Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo to stop interfering in the affairs of the ruling party.
He said that Obasanjo had no moral justification to ask President Muhammadu Buhari not to re-contest the Presidency in 2019.
Tinubu said this at the National Convention of APC in Abuja.
He went on to describe Obasanjo as a “busy body”, arguing that the achievements of President Buhari in three years could not be compared to those of the administrations of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that ruled the country for 16 unbroken years.
He also added that the ex-President, Obasanjo is not a member of the APC nor any other political party having torn his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) membership card publicly.
Mr Obasanjo was President between 1999 and 2007 on the platform of the PDP.
The former President had earlier in the year written an open letter to Mr Buhari asking him not to run for a second term because he had performed poorly.
However, the president ignored the advice as he announced at the APC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja that he would seek reelection next year.
Mr Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, said Mr Obasanjo did not have the right to tell the president not to run again.
He added that he was happy to be in the APC and not listening to those who advised him against associating with President Buhari.
He thanked Buhari for his tenacity and commitment to fight corruption in the country and for working hard to develop the country.
He also appreciated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for being “a great fountain of knowledge” and for not undermining his (Vice President) leaders.
According to him, the President Buhari-led APC has adhered more to the tenets of internal democracy more than any government in the past.
This, he said, was showed at the party’s just concluded National Convention.
“We thank you that you have offered yourself to re-contest the Presidency in 2019, you must run, and you will win, ” he said.
“We have changed leaders of our party: not at gun point, ask Audu Ogbeh. Thank God we have been able to stop looting and abuse of power,” Tinubu said.
The former Lagos State Governor thanked Gov. Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa, who is also the Chairman APC National Convention Planning Committee for the success recorded.
“Badaru, you have delivered, in spite of negative prediction that we will never see this day and that our party will fall apart,” he said.
Tinubu thanked the committee members for the show of dedication and commitment and for ensuring a successful national convention.
He also thanked Adams Oshiomhole, the new national chairman of the APC, saying that: “you are a true reflection of the saying that no matter how short a man is, he will see the sky.”
He assured that he would join other party leaders to support the NWC to enable it succeed on its mandate to move the party forward.
He admonished the new NWC members to work hard for the party because its members had put their trust in them and would not afford to fail.
He said, “In trust we put you; that trust you cannot abuse. We will be with you, support you and the day we need to fight you, we will fight.”
“The ‘pigs’ and their fortune tellers predicted the party will fall apart but I thank the (National Convention) committee for making the convention a success,” he said.
