Obasanjo to Afenifere: Join hands with me to rescue Nigeria in 2019

In his desperation to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari does not return to State House, Abuja in 2019, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Monday, took his advocacy to leaders of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere.
Venue was the house of the leader of the group, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, in Akure, Ondo State.
Obasanjo urged Afenifere to join hands with him to rescue the country next year.
He said: “Our priority is now one. If we do not join hands to repair this country now, it will collapse and this could be disastrous.”
Going down memory lane, he urged Yoruba leaders to forget the past “for us to have a Nigeria we can all be proud of”.
He said: “I remember visiting Pa Abraham Adesanya thrice in Lagos before the 1999 election and I was asked to join Afenifere and Alliance for Democracy then, but I told them that AD was a cul-de-sac.
“Pa Abraham told me that if I joined, things would change but I refused to join them. I went back the second time, but they refused to work for my emergence.
“I went there again the third time, but Afenifere maintained their stand. They refused to vote for me; but I secured my votes outside Yorubaland, though they supported me in 2003 for my re-election.
“I want to use this opportunity to commend Afenifere for being at the forefront of fighting for the interest of the Yoruba nation while I am always working towards the interest of the country as a whole. I believe that we work toward the same goals of fostering unity among the people of the country but on a different pedestal”.
While responding, Fasoranti said Obasanjo’s visit was historic and first in about 20 years, adding that the Yoruba group was in support of his moves to achieve peaceful and virile Nigeria.
He commended Obasanjo for his struggle to make Nigeria a better place, assuring him of the support of Afenifere to join hands with him in the struggle
Fasoranti said: “We want to encourage you in your struggle to make Nigeria the best. You are fearless and that is one of the traits of a good leader
“We have been watching you; and your dreams of a better Nigeria shall be realised. Nigerians are at a crossroads; we are tired of the killings, kidnapping going on across the country and the President is mute about it.
“We are in full support of all the letters written by you to President Muhammadu Buhari on the state of the nation. We are dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the country. The country is not being run properly.
“Nothing is being done properly in this country presently. Look at the killings in the North. The President is very silent about it. We are all Nigerians. If he can keep silent about the killings, that is bad enough.
“It will be the joy of everybody to present a formidable team to confront the evil government that is there now,” Fasoranti stated.