God should abort Buhari’s re-election as he aborted Obasanjo’s third term – Obasanjo’s ex-wife

A former wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Taiwo

A former wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Taiwo, has openly registered her opposition to the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s president in 2019.

In an interview with Punch, the former president’s ex-wife said though she loves President Buhari, her advice for the president is to drop his second term bid and retire to Katsina.

When asked if she is asking the president not to re-contest, she said: “God forbid. I’m saying it loud and clear without fear. He should just go back to Katsina.

I’m praying to God that as He (God) aborted the third term plan of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, God should also abort his re-election bid for 2019.

“I respect the two of them, but they should stay out of power. Whoever is coming should be someone who would treat us well and remove the hardship. As a president, you are like an executive prisoner because you don’t see what is happening. Chief Obasanjo is now out of office, so his eyes are wide open now.

“I love President Buhari, but I don’t want him to contest. When he goes back to Katsina, I would love to go with my children and grandchildren to visit him in Daura. In a nation of over 150 million people, both of them have ruled under two different dispensations, and I think the electoral process should be reviewed so that we would have only one term because it’s enough for anyone who has a plan.

“Chief Lateef Jakande spent only one term in office as governor of Lagos State, but look at the wonders he performed. So, anyone that cannot do it in one term should leave peacefully. We need fresh hands and we need to abolish this do or die mentality.

“I’m not a hypocrite. I love him and I don’t want people to be insulting him, but I don’t want him again. We need a fresh person that can be corrected, a unifying figure who is not divisive or tribalistic. God has been very good to President Buhari; he was a Petroleum Minister, military Head of State and now he’s the incumbent President. He should not be in the league of those desperate to do a second term at all cost because I want him to be another Nelson Mandela; to leave an enduring legacy of love, unity, humility, forgiveness and selflessness that succeeding generations can learn from.”

Taiwo also appealed to Nigerians to stop abusing President Buhari has he is also human. She said: “I like to use this medium to appeal to Nigerians not to abuse the President. He’s human and he’s liable to make mistakes.” On Obasanjo’s recently formed coalition, she has this to say: “I don’t think he’s the right person to be talking about the Coalition for Nigeria Movement, but I want to appeal to him to please use his coalition to unite the whole nation and his family.

“Daddy Obasanjo should let God use him to bring a peaceful change into this nation and his own family. However, I think that coalition should metamorphose into coalition for restoration of peace, reconciliation, unity and oneness, to bring everybody together because Nigeria is so divided now.” She advised both President Buhari and Chief Obasanjo to come together and work on how to make the country better.

“What Chief Obasanjo and Buhari need to do is to come together because they have a lot in common. They are both very powerful and they have great influence in this nation. They have both served as military Heads of State and civilian presidents,” she said.

On Boko Haram, she advised the federal government to look for the sponsors of the insurgents and have a peaceful dialogue with them.

She said: “I also have an advice for the government as regards the herdsmen and Boko Haram crises; I feel they should look for the sponsors and call them into a dialogue. Nigeria needs peace. Specifically, on the herdsmen crisis, I believe modern ranching presents an investment opportunity and a way out of the crisis.”