Pages

Sunday 11 February 2018

Call Obasanjo to a round table - APC chieftain Baraje tells President Buhari

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari not to treat with levity the issues raised in the open letter written recently by Chief Oluegun Obasanjo.
Baraje, in an interview with The Punch, asked President Buhari not to listen to sycophants and boot lickers who may want to give him contrary opinion concerning Obasanjo’s criticisms.
Noting that Obasanjo, as an elderstatesman, is entitled to his reasons, Baraje said: “He might see what we do not see. It is not possible for all of us to see what Obasanjo saw and he is still seeing.
“To me, the executive should have listened to and discuss with someone like him, whose views are respected not only in Nigeria but internationally.
“If you look at the trend of the contributions of Chief Obasanjo to the polity in the country, this is not the first, second or third time he would write letters.
“He wrote letters even in 1983 when (Shehu) Shagari was in power. He also wrote to President (Goodluck) Jonathan when he was in power.
“If he is coming around with another letter, it is his own way of sending some signals to a government in power, negative or positive.”
Baraje described Obasanjo as highly experienced and that, judging from events, some of the issues he raised have come to pass.
“President Buhari should take it seriously. He should not take the words of sycophants and praise singers, who want to lick boots or gain by whatever criticism they have taken into consideration.
“President Buhari should look very vividly into that letter and call Obasanjo to a roundtable and say, ‘What have you seen?
“You supported me before I got here’ because I know Obasanjo gave him a lot of support. He should call him and discuss with him. That is politics. It is not about segregation.
“This country belongs to all of us. So, if anybody has anything to do or to contribute to the progress and positive change, I think he should bring him. If I have an opportunity to write a letter too, maybe, I will write one,” he said.
 Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje has earlier warned his current party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to find solutions to the complaints of Nigerians or face the consequences.
Baraje, who led a faction of the PDP into the APC just before the 2015 election, confirmed in an interview with The Punch that Nigerians are not comfortable and have been complaining.

No comments:

Post a Comment