2015: It’s Time To Turn Up The Heat – Obasanjo talks tough....

After firing several shots in his much-publicised letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, it appears that former president, Olusegun Obasanjo is not yet done. In his comments yesterday on the polity and the 2015 presidential race on his Facebook wall, Obasanjo expressed fear over the possibility of the crisis-ridden Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winning the contest.
Obasanjo’s waning faith in the PDP was captured in his declaration that the time had come to generate heat on the political terrain and prayers for the best party to win in 2015. He said, “It is now time to turn up the heat. May the best party win.”
The PDP had been thrown into confusion, which had polarised the party at the national and state levels, leading to their governors and lawmakers defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In order to rescue the party from its leadership and the presidency, Obasanjo had written an 18-page letter to President Jonathan, asking him to drop his second term ambition, which is widely regarded as the root of the crisis.
Obasanjo, during the week got a bashing from his daughter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, who in a letter to her father labelled him a “liar, hypocrite, wicked, and bad parent.”
Although Obasanjo had remained silent since the media celebrated his letter as the world awaited a response from Jonathan, yesterday, he used social media platform Facebook to lash out at the presidency and the PDP.
No sooner had Obasanjo posted his comment on his wall than his ‘friends’ on the page reacted, with some endorsing his position, while others accused him of running down the Jonathan administration for selfish reasons.
Ezinne Adora Ukejianya wrote, “Good day sir and compliments of the season. Sir, I am a young Nigerian doctor and I just want to appreciate you for that letter you wrote to President Goodluck.
It was about time someone of your pedigree actually spoke up and we are grateful that you did it this way.
We just hope His Excellency will take the admonitions and not begin to wage war instead. Please sir, do not mind those saying negative things. It doesn’t matter.”
Michael Olayemi wanted Obasanjo to explain his letter in a way that it would be better understood by Nigerians, reminding him that he could be at risk of being considered seditious.
“Baba, Nigerians want you to explain better the letter you wrote to Mr President. In the letter, you wrote a lot of things which are likely to help solve the problems this country faces and also things which can damage the image of this country.
“You may say you are exercising your fundamental human rights (freedom of speech), but I am sure you know that when a statement is wrongfully made against the government of the day it becomes an offence (sedition).
Some other persons can just stand up some other time and write against the president repeating what you did and this will be a slap on our dear country.
Although, I believe you may have a point before making such allegations, but Baba, we want you to throw more light on the allegations for us not to be in the dark.”
Another person simply asked, “Why not APC?” But Eneje Hillary roared, “Yes, Baba, let there be a fight”, while Okun Alek said, “Your open letter did that already!” Opejin Kazeem Olalekan asked Obasanjo to explain what he meant; Kolawole BlackeyAkeem stated, “What Baba means is that APC will win at federal level the way things are going” and wished him long life.
But Kene Umeadi disagreed, as he told Obasanjo, “You shouldn’t have written that letter chief. I am not impressed by it.”
But Adebayo Tunde Babs hit back at him, telling him to, “let Baba open up or you don’t want better for this country? Let Baba Obasanjo ride on. Up OBJ, up Nigeria.”
Aigbokhai Uwaifo Jeff warned Obasanjo on the implications of PDP losing the election. He wrote, “Baba don’t let PDP scatter OOO.
Otherwise if Atiku (Abubakar) and (Gen Muhammadu) Buhari grab power they will fight you well. If APC is better than PDP, will they be buying PDP members? Who says PDP is not good?”