Obasanjo pays Sallah visit to Remi Tinubu in Lagos
Maureen Aguta
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Monday, June 17, 2024, visited the First Lady of Nigeria, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, the wife of President Bola Tinubu, in Lagos State.
The spokesperson for the First Lady, Busola Kukoyi, disclosed this in a post on her X (formerly Twitter) account on Monday.
Sharing the pictures of Obasanjo and the First Lady, Kukoyi said the former president came on the visit to felicitate with the president’s wife.
“Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the First Lady of the Federal of Nigeria Senator Oluremi Tinubu after receiving the Former President who came felicitating on the Sallah Celebration on Monday 17th June,” she wrote.
Obasanjo endorsed the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, in the 2023 general election.
Tinubu, the winner of the election, later said Obi’s endorsement by the former president was worthless.
He said this after his visit to Obasanjo, stressing that the former president does not possess any political goodwill or leverage in Nigeria to make a politician win a councillorship election let alone win a presidential election.
Tinubu, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said: “We respect the democratic right of former President Obasanjo to support and endorse any candidate of his choice in any election.
“Except that he made it known formally in his New Year message, any discerning political watcher in Nigeria knows that Chief Obasanjo’s preference for Peter Obi is expected. He had earlier stated his position at various public events, the last being at the 70th birthday anniversary of Chief John Nwodo, former President of Ohaneze Ndigbo in Enugu.
“We make bold to say that our party and candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not lose sleep over Obasanjo’s move, as Obasanjo is notorious for always opposing progressive political forces, as he did against MKO Abiola in 1993.
“The endorsement is actually worthless because the former President does not possess any political goodwill or leverage anywhere in Nigeria to make anyone win a Councillorship election let alone win a Presidential election. He is a political paperweight.”