Akinrinade: Obasanjo belongs to the waste bin of history

Alani Akinrinade, a former chief of army staff, says ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo belongs to the waste bin of history.

Akinrinade said this in an advertorial he placed in some newspapers on Thursday.

The retired general said Obasanjo should allow Nigerians choose their leader and “stop goading the citizenry for his own selfish interests”.

The ex-army chief said Obasanjo asking the citizens to vote for Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is an insult on the intelligence of Nigerians.

“The Nigerian media appear to have forgotten they are indeed the fourth estate of the realm. They are gatekeepers. They owe Nigeria the responsibility of keeping this irritable man where he belongs- the waste bin of history,” he said.

“Like his daughter, Iyabo, reminded him in her letter, Nigeria does not belong to him. He should allow Nigerians choose who they want and stop goading the citizenry for his own selfish interests. With the benefit of hindsight, can anyone truly say Obasanjo’s sense of judgment in choosing leaders can be trusted?

“Take a good look at history. Through the clandestine manoeuvres in 1979, he foisted on Nigeria a reluctant Shehu Shagari at the expense of the cerebral Obafemi Awolowo or Nnamdi Azikiwe. After his second coming, he so manipulated the electoral system that he fraudulently installed an unhealthy Umaru Yar’Adua as President alongside another reluctant character in the person of Goodluck Jonathan as the deputy.

“He denied every interested member of his party while employing all sorts of machination including threat and blackmail. Then came 2015; he told Nigerians Muhammadu Buhari is the best man for the job. As he has done to every presidential candidate he installed or supported, a few years down the line, he says Buhari is unfit for the job again.”