Oyinlola reveals why Obasanjo supported Buhari against Jonathan in 2015
- Obasanjo supported Buhari for the presidency in 2015 because he had fallen out with the Jonathan administration
- Ex-Osun governor Oyinlola noted that the former president did not readily accept candidate Buhari either
- Oyinlola revealed that a large number of APC chieftains had to visit him and plead for his support before the 2015 polls
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A former Osun state governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, has disclosed why ex-Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo supported current President Muhammadu Buhari over then-incumbent in 2015, Goodluck Jonathan.
In an interview with The Punch which was published on Saturday, January 30, Oyinlola said Obasanjo made this move because he had fallen out totally with the Jonathan administration.
To Obasanjo at the time, any other president than Jonathan was acceptable to him.
Oyinlola admitted:
" Yes, Baba (Obasanjo) had fallen out with Jonathan. His projection then was ‘any option but Jonathan."
Oyinlola, a former military administrator of Lagos state, however, noted that Obasanjo did not welcome President Buhari with open arms either.
Source: UGC
He said:
"The last person to accept Buhari’s candidature was Obasanjo and I say that one with every emphasis because I was involved."
According to Oyinlola, Obasanjo's hesitation was based on the concern that Buhari may not be able to fully handle the country's state of affairs.
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It took an army of All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders to convince Obasanjo that this would not be so and to get him to support Buhari.
He recalled:
"I can tell you that it took a team of Saraki, Amosun, Bola Tinubu, Kashim, Imam and myself, that went and bombarded Baba (Obasanjo) at Ota, around 7 a.m., before he succumbed to our pressure."
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported in a similar vein that Oyinlola explained how Tinubu would have been Nigeria's vice president in 2015 had ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo not advised the APC against it.
Obasanjo, he said, had explained that a Muslim-Muslim ticket would not have worked well to oust the government of his successor former president Goodluck Jonathan.
Source: Legit.ng
