The Presidency has chosen to ignore former President Olusegun Obasanjo who launched an attack on President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) during which he askede Buhari not to contest the 2019 election for a second term in office.
The Presidency, after a meeting between President Buhari with national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the former Interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said it would not respond to Obasanjo’s comments.
Both Akande and Tinubu who arrived presidential Villa at 3:50pm, refused to speak to news men after the hour long meeting. They left the President’s official residence at 4:50.pm.
Also, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu told inquisitive news men: “we will not react for now.”
This was even as Akande had once said: “Buhari is my personal friend, he is running a very difficult system of government. Even if Angel should come to run the system of government he’s running, he cannot succeed.
“Nigeria democracy is the military democracy of sharing. The longer you practice American democracy, the poorer you become in Nigeria.
“The system is unworkable. Any law under any unworkable constitution is a bad law. They are doing a difficult thing under a very bad system. So long we continue with this form of system, Nigeria will not succeed.”
Meanwhile, the spokesman to Asiwaju Tinubu, Tunde Rahman said in a statement that the meeting between his boss and Chief Akande with the Presidenti Buhari was scheduled last week.
He said that President Buhari periodically schedules talks with Asiwaju Tinubu and Baba Akande, as he does with other Nigerians and APC figures, to discuss substantive issues pertaining to the governance of the country and matters concerning the party.
Rahama said that today’s visit was one such meeting, emphasizing that the meeting had nothing to do with the statement of former President Obasanjo.
“It is totally unconnected. At the time of the meeting, Asiwaju Tinubu and Baba Akande were even unaware that President Obasanjo had released his statement.” [myad]
