FLASHBACK: How APC Reacted To Obasanjo’s Attack On Jonathan In 2013

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has not minced words in rebuking former president Olusegun Obasanjo since he attacked President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday.

The Presidency and members of the APC have relentlessly reproved Obasanjo over his state of the nation address titled “Points for Concern and Action” where the former president called on Nigerians to reject in 2019 another Sani Abachi era that has befallen them.

Obasanjo had convened a press conference in Ota, Ogun State, where he firmly criticized President Buhari, accusing him of exhibiting qualities of the late Nigerian military dictator. He described the ongoing trial of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, as Buhari’s conscious effort to intimidate the CJN “just to make him conform or set him aside for a Buhari man to take over or act, as President Buhari and his people believe no stone should be left unturned to rig Buhari in.”

– Obasanjo Is A ‘Coward, Needs Doctor’ – Presidency –

Reacting to Obasanjo’s letter against Buhari, presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, suggested that the former president, “needs a good doctor for good treatment” adding that he should “Get well soon” as he is allegedly unstable medically. Shehu also called Obasanjo a “coward” who “is jealous because President Buhari has more esteem than him and the sooner he learns to respect him the better.”

The question some Nigerians seem to be asking on social media, however, is why the ruling APC failed to see the former president as a ‘sick” man who needed urgent medical attention when they supported and commended him for speaking against the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan in 2013.

– Lai Mohammed’s Reaction (2013) –

The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who was the National Publicity Secretary of the APC at the time, had knocked Jonathan for daring to respond to a “technocrat and veteran policymaker” like Obasanjo when the latter attacked his government.

“This is what happens when a President is surrounded by self-serving, boot-licking and dishonest people, at the expense of seasoned technocrats and veteran policymakers, who would have reminded the President that while critics can afford to fire all sorts of darts at him, as the custodian of the presidency at this point in time, he cannot afford to respond in kind because, in doing so, he would be debasing the presidency as an institution,” Mohammed had said in his capacity as APC spokesperson in 2013.

– Be ‘Our Navigator’ Tinubu Begged Obasanjo (2013) –

Some leaders of the then opposition APC comprising Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, amongst others, had on Saturday, December 21, 2013, visited the residence of Obasanjo to commend him for his letter dated December 2, 2013 where he accused the Jonathan administration of ineptitude wanting to destroy Nigeria.

Tinubu, who led the APC leaders to Obasanjo’s Ota residence, had urged Obasanjo to continue to speak the truth, adding that “we want you to be our navigator.”

He had told Obasanjo, “You have come out of tribulation and held the highest position in this country. We are here because of your courage and salient points. Nobody can say he has information more than you.

“You have surmounted a number of crises. Nigeria is divided more than before. To realise a stable Nigeria, we want to encourage you to continue to speak the truth. We have resolved and determined to rescue Nigeria. We want you to be our navigator,” added Tinubu.

– Obasanjo Is An Expired Leader Tinubu (2019) –

In his reaction to Obasanjo’s attack on Buhari’s government in 2019, Tinubu has described the former president as an expired leader.

“It is unfortunate that expired leaders like Olusegun Obasanjo are ranting and lying. Don’t trust him. We are sweeping all the cobwebs of corruption away with broom out of Nigeria. Ota farm should be enough a retirement place for Obasanjo to keep quiet.

“Who among Nigerians will recall how the PDP government under Obasanjo was notorious for rigging elections? No government has upheld the tenets of democracy like the government of President Buhari. We asked for the recognition of June 12 from Obasanjo, he refused, but President Buhari as an honest man with integrity heard our cry and recognised June 12. Even if the forum of association of angry old men refuses to vote for Buhari, we will give him 95 per cent votes,” said the APC national leader.