As parts of strategy to stop President Muhammad Buahri’s re-election bid in 2019, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria and National Chairman of Social Democratic Party, Chief Olu Falae held a closed door meeting in Abeokuta on Monday, 17th April, 2018.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, President Muhammadu Buhari and Chief Olu Falae
The duo who have been at loggerheads since 1999 when they contested against each other for the presidency on different political platforms seem to have sheathed their swords in order to battle the second term ambition of the incumbent president.
The National Chairman of Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Olu Falae arrived Abeokuta, Ogun State on a consultation visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in company of some political bigwigs in Ogun State at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL).
The meeting which was held behind closed doors according to impeccable sources is centered on 2019 general elections.
Chief Obasanjo who is the convener of Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), a group said to have over 3 million registered members across the country seems also enthusiastic to work with other groups on the same mission as his, sources disclosed.
Also present at the parley are former presidential spokesman, Dr Doyin Okupe, an SDP governorship aspirant in Ogun State, Sina Kawonise, and a two-time governorship candidate, Prince Gboyega Isiaka, among others.
The meeting took place amidst high-level political maneuvers in some parts of the country aimed at stopping the second term bid of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The parley, we learnt also aims at synergizing and bringing all third force elements under one banner to stop the re-election bid of the president.
The meeting is holding 19 years after both Obasanjo and Falae contested against each other in the nation’s first presidential election of the Fourth Republic. While the ex-president ran on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the former SGF on the ticket of Alliance for Democracy (AD)
Falae who addressed journalists at the end of the meeting not only asked President Buhari to jettison his earlier decision to seek re-election in 2019 but also opined the current administration has not done well.
Talking about the alliance of his party with other groups Falae said: “I am sure that every right thinking Nigerians will see the need for us to work together to ensure there is a change, good change, a beneficial change, a progressive change.”
“A change from massive unemployment, a change from continual harassment and killings of people, a change from the fear of Boko Haram threats and bombing across Nigeria, a change from situation where farmers are afraid to go to their farms, a change of the present situation and revival of Nigeria’s economy.”
– By Wale Adewumi, Ogun State Correspondent