Obasanjo said that because he had exchanged jokes with President Muhammadu Buhari in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, during the African Union (AU) summit, in no way undermines the significance of his statement to the President. advising not to contest the 2019 elections. He made this update at the secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the Oke Islandwo district of Abeokuta, Ogun State,at the launch of the Coalition Movement for Nigeria ( CNM), adding that his statement Buhari was not born of malice, but of deep concern for the worrisome state of the country. The former president, who spoke to dozens of potential NJC members for the launch in Abeokuta, said: "Last week, I published a statement that I did not make lightly or frivolity, country.
“I wonder why some Nigerians were worried why I had to pay respect to the Nigerian president at Addis Ababa. That’s my own upbringing as a well-born and bred Yoruba boy. “That doesn’t mean that what I have said about the president, which I did not say out of bitterness and hatred… it is evidence that the president has performed, in some areas, good enough.
“In other areas not good and the proper advice I gave, which he may take and he may not take. “I didn’t do that out of malice or out of ‘bad belle’. I did it out of my respect for that office and my interest and I hope in your interest and the interest of Buhari.”
He added that his envisioned CNM was not a third force as being touted, but a popular movement to accommodate all Nigerians, regardless of their political leanings, in order to propel Nigeria forward.
Obasanjo, who was accompanied by the former governors of Cross River and Osun States, Donald Duke and Olagunsoye Oyinlola, respectively, two-time Ogun State PDP gubernatorial candidate, Gboyega Nasiru Isiaka, former Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Modupe Adelaja, and party stalwarts drawn from both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was afterwards decorated with the official emblem of the movement by Duke.
Youth organisations, pressure groups, professional bodies and members of civil society groups were also in attendance at the event. Speaking further, Obasanjo, who expressed delight at the launch of the movement in Abuja, observed that Nigeria as a nation, cannot continue with business as usual, observing that “if the instruments we have used so far in our nation building and governance since independence have not served us well, it is imperative that we should have a rethink and retool”.
Obasanjo stressed that Nigeria, like any other nation, has various challenges, stressing that the coalition’s readiness to mobilise Nigerians for peace, unity, security, stability, love, welfare and the well-being of vulnerable Nigerians, particularly the youths and women, was timely.
He referred to the disrespect for the federal character as espoused in the country’s constitution, the spate of killings and violence in virtually every part of Nigeria, and the parlous nature of the nation’s economy under the Buhari administration, as some of the reasons for the birth of the coalition.
“Let me emphasise important areas, programmes, priorities, or processes for improved attention: To start with, we seem to have taken nation building for granted. “Nation building must be given continued attention to give every citizen a feeling of belonging and a stake in his or her country.
For instance, the federal character principle, as espoused in our Constitution, was to guide the leadership to search for competent holders of major offices to be distributed within the entire nation and avoid concentration in a few ethnic hands or geographical places as we currently have in the leadership of our security apparatus.
“To avoid such a non-integrative situation, we have the National Assembly and the Federal Character Commission (FCC), both institutions which must raise the alarm or call for correction of actions by the executive that violates the spirit of our Constitution.
“In the like manner, the spate of violence, criminality, organised crime, insurgency and terrorism have not received sufficient proactive ameliorative responses through transformational leadership – a determined leadership that brings cohesion and wholesomeness to the polity.
“Nobody and no group should feel excluded in his or her country. Inclusion and popular participation must be visibly pursued in terms of politics, the economy and our overall social life,” he declared.
Then added: “Nigerian women will have dignity, responsibility and equal consideration with men in the affairs of Nigeria. The movement is a means to an end. “The end is Nigeria unshackled, united, dynamic, strong, secure, cohesive, stable, and prosperous at home and respected outside, and as a result, able to play decisive roles assertively within the comity of nations.
“A Nigeria of hope, aspiration and assurances which belongs to all with no sacred cow nor sacrificial lamb is what we want. “My Nigeria, your Nigeria and our Nigeria with an enchanting presence and secure and glorious future. Join the movement to build a new Nigeria that will be in the hands of God.”
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