the fight against corruption.
He said although many people had advised against blame game, there was no way the country could move forward without accessing the past saying those who understood the dynamics of governance knew that the rot of 16 years could not be cleared in two years.
“Nigeria was below ground level and from what you guys report that I read, we have always had challenges but never in terms of this scale and magnitude,” he continued.
“What President Buhari inherited is difficult to describe. I have said so before that when you meet such a situation, your first task is to halt the drift. When you halt the drift, then you stabilise before you begin to go. There is no miracle about it.
“I don’t think that anybody who understands the challenge of nation building, of national economic management and so on will expect that in two years, you can fix in a sustainable manner all of the things that have been destroyed over 16 years before this party came into office.
“Yes, there are challenges; there are a couple of things we need to begin to do and re-enforce but there is no question that a lot has begun and a lot is being done.
“For me, there is a commitment. I can see a heart that cares for the poor. But that doesn’t mean caring for the poor will make the poverty disappear overnight but that is a starting point.
“If you don’t recognise that we have these people amongst us and they are in millions, then you are not even likely to reflect on how to deal with their problems.”
