Oshiomhole: I’m not sure Obasanjo is among Buhari’s advisers

Adams Oshiomhole, former governor of Edo state, has reacted to the letter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, asking President Muhammadu Buhari to forget about the 2019 election.

Speaking when he visited Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja on Friday, Oshiomhole said since Obasanjo is not one of Buhari’s advisers, he should allow the president to make his own decisions.

He also recalled that while Obasanjo was in power, he told ministers and advisers that he was at liberty to heed or reject their advice.

“I’m not sure that President Obasanjo is one of the advisers of President Buhari. But I also recall with respect that the day President Obasanjo was swearing in some of his advisers, he did say that anybody who is his adviser can advise him, he will make his own decisions. And I think that principle still stands,” he said.

Oshiomhole said as an All Progressive Congress (APC) “activist and loyalist”, he visited the villa to assure the president of his “absolute and total support” for his government.

“I came to wish the president a Happy New Year and appreciate him for his leadership of the country because as an APC activist and loyalist, I’m a party man, to reassure him of my absolute and total support for his government and even for 2019,” he said.

“I think that in moments like this nobody should seat on the fence. Our country has challenges and there are huge temptations here and there. It is important he knows that he has men and women who even at this hour have huge confidence in his leadership ability.

“Everything taken to account, I believe that every Nigerian who wants us to sustain some of the renewed vigour to deal with one of the most challenging problems that Nigeria has faced, namely corruption and things like that, you cannot but appreciate the president and all that has been done under his leadership this past two years and some months.”

Asked to review developments in the country in line with the poverty level, the former Edo governor said, “Let’s trace the route of poverty, is not something that developed over the past few weeks or few years. If you review all your newspapers editorials from my days as president of the NLC, the challenge has been how do we ensure that the Nigerian economy worked for the betterment of the majority of the people particularly the forgotten rural majority.

“So, this has been there but everybody who understands development issues and if you review Africa development literature, you will agree that one of the key issue that explains the paradox between a potentially very rich continent in the case of Nigeria a very rich nation, the paradox of a wealthy country but people getting poorer and poorer have to do with the issue of corruption. And if you do not deal with that you cannot deal with other things. I think this president rightly identifies that as a major area of focus.”