James Sowole in Abeokuta
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday cautioned the supporters of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, over the claim that he had endorsed him.
Obasanjo expressed dissatisfaction with what he described as an unauthorised report of the discussion at the closed-door meeting he held with the former Lagos State governor.
Tinubu had on Wednesday visited Obasanjo at his Penthouse, located within the premises of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta.
Tinubu was accompanied by Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun; two former governors of the state, Chief Olusegun Osoba and Otunba Gbenga Daniel; billionaire businessman, Mr Femi Otedola; former interim National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, among others.
Both Obasanjo and Tinubu refused to address the media after their closed-door meeting.
But the former president in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, said the statements coming from those claiming to be supporters of Tinubu are unhelpful.
He expressed dissatisfaction with what he described as an unauthorised report of the discussion at the closed-door meeting he held with Tinubu.
In one of the reports credited to unknown sources who claimed to be privy to the meeting, Obasanjo was said to have told Tinubu that it would be the turn of the South to produce the president in 2023, stressing that he was surprised that someone from the North is also contesting.
Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila had also disclosed that what transpired during the meeting between Obasanjo and Tinubu was a sign of victory for Tinubu come 2023.
Gbajabiamila reportedly made the statement on Thursday, while speaking at the Surulere Local Government Area APC meeting in Surulere, Lagos.
The Speaker, who said he was present at the closed-door meeting in Abeokuta, said from what he heard there, Tinubu’s presidency was almost a reality.
But Obasanjo said the statements coming from those claiming to be supporters of Tinubu were unhelpful.
The former president said the discussion during the visit was “more brotherly than political,” adding that at the request of Tinubu, the former president agreed that no statement should be issued from either side.
“Those claiming to be insiders at the meeting issuing statements on the discussion and those crediting to me statement I had not made are enemies of the visitor and are not doing the visit any good”, Obasanjo said.
Recall that Obasanjo had on Friday shared one of the jokes he made with Tinubu when he visited him in his Abeokuta residence
The former president, while speaking at the inauguration of a 300-man planning committee on the installation of the new Olowu of Owu, Oba Saka Matemilola, said he told Tinubu that he had added two phrases to Yoruba vocabularies.
He said: “We now have two vocabularies in the Yoruba dictionary, ‘Emilokan’ and ‘Olule’. These two vocabularies are now popularly used”.
“I asked Bola and he laughed. I said whether the vocabularies are good or bad, we have started using them.”
