“He Has Been Proven Right” – Oyinlola Speaks On Obasanjo’s Fear About Buhari’s Presidency

Former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola has revealed the fears that made elder state man Olusegun Obasanjo to be reluctant in backing a Muhammadu Buhari presidency in 2015.

A report monitored by societynow.ng on punchng.com in which Oyinlola narrated how Obasanjo ended up backing Buhari and his opinion of events the electoral victory as relates to the pre-election fears of Obasanjo reads in part

Meanwhile, Oyinlola, who was once the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, also pointed out that prior to the electioneering of the 2015 presidential election, Obasanjo was not disposed to supporting Buhari’s candidacy due to the issue of performance.

He, however, revealed that it took a delegation of prominent chieftains of the APC to visit the former President in his Ota home in Abeokuta, Ogun State, to appeal to him to support Buhari.

He identified the chieftains to include himself, former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki; a former Governor of Lagos State, BolaTinubu and a former Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, who is a known ally of Buhari.

Oyinlola explained that even though Obasanjo was open to supporting anyone but Jonathan, having written him a letter to express his disappointment in his administration, he wasn’t convinced Buhari would be able to deliver, which influenced his reluctance.

Oyinlola said, “The last person to accept Buhari’s candidature was Obasanjo and I say that one with every emphasis because I was involved. Yes, Baba (Obasanjo) had fallen out with Jonathan. His projection then was ‘any option but Jonathan’. That was his stand.

“Taking a look at those candidates from other parties, there was no other person we felt could handle the delicate governance of Nigeria better than Buhari among the contenders that time. That was why the choice of Buhari became the order.

“That, coupled with the fact that he had been at the helm of affairs in the country before under the military, so he has that edge over all others. But Baba (Obasanjo) was the last to subscribe to the idea. I can tell you that it took a team of Saraki, Amosun, Bola Tinubu, Kashim, Imam and myself, that went and bombarded Baba (Obasanjo) at Ota around 7am before he succumbed to our pressure.

“That day, he said Buhari that he knew would try in the area of military matters, but outside that, Buhari knows next to nothing; not economy, not foreign affairs and he has been proven right.”

Buhari had on January 13, during the run-up to the 2015 presidential election, led over 30 chieftains of the APC to Obasanjo’s Abeokuta home.